[Echelon30]

I'm a single mom, upper 40's, with a 6 yr old considering moving from Seattle area to SE Michigan. Our once nice area has become terribly overpopulated, overpriced and now has plenty of crime, homelessness & drugs. We enjoy the snow in winter (grew up in IL) but I think the lake effect snow in Western MI would be too much for us. Trying to decide between VA or SE Michigan, perhaps outskirts of Ann Arbor or Novi but definitely open to other ideas.

Looking for nice smaller home (under 2,000 sqf) w/ basement on 5+ acres zoned rural (have a horse) on the outskirts of a town/city affluent enough to support my dog boarding business. Son has tested as academically gifted so strong public schools a must. Schools with a gifted program even better. We enjoy being active at church, cub scouts, soccer and visiting parks would be a bonus as well. Prefer not to be waaaay out in the sticks so son can have playmates over after school. Need access to medical care in event of emergency. Budget is $250-$300K. Planning a trip out this spring to look around and would greatly, greatly appreciate your suggestions.

Also can anyone explain homestead exemption rules for property tax. Is land used for barn & pasture taxed at a different rate? What about an outbuiling used for the dog boarding business? Last question, what can I expect to pay for winter heat bills? Hope to have a woodstove to lower that cost. Thank you in advance for your input.

[amac626]

You will have a hard time finding what you’re looking for in that budget honestly. I wouldn’t say impossible though. I’d look in the townships that surround Ann Arbor like Ypsilanti Twp (AA schools), York (Saline) Brighton Twp/Lyon Twp/Green Oak/Northfield possibly even Plymouth Twp and Northville Twp. They fit your needs, but I don’t know that you’ll find 5 acres with a house for under $300,000 anywhere.

Homestead means it’s your primary residence. If you google Michigan Property Tax Estimator you can plug in numbers for each county, township, city, etc.

One area you may find luck is Livingston county. Hartland, Brighton, and Howell have excellent schools and a lot of land. Also taxes are very low in comparison.

[snoopygirlmi]

I think the outskirts of Novi or Ann Arbor would be perfect for you and that was going to be my suggestion - maybe Livingston County. Still rural and people have farms/horses, etc. You'd fit right in! It really depends on the community how much distance there is between neighbors.

The areas I'd look at are Brighton, Green Oaks, Lyon Township, Dexter, Saline, Salem Township (?), Howell (?), Northville Township (?), Novi (?), Milford(?). Superior Township. (Maybe you could find an rural situation where the schools are zoned to Ann Arbor public.) I know one of my friends is in superior township and zoned to Ann Arbor public schools, but I don't know the exact boundaries on that. (Just thinking out loud - a few question marks/maybes).

I'd skip Whitmore Lake - Beautiful area, but you wouldn't be satisfied with the school district.

All of the public schools in this area have strong academic programs, with a few exceptions (like Whitmore Lake). So, it will be about finding the right community.

Medical care - is a bit of a challenge in the Lyon township area because the hospitals are 15-20 minutes away, in Brighton, Ann Arbor, Novi or Ypsilanti. If you want to use Beaumont hospital then the closest Beaumont hospital is in in West Bloomfield. (I love my primary care doc, but he's affiliated with Beaumont - which I didn't know when I was doc shopping......and I didn't realize how far away getting to the nearest Beaumont hospital would be when we moved/selected our doctor.) We have plenty of urgent care/primary docs, but the hospitals are in other cities. I drive my son down to U of Michigan - Mott Children's in Ann Arbor for his care.

I'd live a bit closer to a hospital if I had it to do over again.......it takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere from South Lyon/Lyon Township. (It gets old quickly!) The next time we buy a house, we want to live closer to a city. We love our house and our situation, but all the driving gets to us because there are no quick trips unless you are going into South Lyon - which isn't a huge town to begin with. (It was a huge controversy when Tim Horton's built a shop here and now people are flipping out over a Burger King being built on the town's main drag......it's just sad.)

Sorry for dumping on you (and the other readers of city-data).

[DTWflyer]

Getting that much land and a house in that price range that isn't a total dump is going to be really challenging to find, even in the many of the exurban areas. Land value is simply to great in anywhere within a short commuting range to Metro Detroit or Ann Arbor

You will almost definitely need to look North of M-59, west of US-23 and/or south of I-94.
Basically need to start looking out at places around Howell, Pinckney, maybe outside of Chelsea. Basically maybe the more rural parts of western Livington County , western Washinaw, and maybe far northwest Oakland County.

[MI-Roger]

Five acres of rural land, on a paved road, backing up to a subdivision with lots of kids, easy access to expressways, for $65K. You would then need to have a house, and a pole barn/kennel building constructed for the remaining ~$225K. Seems doable but this is not a move-in ready home and business.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...8561187_zpid/?

Schools?????
For top quality schools you would probably need to apply to a neighboring district as "School of Choice". Although the local district has lots of free specialty options for High School years (County-wide IB School, Early College Alliance for HS years at the State Univ, Middle College at the local CC which also results in college credits plus the HS Diploma), and some of the elementary schools are good. Middle school - umm, not sure what I would recommend.

[DTWflyer]

It is impossible to find a builder willing to get out of bed to build a one-off house for under $300k, if not closer to $400k these days. Even then since demand far exceeds supply for many of the custom builders and trades that aren't locked-up with some of the bigger builders/developers of tract/subdivisons, they just won't do cheaper houses.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

Five acres of rural land, on a paved road, backing up to a subdivision with lots of kids, easy access to expressways, for $65K. You would then need to have a house, and a pole barn/kennel building constructed for the remaining ~$225K. Seems doable but this is not a move-in ready home and business.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...8561187_zpid/?

Schools?????

That particular plot is Lincoln. Better than Ypsi, but worst of the old SEC (pre-2000) schools

[MI-Roger]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

That particular plot is Lincoln. Better than Ypsi, but worst of the old SEC (pre-2000) schools

Which is exactly why I mentioned various alternative school choices for the OP's 6YO. And probably also why the 5 acres of land is only $65K.

I know nothing about Lombardo Homes, other than Lombardo builds to a price point and will construct one-offs of their standard plans anywhere in the State on the buyers own lot. This piece of land is only 2-3 miles from a hot bed of construction activity for Lombardo, making this builder an option.

https://anywherelombardo.com/michigan/floorplans/

For the Pole Barn/Kennel I suggest checking with Menard's and Chelsea Lumber.

After seeing the Lombardo prices for construction on an owner's lot, plus the costs of the Pole Barn/Kennel from mail fliers, plus the lot; staying under $300K would be a significant challenge.

[MWnative]

There are homes in the Grosse Pointes in that price range. Decent schools and private parks. You’d be close to the water, too. Only problem is you’d have to give up having tons of land and horses.

[RockChester]

Horse country is in the Highland area around Beck Road and M-59. You may find a small horse farm around there. That area has a lot of development scattered throughout but there's no major city that it's close to. The Tecumseh area has several homes with acreage big enough to accommodate a horse and it's not too far from Ann Arbor and Adrian. Plenty of vet doctors there. But, as has been stated by others, having a rural type environment near a major city isn't realistic. If you need farmland, you'll have to move out in to the sticks.