Young LDS family-Where should we live? (Detroit, Sterling Heights: rentals, student loans, house)

[movingraptor]

My husband will be attending Detroit Mercy for law school in August. We will be moving from Utah and don't really know where to go. We would like somewhere really safe and family friendly but because we will be living off of student loans we need affordable rent. We would love to find a good active ward. We have looked at the Grosse Point area and Dearborn. Is Dearborn a good area for children? Anyways, any response would be appreciated. If you are LDS and know of any places that you would recommend-like your neighborhood-that would be awesome!

[cardwellave]

I live in Dearborn Heights, go to school in Dearborn. I personally do not like the area. Things are on the decline. Not a lot of good shopping, neighborhoods going more and more into disrepair. There are definitely some areas of Dearborn I'd look out for, and if I was going to move here it would definitely be in the West Dearborn area where the housing stock hasn't fallen down as much. Grosse Pointe is different entirely. It's wealthy, older homes, sort of a Hamptons sort of affluence.

Have you considered a place north of 8 Mile like Ferndale or Royal Oak. Not a bad commute to UDM.

LDS, I had to look up. Good luck finding more Mormons here....I really can't think of a community where there are a concentration of Mormons, but there isn't one really. Hard to find outside of Utah, Colorado, etc

Good Luck.

[hanna_house]

Anywhere north of 8 mile should be at least decent. Try Southfield or Royal Oak over Dearborn. Grosse Point is great but expensive. Not sure what price range you are looking for, but Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham & Troy are wonderful too. Further north there is Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Shelby Township and Sterling Heights. All are pretty safe bets. Hope this helps!

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by movingraptor

My husband will be attending Detroit Mercy for law school in August. We will be moving from Utah and don't really know where to go. We would like somewhere really safe and family friendly but because we will be living off of student loans we need affordable rent. We would love to find a good active ward. We have looked at the Grosse Point area and Dearborn. Is Dearborn a good area for children? Anyways, any response would be appreciated. If you are LDS and know of any places that you would recommend-like your neighborhood-that would be awesome!

Good renting communities include:

East Side of Metro Detroit:
*Harper Woods - Close to Detroit, but has safe streets, you can even get Grosse Pointe schools in some areas.
*Eastpointe - Standard safe suburbia (farther from 8 mile the better)
*Some parts of St. Clair Shores - some of the western areas have smaller homes that are on safe streets and are for rent.
*Roseville - Same set up as Eastpointe, just farther from Detroit

If you are on student loans and are looking to only rent, Grosse Pointe is not for you it is way to expensive and you will find very few homes for rent in that area.

Northern suburbs of Metro Detroit:
*Ferndale - Known for its young community, close to Detroit
*Royal Oak- Same as Ferndale, farther to Detroit
*Troy - You could most likely find a good house in a safe neighborhood here, but is a much farther commute to Detroit.

Bloomfield Hills, Township, and Birmingham are known as the upscale communities of suburban Detroit but most likely you will not find something in your price range, but you can also look.

Westside suburbs of Metro Detroit:
*Farmington Hills & Farmington - Standard suburbia, great for children, safe neighborhoods
*Novi - Much farther commute to Detroit, but you can find many new rentals, and is very safe
*Livonia - Is a very big city compared to the rest of the suburbs, but is known to be safe, and has almost every store you could want.
*Redford - Older suburbia, close to Detroit, great deals on rentals, some parts are a little unsafe for children

I have named just a few of the dozens of suburbs in Metro Detroit there are still dozens more that you can look at. The only suburbs that I would avoid are Highland Park, very unsafe for children and is in major decline. And I would also avoid the southern areas of Southfield, some parts are unsafe for children and parts are in decline. As for finding a LDS neighborhood in Metro Detroit, it will almost be close to impossible, I have only known a few Mormans in the area and they are all spread out thereout the metro area. I hope this little overview helps with your house hunting! And welcome to Metro Detroit

[jenijoy]

I agree with DexterGuy on the west side suburbs of metro Detroit. Livonia, Redford, Farmington Hills, Farminton, Westland, Novi, Northville, Plymouth, Canton, Belleville...these are all great places to raise a family. I grew up in Canton and currently reside in Redford. All of the above places are safe...but as far as schools go...I would recommend, Plymouth-Canton schools, Northville schools, Novi schools and Westland schools.

Although there are not many (maybe even none) Mormans in this area, I am sure you will find any of the cities listed above to prove to be friendly and inviting.

Welcome and good luck!

[cardwellave]

Would also add Westland and Garden City if you're going to be considering Redford or Eastpointe. They're sort of in the same boat (though I'd say Westland and Garden City are safer than some parts of Redford).

[Nearborn]

There's a nice LDS church in Livonia and the schools are way better than Dearborn. Way better.

[kntruong]

Hi --

Despite the other responses -- there are LDS here! I have a few friends who are. There's a few nice, active churchs. Westland has one -- but I would recommend living in Canton or Plymouth next door (better schools). Riverview has one. Riverview and Trenton have pretty good schools (more lower-middle class than Canton/Plymouth which are upper-middle class). Farmington is good as well -- probably "in the middle" socio-economic class, but schools are good there, too. I would not recommend Dearborn -- schools are not great.

[ckwboo]

Canton, Plymouth, Westland, or Ann Arbor are all great communities for younger families going through school. There are wards in all of these areas that are great. =) all are close to express ways too.

[Patriot72]

I have a place in a quiet Sterling Heights neighborhood looking to rent out a couple rooms. It is a bit more of a commute downtown, but I am sure you would love it here.