Moving to Ann Arbor Area from Colorado (Jackson, Ypsilanti: real estate, apartment complexes)

[TimberTrail]

Hi everyone,

We are going to be relocating to Ann Arbor area from Englewood, Colorado in the summer of 2020.

We are at 40s, and work at home, so location must have a good internet service and mobile phone service.

Looking for advice on neighborhoods in the area.

Typically pros and cons comparing Ann Arbor with Saline and Dexter, or other nearby subs.

The top facts in our preference list would be:
1. Safety
2. Maintaining good value of the real estate
3. Quiet community

thank you!
Mike

[NoMansLands]

Hi Mike,
A2 is a lot like Boulder, a university town that half empties during the summer. It always retains its real estate values going up year after year (maybe a burp during the 2008 bubble).
As for neighborhoods I would avoid the cut up old houses in the downtown area, they are mostly student rentals and can be a noisy area between students and businesses. Purchase in a more traditional subdivision or west of main street, that would be the "right side of the tracks" in this case (yes there's railroad tracks there). If you can walk to the U diag in ten minutes, the house is probably too close to those cut up into flats, imho.
Saline and Dexter are just quieter small towns, they're both decent, safe, and clean. Chelsea is another one. A2 is very safe, but you can look at any house on realtor.com and hit the "crime" button at the top of the page and see the statistics for the neighborhood. The closer you are to Ypsilanti, the more the crime rate rises, so I would stay north of 94 and west of 23. I personally prefer the Dexter to Chelsea area over Saline.
Internet and cell phone service should be no problem.

[scorpio516]

Almost everything else is the same. Dexter MIGHT have the best schools. Everything away from campus or downtown is quiet. However if you don't want to ever hear anything, you've got to go out to the villages. 8 Saturdays a year, 100,000 people drive into Ann Arbor, it all gets loud.

[TimberTrail]

Originally Posted by NoMansLands

A2 is a lot like Boulder, a university town that half empties during the summer. It always retains its real estate values going up year after year (maybe a burp during the 2008 bubble).
As for neighborhoods I would avoid the cut up old houses in the downtown area, they are mostly student rentals and can be a noisy area between students and businesses. Purchase in a more traditional subdivision or west of main street, that would be the "right side of the tracks" in this case (yes there's railroad tracks there). If you can walk to the U diag in ten minutes, the house is probably too close to those cut up into flats, imho.

Make sense!

I personally prefer the Dexter to Chelsea area over Saline.

Would you mind sharing the reason?

Thank you for the helpful shares

[TimberTrail]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

Almost everything else is the same. Dexter MIGHT have the best schools. Everything away from campus or downtown is quiet. However if you don't want to ever hear anything, you've got to go out to the villages. 8 Saturdays a year, 100,000 people drive into Ann Arbor, it all gets loud.

, I meditation everyday, but do enjoy social life as well.

So suburb should work for me.

Thanks

[lake825]

it depends how much land you want, do you want to rent or own, and do you have kids to send to school? public or private? because you work from home, some people in Ann Arbor like to live in the townships, get more land and live the metro / farm life style, where they feel they can go into the city/ town but still have chickens and goats or whatever on their land for their young kids, also pay lower taxes in the townships. ann arbor has a complicated choice in school system, from surrounding towns, you can basically get into the schools you want. why are you moving?

[TimberTrail]

Originally Posted by lake825

it depends how much land you want, do you want to rent or own, and do you have kids to send to school? public or private? because you work from home, some people in Ann Arbor like to live in the townships, get more land and live the metro / farm life style, where they feel they can go into the city/ town but still have chickens and goats or whatever on their land for their young kids, also pay lower taxes in the townships. ann arbor has a complicated choice in school system, from surrounding towns, you can basically get into the schools you want. why are you moving?

My kid went to college already, so I am free man
But a good school district will help maintaining the value of the property, that is the only consideration on this.

Intend to own a property, but rental should work as well.

Metro/farm life style sounds interesting, thanks for the point, I will look into it.

The reason I moving is there is a potential customer in Michigan for the company, and also some potential customers at Toronto, and Ann Arbor area is the best area of Michigan in my understanding.

[lake825]

if you are not worried about schools, a lot of people are purchasing condos and lofts near the downtown area as well. you should have plenty of choices, most house rentals don't allow dogs, but all the apartment complexes do, that is another thing to consider. ann arbor is not as much of a city as denver, nor boulder, it's quieter, in my opinion. most people do find it the best place to live in michigan though, traverse city is also good, more recreation up north there.

[TimberTrail]

Originally Posted by lake825

if you are not worried about schools, a lot of people are purchasing condos and lofts near the downtown area as well. you should have plenty of choices, most house rentals don't allow dogs, but all the apartment complexes do, that is another thing to consider. ann arbor is not as much of a city as denver, nor boulder, it's quieter, in my opinion. most people do find it the best place to live in michigan though, traverse city is also good, more recreation up north there.

Thanks for the inputs, never looking into that north yet

[TimberTrail]

Hi Everyone

Thank you for the help

I nailed it down to this area:

Thornton farms at Jackson Road cross S Parker Road

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2878.../data=!3m1!1e3

anything unusual or should be aware of?