Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Detroit is definitely a sports town...hands down and by FAR!! Regardless of the economy, all 4 sports teams manage sell out crowds. The Wings had some issues this year but as the season went on it was back to normal. And now that they are in the playoffs, time for the bandwagon phonies to show up. The Tigers have already sold record breaking amounts of tix...all of this in a down economy. The Lions BLOW and sell out all of their games. The Pistons rock as usual.....Add in U of M with 107,000 seats sold out regularly and Detroit is a sports town.
I definitely see where you come with this, but I think a lot of people don't like sports and fend quite well. Don't get me wrong, I love the sports teams' followings; it is great to have pride in our city and the teams that represent it! I do however agree when a city Minnesota called themselves the new hockey town. With this year, we didn't deserve it. We were something like 11th in the hockey league in terms of ticket sales.
There is a lot of college pride, and with the rivalries between MSU and U of M, that makes it even more. But to say you have to like sports in Detroit isn't completely correct. There are tons of sports fans here, I agree. Though I don't think you'd know that watching Bernie Smilovitz's sportscast on Local 4; 30 seconds of sports and 5 minutes of 20 year old video arcade clips.
A gas bill of $150 would be awesome. I will not tell you what we pay.
Hummm....your bill must be much higher? Ouch.
Yes, I am hanging onto every word. We are more attracted to neighborhoods with fences. "Good fences make good neighbors" With ankle biters still around, we might stay away from the Lake areas too?? My husband has read that the number one cause of death among two year olds is drowning.
Would it be fair to not judge a house by its square footage because of the space in the basement? I have read that each person in a family needs approximately 500 sq feet. (i.e. 2000 sq. ft. house would be a nice size for a family of four.)
A gas bill of $150 would be awesome. I will not tell you what we pay.
Hummm....your bill must be much higher? Ouch.
Yes, I am hanging onto every word. We are more attracted to neighborhoods with fences. "Good fences make good neighbors" With ankle biters still around, we might stay away from the Lake areas too?? My husband has read that the number one cause of death among two year olds is drowning.
Would it be fair to not judge a house by its square footage because of the space in the basement? I have read that each person in a family needs approximately 500 sq feet. (i.e. 2000 sq. ft. house would be a nice size for a family of four.)
Any thoughts?
My gas bills aren't that high I don't think. We are on a tight budget and I know when the electric bills come in over $150 it's bad news.
I know lots of newer neighborhoods love to not put up fences. My uncle's house in Commerce is from the 70s and has no fences. My dad's neighborhood in Bloomfield Twsp has no regulations against fences, but no one has them. Personally I like living with fences, and we have them here. And if you're concerned about drowning, you may want to not buy a house on a lake.
Basements are generally the same sq footage of the main floor, unless they are a partial basement. My house is about 1100 sq ft, the basement adds another 1100, but this isnt added into the total sq footage. Also, unless there are certain window sizes and escape routes, you can't classify basement space as living area or bedrooms. But you could still use it that way. My basement is completely unfinished and is all storage. I know many people with incredibly well done basements.
I definitely see where you come with this, but I think a lot of people don't like sports and fend quite well. Don't get me wrong, I love the sports teams' followings; it is great to have pride in our city and the teams that represent it! I do however agree when a city Minnesota called themselves the new hockey town. With this year, we didn't deserve it. We were something like 11th in the hockey league in terms of ticket sales.
There is a lot of college pride, and with the rivalries between MSU and U of M, that makes it even more. But to say you have to like sports in Detroit isn't completely correct. There are tons of sports fans here, I agree. Though I don't think you'd know that watching Bernie Smilovitz's sportscast on Local 4; 30 seconds of sports and 5 minutes of 20 year old video arcade clips.
Yes...nobody has to be into any one thing to be able to have a good life in a particular area....I was just contesting your comment about it not being a sports town. It is one regardless of your personal interests(not trying to be mean...just stating a fact) Any town that has 2 sports radio stations is a sports town. Case in point, log onto freep.com at any point during the day or night. 90 percent of the time a sports headline is staring you in the face. When times are tough, this is one thing that can lift the spirits of an entire area.
Also, Sporting news magazine voted Detroit "best sports town" in 2006 and Maxim voted it the same in 2007. To be honest, most big cities near Detroit are also sports towns. This includes Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh...with Detroit being the best, of course
Last edited by nycjefftrain; 04-10-2008 at 11:43 PM..
Because heat is the #1 contributor to gas bills, they're going to vary widely from family-to-family. I wouldn't even bother asking people what they pay in total, but that's just me.
Winters in Detroit aren't bad if you're from the midwest. Snow is cleared efficiently (compared to southern climes where they aren't used to it, don't budget for its removal, etc.) and while it slows down your commute, it's also pretty. I actually look forward to it (though I live on the west side of the state now, I grew up next-door to Commerce Twp).
Meijer is open 24 hours. Everywhere. It's a Michigan original, HQ'ed in Grand Rapids. Find one as soon as you get here and check it out. I personally think it puts Wal-Mart to shame. Target has nicer stuff, but no groceries for the most part (though there are some Super-Targets now, I think).
TV in Detroit is pretty good. Buy an antenna to go with your Cable/Dish so that you can get CBC from Canada. They broadcast exceptional children's television programming (akin to PBS' offerings) and most people I know with little ones still like having CBC as an option.
Be prepared for negativity right now. With our economy in the dumps here in Michigan, people are really down on the state as a whole. It's unfortunate...I think it's a great place to live.
Check out the local county parks, city parks, township parks, metro-parks and state parks. I think the Detroit suburban park systems, and the state park system here in Michigan are pretty much unrivaled by anything east of the Mississippi. Parks are generally cheap (<$30/year for a state park pass compare that to more than double that in NY), well maintained and on some great land.
Here are a few links to help you with parks. There are a bunch of park systems, so that's confusing (to me at least). Hopefully these links help. State Parks near commerce twp
Commerce Township Parks-n-Rec (http://www.commercetwp.com/Parks%20and%20Recreation/Parks_Rec.htm - broken link) Oakland County Parks Huron-Clinton Metroparks
Gas bill will completely depend on what size of house you buy. If ours was $150/month we would pass out from the excitement! I'm not sure where you live in Texas, but let's face it: it's hot EVERYWHERE in the summer in TX. So, we have found that our gas is pretty comparable to what we paid for electric in the summers in Dallas. Keep that in mind, because you won't use even half the amount of air conditioning here, as you use in Texas.
As for Commerce Twp, I think you will really just have to visit and see for yourself. You can certainly find houses that are not on the lake. Same in West Bloomfield (next door to Commerce). For instance, in the realtor's ad for our house, it said that our subdivision was on a certain lake. Well, we're not. I have young kids too, but they would have to be gone a pretty long time to get to the lake. It's not in our back yard. Most of the homes that are right on the water are $$$$$$ anyway!
Snow is snow, and there is just no getting around it, unfortunately. They do an excellent job of clearing the roads as quickly as possible, though. And they do plow the main roads in Commerce quickly.
You will love having a basement. Especially if it is finished. I did factor in the s/f of our basement, because it is finished and has a bedroom and bathroom. It is the playroom for our kids, too. They play in the living area of the basement.
As for surprises? Here's my list of things that surprised us. Keep in mind we have never lived outside of Texas and have no relatives or friends in the Midwest either, so we were TOTAL rookies!
1. Snow gear. You will need it. The kids will need good, heavy snow jackets, snow pants, hats, gloves and boots. You will need all of that too. So factor in the cost for each family member, and it isn't cheap! Also, a good shovel or two, and if possible, a snow blower. If the winters continue to be like this one, you will be shoveling your driveway a LOT.
2. Taxes. Unless you or your husband are good at taxes, you might need to hire someone to help you file. My husband is in the finance industry, so he did ours, but even he said they were incredibly confusing. Mostly due to going from a state with no state tax, to one that has one.
3. There are tons of unexpected costs we have come across since we've been here. Like, you have to have your sprinklers blown out at the end of fall, and then have them turned back on after the last freeze. WTF? That was so foreign to me! Each time, it was $50 or $75. Gas is higher. Food is a little higher (milk, etc.). LABOR - OMG - labor is much higher. The economy is so bad, and they don't have cheap laborers here. So, if something breaks in your house, expect to pay more than you are probably used to.
I can't think of anything else, but I'll post more if I think of something.
I definitely see where you come with this, but I think a lot of people don't like sports and fend quite well. Don't get me wrong, I love the sports teams' followings; it is great to have pride in our city and the teams that represent it! I do however agree when a city Minnesota called themselves the new hockey town. With this year, we didn't deserve it. We were something like 11th in the hockey league in terms of ticket sales.
There is a lot of college pride, and with the rivalries between MSU and U of M, that makes it even more. But to say you have to like sports in Detroit isn't completely correct. There are tons of sports fans here, I agree. Though I don't think you'd know that watching Bernie Smilovitz's sportscast on Local 4; 30 seconds of sports and 5 minutes of 20 year old video arcade clips.
Also, keep in mind that most transplants aren't going to fall in love with all the Detroit teams. We LOVE sports, but not Michigan sports. Could care less about MSU or U of M. Same with Tigers, Pistons, etc.
I think this happens anywhere. My friends in Dallas that were from MI and WI would always wear Packers and MSU stuff. No big deal. They will never love the Cowboys or the Longhorns.
I agree with the clothing. I had to buy the whole family "real" winter coats when we first moved here. You may be able to find some on clearance this time of year, but that took a big chunk of change our first fall here. You'll have to buy snow boots too, and plenty of snow pants and gloves, hats and such for the kids. I don't know about Detroit, but up here in Northern Michigan, even the kindergarteners have huge lockers to put all of their snow clothes in during the winter. My kids are still wearing their snow clothes at recess up here. I was really glad that my kids were a bit older so that I didn't have to dress them in winter.
You'll also have to get used to lots of salt and sand on your car, inside the house, etc... It's not a kind place to car exteriors... lots of rust...
Our school actually teaches swimming in 4th grade for 8 hours a kid. It's amazing. With so many lakes, it's considered a "life skill" here.
I love the snow too. It's really not as bad as I thought it'd be. You go into a kind of forced hiberbnation state during the winter, which forces you to slow down and do fun stuff like quilting, baking, or skiing if you get antsy(you can bake year round, because it doesn't "heat up the kitchen"). Up here in a rural area, I keep the pantry well-stocked for days if I can't go anywhere. My kids had something like 10 snow days this past year, but again, I'm further north. Despite the complaining I hear, I think they do a great job keeping up with the roads during the winter. Plus, it's flat here, and unlike Oregon, where I learned to drive in the snow, there's no cliff to drop off of if you spin out. You have to SLOW down mostly. Most Detroiters up here complain at how impatient drivers are down there of slow pokes, but up here, if you slow down, the car behind you does too, and backs off, which is nice. I guess we all know there's lots of tourists who don't know how to drive in the winter. Make sure you have good snow tires, or all season tires. We bought a car in New Orleans, and it was fine until the snow started falling, then it was almost undrivable. One new set of good tires though, and it was good to go. Everyone will try to tell you you need 4 wheel drive, but I don't think that's true, unless you have a job that requires it, which most folks don't.
I also agree that there is a tremendous amount of negativity here. It is really hard to put up with sometimes. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me why on earth did you move to MICHIGAN (from Oregon)? After hearing that 100+ times, I begin to ask myself the same question. This place, despite what everyone says, is doing much better than lots of places (hey, I grew up in the deep south), and has great medical care, schools, higher education, is central to so many things, beautiful lakes, hard working honest people who care about families. I think the main reason is that most Michiganians have never lived anwhere else, and don't have anything to compare their state to.
This place, despite what everyone says, is doing much better than lots of places (hey, I grew up in the deep south), and has great medical care, schools, higher education, is central to so many things, beautiful lakes, hard working honest people who care about families. I think the main reason is that most Michiganians have never lived anwhere else, and don't have anything to compare their state to.
HTH
Agreed! I was born and raised in West Michigan and was blessed with parents that had a bit of wanderlust in their bones. I was dragged all over the country for vacations and moved several times to different areas of the country as well. Lived a couple of years just outside of Dallas, TX, have lived in the Northeast, and there is no place like home. IMHO most people that complain about the state, haven't been anyplace else. "Familiarity breeds contempt" is so true when it deals with places as well as people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thanks
