Relocating to - Living/Working in Detroit

Hi all,

I'm a British national [[ex-Military) living in Germany with my family and have been offered a job in Detroit working as head of Public Affairs with a VA charity organisation.
I'm a photographer by profession and currently specialise in weddings and social portraiture, but my background is Army Public Affairs, which is mostly combat photography, PR, press and sports - hence getting the VA gig... though I'm fervently hoping the 'combat' aspect is a thing of the past...lol

I already have a few ideas about which areas in the greater Detroit area would be suitable for relocating to, but would welcome any input from you guys.

We have a 16-month old daughter, so pre-school/school is an important factor as is the neighbourhood we choose to settle in... I'd prefer quiet/residential with a reasonable commute time [[no more than 30-45 mins at peak times) to the downtown area. I'll be visiting in June to finalise the employment details/contracts and will have a better idea of exactly where the project will be located then.

If we decide to purchase outright, we could probably afford something around the $70k mark, if we apply [[successfully) for a mortgage then anything up to $200k is well within our projected finances.
Our preference is for 'old' two storey 4-bed/2 bath brick structures w/basement/utility areas with decent sized yards, 2-car garages and off-road parking for a third/fourth vehicle.
I've been scouring zillow etc. and while they give a reasonable indication of the locale, that and Google Street maps only go so far... I'd like input from people who actually live there...

Any help you could offer would be much appreciated...

Cheers
Rob [[and Julia & Katy)

Bump up because I moved this into Discuss Detroit.

Welcome to Detroit Rob and family and welcome to the DetroitYES forums.

Congrats on the offer and the pending move to the area. Just cruious what are some of the things you prefer and would like to do with your family.

If you want city living there are options in the city.

If you want older, cool homes, water access, nice parks and schools and a semi-walkable area close to Detroit, Grosse Pointe may work

If you want close access to malls and shopping you may want to consider the northern suburbs.

I guess your thoughts would go a long way in pointing out some areas you may like.

Just a word of caution: This board has very opinionated people [[myslef included) so you'll have to take the opinions with a grain of salt. Some may insist that living in a suburbs will kill your soul and cause the world's most boring life. Some may claim that living in the city is a sure death sentence and there is absolutely nothing to do. Truth is there are good options all over the region but it would be based upon what you want. Some things to consider if you want to list what is important:

1. Ameneties [[Shopping, walkability, nightlife, family activities)
2. Location and proximity to the city and things you would like to do [[museums, childrens museums, libraries, etc)
3. Archiecture and community feel
4. Anything else

Also, feel free to e-mail me at jt1_detroit@yahoo.com. I am certainly biased towards the city but I have friends or family spread all over the area.

I've also found realestateone.com is a good website for seeing what is for sale. There is a pretty nice interactive map.

You want this house [[maybe):

http://www.trulia.com/property/3075040610-10755-Vernon-Ave-Huntington-Woods-MI-48070

I recommend Northville, Plymouth or Farmingtom Hills. Nothing closer to the City or the City. Detroit is not a suitable city for young family transplants. Read Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and Oakland Press on the web. If your job is in Detroit City you could live in Windsor Canada which is much safer.

dearborn or the grosse pointe's would be a good place to start. they have beautiful old homes and nice city centers.
plus they are very close to downtown detroit for all the cultural events.

Thanks all - we're definitely leaning towards the eastern and northern suburbs at the moment, with the GPs fairly high on the list.
Due to the almost ridiculously low housing prices there [[to us Europeans, anyway), we're able to look at properties which would be well out of our price-bracket here.
A reasonably safe neighbourhood is always a good thing - I was born in south London [[Sarf Lunnen, innit...), so I know how cities have a habit of appearing daunting to outsiders while being actually quite benign for those residing there: that said, central urban areas are less attractive due to my wanting my daughter to have friends within walking/cycling distance when she gets a bit older.
I've also been around a bit: my previous job took me to the Former Yugoslavia at the height of the war there in the 1990's as well as both Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times during the past decade - so while it's not a huge problem, if we can avoid living in a war-zone I'd like that a lot better... :)

As long as we can drive within 10-15 minutes to major shopping areas and maybe walk 15-20 minutes to coffee-shops and bakeries at the weekends as well as have some 'green' areas for family walks within a reasonable distance and not be woken up by police-cruisers all night, I think we'll be fine...

My main priority now is Pre-school/School for Katy: I don't want to get into the whole 'school-run' thing, so a 15-20 minute accompanied walk to school is something I definitely consider to be of major importance [[of course in Winter, we'll just hibernate...lol).

House styles: we definitely prefer older, two-storey, brick construction, pref with 4 beds, 2 bathrooms, decent-sized modern kitchen w/basement utility room, a decent yard, 2-car garage and off-road parking for an additional 2 cars.

Looking at these types of properties, there seems to be an abundance of these within our price-bracket [[anything between $25,000 for an outright purchase to $200,000 with mortgage), so it'll come down to the neighbourhood and local facilities.

One last thing: I've been a Ford-man all my life and just had to sell my 2008 Mustang 'Bullitt' to help finance this move - given the difficulties getting one of those here in Europe, the gear-heads amongst you will appreciate the level of committment this takes...lol

I'll be over there at the end of June to finalise the contracts and start the ball rolling with regard to opening bank accounts, talking to Real estate agents and generally looking round, so we're compiling a short-list of neighborhoods to look at. In all probability, I'll be moving three months or so ahead of Jthe family while Jules disposes of our property here and preps everything else for shipment to the new home, so it's very likely I'll be buying the home without "higher-authority's" approval...lol

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Originally Posted by mwilbert

You want this house [[maybe):

http://www.trulia.com/property/3075040610-10755-Vernon-Ave-Huntington-Woods-MI-48070

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Right sort of neighbourhood, but I seriously hate bungalows...

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Originally Posted by Arkady001

Right sort of neighbourhood, but I seriously hate bungalows...

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If you can't find your preferred house type [[in your price range) in Huntington Woods, but you like that type of area, I suspect you might want to try the Grosse Pointes as someone previously suggested.

Hi-ho Rob!
Welcome.....& you know who I am. :)

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Originally Posted by mikefmich

Hi-ho Rob!
Welcome.....& you know who I am. :)

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Hiya Mike - thanks for the steer...
BTW, I will definitely be in the market for a new [[or even a low-miler, pre-owned) Mustang to replace the 'Bullitt' as soon as the dust settles...
Quite liking the look of the '13 GTs with that new Coyote 5.0 engine... :)

Arkady-From what you are saying, you want to live in Huntington Woods.

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Originally Posted by cmubryan

Arkady-From what you are saying, you want to live in Huntington Woods.

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I don't know about that. Huntington Woods is beautiful but he'd like to walk places, and you can't really walk anywhere in Huntington Woods. I'd say Grosse Pointe is close to what he's describing.. Many coffee shops in the Village to walk to. And Farmingtom Hills doesn't seem to fit his description at all. Plymouth and Northville are not what I would call close to the city, either.

In terms of his interest in staying close to the cultural institutions and events of the city, Grosse Pointe is not only geographically close but Grosse Pointers take a disproportionate interest in the cultural activities of the City [[and they have their own). I might catch some flack for this but I find far more often than not that the Oakland County folks tend to more stay in their orbit of Oakland County.

I would say GP is likely a good place to recommend here. It's one of the more walkable communities in the area, is close to the city & water... and it doesn't have the soul-sucking mile road grid.

It sounds like Grosse POinte is what you may like.

Here are a couple places that you may be interested in:

http://www.realestateone.com/homes/3...ointe-MI-48230

http://www.realestateone.com/homes/3...Farms-MI-48230

http://www.realestateone.com/homes/3..._Park-MI-48230

http://www.realestateone.com/homes/3..._Park-MI-48230

http://mihomesnow.com/search/listing...m_campaign=la1

Some are above your price range but with negotiations in RE you may get the price lower and interest rates are obscenely low right now.

Definitely the Grosse Pointes.

Stromberg2

Consider Lafayette Park which is about as safe as you are going to get in Metro Detroit and walking distance to everything downtown. The only thing you won't be safe from is folks who only know of Detroit what they read in the news papers. There are scores of good things that happen in Detroit's better neighborhoods--too bad none of that is newsworthy.

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Originally Posted by jtf1972

I would say GP is likely a good place to recommend here. It's one of the more walkable communities in the area, is close to the city & water... and it doesn't have the soul-sucking mile road grid.

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After living much of my adult life in Virginia where the road "net" is just a bunch of paved over cowpaths that meander around, give me a rectangular grid any day. When there is a problem, you can quickly find an alternate route. That was not possible in Virginia.

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Originally Posted by poobert

I don't know about that. Huntington Woods is beautiful but he'd like to walk places, and you can't really walk anywhere in Huntington Woods. I'd say Grosse Pointe is close to what he's describing.. Many coffee shops in the Village to walk to. And Farmingtom Hills doesn't seem to fit his description at all. Plymouth and Northville are not what I would call close to the city, either.

In terms of his interest in staying close to the cultural institutions and events of the city, Grosse Pointe is not only geographically close but Grosse Pointers take a disproportionate interest in the cultural activities of the City [[and they have their own). I might catch some flack for this but I find far more often than not that the Oakland County folks tend to more stay in their orbit of Oakland County.

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You are kidding right? As a resident in HW, I am a 5 minute walk to downtown Berkley, a 20 minute walk to downtown Royal Oak. I live on the northwest side of HW. Those who live on the northeast side, it's vice versa. The nice thing about HW versus Grosse Pointe is that it is smack dab in the center of Metro Detroit. Grosse Pointe is a heck of a drive from the far western suburbs. HW is relatively close to everything and only 15 minutes from downtown.

Western & far western burbs=traffic gridlock.

GP is an excellent choice for this boy for many reasons.

I concur with all the Grosse Pointe folks- it may not be the hippest place to live, but you can walk anywhere you need to, and it is close to downtown. If there is one thing it does well it is childhood- TONS of activities for the kids, really nice parks with access to the water, ice rinks and great schools. We moved to the Park first then the Farms when our children were born- no complaints other than it is a pain to get to the western lands of Oakland Co., but we try to stay out of there anyway....

For your $200,000 mortgage you could get an amazing deal in the Park- definitely check it out. You'll be hard pressed to find a nicer area for the money.

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Originally Posted by cmubryan

You are kidding right? As a resident in HW, I am a 5 minute walk to downtown Berkley, a 20 minute walk to downtown Royal Oak. I live on the northwest side of HW. Those who live on the northeast side, it's vice versa. The nice thing about HW versus Grosse Pointe is that it is smack dab in the center of Metro Detroit. Grosse Pointe is a heck of a drive from the far western suburbs. HW is relatively close to everything and only 15 minutes from downtown.

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Uhh... Or maybe you're just biased because you live there. Walkscore.com gives HW a 42 [[car dependent) and GP a 65 [[somewhat walkable). And I don't know what this shit is about downtown Berkley - when I mapquest it it takes over 40 minutes to walk there, one-way. Sure maybe HW is walkable by Oakland County standards but that doesn't say much. I have friends from there who openly admit they don't walk anywhere because there is no where to walk to.

Thanks everyone - all this is great info and a real help in the decision-making process, believe me...
FYI, I'm leaning very heavily towards the GPs for all the reasons decribed above...

Plus my favourite movie of all time was set there...and how cool is that? :)

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Originally Posted by poobert

Uhh... Or maybe you're just biased because you live there. Walkscore.com gives HW a 42 [[car dependent) and GP a 65 [[somewhat walkable). And I don't know what this shit is about downtown Berkley - when I mapquest it it takes over 40 minutes to walk there, one-way. Sure maybe HW is walkable by Oakland County standards but that doesn't say much. I have friends from there who openly admit they don't walk anywhere because there is no where to walk to.

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Yes! I live in HW and love it so maybe I am biased. I love it though because of the location. Sounds like you are biased towards GP because you live there? My address has a 57
walkscore, so maybe it depends where one lives. There are areas in GP that have a much lower walkscore and areas with a higher score. Just like HW. I live three whole blocks from the start of the Berkley commercial area.

Well, as I said - nothing is definite til we do our recce in June... :)

I put my address in Livonia in at Walkscore .com. It gave it a 72 very walkable.
I would not put much faith in Walkscore.

Hi Rob,

Have you thought about renting for a year? Doing that would allow you to explore different areas and then make a fully informed decision before sinking $70,000 into a home. The real estate market in the metro Detroit area is still not quite on a definite upward swing, so you might even save money by waiting a year.

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Originally Posted by Arkady001

Plus my favourite movie of all time was set there...and how cool is that? :)

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What movie would that be? The Virgin Suicides? Grosse Point Blank? something else?

As a 30+ year resident of Royal Oak, I can highly recommend this area. It is highly walkable to its downtown area...and Woodward Ave. It's centrally located near I-75 and I-696 to get you to points west and north. Easily accessible up Woodward to Birmingham and down Woodward to Ferndale...as well as to Downtown Detroit. There are kid-friendly events...the Farmers Market...a good library...good schools....and nice housing stock in a wide range of prices.

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Originally Posted by Kathleen

What movie would that be? The Virgin Suicides? Grosse Point Blank? something else?

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That would be Grosse Point Blank... using The Beat's "Mirror in The Bathroom" as the soundtrack to the High School fight scene near the end was pure genius...

I think Huntington Woods is every bit as walkable as the Pointes. Perhaps even a bit more walkable.

Really all those South Oakland communities are walkable. Anything within a mile or so from Woodward, from 8 Mile to 15 Mile, is walkable.

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Originally Posted by Hermod

After living much of my adult life in Virginia where the road "net" is just a bunch of paved over cowpaths that meander around, give me a rectangular grid any day. When there is a problem, you can quickly find an alternate route. That was not possible in Virginia.

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Ha, tell me about it! Arlington is a mess as far as road layout goes.

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Originally Posted by Bham1982

I think Huntington Woods is every bit as walkable as the Pointes. Perhaps even a bit more walkable.

Really all those South Oakland communities are walkable. Anything within a mile or so from Woodward, from 8 Mile to 15 Mile, is walkable.

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Exactly Bham. I don't understand all of the Oakland County haters on here. Yes, there are parts of OC that are not pedestrian friendly but there are parts [[especially in southeast OC) that are just as pedestrian friendly, if not more than GP, city of Detroit, or other urbanized parts of Wayne County.

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Originally Posted by Bham1982

I think Huntington Woods is every bit as walkable as the Pointes. Perhaps even a bit more walkable.

Really all those South Oakland communities are walkable. Anything within a mile or so from Woodward, from 8 Mile to 15 Mile, is walkable.

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Exactly Bham. I don't understand all of the Oakland County haters on here. Yes, there are parts of OC that are not pedestrian friendly but there are parts [[especially in southeast OC) that are just as pedestrian friendly, if not more than GP, city of Detroit, or other urbanized parts of Wayne County.

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Originally Posted by Arkady001

Hi all,

If we decide to purchase outright, we could probably afford something around the $70k mark, if we apply [[successfully) for a mortgage then anything up to $200k is well within our projected finances.
Our preference is for 'old' two storey 4-bed/2 bath brick structures w/basement/utility areas with decent sized yards, 2-car garages and off-road parking for a third/fourth vehicle.

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Welcome Arkady,

Just an fyi for someone who has been actively looking in the gp market for a 4 bed/2 bath home for over 2 years I thought I would just give you a couple of heads up. First, a 4 bed/2 bath is almost impossible to get at this time. This is by far the HOTTEST housing sought after by many young families and these houses usually are sold before they ever hit the market [[trust me on this one). Realtors in the area that get these houses to sell, are selling to their clients and getting the full 6% commission for both the sale and purchase of the house.

With regard to your price point, a 4 bed/2 bath will also be slightly tough unless you are willing to take on a extreme fix-er-upper. For example, the one house that was posted by jst1 [[1122 Kensington, GPP) is a house that needs a LOT of updating and work. Also, it is not a true 4 bed, as you have to walk through one bedroom to get to a sitting type area that they classified as the fourth bedroom.

Don't get me wrong, I highly recommend the Pointes, especially for schooling reasons for your little one. Just thought I might forewarn you that you might want to seriously consider a 3 bed/2 bath house for your particular price point. Just remember, if a 4 bed hits the market in GP and is not already sold, it most likely needs work.

If there are any houses, or if you have any questions about the GP market, please feel free to private message me and i will be happy to answer. I have probably seen ever house that is currently actively listed.

Has the OP been scared off yet with all the tales of crime/corruption? What happened to the couple from Sweden?

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

Has the OP been scared off yet with all the tales of crime/corruption? What happened to the couple from Sweden?

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You get those everywhere - I was born in London and will quite happily walk the streets alone at night even though if you listen to the press stories, it's all about gun-related gang crime...
I figure a small dose of common sense applied to life goes a long way.

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Originally Posted by cman710

Hi Rob,

Have you thought about renting for a year? Doing that would allow you to explore different areas and then make a fully informed decision before sinking $70,000 into a home. The real estate market in the metro Detroit area is still not quite on a definite upward swing, so you might even save money by waiting a year.

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It's not out of the question: we'll know more after I visit in June...