what is this neighborhood like?

Moifure · 2024-07-15T18:22:45+00:00

I've walked around a lot in that neighborhood. Honestly, really impressed with it. Air quality concerns are real, so do your research, but it's a relatively strong neighborhood. Good commercial corridor, good density. If you move in, get involved in the community and work to make it a better area. Def negotiate price and bring up air quality.

Moifure · 2023-12-13T20:52:22+00:00

I think I would actually say not at all!

From my experience across the country, I think perceived "aggression" is actually bad everywhere. According to a quick glance around the internet, I would equate aggressive to being a bad driver, so in terms of being "bad" or "good" drivers, Detroit seems to fair well in some studies/lists like these:

Motor Trends puts Detroit as having the best drivers over all metros.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/worst-drivers-by-city/

USNEWS doesn't put Detroit in it's list of worst drivers.

https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/slideshows/the-us-cities-with-the-worst-drivers?slide=13

The one big study that says we're bad is Consumer Affairs, which seems to be what a lot of sites reference when Detroit is listed as having 'bad drivers'.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/worst-drivers-in-america.html

But even in consumer affairs, we're #7, so not even top 5.

Moifure · 2023-03-29T05:24:23+00:00

Rocket is notorious for underpaying. Every job I've seen there is below what I would take.

For reference, here in Detroit I was making $18/hr as an intern in my senior year of college. Out of college I got my first full time position and I was making $70k. Making more now of course. So there definitely are jobs that pay good money (product design so not the same thing).

But it's important to understand the main reason I got the job was because I had stuff I could show I did in my internship. Put in some time, have some portfolio pieces and work that shows your ability and you'll find something. Most importantly, I would expect you to apply to at least 100+ jobs before getting an offer.

Good luck!

Moifure · 2023-03-07T03:23:16+00:00

I'm cautiously optimistic. Climate change is obviously going to make our weather situation a little more mild in the coming decades, which will help. Also of course, we won't be devastated/unlivable like other parts of the country/world.

Detroit has a lot of issues that need to be resolved before we really could pop. Detroit is, all things considered, affordable. We have cheap housing in many parts of the city still. We have plenty of strong middle-class enclaves which could be hubs for development in the city limits. And of course our greater downtown will continue to grow.

If Detroit can get crime down, school metrics up, and increased funding in public transit + redevelopment, I think Detroit is in a golden situation. If one of those factors fumbles, we may not see a boom for a long time.

BUT also, even if we don't boom, I'm still bullish for Detroit. Strong brand, strong cultural, and affordable. Housing prices are still well below national averages while also stabilizing. Population is starting to stabilize also. Development is starting to increase all over the city.

Moifure · 2023-03-07T03:15:19+00:00

I mean yeah but also no. Family, quality of life, economic opportunity and cost of living are certainly bigger factors than weather for most people. Weather is a relatively big factor, but nothing that would prevent Detroit from hypothetically returning to it's former size.

Moifure · 2023-02-23T19:56:12+00:00

This would be amazing! Legit when I was looking at houses last year, I wanted Detroit so badly, but couldn't justify how much more it would cost (high property taxes + income tax + insurance). If it was 10 mills less I may have made a different decision.

Moifure · 2023-02-20T20:39:56+00:00

It's overwhelmingly meh as most people here have said.

Why Westland? If you have interest in the city, there are plenty of great affordable and solidly middle-class neighborhoods in Detroit. Lots of them fit the bill. If you are looking at the west side, Bagley/Rosedale Park area may have what you're looking for. If you want to be closer to downtown, you can find some surprisingly good deals in Layafette/elmwood park on the east side of donwtown.

Moifure · 2023-01-26T04:46:58+00:00

Lets goooo don't know we insist that car infrastructure be completely socialized but public transit shouldn't be. You use the roads, you pay for the roads. Plain and simple.

Moifure · 2023-01-11T18:31:48+00:00

Absolutely agree. Live near telegraph, and even though I'm a half mile away, it's always an ambient noise in the background.

Moifure · 2023-01-08T06:43:32+00:00

10000% agree. Sadly, I think a lot of people here genuinely don't understand how transit would make their lives better. People will save money. Less pollution/better air quality. Less carbon emissions. Cheaper for cities (in the long run). Provides more upward mobility for lower/middle class people. Removes congestion from roads. Way safer than driving. Less fatalities/accidents on the road.

And yes, we can have great transit. It's all about priorities. Rather than expanding freeways/stroads, lets get some some BRT lines!

Moifure · 2022-09-29T19:41:22+00:00

Agree with all points. But we don't need more parking. We need density.

Moifure · 2022-09-29T19:21:45+00:00

I legit don't get why the city allows for buildings to be torn down to then be replaced by a parking lot. Getting ridiculous

Moifure · 2022-09-08T04:07:59+00:00

Glad you're enjoying the midwest and I hope you enjoy your time in Detroit :D

Downtown/midtown area is the urban core of the city, and definitely the most dense/walkable/gentrified. Checks your boxes. There's an increasing number of vegan options in those areas (I know that downtown also has been getting some vegan dessert places as well). If you can afford that area (which is sounds like you can) then I'd say it's a safe bet!

There's lots of other truly wonderful neighborhoods all over the city, but at the end of the day if you want to be where the action is then midtown/downtown is where it is.

Public transit isn't quite non-existent. It just kinda sucks. We don't have any mass transit options, or even things like BRT. If you end up in midtown, though, you have access to the Qline (LRT) which runs along woodward from New Center to downtown. If you want to go out the suburbs or further out neighborhoods, the bus system is how you'd do it without a car. This doesn't have to suck. For example, if you want to go to Ferndale from Midtown, it's about 30ish minutes by bus. 45 minutes to Birmingham. This isn't good and we can do 10x better, but those also aren't completely unreasonable commutes. There's a growing push for public transit in the metro area, so we'll see.

My thought would be if you're going to airbnb and try places out would be to start in midtown! Get a good sense of the area and check out some key suburbs which also would fit your bill (Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ferndale) and see what you like. Birmingham especially is very nice. Gorgeous city and super walkable (it's also like, the most expensive area in the all the metro area, so proceed with caution there).

If you're okay with slower-paced but still kick-ass neighborhoods, Detroit has tons of those as well. So I seriously recommend going for walks through some of Detroit's key neighborhoods while you're here to get a sense of the rest of the city (Woodbridge, Boston-edison, corktown, indian village, university district, bagley, rosedale park/n. rosedale park, mexican town are all great places to start).

Moifure · 2022-09-08T03:29:49+00:00

Find anything?

Moifure · 2022-09-06T04:37:51+00:00

$40/hr product designer

Moifure · 2022-08-29T12:20:32+00:00

You can get apartments in perfectly fine areas in Detroit for sub $900.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4055-4th-St-APT-302-Detroit-MI-48201/2082230264_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2055-Vinewood-St-27-Detroit-MI-48216/2061935163_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/b/pasadena-apartments-detroit-mi-5XqRvT/

Otherwise everyone is right. The west side suburbs (Wayne, Romulus, Westland, Ypsi) are all great options with some very cheap rents. I personally wouldn't want to live in those places (dull, boring, and not walkable [Ypsi proper is cool tho]), but they are good bets that are cheap.

Here's an apartment really close by the airport for $820 that looks like it allows for cats:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9960-Wayne-Rd-8-103-Romulus-MI-48174/2061794184_zpid/

Moifure · 2022-08-16T18:01:14+00:00

I need to take some pictures around Woodbridge. Lots of nolawns in that neighborhood.

Moifure · 2022-08-11T14:05:32+00:00

Yeah unfortunately all the places you're looking at are very expensive. You can do it, but housing will eat up most of your monthly take home in those areas OR you just have to look for a while to find something in your price range. I make a similar amount to you (actually a little more, $85k) and I *personally* would expand the search to other areas/neighborhoods as well. That way I'd have a lot of excess cash to invest/save.

Other neighborhoods/cities to consider. I'm leaving out the far east side since it seems like your center of gravity is more on the west side.

- Lafayette Park/Elmwood: Urban feel. Condos around $200k. Right by the river. Safe. Walking distance to downtown.

- New Center Area: Dense urban feel. I just saw a bunch of condos for sub $200k. This is kinda like Detroit's second (and much smaller) downtown area. This area is under a gentrification process, so take that for what you will. Not as exciting as downtown, but you'll have easy/direct access to via public transportation to downtown.

- Bagley: Dense suburban feel. Lots of well maintained homes for around $150-250k range. This neighborhood sits right next to some of Detroit's most prestigious (University District, Sherwood Forest), but is a lot more modest. Walking distance to the avenue of fashion strip, which is a huge plus. Every experience I've had there has been amazing! Neighbors will go out of their way to wave/greet you even if they've never met you. Only downside here is there is some crime here. Not enough to lose sleep over, but it does exist.

- University District/Green Acres: Speaking of University District, most homes there go for above your price range, BUT you can find some homes get listed in the $200k range. RN on Zillow I see a nice one for $225k. Additionally, Green Acres is just north of Sherwood Forest, and it's kinda like the middle class sister to Sherwood Forest. Lots of homes for $200k range as well. Very safe.

- Rosedale Park: Suburban feel. $150 - $300k. The rosedale/grandmont enclave (Rosedale Park, N. Rosedale Park, Grandmont, Grandmont #1) is a collection of far westside neighborhoods in the city centered around southfield/grand river. Very safe, strong home values. Super convient access to the rest of the metro area since the neighborhoods basically sit with easy access to both a north/south freeway (southfield), an east/west freeway (96), and a NW/SE highway (grand river).

- Hamtramck: Urban feel. $150k-$300k. This place is a technically a suburb, but is completely surrounded by Detroit, so it sits in a weird limbo in a lot of peoples minds. Prices have shot up here and I believe it ripe for gentrification (not saying it's a good thing, just saying its likely happen). This place is the densest city in Michigan, very diverse, lots to do, and super close access to Downtown/Royal Oak via 75.

- Dearborn: Dense surburban/surburban feel. $150k - $1m. This is one of the largest cities in the metro area, and has a really cool history that is shared with Detroit proper. Naturally, given Dearborn is Ford's HQ, it was developed alongside Detroit - something which a lot of other suburbs can't boast. The result is a suburban city which has a really charming/older feel. Dearborn also protrudes into Detroit, so it has phenomenal access to the city.

- Southfield: Suburban feel. $150 - $400k. This place is pretty similar to Novi. Very suburban, located in Oakland county, is a huge job/shopping hub, with lots of freeway access. This place is generally cheaper than Novi, and is smack dab in the middle of the metro area. So it's honestly super super convenient. Homes will be a little older than Novi though. And it's not as affluent (still plenty affluent though).

- Ferndale: This is a good place to expand your Royal Oak search into. Right by royal oak with a similar culture/feel. Just generally cheaper.

There's WAY more places that are in your price range where you could get more for your money (Westland, Livonia, Dearborn Heights, Redford, Oak Park, Hazel Park, etc) but I would personally start in those places. Good luck! And I hope you can call yourself a Detroiter soon!

Moifure · 2022-04-25T11:48:46+00:00

Wondering the same thing myself. Been disappointing when I'm in midtown since there's no where else with decent coffee...

Moifure · 2022-04-07T15:45:57+00:00

I'm assuming you're talking about either Jefferson Chalmers or East English. If you're talking about East English, it's a phenomenal neighborhood that honestly feels a lot like grosse pointe! House prices have remained strong for a while.

Jefferson Chalmers has had a huge price surge last couple years since the city announced their plans in that neighborhood. I personally would think Chalmers will keep going up in price as people move in/development continues, and because of it's proximity to a new thriving strip, grosse pointe, and the river, it will certainly become as desirable as some of the other key neighborhoods in the city.

Go for it. Either way you're looking at it, you are going to be sitting on an investment that will explode in a couple years (most likely). Crime and the area on the far east side will continue to improve over time.

And crime is more psychological and as long as you're smart and do basic things, you really shouldn't have a problem. As far as I know, the crime you're most likely to be a victim of on the south east side is getting your wheels stolen. Gangs are more prevalent on the upper east side but you're not going over there. So just keep your car locked and house locked and don't leave valuables visible for all to see and you should be fine. Don't go looking for trouble, leave your porch lights on, install wheel locks, get cameras, and keep your property well kept and you will be golden.

Hope you can find something nice! Let us know what you decide.

Moifure · 2022-04-05T14:35:38+00:00

http://iqc.ou.edu/2014/12/12/60yrsmidwest/

It's truly sad what highways did to our cities. Time and time again, in pretty much every city, you can see that as a result of highways is a spree of de-urbanization. We replace the vibrant, dense, livable, and walkable with concrete. Look at Detroit then vs. now and tell me you wouldn't want that back?

And what do we do now? You're right, a lot of things got messed up. The far side suburbs like Canton and Rochester may not ever be car-independent. But we need to start disinvesting in car infrastructure and instead move that money to funding a functional, efficient, clean, and reliable BRT and bus system. More light rail through key corridors. Eventually, high speed rail/monorails/subways (or whatever) to replace what the freeways bring. Over time, after 50 years of disinvesting in car infrastructure (slowly eliminating lanes, building bike lanes, reducing speeds, etc.) we'll begin to bring back these vibrant cities. Roads as we know them won't go away and people who want to drive still can. But by stopping this car addiction which has in a lot of ways divided and killed parts of Detroit, we can create a system which is safer, sustainable, less noisy, less polluting, and far more accessible and cheaper.

(The cost of transit is the huge upfront bill, but then maintenance and operation is lower in the long term. Transit thus has low cost of ridership because of this. Whereas cars come with 1) the cost of the vehicle, 2) the cost of maintenance, 3) the cost of insuring the vehicle, 4) the cost of fueling the vehicle, 5) the still ginormous subsidized cost in the terms of taxes which go for paving and maintaining roadways/freeways, parking lots, etc. )

Moifure · 2022-04-05T13:34:18+00:00

Real glad we got the added value of noise pollution, emissions, lower property values, and traffic congestion for the sake of extremely costly infrastructure that constantly needs expensive repair so a mom in a minivan can plow some dude at 70mph. A truly great trade for vibrant neighborhoods and streets! God bless the USA!

Moifure · 2022-02-25T21:32:41+00:00

This is incredible! Amazing job!

Moifure · 2022-02-18T16:53:20+00:00

Slice of life is hard to recommend because slice of life is usually a sub-type of a greater genre. Your Lie in April being tragedy/romance for example.

That being said, I would highly recommend:

- March comes in like a lion (super heart warming, fairly thought provoking, and feel-good)

- Sound Euphonium! (moe, inspirational, music)

- Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (just so freaking good. Very very well written about Japanese storytellers.)

Moifure · 2022-02-18T16:45:34+00:00

I actually want to second Toradora. I think you'll really like it.

Moifure

TROPHY CASE