[kpisors]

We are looking to move to the suburbs of Detroit/Ann Arbor. We do have some prerequisites, good Middle and High School, also within a 30 minute drive to the airport. Our housing costs, up to $550,000. I would like some information about where to move? Have you had good experiences with a certain school, or district?
Thank you!

[Geo-Aggie]

I will probably get flamed for this by certain posters here, but if you ask me Ann Arbor is, without question, a suburb of Detroit. Ann Arbor is geographically connected with Detroit by a steady stream of populated areas, Ypsilanti borders Van Buren/Belleville, which borders Romulus and Canton, you can't tell me that there is a distinct separation between the two. Yes, Washtenaw County is very different from Wayne County, but so are Oakland and Macomb, and nobody would ever argue that they're not part of Metro Detroit. And beyond that Ann Arbor would not be what it is without the economic anchor of Wayne/Oakland/Macomb Counties. Without Detroit, Ann Arbor would just be a nice, small-sized college town like Ithica, NY or State College, PA.

I'd say that based on what you're looking for Ann Arbor itself could work for you, as could Canton, Plymouth, Northville, Livonia, and Novi. I think once you start getting into Farmington/Hills and South Lyon/Township you're probably more than 30 minutes from the airport, but those would also present an opportunity for good schools and half million dollar homes. Of those, Northville is probably my favorite as it has an awesome walkable downtown area; however, there is without doubt a bit of snobbery in Northville, though not quite to the level you find in Ann Arbor. If that bothers you Plymouth and Livonia tend to be more down to Earth.

[Republic of Michigan]

Originally Posted by kpisors

We are looking to move to the suburbs of Detroit/Ann Arbor. We do have some prerequisites, good Middle and High School, also within a 30 minute drive to the airport. Our housing costs, up to $550,000. I would like some information about where to move? Have you had good experiences with a certain school, or district?
Thank you!

Look at Plymouth or Northville. Close to Ann Arbor and Detroit, safe, clean, both have downtowns, and upscale.

[Coldjensens]

That was our criteria as well, although we went with 1 hour drive form the airport. Things are spread out a bit more here than many places. We spent 2 years researching and checking out various communities. We had no deadline other than we wanted to move before our oldest kids started high school. We had some other criteria however, eclectic architecture, good housing stock (meaning historic homes), strong sense of community, and some additional unique/special feature like a quaint downtown, water, or a special park.

The places from our short list that i believe are about 30 minutes or less from the airport(some may be a bit more than 30 minutes, but 35 or 40. Not an hour).

Ann Arbor. Plymouth, Northville, South Lyon/Lyon Township, Salem, Dixborough, Grosse Ile.

Novi and Canton also meet your basic criteria although they did not make our shortlist (both are too modern, conforming, crowded/trafficy and not enough specialness for our liking, but they are great subdivision places).

Others that might be close to half an hour:

Saline
Detroit (private schools until high school)


Subsequently we discovered Huron township has very good schools. It is kind of rural, but there are some subdivisions if that is what you like.

We made an offer on a cool house on Penneman Street in Plymouth and got out offered (Penneman is where most of the cool houses are). We did not want to increase because my wife thought the houses were too close together. We bid on an awesome house in Northville that was being auctioned off and were high until some guy came in with an offer, more than $120,000 over ours. "All yours" We also explored a house in Lyon Township, but it was overpriced and we found our current home before we had a chance to negotiate. However any of those places would have been awesome.

The only houses we liked in Ann Arbor exceeded our budget. If we would have waited a year or 18 months, they would have been half the price and easily affordable. But we didn't. Sigh.

The only schools I have direct experience with are Grosse Ile (where we live) and South Lyon where I grew up and my dad still lives. However we have friends with kids in all of the districts in the first list and they are all great schools. Some of the best in Michgian.

Having said that, I now believe that the school ranking is really not that critical. As long as the schools are good, top 10 or top 20 test scores really do not matter in my current opinion. It is more important whether the schools are a good fit (size, atmosphere, programs). It is more important whether your kids do better in a more competitive atmosphere or less. Do they do better with a set - focused program,or with a ton of choices where they have to select their own path? Do they excel in something where they could benefit from a particular Choir, Drama, Baseball, Soccer, Debate, robotics or whatever coach? (Careful with that one, Coaches/teachers leave and excellent programs can decay quickly).

The great news is you have a lot of awesome options and unless you insist on the real upscale subdivisions or neighborhoods, you can get an awful lot of house for $550,000.

Also you may discover you want to be close to Detroit. That is now where all the cultural, sports, etc action is now and it just keeps getting better..

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Of the areas discussed on here, Northville and Novi have the best school districts and 550K would get you a good amount of house in either place (more in Novi). Plymouth Canton gets very mixed reviews and is struggling with declining enrollment.

South Lyon schools are very good, but Lyon Township/South Lyon would put you outside of the 30 minute window to the airport.