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Moving to the Detroit area
Mongrel Idiot
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My wife and I will shortly be moving in order to be roughly midway between her job in Grosse Pointe and my job in Ann Arbor, and I'm looking for some advice on neighborhoods and towns to investigate and watch out for. We're both from little towns, and don't have a great sense of how to distinguish a decent place with a bad reputation from an actually bad place; additionally, we've both lived most of our lives in places where crime isn't a significant problem. I commuted to Dearborn for a while, and it seemed reasonable enough, but driving in and back out is different from living there.
So far, we've identified Livonia, Southfield, Dearborn, Taylor, and Alan Park as potential places. That's a pretty early and tentative list, though.
I'm hoping to get a few pointers on what to look for and look out for as we're hunting for a place to rent, both specific to the area ("Don't move to Inkster!") and general ("Avoid towns with armed checkpoints at the entrance"). And if you happen to be a friendly landlord with an affordable place in a great neighborhood, that's great, too!
Thanks much!
So far, we've identified Livonia, Southfield, Dearborn, Taylor, and Alan Park as potential places. That's a pretty early and tentative list, though.
I'm hoping to get a few pointers on what to look for and look out for as we're hunting for a place to rent, both specific to the area ("Don't move to Inkster!") and general ("Avoid towns with armed checkpoints at the entrance"). And if you happen to be a friendly landlord with an affordable place in a great neighborhood, that's great, too!
Thanks much!
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I'd say up front that splitting between Grosse Point and A2, commuting is going to be terrible for one of you or pretty shitty for both of you. If there's a disparity between your jobs (i.e. she's making $30k in retail, you're making $60k in a career position) you should try and optimize the commute to the better long-term prospect.
Downriver can be hit or miss - some areas are rougher than others, generally Taylor is known to be kinda crappy and rednecky (Taylortucky) but most of the places aren't that bad or have decent areas. Generally, the closer you get to the river and further you get from Detroit the nicer everything gets, but you'll trade off with a longer commute. Without knowing your budget, I'd say your list isn't bad, but add Wyandotte and Belleville to the list. Also check out Huron Twp - it's a bit more rural but traffic isn't bad up 275 and you're only a few miles south of 94.
You could even consider somewhere like Flat Rock - she can take 75 up and you can hop across to 275 - like I said, it's not that bad a drive (i did Newport to A2 for a few years -- it's almost all freeway and not terrible).
I generally can't stand the traffic on 275/696/96 between Canton and Novi but if you can find somewhere off 14 or 96 east of 275 the commute shouldn't be that overly painful for either of you. That's a FAST stretch of freeway.
Generally though, I'd go looking at anywhere along 94 and 96 except Inkster, Ypsi, Willow Run, or Detroit and find somewhere you like. Melvindale, Wayne, and Romulus are shaky but not all bad. Take some time to walk the neighborhoods and check how bad the traffic will be going to / from work (take a day off and try your commute) but there's not going to be someplace that's overwhelmingly good or bad in that list.
I used to live in Ypsilanti, but that was so long ago I couldn't really tell you about it these days.
but they're listening to every word I say
We actually lived in Belleville; I'd more or less forgotten that it was in Wayne County. It wasn't bad, but probably too far west.
Definitely good advice; thanks!
@Robonun : Thanks, but it looks like Commerce Township is a bit too far, unfortunately.
If you are looking around Royal Oak, Ferndale has become a really great town in the last few years.
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This is good to hear.
Yup, relatively recent transplant too.
Redford gets a big meh... If you've got kids or planning on them, school districts can be awesome or awful in less than a mile, just something to keep in mind.