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Old 02-09-2016, 05:33 PM
 
5 posts, read 9,078 times
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My husband is taking a new job with MSU and our family will be relocating ASAP (3 year old and 6 mos old). After some research, I think we are most interested in either Okemos or Haslett area. Which would you recommend and why? We are focused on quality of life, safety, and schools (elementary primarily).

Also, I've been doing quite a bit of research on housing prices and am curious to hear local opinions about the housing recovery. Have prices recovered since 2008 or not quite yet? I've noticed that several homes are priced above their pre-2008 sales price, but also that the time on market is very long. Is it difficult selling homes over a certain price range? We can afford a rather nice home, but I'm concerned about resale! After living in Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago, my opinion on acceptable home prices is likely skewed so I want to make sure that we can get out of whatever we buy the next time we relocate!

Thanks in advance for your help!
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Old 02-09-2016, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Louisville
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Is there a reason why you're disinterested in DeWitt? I've always though of it as a kind of sister to Haslett and Okemos, although suburban Lansing I am not an expert on.
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Old 02-09-2016, 08:05 PM
 
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I felt like the schools in Haslett and Okemos were a little better? Let me know if I'm wrong!
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Old 02-10-2016, 10:43 AM
 
Location: Naperville, IL
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I was in the same position a few years ago - we relocated from the Chicago suburbs to the area (I also took a position at MSU). We ended up in Haslett, and as you surmised, only Okemos and Haslett have school systems that are even remotely comparable to the better ones we have here in the Chicago western suburbs. Our daughter attended Okemos for her 1st year (2nd grade), as we were renting in Okemos, then transferred to Haslett when we bought a house in Haslett. Because she is a Sp Ed student, and we found that Haslett did a better job for Special Ed (my wife is a Sp Ed teacher, so she knew what to look for, what questions to ask), we restricted our house search to Haslett. All of my colleagues at MSU also indicated that Okemos and Haslett were the only school systems we should consider.

As far as housing prices, they are quite low compared to what you are used to (LA, Chicago), and we got quite a lot of house for the money (5Br, 3300 sq ft, 6 car garage (2 garages, one 2 car, one 4 car), > 2 acres of land, and less than 15 minutes from campus) for under 300k$. However - housing prices are NOT appreciating very well at all in this sector of the market there - we sold last fall for only 2.8% above what we paid in 2013. So basically appreciation of a little over 1% per year, and we had a 90+ day market time. You will find overpriced houses (priced at pre-crash levels) that have been on the market for a year. Contrast that with here in the western suburbs of Chicago, where houses prices are close to pre-crash levels, and good houses in desirable school districts are coming under contract within days. Houses priced above 250-300k$ take a long time to sell because in that area, those prices are considered "high end". Most buyers are still looking for a steal - they expect 4B/3BA on 10 acres for 180K$. NB - we moved back last year to the Chicago area, and my daughter's present school district (Naperville) blows Okemos and Haslett out of the water - no comparison. Better teachers, more staff, better resources, higher degree of professionalism, more funding per student.

So bottom line - Okemos and Haslett should be the only school districts you consider, and they are only "good" in a relative sense. You will have lots of MSU fac/staff sending their kids to those two schools primarily, so there will be a significant amount of parental involvement and support of the school system, and academic achievement will be a priority among those parents. As far as housing, you will be able to afford a pretty nice home in either school district, with the potential for acreage that you wouldn't find in e.g., LA or Chicago. But...the housing recovery is still a ways behind there, so resale will be difficult in the short term. Consider renting a house in Okemos or Haslett for a year... housing prices will not appreciably increase over that time frame (no rush to buy!), and you can get a better idea of what area/schools you like.
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Old 02-11-2016, 11:26 PM
 
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Thank you, that is very helpful. My intuition was Haslett or Okemos and I'm glad I'm not missing an area! The housing will be tricky to figure out. I think several of the homes on the market are overpriced. I've also noticed that the same few brokers have all of those listings, as well. I'm glad I checked here, as the appreciation priced into the listings doesn't seem to jive with other data I've discovered...
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Old 02-13-2016, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Midwest transplant
2,050 posts, read 5,912,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Msprice11 View Post
Thank you, that is very helpful. My intuition was Haslett or Okemos and I'm glad I'm not missing an area! The housing will be tricky to figure out. I think several of the homes on the market are overpriced. I've also noticed that the same few brokers have all of those listings, as well. I'm glad I checked here, as the appreciation priced into the listings doesn't seem to jive with other data I've discovered...
Houses in our neighborhood, if priced right, and updated, are selling quickly. If they need major repairs or updates they will sit on the market for a long period of time. Some people are thinking they'll be able to command the price of the neighbor who sold quickly, but they have no idea what is marketable and/or how to stage a home for sale. Many of the home prices are back to where they were before the fall-out, but the interiors are often dated or in need of some cosmetic touch-ups. There are still a good number of homes on the market and in many different price ranges...depends on what you're looking for in terms of rural vs. neighborhood, close to highways, amenities etc. The Realtor that seems to carry many of the listings has a whole team of people, I can recommend others that are more hands on and would provide personal attention.

We are in Haslett School District, and although we don't have children in the school system, our neighbors chose this area because of it's uniqueness (East Lansing address, Haslett schools and Meridian Township taxes). If you would like to PM me, I will give you more detailed information on the area. Okemos and Haslett schools are both highly rated, I know people with children in both districts and have only heard +++'s about Haslett schools overall. Mixed reviews about the social "cliques" in Okemos schools, but outstanding reviews about the quality of education.
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