The future of Grosse Pointe housing

[boater4life]

I'm really interested in purchasing a house in the Grosse Pointe area. Probably the Woods, Shores, or Farms areas. Being so close to Detroit is always concerning with this area and the future impact it might have on it. I love Kercheval shops, restaurants, and stores also along Mack. Selection of pretty good public schools and an option of private schools as well. What do you guys think happens with the Grosse Pointe area in 15-20 years. Does it still stay middle class to upper middle class? It seems as though it has avoided the plague that is the East side of Detroit for some time now and has kept property values higher, but can that continue? Or are property values destined to take a big hit sooner or later?

[Bham1982]

You are about to get a variety of answers.

Long story short, if you believe that the region's core is about to boom, and the sprawl is about to wither, then the Pointes are a good long-term bet.

If you believe the sprawl will continue, and the region's core will continue to face severe challenges, then the Pointes are a poor long-term bet.

The Pointes have underperformed for 40 years now, in tandem with sprawl and businesses headed north and west out of the regional core. They used to have the most expensive housing in Metro Detroit and are now pretty cheap compared to most nice suburbs. Dirt cheap compared to Bloomfield-Birmingham area. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.

[boater4life]

I should also mention that I currently live in Bloomfield Hills. However, I'm just looking for something different than the mindset that goes with living here. I feel Birmingham, while a nice area, is completely fake. It's hard to even have a normal conversation with someone without them talking about there job, house, or other material aspects associated with how much money they have. In GP, is it like this as well, or do the residents care about other things than money?

[Bham1982]

I should also mention that I currently live in Bloomfield Hills. However, I'm just looking for something different than the mindset that goes with living here. I feel Birmingham, while a nice area, is completely fake. It's hard to even have a normal conversation with someone without them talking about there job, house, or other material aspects associated with how much money they have. In GP, is it like this as well, or do the residents care about other things than money?

Birmingham is indeed fake and shallow. I would assume that the Pointes are nowhere near as bad in this regard. That's a different conversation, though.

[bust]

Wow, Bham, I'm impressed by your balanced opinion. And I agree. I expected you to excoriate Grosse Pointe.

Personally I believe the trend into the exurbs has come to an end. The Detroit area led the nation in white flight into the hinterlands, and it lags behind many other cities revitalizing the urban core, but the trend is finally reversing. Not everyone agrees, but I'd rather live among the ones who do. And I hope it will reach critical mass relatively soon.

Grosse Pointe is as close as you can get to downtown and have great schools and a safe community. It doesn't attract a lot of people in their 20's but it's still a great place to raise kids.

And I believe in selling high and buying low.

Also boater4life, I see you love boats. There are few places better for a boater to live than on the shore of Lake St Clair.

There are amazing homes in Grosse Pointe. Good luck!

[313WX]

Personally, I don't think purchasing a home anywhere in Michigan is a good long-term investment.

The state has done nothing to sufficiently diversity beyond the auto industry and another downturn will happen sooner or later [[which could be more severe than the last one, as we're repeating the same mistakes we did back in the early 2000s). That's not even to speak on the crumbling infrastructure because the state/local governments are already so cash-strapped.

And I wouldn't want to be held back with a home I can't sell if I need to suddenly up and leave the state for better opportunities.

But as far as Grosse Pointe itself in the near term, I agree with Bham1982.

[MikeM]

Haven't you been saying this for a couple of years now?

[313WX]

Haven't you been saying this for a couple of years now?

Are you talking to me?

And if so, the answer is yes. I haven't observed anything that would make me say otherwise.

[401don]

Haven't you been saying this for a couple of years now?

Which is about as long as this guy has been house searching on here.

[Goose]

Grosse Pointe will soon become a communnity of two different classes.. if you can afford the private schools, and the very large and nice homes, than you will be in one group, if you live in the average modest bungalow and are going to rely on public schools, you are in the other group... the public schools system in GP will continue to decline, as seen in the lowest testing results in schools like Poupard and Parcells, and lower scores at GPNorth HS vs. South HS. The rich that can afford the private schooling and care about their kids education will increasingly pull their kids from the public schools exasperating the decline. Unless you are moving into the 500K+ area of housing in the Pointes... long term prognosis from me isnt good.... [[im in the woods, i just bought, i have kids in the system, would have never bought if i already didnt have kids in the schools, think by the time the last graduates it will be similar to when my parents moved out of the eastside of detroit)......

[mwilbert]

I agree with Bham, but at a lesser amplitude.

Because of its location, the Pointes have been disadvantaged by the decline of Detroit to a greater extent than a lot of other suburbs. Now that Detroit's decline is slowing/ending/turning around [[depending on your level of optimism and how important you think it is that a lot of neighborhoods aren't getting any better) that disadvantage is likely to diminish. But sprawl in SE Michigan isn't over, and Detroit still has lots of issues, especially on the east side. There will probably be continued improvement moving up East Jefferson, but how long that takes to get over to Mack I wouldn't guess--it isn't the main path of redevelopment, that's for sure. On the other hand, the more that downtown improves and becomes more of a center of employment and entertainment the more beneficial for the Pointes, regardless of what happens elsewhere in the city.

[Danny]

Does Richville has public housing? I tried to look around and I don't see any.

[SyGolden48236]

I'm really interested in purchasing a house in the Grosse Pointe area. Probably the Woods, Shores, or Farms areas. Being so close to Detroit is always concerning with this area and the future impact it might have on it. I love Kercheval shops, restaurants, and stores also along Mack. Selection of pretty good public schools and an option of private schools as well. What do you guys think happens with the Grosse Pointe area in 15-20 years. Does it still stay middle class to upper middle class? It seems as though it has avoided the plague that is the East side of Detroit for some time now and has kept property values higher, but can that continue? Or are property values destined to take a big hit sooner or later?

You have been starting threads on this very same subject for over a year now. I believe that you are just trying to stir up the hornet's nest.

[Gpwrangler]

Jesus. Here we go again.

[SyGolden48236]

Best to just let this thread fade away and die.

[Honky Tonk]

You have been starting threads on this very same subject for over a year now. I believe that you are just trying to stir up the hornet's nest.

Yeah, a giant ASIAN hornet's nest....

[ABetterDetroit]

Yeah, a giant ASIAN hornet's nest....

With UGLY smokestacks that something needs to be done about...

[erikd]

You are about to get a variety of answers.

Long story short, if you believe that the region's core is about to boom, and the sprawl is about to wither, then the Pointes are a good long-term bet.

If you believe the sprawl will continue, and the region's core will continue to face severe challenges, then the Pointes are a poor long-term bet.

The Pointes have underperformed for 40 years now, in tandem with sprawl and businesses headed north and west out of the regional core. They used to have the most expensive housing in Metro Detroit and are now pretty cheap compared to most nice suburbs. Dirt cheap compared to Bloomfield-Birmingham area. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.

I think that the situation is more nuanced than that. There is a significant increase in demand for walkable, traditional-style environments, which is driving investment into places like downtown, midtown, Corktown, Woodbridge, the Villages, etc. This is also happening in the older suburbs, which is why places like Royal Oak and Ferndale are seeing significant investment and rebirth, while places like Southfield and Warren are not.

This is a fairly recent national trend, but it continues to grow every year, without any signs of slowing down.

Over the next decade or so, I expect that we will see strong growth in the desirable areas of the core, and also see a continuation of new development on the suburban fringe. The development pattern will not be as linear as it has been in the past.

[boater4life]

Not trying to stir things up. I would really like to be on the shores of lake st. clair and in or near grosse pointe. Trying to get my better half on the same page as me isn't as easy however, especially with better schools in oakland county. Therefore I'm seeing how things change over the course of 10 months or a year [[not just stirring up a hornets nest).

[p69rrh51]

Bham has ABSOLUTELY​ no clue what is going here. Someday he will go away and die. As for boater4life you are a moron. You bring this stupid subject up every 6 months or so. Either move here or stop this BS.

[hybridy]

The pointes have eastpointe, harper woods, st Clair shores and Detroit - Wayne County and Jefferson ave, closer to cbd

Birmingham /Bloomfield have franklin, Beverly hills, birmingham, royal oak, Southfield, Pontiac- Oakland county and woodward, farther to cbd

Long run- I'm betting on woodward

[Honky Tonk]

Bham has ABSOLUTELY​ no clue what is going here. Someday he will go away and die. As for boater4life you are a moron. You bring this stupid subject up every 6 months or so. Either move here or stop this BS.

It's not good to keep your feelings pent up.

[Honky Tonk]

I'm really interested in purchasing a house in the Grosse Pointe area. Probably the Woods, Shores, or Farms areas. Being so close to Detroit is always concerning with this area and the future impact it might have on it. I love Kercheval shops, restaurants, and stores also along Mack. Selection of pretty good public schools and an option of private schools as well. What do you guys think happens with the Grosse Pointe area in 15-20 years. Does it still stay middle class to upper middle class? It seems as though it has avoided the plague that is the East side of Detroit for some time now and has kept property values higher, but can that continue? Or are property values destined to take a big hit sooner or later?

DUDE! You really need to start writing this down. I'm going to give you my same free no charge advice I gave you when you first appeared over the horizon, RENT! There are plenty of nice apartments, townhouses, flats, homes, etc., in the GP area for you to live your drunken power boater affluent lifestyle. By becoming a resident, you'll also get free parking for that oversized, gas-guzzling stinkboat of yours. Spend a few summers rubbing elbows with the poor and nameless, get to know "the ropes", as we say, and make up your own damn mind whether or not you "fit in" and want to invest. Believe me, there are plenty of superficial phoney-baloney assholes in the Pointes, just like there are anywhere else. Present company accepted, of course.

[Bham1982]

Bham has ABSOLUTELY​ no clue what is going here. Someday he will go away and die. As for boater4life you are a moron. You bring this stupid subject up every 6 months or so. Either move here or stop this BS.

Someone is a bit cranky about their property values. Carry on with the juvenile insults; numbers don't lie.

[Hermod]

Go for Marine City. Walkable downtown, access to urbanity but distant from the problems, just a hop-skip-jump from Lake Huron cruising for your yacht.