[Ruvie]

My Fiance and I were brought up pretty different. I am a small town Ohioan, and he is a born and raised suburb kind of guy. The difficulty we are facing is picking out what kind of home we want. I finally got him to actually consider a home with a larger lot since that is something very important to me, and he wants 'neighbors'. I tried very hard to find something that would accommodate us both, but I discovered his definition of neighbors is being surrounded by people in all directions. aka: Deep neighborhood, cul de sac.

I would have no problem with this, but I would like what is important to me to be included as well. It seems whenever I have found a house with both of our needs, there is always something that gets the house removed from the list. Are there any areas whatsoever that have nice homes on larger lots? We want a home with more than 1600 sq. feet, and 3 or more bedrooms. What are some nice areas with lower taxes? We live near the Detroit Metro and need a house within a 20 mile radius from Novi (preferably a house that is not in an area like Farmington, Livonia, or Southfield. Basically, anything to the right of Novi is a no go.)

So far, this house hunt has been depressing. Its taken me a very long time to even get him to say he would even like the idea of a house on a larger lot. (Which is very huge, btw. I can't even show a paint color I like without him veto-ing it!) An acre is enough to send him off the end

[johnr83]

What's your definition of a large lot? You're probably not going to find an acre lot in a subdivision.

Western Northville, Plymouth and Canton townships all have large, beautiful homes on fairly large lots - much larger than your typical suburban lot anyway, and township taxes are much lower than city taxes.

[ram2]

South Lyon, Wixom, Milford....go west of Beck Road

[JGatti]

My old neighborhood in Southfield sounds like it would fit your needs. But taxes in Southfield are not cheap. ( to me at least) But if your interested in Southfield look around the 10 mile and beach area and west toward Inkster rd. There are a lot of old neighborhoods with larger lots and neighbors spaced out well.

[michigan83]

He has been brainwashed! The solution is to get him to a clinic somewhere for professional help. Large lots are better, whether he realizes it or not...

[Coldjensens]

What areas are you considering and what is you ballpark budget?

There are lots of options.

For example. My father lives in Lyon Township. He is on 3 acres. However behind and beside him is a big golf course with a subdivision of McMansions built around it. Also he has negihbors that are within a few hundred feet. The next door neighbor is about 150 feet away but they have 110 acres. On the other side, the neighbor is maybe 300 feet away and hthey have 8 acres. The next houses are also just a few hundred feet away. Houses are in sight of each other and most of them know each other.

Where we live in Grosse Ile, it is fairly densely populated but in many areas that zoning is one house per acre. There is also a lot of "green space' This is parcels of wooded land bought by the township and held as open space to prevent over development. Many subdivisions border on thses open space areas, so you can live in a subdicvision , but have 60 or 100 acres of woods behind your house. Many waterfront homes are on lots that are 100 feet wide ad 400 to 600 feet deep. that means that you are only 15-20 feet from your neighbor, but you still have an acre of land.

[M_P_E]

Don't know how to answer your question, but I do know that this is a good test of how you and he communicate and compromise. If you can't do it here, something as fundamentally trivial as buying a house, you might ought to rethink the whole idea of getting married, honestly.

The trouble with living west of Novi is that you are living, for all practical purposes, in the worst compromise - all the contemptible elements of dense suburbia and separation of uses, but without any amenities within reasonable walking or biking distance. You are wedding yourself, without any option for escape, to your car. I know that lots of folks love this atmosphere, and the big box houses that are such "values" (in the sense of $/square footage). But understand that you're saddling yourself with an annoying commute for everything - work, shopping, going to the library, going to get petrol for the car. Seems rather wasteful, honestly.

[animatedmartian]

I used to live out in an area in Sterling Heights that had some houses on larger lots.

Google Maps

3501 Denson Sterling Heights MI - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #31044025 - Realtor.com®

There's some like this in Warren as well that I've personally checked out. Typically, the houses are over 1,600 Sq feet and have a half- to a full-acre. You can get them for a good price. But that's usually because these particular houses may be slightly older than the ones in the surrounding subdivision. So with that, you'd probably have to do some work on them. Not a lot though.

However the commute is definitely hell. Especially along Mound and the farther north you go into Sterling Heights. Also, I just realized that those are waaaay outside your 20 mile radius...lol, so my post probably won't be that helpful.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by M_P_E

Don't know how to answer your question, but I do know that this is a good test of how you and he communicate and compromise. If you can't do it here, something as fundamentally trivial as buying a house, you might ought to rethink the whole idea of getting married, honestly.

The trouble with living west of Novi is that you are living, for all practical purposes, in the worst compromise - all the contemptible elements of dense suburbia and separation of uses, but without any amenities within reasonable walking or biking distance. You are wedding yourself, without any option for escape, to your car. I know that lots of folks love this atmosphere, and the big box houses that are such "values" (in the sense of $/square footage). But understand that you're saddling yourself with an annoying commute for everything - work, shopping, going to the library, going to get petrol for the car. Seems rather wasteful, honestly.

Buying a house is hardly trivial. It can be one of the most stressful times in a relationship.

Since the OP is from a small rural area, she probably is well acquainted with being removed from most amenities and having to drive everywhere. That's what country people do.

I guess my question would be, what's so magical about an acre of land? You can have just as much privacy or more on a 1/3 or 1/2 acre lot, and a ton less maintenance. What's also really odd is that it's usually the guy that wants the acreage (size thing I guess), and women want a neighborhood with other women to hang out with.

I gotta believe there's something that would suit both in those areas along South Lyon, Brighton, Fowlerville area.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Ruvie

My Fiance and I were brought up pretty different. I am a small town Ohioan, and he is a born and raised suburb kind of guy. The difficulty we are facing is picking out what kind of home we want. I finally got him to actually consider a home with a larger lot since that is something very important to me, and he wants 'neighbors'. I tried very hard to find something that would accommodate us both, but I discovered his definition of neighbors is being surrounded by people in all directions. aka: Deep neighborhood, cul de sac.

I would have no problem with this, but I would like what is important to me to be included as well. It seems whenever I have found a house with both of our needs, there is always something that gets the house removed from the list. Are there any areas whatsoever that have nice homes on larger lots? We want a home with more than 1600 sq. feet, and 3 or more bedrooms. What are some nice areas with lower taxes? We live near the Detroit Metro and need a house within a 20 mile radius from Novi (preferably a house that is not in an area like Farmington, Livonia, or Southfield. Basically, anything to the right of Novi is a no go.)

So far, this house hunt has been depressing. Its taken me a very long time to even get him to say he would even like the idea of a house on a larger lot. (Which is very huge, btw. I can't even show a paint color I like without him veto-ing it!) An acre is enough to send him off the end

I think you should reconsider getting married. I think there will be big problems. The two lifestyles would be very difficult to combine. Either he wins and you're miserable, or you win and he's miserable or you compromise and you're both miserable.