Ada or East GR? (Grand Rapids, Forest Hills: cul-de-sac, for sale, house prices)

[fcbayern]

Hi there,

We are a family of four ( one kid in elementary and one in middle school) and are planning to move to GR next year for an expat assignment. We're coming from Germany.
We went to GR this summer and looked at some areas to live in. We visited Ada, Cascades and the Gaslight Villlage in East.
Ada and cascade felt a little out of the way and lonesome - my impression. Probably everyone was in holidays because we never saw anyone walking down the street or bike around. East GR was more busy but the houses there are really close to each other compared with Ada.
For me the following points are crucial:
Excellent schools for the kids in a moderate distance, best walking or biking distance
Stores in walking or biking distance
Shops, restaurants and stores not to far away ( and I don't mean the 28th street)
As I do not have a work permit and I am a stay at home mom I don't want to be isolated in the house. I would like to stroll around the neighborhood and walk or bike when the weather permits.
I had the impression that in East the chances are higher that we find other kids who play on the street or even walk to school which is common in Germany. It also felt a little more alive. Maybe I'm wrong and I can find the same in Ada. I liked Ada for the space and the "green" surroundings.
We also really want to connect with the neighbors and don't want to be isolated the whole time and labeled as the "Germans,....
I hope I could explain what I'm looking for and would be very glad to get any recommendations. Maybe there are other areas being interesting for us which I don't have on my map yet.
Thanks a lot and have a great day.
Arjen

[magellan]

Originally Posted by fcbayern

Hi there,

We are a family of four ( one kid in elementary and one in middle school) and are planning to move to GR next year for an expat assignment. We're coming from Germany.
We went to GR this summer and looked at some areas to live in. We visited Ada, Cascades and the Gaslight Villlage in East.
Ada and cascade felt a little out of the way and lonesome - my impression. Probably everyone was in holidays because we never saw anyone walking down the street or bike around. East GR was more busy but the houses there are really close to each other compared with Ada.
For me the following points are crucial:
Excellent schools for the kids in a moderate distance, best walking or biking distance
Stores in walking or biking distance
Shops, restaurants and stores not to far away ( and I don't mean the 28th street)
As I do not have a work permit and I am a stay at home mom I don't want to be isolated in the house. I would like to stroll around the neighborhood and walk or bike when the weather permits.
I had the impression that in East the chances are higher that we find other kids who play on the street or even walk to school which is common in Germany. It also felt a little more alive. Maybe I'm wrong and I can find the same in Ada. I liked Ada for the space and the "green" surroundings.
We also really want to connect with the neighbors and don't want to be isolated the whole time and labeled as the "Germans,....
I hope I could explain what I'm looking for and would be very glad to get any recommendations. Maybe there are other areas being interesting for us which I don't have on my map yet.
Thanks a lot and have a great day.
Arjen

You really can't get one without the other. The reason why EGR looks more "alive" and you see more people out on the sidewalks is because it's an interconnected grid of streets and sidewalks, all connecting to the "main street." It was built in the early 1900's in a different period of time in the U.S. (more like Europe). It's built to accommodate pedestrians.

Cascade and Ada were built for people who wanted to spread out and have more "space" than the city provided, starting back in the 1970's. They actually built it originally without any sidewalks, but just recently in the last 20 years people have been asking for more walkability, so you see the new "non motorized paths" that run along the roads. But the combination of living spaces on the backs of newer homes that face the beautiful wooded areas, dead-end cul-de-sacs, and the fact that more kids stay indoors on electronics, it gives the feeling of isolation a bit more.

There are only a handful of schools in Ada/Cascade/Forest Hills that any great number of people can reach without a car. Same with business districts. It was intentional back in the 80s and 90's because everyone drove and traffic engineers didn't want to mix people with car traffic. That is slowly changing though..

In other words, you'll have a hard time finding a home for sale in an area that you can walk to a business district and the local schools, other than EGR. You just have to get used to having a smaller yard/garden.

The good news is that many neighborhoods in both EGR and Forest Hills are full of newcomers to the area, and with a few European expats. There's a pub in GR called the SpeakEZ which is rated one of the best soccer/football bars in the US. The next time you're here you might stop in there and see if there are other German expats there.

Welcome, good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. You can PM me if you want.

[fcbayern]

Thank you so much for this excellent explanation! Now the picture is getting a little clearer for me. I tend to choose EGR because it feels in fact more "European ". But we also want to live the American way of life ( lots of space around ... ) so there are still some thoughts to choose Ada. Lots of business colleagues live there but they are in an age when the kids are at college or university. And I don't want to be surrounded by elderly couples without kids in the house.
Can you give me an advice concerning the schools? I already found some very good elementary schools but with the middle schools I wasn't so successful neither in Ada nor in EGR. Can you recommend one ( or two..).

Is there a possibly to narrow down an area in East and in Ada where probably the most school kids are around? In Munich for example there are a few areas known for lots of families and some for more elderly people. Is it similar in EGR or Ada?

I really appreciate your answers and definitely go for the tip with the soccer bar or at least my husband and son. Although FC Bayern lost tonight vs. Athletico Madrid.....

Greetings from Munich ( Oktoberfest city at the moment)
Arjen

[magellan]

Originally Posted by fcbayern

Thank you so much for this excellent explanation! Now the picture is getting a little clearer for me. I tend to choose EGR because it feels in fact more "European ". But we also want to live the American way of life ( lots of space around ... ) so there are still some thoughts to choose Ada. Lots of business colleagues live there but they are in an age when the kids are at college or university. And I don't want to be surrounded by elderly couples without kids in the house.
Can you give me an advice concerning the schools? I already found some very good elementary schools but with the middle schools I wasn't so successful neither in Ada nor in EGR. Can you recommend one ( or two..).

Is there a possibly to narrow down an area in East and in Ada where probably the most school kids are around? In Munich for example there are a few areas known for lots of families and some for more elderly people. Is it similar in EGR or Ada?

I really appreciate your answers and definitely go for the tip with the soccer bar or at least my husband and son. Although FC Bayern lost tonight vs. Athletico Madrid.....

Greetings from Munich ( Oktoberfest city at the moment)
Arjen

All the schools, elementary, middle and high schools, are rated pretty high.

I would look at any of the large Eastbrook Homes or Pulte Homes communities: Clements Mill, Ada Moorings, Arbor Hills, The Orchards, or West Village off of Ada Drive. They all seem to be a starting point for families with small kids. Look for basketball hoops in the driveways or trampolines in the backyards.

My favorite area of EGR is North of Lake Drive and just East and West of Breton, all the way to Hall. A lot of nice bungalows and you'll certainly see a lot of kids because it's an easy walk to several of the schools and Gaslight Village.

[AvoSunSpin]

East Grand Rapids is great. It's expensive, but so is the Forest Hills area. If you want more suburbs, move to Ada/Cascade, if you want to live closer to the city center, East GR.

[walker46]

I don't know how this might figure in your decision and I don't know why this is but something I've noticed lately is that there are no fat women in East Grand Rapids, at least none walking around. If there are any they must be staying inside.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by walker46

I don't know how this might figure in your decision and I don't know why this is but something I've noticed lately is that there are no fat women in East Grand Rapids, at least none walking around. If there are any they must be staying inside.

Umm, that's a bit sexist.

[Lockdev]

Was faced with the same decision a few years back.

East GR won out.

If you can get over the house prices(which have gotten much worse in the past 5 years) and the very high taxes(which also have been increasing), I say move there.

Great neighborhood to live in and can honestly say the best place I've lived. If it weren't for the winters and high taxes, I'd still be there.