Best areas for couple without kids?

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by keraT

5 Years ago I was waiting for the boomer housing stock to hit the market in 5 years (so today) & convert it from seller market to buyer marker and that switch didn't happen. Even covid did not change the market from seller market. I wonder if in another 5 years, if boomers selling off will change the market. Maybe its not 5 years but closer to 10 year mark.


I expect to see lot of ranch house in older suburbs as first to flood the market with older boomer moving out/on. Current fad is inner ring small suburbs with their pre-war house or exburbs.

We have a lot of older boomer families in our community (e.g 70-80 years old). Lots of Boomer houses are hitting the market here. However being older boomers, they have had more time to move up the economic ladder and these houses are pretty pricey. Supply is not driving the prices down. The Boomers or their heirs seem happy to just stay int he houses or let them sit if they cannot get the price they want or expect. I have not looked recently, but we used to have an average of 200 days on the market. Even though nearly 10% of the houses here were for sale. Prices here have continued to rise since about 2010 but not as fast as many other areas. I am not sure we are back to 2006 values yet. So, supply is having a dampening effect on prices,but not a crashing effect.



My wife and I and one of our five children are similar. Three of us are living in a six bedroom/4 ba house that is too big for our needs. We have a lot of repairs and upgrades to do before we are ready to sell it and we want to spend some time just enjoying the house because it is awesome, but we will eventually sell it and downsize. However if we cannot get the price we want/expect, then we will just keep it. It might be fun to take in a couple of exchange students, or we could rent part of it out if we needed to. Maybe one of our kids will want it and be able to afford it eventually. I think many or most boomers are ready to sell, but not desperate to sell. The same seems to be true of families who inherit these homes. They woudl like the money if it is a decent enough amount, but they are fine with holding onto the house or living in it and just keeping it for sale as well.



Our town is not the only place like this. My Dad is 90. He normally lives alone in our family home in Lyon Township (2200 s.f. 4 br 3 ba on 3 acres). Of the roughly six homes near him, four are empty because the owners died, one has only one surviving family member living in it and one has a younger family (50s). The heirs of the empty homes are just letting them sit there. Some are for sale, some are not. The ones for sale are just sitting - not selling, with the exception of one very small house across the street that sold recently (but no one has moved in). My dad talked to the daughter of the next door neighbor who now owns that house - she also owns three other houses from inheritances and her own purchase. She said she is not in a hurry to sell any of them. She will sell them off one by one when the price is right. The house next door to my dad just sits empty. There are houses available, just not motivation to sell them in a hurry.

[TiggerDog]

Save money and time on the driving and just live in either Royal oak or Ferndale.

[keraT]

Although I am local here, I wanted to ask opinion of knowledgeable people here. I gave up on my house search earlier this year but started back up few weeks ago. My husband and I have been gridlock over location for years. But due to COVID and increase in Work From Home, I have finally agreed to increase my 30min commute to 45 min commute and narrowed my option down to


Warren/Sterling Heights (south side) vs. Farmington/Farmington Hills (East side)


Which is the least terrible option for DINKs who hope to have family someday but its very reasonable it might just be us 2 for years to come. Who lived in the city (but not the cool part like midtown) & are ready to try out suburban life for a change because we are old & its time.

[mgkeith]

I like living in Farmington Hills a lot, but have never lived in either Warren or Sterling Hts. Having visited those suburbs before, I do like it better here but it might be partly due to familiarity. We moved to FHls from out of state some 26 years ago and it's home. It's pretty, nice people, lots of parks and good activities and shopping, and farmer's market. I like hills, parks and woods, and we got 'em.

Any specific questions about either area?

[FrozenI69]

Originally Posted by mgkeith

I like living in Farmington Hills a lot, but have never lived in either Warren or Sterling Hts. Having visited those suburbs before, I do like it better here but it might be partly due to familiarity. We moved to FHls from out of state some 26 years ago and it's home. It's pretty, nice people, lots of parks and good activities and shopping, and farmer's market. I like hills, parks and woods, and we got 'em.

Any specific questions about either area?

Farmington hills is rather boring for a young couple per COVID-19 though. Maybe with all the entertainment closed for quite some time, it might open up as a good option as almost all restaurants here offered online ordering even before the pandemic.

[Coldjensens]

Farmington hills has decent (not great) proximity to Kensington Metropark. It is also a reasonable drive to Downtown where there are still some fun things going on. Post covid and post snow, Farmington City has a cute tiny downtown (part of one street) and a decent community theater company. If you want to shop or dine at chain places, Novi is just a few miles away.