Hey peoples.

I will be moving to the Detroit area in a few months and need some advice on where to live. I am a med student and will be doing some rotations at Providence hosptial or St. Johns hospital. I believe one is in Southfield. Is one hospital in a nicer part of town than the other? I can go to either.

I also have a family so I want to rent a house or be in a nice 3 bedroom gated apartment complex with a garage. Looking to spend around $1200/mth. Is that even possible? I do not mind a 20 min or so commute I just need the names of some areas or apartment complexs that are not in cracktown and high crime areas. It's so hard to believe anything a realator has to say. I hate dropping deposit money and getting to places that end up really suxing out. Thanks for the advice.

 

I work in both Southfield and Warren for one of the Big 3 auto companies which are in the Metro Detroit area, but willingly live 55 miles to the North West in the Fenton area.
I'm not sure what city Providence or St.John is in, but if one is in the city of Detroit and the other is ANYWHERE ELSE, I would choose the one NOT in the city of Detroit. The only cities for housing that I would consider low crime areas around Detroit, are the very high cost areas of Oakland county, consisting of Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Rochester, as well as Grosse Pointe and St. Clair Shores.
Good luck finding ANYTHING decent as far as a 3bdrm. house or Gated Community Apartment in any sort of low crime area in a decent neighborhood for around $1,200/mo. That is a pipe dream in the area you are speaking of.
Are your children of school age ? Plan on private school in the area you speak of...I would not want them in Public School unless in one of the cities I mentioned above.

 

^ what he said.....

and the weather really sucks too btw

 

Where are you moving from? What kind of commute are you accustomed to? How long are you willing to spend in the car when commuting?

 

I'm not too familiar with the Providence area, but I live near St. John's. St. John is on the border of Detroit/ Grosse Pointe. "Eastside" as we say! You might be able to find an apartment in Grosse Pointe for around that price. Your better bet would be in Saint Clair Shores. You might be able to get an apartment near the marinas on Jefferson and be only a couple of miles from the hospital. I'd personally stay away from inside Detroit.

 

Did you check www.rent.com?

 

[QUOTE=EnerjetF67] The only cities for housing that I would consider low crime areas around Detroit, are the very high cost areas of Oakland county, consisting of Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Rochester, as well as Grosse Pointe and St. Clair Shores.
QUOTE]

I disagree. He could look into Livonia, Farmington Hills, Plymouth, Canton etc... that are not high crime areas. Livonia and Farmington Hills are in the top 25 for safest cities in the country I think. And you can definetly find a house or apt for 1200 a month in those areas. Just look around, you will find something.

 

[QUOTE=00Z28SS]Yeah, those areas are nice too. A little farther commute to Providence, 25-30 minutes maybe. Might want to check Royal Oak, Oak park or Berkley too. My vote would still be St. Clair Shores though...5 minutes to St. John's

 

Oak Park, Berkley, Royal Oak and Ferndale are all just a stones throw from Providence in Southfield - southfield has quite a few nice complexes, but the surrounding communities would probably be less expensive, and for $1200 per month you could have your pick of the litter - in fact you could even buy a pretty decent place in that payment range if you look a little bit. Royal Oak has a large amount of building going on downtown (loft/condos), and the downtown is what every city in Michigan hopes for - lots of people all over, all the time, great food, and lots to do. Ferndale is also a nice little berg, very busy and full of life. All of the little bergs around Southfield are family cities - farmer's markets, neighborhood garage sales, etc. I wouldn't consider any of them to be high crime. I think they're alot more ethnically diverse than the rest of Michigan in general.

 

duplicate post

 

Thanks for the post!!! That gives me alot to start with. I live down south (Louisiana) so a commute is no big deal but we don't have any real traffic so it's 80mph non stop. The only real reason to stop it to look at cows.

I would drive 40 min each way no problem if it puts my family in a neighborhood. Nothing crazy, just normal suburb housing with normal neighbors, a yard, etc. I do have to be "on the floor" as they say at 5am and I stay till about 9pm. That's 5 days a week so I REALLY don't want to drive more than that if need be. I don't want to have to leave the house at 3am to get there on time.

So how long do people normally store their cars for the winter? I suppose not much vert weather up there.

Thanks again
JD

 

If you have to be at work at 5AM and you leave at 9PM, traffic won't be as much of a problem as it is for some. I think you'll see more traffic in the morning than in the evening, but in general I think things move along fairly quickly at those hours.

You'll get more nice cruising weather than you think. I'd say four to five months of the year, sometimes more.

We store our cars in lots of different ways. I keep mine in my garage. Some people rent storage garages (typically costing $1000-1500/year for a stall large enough for a car). Some people put a car cover on and leave them outside. There are lots of options. Carports, polebarns, etc.

 

16 hour shifts 5 days a week....that is asinine !
So much for the medical community cutting back on student/resident hours.
And they wonder why medical mistakes get made....as critical as doctor's decisions often are, they should be working LESS hours (like Air Traffic Controllers do) NOT more than the average 8hr. workday.
Makes me glad that many years ago I chose Engineering instead of Med.
School when I was at that point to choose in College.
Livonia, Farmington Hills, Plymouth, Canton are nice cities too, but the drive would be longer. Ferndale/Berkley/Royal Oak are low crime areas, but I personally would not live there.

 

If you plan on working at St. John's, then get a map and find places along I-94, north of the hospital. If in St. Clair Shores(SCS), stay near the water, along Jefferson. There are also good places just north of SCS, Harrison township, Chesterfield, New Baltimore. Paying around 1200/month will put you in better parts of those areas. The drive from these areas during your hours would be about 20-30 min. I'm a CCU nurse and a respiratory therapist, if you really want to see how f#*&#ed up the city of Detroit is, work at St. John's. There is some pretty wicked s**t going on there. Good luck.

 

I was born in St. John's hospital back in '75. My how things have changed.