lovemydrhubby said:
Mind if I hijack your thread a bit?
Any married residents out there in Ann Arbor? Where do most married residents/med students live? I know it seems to be a bit more expensive than other midwestern places.
We looked quite a bit before settling west of Ann Arbor in the Dexter school district. Dexter has become a bit more "Ann Arborized" but stil has one of the best school systems in the state. The prices in Dexter have equalized considerably and the community has about doubled in size since we moved here, so things have changed a bit, but it's still a very closenit community. You can find houses in Dexter that range from $160's to well over $1M, depending on what you're looking for. Freeways are far enough away that there's no noise, but close enough that except at peak school opening/closing times, traffic isn't much of an issue. Our house is about 90 years old, 2500 sqft, 3 BR 1.5 bath, formal living/dining/den/piano room big enough for a grand/full farm kitchen 2 car garage, and is assessed at $195k, taxes are around $2200. It'll probably be for sale next year.
UM Med center is about 8 miles away and there are a couple of ways to get there. Figure about 15-20 minutes drive, and 15-20 minutes getting from the parking lot to the hospital. I ride my bike when the weather is nice, about a 40 minute ride along side the Huron River. Lots of parks, and beaches nearby, for kids to play/picnic. Baby sitters are usually pretty easy to find on Friday/Saturday nights and everything is pretty much within walking distance grocery/hardware and miscellaneous stores. It's a little lacking in restaurants, but that's supposed to change and they just decided to build a huge library in the downtown.
Before that we lived in Ypsilanti, on the east side, also about 8 miles away. Condos run from around $100k, houses run about $160-180k. The Willow Run school system is improving, and I don't know its present state. People in Ann Arbor can be very snooty about Ypsilanti (Ypsitucky is their favorite term for it), but I thought it was a great place to live. It's a little more industrial than AA, but Eastern Michigan is a great university for those not headed for the Michigan's of this world. Saint Joseph hospital is there, but UM does not encourage its graduates to do residency there and some residents who did their TY years there really don't say much nice about the place. To the south is Pittsfield Township and Lincoln Schools. They are very middle class relatively conservative schools, with a broad mix of factory and professionals. Saline is also an option, about 20 minutes from UM, but the area is building up pretty quickly and traffic is starting to be a bit of a headache. Check the neighborhoods.
As for AA itself, the schools are good, the housing prices are very high and the property taxes are quite high. It is a very liberal community with lots to do. The old west side has older houses, some in a designated historic district. The U has lots of free concerts, or minimal cost concerts, there's a great natural history museum that'll keep kids occupied for hours. There are beaches within half an hour, lots of recreation fields, and most Saturdays you can find me at the open skating at Vets park with the kids.
If you're in the market for cheap, there's UM's Northwood housing, mostly grad students and their families. I don't know much about them since we never looked at them. Its on the UM's North Engineering campus and there are 24 hour buses that run to the Med center. Close to shopping.
If you want lake property, bring your millions. Lake property around here is astonishing. We looked at a place on Portage Lake and choked. The asking price for a summer cottage 2 BR, no garage, minimal heat, bad septic and 45 minutes to UM was $655k. The taxes were $11,000 alone. I think Whitmore Lake about 10 miles north is a little better with prices running about $225k but the commute down 23 can be brutal in the morning.
