[barbiesnooze]

Looking to buy a home and can't decide between Sterling Heights and Berkley. One has larger homes and other mainly smaller. Location is supposed to be key in buying.

We like Sterling Heights 16 mile and above, and Berkley is such a nice area in general even though farther away from malls and such.

Any input?

[belleislerunner]

Sterling Heights is going to have better resale value as it's more a family friendly town with newer amenities. It pops up in the "best places to live" category of random magazines every now and then. Close to all the action of Hall Road/Lakeside Mall. They've built a lot of newer neighborhoods/amenities around Mound and 14 in the past few years too with GM offselling land. There's even some nice pockets on Mound between 12/14 Mile. Select areas north of 16 mile can scream 1980's if you're not careful.

Berkley is an older style neighborhood more popular with singles or DINKs and closer to Ferndale/Royal Oak/B'ham. Better for walking around but slighltly smaller homes. You'll likely have a better commute w/ Berkley to most clusters unless the job is along the Defense Corridor on VanDyke.

[barbiesnooze]

Thanks for the awsome reply

[DTWflyer]

Both are good areas, and as pointed out really just comes down to style and newer vs. older.

Berkley is an older community, with primarily 1940s/1950s post-WWII era homes. A lot of bungalows, but there are some larger/older/nicer homes in the areas directly Southeast of Coolidge & 12 Mile and directly northwest of Coolidge & 12.
The area as said is popular with singles, young couples, DINKS, and retirees. Popular with families with young children, but due to the size of the houses it seems most with large families and older children live in other areas with biggest housing stock. Berkley is a walkable community with sidewalks and a decent little business district downtown. One of the big selling points of Berkley is its location on the Woodward Corridor, being bearby to Royal Oak, Ferndale, Birmingham, the Detroit Zoo, and Beaumont Hospital. Very easy commute to the Southfield business centers, and also an easy commute down Woodward or I-75 to the Downtown Detroit business center. Berkley is likely to hold its value too.
The downsides of Berkley are that it is not as close to malls and big box retail, but it is closer to more of the entertainment areas in the region. Berkley is also a built-out community in the heart of the inner ring suburbs, so it lacks the green space - big parks, trails, woods that are found farther out. It is a good 30-40 minute drive to the Metroparks if that is something that you value being close to.

Sterling Heights on the other hand is a nice community with generally larger lots and homes, at least in Northern Sterling Heights. Closer to malls and big box retail on the M-59 corridor if that is something you value. Closer to greenspace - Metroparks, trails, etc. Farther from downtown Detroit.

It all comes down to prefence. Both areas are going to have good resale and will hold their value. It comes down to newer vs. older, house size, and location (e.g., communiting and what you want to be near).

[barbiesnooze]

DTWflyer thanks for your input I appreciate it. Helps me

[ROfan]

There's a lot of redevelopment going on in Berkley right now. Older, smaller homes are being torn down and new 2,000-sq.-ft. houses are taking their place, going for $300k-$350k. I think that alone makes it a safer investment, if you are buying and care about ROI. The schools also are pretty solid, based on recent MEAP scores. I don't know much about Sterling Heights but it's my understanding it was most popular in the 1970s-1980s and that most of the middle and upper-middle class has moved on to Shelby and Macomb townships and home values have suffered.

And while there's no big-box stores in Berkley, or a mall, you're only 5 miles away from Somerset in Troy, as well as Meijer, Target, Kohls, Home Depot, Kroger, Whole Foods, etc. on Coolidge in Troy. There's also a Walmart on Maple in Troy, and another Home Depot and Target on Southfield Rd in Southfield north of 12.

The only drawbacks to Berkley is their small-ish downtown, although RO, Bham, Ferndale are close by, and the seeming lack of code enforcement. Unshoveled sidewalks are everywhere this winter, plus the usual dumpy yards.

[RockChester]

Berkley is close enough to Royal Oak to be affected by the Dream Cruise effect. The further you are from Woodward, the happier you'll be. I know a couple of people there and they absolutely hate the Dream Cruise and all it's noise and drunks and what not. From a millage perspective, Berkely and Sterling Heights aren't that far apart, depending on which school district you're in. Also, Sterling Heights is in Macomb County and Berkley is in Oakland. What difference that makes is highly variable.

[JimWarren]

I don't know much about Sterling Heights, but I moved to Berkley in 1996. The reason that I chose it was both location and schools. The Berkley school system is amazingly good, and gets really terrific MEAP and other ratings. The high school is shared with Huntington Woods, which has a very high per-capita income-and that helps to make sure the school is top notch.

Even though I don't have children in the school system, it was what sold me on the town-I figured that any town with a good school system is much more likely to be a desirable place to live, and so houses there will likely go up in value.