Muskegon, Grand Rapids or Traverse City? (Detroit, St. Joseph: rentals, low crime, house)

[famlife]

Looking for:

plenty of GOOD youth sports programs for boys AND girls
(incl hockey)
local sports teams to watch (especially hockey)
low crime, ideal for kids
good shopping (chain and locally owned)
reasonable rent prices
the less sprawl, the better
schools unimportant (we homeschool)
a selection of family things to do
a skate park or somewhere for teens to go
a Latin mass

do any of those cities fit, or do you know of some that do? It needs to be at least a couple hours from flint and Detroit.

Thx!

[famlife]

At this point i'm leaning towards grand rapids. It just seems to have more. I'm looking forward to not having to drive an hour to shop or take the kids to their things.

[Jandur]

Don't move to Muskegon. Even the people I know from there would echo that sentiment. It really doesn't have much to offer. I'm sure some people will argue against that but it is a city well past it's prime and there are better alternatives in west Michigan.

Traverse City is really nice but I'm not sure what it is like in terms of sports, mass, etc etc. There isn't much sprawl, and it's fairly affordable.

Grand Rapids has pretty much all the things you listed, and you can live in the outlying suburbs where there is little to no sprawl. It's pretty easy to find a place in the "country". There is a hockey team, the Griffins, which is a feeder team for the Red Wings. Those games are pretty popular to go to and there are plenty of local sports leagues.

[Peter B]

We live on Old Mission Peninsula 9 miles North of Traverser City:

plenty of GOOD youth sports programs for boys AND girls
(incl hockey)?There are abundant programs for boys & girls in many sports.

local sports teams to watch (especially hockey)

Local sports teams are Frontier League baseball (Traverse City Beach Bums) and youth hockey (Traverse City North Stars)

low crime, ideal for kids:

Crime is virtually non-existent, DWI is what keeps the Deputies busy.

good shopping (chain and locally owned):

Shopping up here is a joke compared to GRR. We have a mall that is in bankruptcy anchored by a Macys which is the nicest store. The mall is dirty, unkempt and doesn't even have wi-fi. It is a relic of 1988. Culinarily, this area is getting better but still behind of the curve of larger cities such as GRR.

reasonable rent prices:

Reasonable rentals are easy to find.

the less sprawl, the better:

The population of the county is about 85000 people. No sprawl, yet

schools unimportant (we homeschool):

A good school system, your kids would benefit from socializing with others during their formative years. They'll adapt to life better when they grow up, just sayin'.

a selection of family things to do

Always seems to be something for families going on. Traverse is a very family-oriented area.

a skate park or somewhere for teens to go:

There are parks & places for kids to go and hang out.

a Latin mass:

St. Josephs Catholic church here on Old Mission has latin mass every weekend.

[famlife]

Thanks for the infos :-) it gives me a little vette understanding of the traverse city area. Oh, and between church activities and all of their sports and family, these kids are very social ;-). That's why places fr them to go and extra curriculars ate so important to us

[famlife]

Jandur, how is the safety?

[Jandur]

Overall I'm sure TC is safer than Grand Rapids, simply because Grand Rapids is a larger area. The bigger the city, the more crime. Now this crime is pretty isolated to a couple bad neighborhoods that you and your family will probably never be around and never have a reason to go through.

I lived in Grand Rapids for 7 years, even in some less than desirable areas and never had any sort of issue with crime. Never robbed, never mugged etc.

90% of Grand Rapids is perfectly safe and your kids can go about their business without worry. The other 10% are poor minority areas that I'm assuming you wouldn't live in to begin with.

[Tyryztoll]

OP, I currently live up north, but if I ever had to move from here Grand Rapids would be high on my list. You mentioned not wanting to be far from stuff......GR is within a mornings drive of Chicago, Detroit, Lake Michigan, Traverse City and the U.P.......it's not even that far from Indianapolis or Cleveland if you needed to be in either town for whatever reason. Based on what you've posted thus far, I'm not sure Traverse City or Muskegon would be what you're looking for. TC, although a great town, sounds too remote for you, and I have never heard anyone speak highly of Muskegon. Grand Rapids seems to have everything you want. It's a family oriented, up & coming town with a great proximity to many other notable places.

[TNKY]

I live in Muskegon, only because nobody will buy my house so I can get the heck out of this dump. Crime is horrible here, every week another business goes out of business and snowfall is annually over 100 inches, much higher than GR and even higher than TC. Go with Grand Rapids.

[famlife]

Thank so much everyone. Grand Rapids it is.

Just a couple more questions:

could you tell me where to look for safe, established neighborhoods? I'm looking for something in town, the suburbs are not preferred, but safety wins out.

What is the best hospital in the area? Looking for a good birthing center.

Thanks, it's so nice to be able to ask the locals :-)