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Tell me about Grosse Pointe
I haven't been on this board in forever, but in my pursuit for my family's next home, I think of this board as a great resource. You gave me some great insight when I was wondering about our options this summer (we're upside-down on our mortgage but want to upgrade in the next year or so). After speaking to a mortgage expert, we found we have a couple of options, the most likely being that we'll rent our house out in the spring and buy a slightly larger one. But we'll see.
In the mean time, I'm addicted to realtor.com, hoping to stumble on that perfect home in our favorite locations, but I haven't been terribly tempted yet. For fun, I just did a search for Grosse Pointe having been amazed by the vintage homes there while passing through a couple years ago. I am SHOCKED by the affordability of the homes. I mean, look at this and this! If my parents and in-laws lived closer to that area, I'd be packing up right now.
My assumption is its proximity to Detroit is the reason for these prices, but is there something else I'm not aware of? I did a crime rate search and it appears to be similar to Livonia where homes are going for far more. I've always thought of Grosse Pointe as an upscale area, but I'm really not familiar with it. Is that just not the case anymore?
Fill me in, please!
Re: Tell me about Grosse Pointe
I'm not that well informed of the area but I know that my Step Brother and his Wife lived in that area for years and loved it. Clearly the closer you get to Detroit I think the shadier it gets.
From my experience the closer to St. Clair Shores you are the nicer the area.
I live in Harper Woods and drive through Grosse Pointe on my way to and from work every day. I think you can still find great deals in the area and most are in beautiful and extremely safe areas, but the homes you linked to above are both really close to Detroit. If you map them, look at their proximity to Mack - the other side of Mack is Detroit. So, they are about 1/2 block and 1 1/2 blocks from Detroit. I would recommend looking closer in towards Jefferson and/or up towards Mack more. For the PP who mentioned the Grosse Pointe/Detroit border as Cadieux, I believe they are referring to Alter (also look at the houses you linked in proximity to that).
Grosse Pointe has great schools and parks, so it is definitely a good place to raise a family. Feel free to ask me if you have more questions about the area!
The key is if the home has been brought up to the 21st century. Have the windows been replaced, is the heating/cooling system new. How long ago was the roof replaced. The 1st home you linked has a boiler system to heat the home, so it's doesn't have central heating and air conditioning. When a boiler system breaks it's very expensive to fix. Also how old are the windows. If they are original they probably are not very efficient in the winter. If the windows are wood they most likely are rotted on the outside and will need replacing. The 2nd home says it has steam heat so it also is not a traditional central heating and air conditioned home. These types of homes are beautiful to have if you have the money to restore them and bring them up to date. A lot of these homes may also have asbestos in them so it's more costly when renovating the home because you need to hire professionals to remove it. We have many friends that have homes in Grosse Pointe and a lot of them had asbestos in them. So research well if moving into an older home. Otherwise, Grosse Pointe is very beautiful. They have good public, private and parochial schools. They have beautiful parks and many private clubs(golf, tennis, equestrian, country, boat..etc) to join as well.
As the wife of a former Grosse Pointe police officer, I would also caution you to be very careful in the location you choose and get a good feel for you future neighbors before you purchase a home. Grosse Pointe is a beautiful area, but it's not like it was 10 years ago. The area is rapidly changing.