for those of you who know real estate...

[snowflakeluvr]

we are moving to detroit suburbs this summer...dh has taken a position at GM and is already there(we are waiting to get thru the hoopla of child #2 graduating from high school at end of this month). so i am meeting a relocation realtor next week for two days-
here are my questions:
the detroit/michigan market is one of the worst in the country, there are deals to be had, "they" say, so what does that mean to dh and my search for a home for our family? (we will be living in suburbs north or northwest of the downtown area; dh will have a commute no matter what, but he''s an exec who goes in early and works late, so distance is not really our biggest consideration)

i would really much prefer a brand new, or even practically built 30-60 days from completion brand new home(so that i can choose carpet, any last fixtures, etc) we built our current home and i love it. is it silly to want a new home when the market there is glutted(word?) with so many homes? i am picky about kitchens, molding, etc and we still have three more children to raise so we would like a fairly roomy, big brick house on a half acre(or more)

where will we get the best deal? in a pre-owned home or can we get a good "deal" on a new construction?

i have been perusing the real estate sites online for some time. where we live now(western ohio) property taxes are shamefully LOW, so taxes in michigan are about 3-4 times what we pay now. we''d like to find housing in a lower tax area if at all possible. our children will most likely attend private school, though i have heard many of the school districts there are very good.

any suggestions? i have been staying up much too late every night trying to hone in on our "dream" house...what do you think? tia

 

[tanuki]

If you are moving into an area with a long history of economic decline and a very difficult housing market I would recommend that you consider renting a home for a while before tying yourself down to a mortgage - that is unless you can afford to have the house that you purchase sit on the market for years and years while you make a mortgage payment and then sell it for little or no profit. You can use that time to get to know the area and to scout out what the real bargains are.

The same rules that we have always heard - "your house will increase in value", "you can just sell it if you change to a different job" don''t apply equally to all areas of the country. Be careful. In an economic downturn the sage advice of the financial industry (who get a commission from every house and mortgage they sell) may not be your best friend.

 

[snowflakeluvr]

tanuki,
thanks for your input.

i know that my hubby won''t want to rent as we have a lot of kids and we plan on living there for awhile. we have a corporate buy-out of our current home so we won''t have the worry of selling it. i was just wondering which would be the way to go in terms of new or "used"-i realize we should not purchase a home in a neighborhood that is a ghost neighborhood, where many of the homes are empty. i guess it''s going to be trial and error when i get there next week to househunt, to scope out the various areas....

 

[crown1]

hi! i have wondered whether i should share this but will go ahead and hope it is helpful. i knew a guy who was moved to michigan with a major corporation and a management position. he bought and within the year he was unemployed and no corporation to buy his house. it may not be bad to negotiate something for buying you out in the event that they no longer provide employment since the housing is in such a down market there. none of us is immune from bad economic conditions or whatever and since you know homes are hard to move there a little protection may not be bad. i know this is not what you asked for i just wanted to offer it after reading tanuki''s advice. i hope you find a great house and your family thrives there.

 

[lyra]

You could rent an executive level house too. I''d be very leery of buying anything right now. I wouldn''t buy brand new either. We were left in the position once of being forced to sell our house after a job loss, and it was the most stressful event in our lives as we counted down how long we could hold on financially, even with adequate savings, retirement funds and severance package. We had to take much less for the house at the last minute. Not fun. It left us in a precarious position financially, and we were almost to the homeless level.

 

[snowflakeluvr]

i appreciate your input, ladies! we are in "recovery" after three years of more than one major medical crisis in our family. my hubby has made a very good living but huge medical costs were beginning to break our bank. throw in five kids that need fed and clothed and yes, i am suddenly more trepidacious about financial issues. my hubby has been blessed with a great opportunity but i will definitely keep in mind your thoughts as i look to find a home for us. we have learned that no matter how hard we have worked, how much we have saved, unexpected events can change EVERYTHING. my hubby and i never took our lives for granted and we have not been a family to chase the almighty dollar, but it certainly has unified our perspective on "stuff"

and what really matters. thanks again!

 

[mimzy]

i''m not a real estate guru, but i do live in the detroit area and have paid attention to the market for a little while....

about 10 years ago there was a HUGE surge in housing and new neighborhoods went up everywhere where i was living. base prices of the houses were in the 400k''s. when the market started to slow down, nobody told the developers and they kept right on developing these neighborhoods. now there are all sorts of suburban neighborhoods that are only partially developed and builders are offering big incentives to buy these custom homes.

i know that the northern suburbs (bloomfield, troy, grosse pointe) are known for being ritzy, but the western suburbs are truly just as nice and have a lot of these partially developed subdivisions. AND they aren''t as congested. communities like hidden lake and a few others around the northville and brighton area have a TON of new develoment that is being discounted. the deal probably wouldn''t be as good as a house that was built a few years ago, but it would still be something.

good luck, and welcome to hockeytown

 

[mimzy]

i wanted to add that there are a LOT of excellent school districts in the area. Novi, plymouth/canton, northville, brighton, farmington, farmington hills, and bloomfield all have really great schools, as do other areas. there aren''t a lot of private school options in the area with the exception of a few catholic schools....but i can vouch that the education received there is definitely not better than some public schools.

also i just saw that you said that you wanted at least a half acre.....i can pretty much promise you that new construction on that size of a lot won''t be found in the northern suburbs

. you would definitely have to go further west for that. good luck though!

 

[snowflakeluvr]

hey mimzy,
thanks for the input-i have been looking online this evening at novi/northville/plymouth area which several people have recommended. dh is renting an apt. in novi but frankly, he''s working so much he hasn ''t had much time to look around. i am excited about moving-we are pittburghers(can you say PENGUINS???

) and when visiting detroit several weeks ago with dh, the kids and i were really surprised at how friendly/helpful people were/are... where we live now(western ohio) it''s a pretty closed community(many lifers here, blue collar, not OPEN to outsiders) so we are looking forward to a positive change. we have heard good things about the school districts and my kids have been in parochial school, but with that cost rising too, we are definitely looking at the public school systems when we move...
thanks so much for the good ideas. i am sure we will find our perfect home

 

[mimzy]

no problem! let me know if you have any other questions. i''ve lived here my whole life (was raised in northville) and i have a lot of nice things to say about the area let me know if you have any more questions!

and good luck!! i like living here and i hope you and your family will too