Whats up with southeast GR? (for sale, real estate, rentals)

[rnettesh]

As Ive been looking for rental houses it seems like 99% have been in the southeast side of the city. The same can be said for houses for sale within our price range, <100K. So what is this part of the city like? There must be a reason real estate cost are so low in this area. I'm pretty sure we will end up in this area so I'm looking for some insight.

[suydam]

Depends where you are.

The "Southeast side" can be anything from Heritage Hill (rentals for college students and expensive historical king-sized home) to tougher neighborhoods.

For someone moving in from outside the area, the directional thing can be very misleading because the four quadrants are too large to put a single label on any of them.

Use this neighborhood map to help:
http://maps.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/website/CommunityDevl/viewer.htm (broken link)

I find that the neighborhood delineations are much better for figuring out what's nice and what's not.

Personally, if you're looking for a rental in the city there are plenty of good neighborhoods from which to choose. My personal favorites are Heritage Hill (walkable to downtown), East Hills (great places to eat) and Eastown (funkier than the others...in a good way).

Your price range ( less than $100k ) certainly should afford some options, but you will want to make sure you buy into a neighborhood on the way up, not the way down.