Detroit featured on HGTV last night

**daddeeo** · January-01-10, 11:35 AM

HGTV House Hunters featured a couple wanting to buy a house in Detroit last night. Most shows that feature Detroit focus on the suburbs but this one was strictly inside the city limits.
The three choices involved a house in Indian Village, a warehouse loft not far from the river and a condo in the Book Cadillac.
I was shocked to see the condo fee at the Book Cadillac was $1000 a month. The couple chose the
$400,000 condo in the Book Cadillac to be close to, believe it or not, "where everything is happening".
At first, they mentioned something about raising a family so I figured the Indian Village was a slam dunk.
That house was huge and cheaper than the condo.
Oh well, the gal was originally from Korea so I can understand her not being knowledgeable about the area but her husband was from Detroit.
Where do they expect to send their kids to school?
Anyone else see the show??

**Cincinnati_Kid** · January-01-10, 05:16 PM

No. Does it come back on a different day? I'd like to see it.

**Roq** · January-01-10, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

No. Does it come back on a different day? I'd like to see it.

I think it may be this episode which looks like it will air again in February:

HGTV House Hunters

February 25, 2010
9:30 PM e/p
February 25, 2010
12:30 AM e/p

**iheartthed** · January-01-10, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by daddeeo

At first, they mentioned something about raising a family so I figured the Indian Village was a slam dunk.
That house was huge and cheaper than the condo.
Oh well, the gal was originally from Korea so I can understand her not being knowledgeable about the area but her husband was from Detroit.
Where do they expect to send their kids to school?
Anyone else see the show??

Is there a difference between the school system serving Indian Village and the one serving the Book Cadillac?

**DetroitZack** · January-01-10, 06:08 PM

Their choice kindof surprises me too, but I will have to actually watch the show. I agree that a condo in a high-rise doesn't seem like the place most people would want to be with kids and all. Personally I would want a house with a yard for the kids to play in.

**jerseygirl** · January-01-10, 07:26 PM

Unfortunately I was planning on watching this, actually was going to tape it, and found out that my "lovely" cable carrier in NJ canceled HGTV [[and Food Network) as of Midnight last night. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen this.

**PanicDog** · January-02-10, 12:41 AM

Hi, I am from Seattle and I saw the Detroit version of House Hunters on HGTV too.

Here is the house in Indian Village: http://www.realestateone.com/28155374. It was listed at $399K during the show. It has been reduced to $339K now.

Living [[and renting) in Seattle, I was shocked to see what kind of house you could get for ~$400K in Detroit. From what I can tell, the Indian Village neighborhood looks like a desirable neighborhood, but I looked up recent sales there on Zillow and there are many houses being sold for less than $50K.

Would Indian Village be safe for a family to live in?

**Meddle** · January-02-10, 03:01 AM

Would Indian Village be safe for a family to live in?

I'm sure I'll get jumped on for this, but in my opinion there is NO place within the city limits that is safe or desireable for a family.

**RickBeall** · January-02-10, 03:31 AM

I saw the show. They chose the condo in the Book Caddilac which only had 2 bedrooms. The woman said she wanted a view of the Detroit River and wanted to be near the "action" and all the city night life. [[cough.)

The finished loft [[Park Davis?) was big but weirdly wasteful of space. The ceiling was 18 feet over head but the walls only went up about 8 ft, so they worried that there was no privacy [[he snores). There were only 2 bedrooms [[I think) but there was over 1,500 sq feet [[I think) Right in the middle of the room there was this beautiful circular metal staircase that you had to be careful about bumping into, it went up ... to the 2nd floor you would think, but no it just went to the roof, where you had a little porch, very nice with great views of the Detroit River.

The loft just seemed like so much wasted space to me, especially considering its high cost. Maybe with 18 feet, for a part of it they should have put in a 2nd floor? They called the walls "soft walls". Maybe they are easy to move around, they are not really tied to anything? I never heard that term before. Maybe along with the 2nd floor for some of the space, they should have sent walls up to the ceiling.

The Indian Village home was gorgeous. It was in primo condition. It was a little more "heavy Victorian" than my taste, but it was an eye catcher. It had 5 bedrooms and cost less than the condo. It had a lot of grass yard around it. But wow, you would probably spend thousands of dollars buying furniture for it.

Somehow, living in a hotel, call it a condo if you want, would not appeal to me. I imagine it would not be a lot of fun lugging groceries up out of the garage, past the hotel desk, and up 9 stories [[even with the elevator). As a benefit, they can ring room service just like they were a hotel guest. Damn, for $1,000 a month condo cost, they should get free food don't ya think? Ha ha.

Unlike Meddle, I think you can safely raise kids in Detroit. Ummmm, lots of folk do it.

I imagine the woman will exhaust the night life in down town Detroit in about 2 weeks, then what will she do?

There is a lot to do in Detroit, but you almost have to be a native to find it; and it might help to be able to enjoy things on the funky side of life I don't know if she is going to capture that living in a guarded tower breathing filtered air. Which reminds me to change the air filter on the furnace.

**Pam** · January-02-10, 09:08 AM

Would Indian Village be safe for a family to live in?

There are a lot of families living there. BTW, they have private security patrols.

**gazhekwe** · January-02-10, 09:19 AM

I saw part of that show a month or so ago, I think. I was surprised by her choice as well. I think the upkeep will be a lot easier on the condo. Every time I see that House Hunters show, the prices astound me.

A co-worker of mine moved downtown a few years back because of the great nightlife. He ended up disappointed after a year or so. Luckily he was renting, so didn't have to sell to move. Where did he end up? Lathrup Village, nightlife capital of Oakland County, NOT!

**Baselinepunk** · January-02-10, 09:54 AM

My wife and I watched it. We were pretty floored at the amount for these places and we wondering if this show may be a little dated, say just before the bottom dropped out of everything around here?

That loft with the soft walls was a joke. It looks to me like the contractor ran outta cash and couldn't do a second floor, or perhaps something else fiduciary related. If that was the case, I would have left more open space and ran the walls full for the bedrooms. IMHO, your housing stock has got to be pretty limited in order to take a chance on a design like this. That staircase ... bad, bad, bad.

The Indian Village home was just drop-down gorgeous; a true Detroit beauty [[looking past the decor and furnishings).

**daddeeo** · January-02-10, 09:56 AM

My wife saw the show with me and we agreed that couple might not last long together. She leads him around like a dog.
He should know better than to let her decide to buy that condo.
I thought to myself, "You'll be sorry".
What they got was a bit different than the model too. The windows were smaller and the layout changed a bit too.
That Indian Village house rocked. I'd be worried about security anywhere in Detroit though. Even Rosedale Park has problems these days.

**Baselinepunk** · January-02-10, 10:21 AM

My wife and I were thinking that because she's pretty damn good looking that this guy had a really good job and didn't mind pampering her; I mean dude's a nice guy, but he snores and looks like he hit more than a few branches falling outta the ugly tree.

**PanicDog** · January-02-10, 12:45 PM

Are there a lot of empty homes in Indian Village? I see some high end homes listed [[$850K-$350K), but if you look at recent sales nothing has sold for higher than $150K and there are a lot of sales for around $50K. Is it a mix of homes that have been maintained and those that have not or are the homes consistently well maintained but the neighborhood is going down the drain?

**xphillipjrx** · January-02-10, 04:44 PM

Those reality shows get made up to create the most appealing story possible. I am in a scene from the My First Place episode that is going to air Jan 19. A friend of mine bought a condo and she was filmed during the process. She called her boyfriend a few times to get his opinion on a few things and the producers made it out to be that she couldn't pull the trigger until he gave his blessing. In reality my friend was the only person buying the place and it was all her call.

Don't judge that couple off of 22 minutes of footage.

**cman710** · January-02-10, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by RickBeall

Somehow, living in a hotel, call it a condo if you want, would not appeal to me. I imagine it would not be a lot of fun lugging groceries up out of the garage, past the hotel desk, and up 9 stories [[even with the elevator). As a benefit, they can ring room service just like they were a hotel guest. Damn, for $1,000 a month condo cost, they should get free food don't ya think? Ha ha.

Rick, I agree with most of what you said, but at the Book-Cadillac, you would not need to lug groceries through the hotel. Condo owners get spots in the garage on Griswold. From the third or fourth floor of the garage [[I do not recall which now), there is a card reader, which allows you to open a door and walk across a bridge directly into the residential lobby area.

**RickBeall** · January-02-10, 07:10 PM

Still, I would rather park in the garage and walk right into the kitchen with my bags.

'Course, in my previous apartment in Hamtramck, I did not have a driveway at all, so I would be walking from random places in the street ... or have a hangover and have absolutely no idea where my car was that morning. So, I guess it's not a game changer. ;-)

**SJ.Jet** · January-04-10, 09:21 AM

If you want to see episodes, there are websites that show TV shows, such as HULA or it might even be on the HGTV website. I saw that show quite awhile ago. LOVED the Indian Village house. Nowadays, I watch till the end of the show to see when it was actually made, that way you can tell if it was before or after the realestate bubble burst...

**Spaulding** · January-04-10, 10:02 AM

PanicDog,

Indian Village and the Villages area are a great place to live. Two years ago we got hit hard by foreclosures and had many empty homes, but the neighborhood has come back. The Villages are one of the best places in the City of Detroit to live, and people are taking advantage of the low home prices and purchasing the beautiful and affordable homes.

Check the www.thevillagesofdetroit.com for more information about the area.

**Detroit500** · January-04-10, 10:05 AM

i'm sure John Ferchill was thrilled, not only for someone actually buying one of the condos, but also for the publicity.

**brandon48202** · January-04-10, 11:26 AM

Darn, I missed it. At the end of the show they ususally have a scene where the buyers are shown in their new home after they moved in. Did they actually buy this place and move in?

**daddeeo** · January-04-10, 12:36 PM

Yeah, they bought it hook, line and sinker. They actually noted that the windows were smaller than the model and a few other differences too.
I'm afraid the guy just does what his wife wants.
He's in for a surprise because he was talking about having a family and she was talking about being around where all the action is.
Living in the Book Cadillac is a lot different than living in Indian Village if you want to raise a family.
Plus, that $1000 monthly condo fee really bites the big one.

**RickBeall** · January-04-10, 12:44 PM

They ended up with what looks like a dorm room.

**spkrart** · April-10-10, 07:28 PM

Indian Village is on the East side along Jefferson Avenue, near the old Roostertail. Yes, the homes are very big, like Palmer Woods with big lawns but less English Tudor, and were beautiful at one time, and some of them may have been kept up like the one on HGTV, I'm sure for resale. I used to drive by there every day on the way to Wayne med school, but there were lots of dope houses and whorehouses and burnt-out buildings with boarded windows throughout Indian Village. It was all Black no Whites that I could see at that time, and looked very scary to a young med student, not middle-class at all because of the mixed landscape Guarded or not you wouldn't let your kids out after dark. It's no Bloomfield Hills. The Book Cadillac is a Westin Hotel that they recently renovated, I guess to try to bring some value back to their original hotel and at considerable expense. The neighborhood around it is not safe under any circumstances, unless some miracle has occurred in the last few years. The condo price tag reflects what Westin spent on the renovations, not the value in that neighborhood, if my guess is correct. The couple that purchased that Condo didn't make the wisest choice. They could have done much better in other parts of Detroit. The Fifth for instance. Walled Lake. What action is she talking about? Drugs? Drive by's. Armed robberies?