Making the move to SE Michigan
September 4, 2023 3:06 AM   Subscribe

Follow up question to this Ask from 15 years ago. The family is looking to move to Michigan. Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor are on the short list. Our employers don't know yet and we're making early plans. As a Floridian, what can I expect? Our daughter will attend kindergarten next year. How are the schools? Who are some recommended realtors?
posted by anonymous to Home & Garden (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I grew up in the area you're considering, culminating with four years in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. I've lived for the last 50 years in South Carolina, however, so I'm sure so much has changed that my advice would not be valid. However, I can assure you there will be cold and snow, a lot of both.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:44 AM on September 4, 2023 [2 favorites]


I've lived in the area (Plymouth) and here's the rough outline of the region I'd be targeting:

Plot a point north of Ann Arbor in Brighton, connect a line to the SW to Chelsea, Chelsea go SE to Milan, Milan NE to Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti NE to Canton, Canton N to Northville, Northville NW to Brighton. That's roughly your "circle."

Lots to choose from in here from farmland/acreage to upper middle class strip mall suburbs to recovering downtown areas.
posted by GamblingBlues at 6:09 AM on September 4, 2023 [3 favorites]


I live in Ann Arbor. Schools are generally good in Ann Arbor - and range in the outlying communities from excellent to much less so. Expect expensive housing in Ann Arbor itself. I lived in Milan for many years and it's a sweet little town that is now a happening place. Not sure what information you're looking for about what life is like around here- feel free to mefimail me.
posted by leslies at 6:51 AM on September 4, 2023 [3 favorites]


I'm more familiar with the I-75 corridor (where I grew up/went to undergrad), but my cousins grew up in Ann Arbor/Novi/Plymouth. I also worked in Ann Arbor for two years.

One of my family members who spent years in Plymouth then "retired" to Florida after adopting their great-niece and nephew. They then returned to Michigan at the start of Covid because of the politics (which, uh, isn't always great in MI either. But the Governor is better). They specifically liked their school district in Florida because it had really good services for students who needed extra help. They moved back to a school district in Michigan that had good services too. I think in both cases they did their research. They're further north than Ann Arbor (near Flint), but my cousins who went to Ann Arbor also had a good experience.

They specifically also like having seasons again, now that they're back. However, the downside is the weather can be erratic sometimes. The saying " if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes, " is only a slight exaggeration. You can experience all 4 seasons in a day or two. So you pretty much need to check the weather every day.

Ann Arbor Area Specifically:

If you haven't already lived in a college town with a big time football program, you'll now need need to keep an eye on the schedule even if you're not a fan. Home games take over the city and mess with traffic. I think you can time some activities for during the game, but if you're out and about when people start leaving traffic is a nightmare.

Zingerman's is cliche, but for a good reason. Their pumpernickel and corned beef is amazing.

SE Michigan (so out to Oakland county + Detroit area):

Middle Eastern Food is amazing. Pita is a constant disappointment to me now (living in the PNW and now Chicago area).

Buddy's Pizza is awesome. Jet's pizza is a good Detroit style delivery place.

Coney Islands: a lot of cities will have their own local place, but National and Leo's are fairly solid chains. If you see "Flint style" on the menu, the chilli has beef heart in it (amazing). Don't sleep on the Hani (fried chicken wraps, basically).

There's probably a local orchard and farm that people rave about. Go there for the appropriate seasonal produce at least once (especially if it's August and you're getting corn and / or tomatoes). You probably want to get there when they open if it's a Sunday.

Greek salads (at Coney Islands or a lot of Pizza places) have red onion, pepperoncini, cucumber, tomato, kalamata olives, and beets. The beets has been surprising to some of my non-Michigan friends.

Olga's Kitchen is a Michigan (+ a few other places) chain that's like a Greek Chipotle.

Meijer is the local version of Walmart. But they're usually pretty good at having local products and their product is solid.
posted by ghost phoneme at 12:53 PM on September 4, 2023 [2 favorites]


Oh man I miss Meijer! Way better produce than kroger and costco.

Middle Eastern food. Having grown up roughly in the area, I'm spoiled for life. That's all I eat when I visit. I miss it so much - I'm jealous in advance :)

Toledo art museum is fab and free. Dtw farmers market is legit and should be a regular visit. I miss mi apple orchards. Dtw art museum is good but not free - the labor murals are not to be missed! I live in an apple exporting state and have been bitter since arriving at how watery and 'non-apple-y' local apples are after picking my own growing up in MI. Apple. Fritters. (Made at the apple orchard with lots of real apple, not whatever qualifies as a fritter elsewhere).

Tomatoes. I've only eaten delicious tomatoes in that area. I don't know why, but despite growing my own, heritage vars, and various farmer's markets, tomatoes still taste "muddy" and not as strongly flavored.

Yes zingermans. Yes breweries. Yes that korean-influenced breakfast diner in AA. There used to be a hippie burrito place that was worth a drive but I believe it's closed (may be in ypsi, there's spillover).

I'd expect the AA schools to be amazing, but that's an assumption based on SES (socioeconomic status), because taxes, but also professors. I associate uofm with progressive and innovative teaching and behavioral stuff - not from experience in the schools but from meeting behaviorists socially in A2 (possibly out of date, this wasn't recent).

Auto culture and industry still run the whole area. We had a teacher in HS who asked who didn't have family working in the auto industry and only 1 or 2 people raised their hand. He was surprised and we were shocked at his surprise. It's not only working the line building cars, but all the mfg of parts and components and various engineering firms that makes it such a monumental influence. Depending on your social circles and hobbies, you'll meet execs, former execs, and all sorts of mgmt in addition to the folks breaking their bodies on the line.

That's not good or bad, but is something to be aware of. "Steel towns"/rust belt cities have a cultural but also political and financial relationship with the auto industry that I haven't seen anywhere else. It means I'm surprised at all the jeeps and the relative lack of corolas, civics, and kias when I go back, and my mom was harshly judged by her coworkers for driving a "foriegn" car. Minor thing, but that idea and judgement is baked into so many things.

If you can swing it, prioritize living somewhere walkable. It will make your spring and fall delightful and your winter much brighter. When you're relying on a car, there's so many reasons not to go out, but on foot a walk around the block only requires boots and can raise your mood for the rest of the day.

Fat Tuesday = paczki day https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/things-you-didn-t-know-about-paczki-fat-tuesday-thrillist-nation I had no idea how catholic and Polish the area was.

Kringles were another thing I grew up with and then never saw again https://www.kringle.com/about/what-is-a-kringle (they're a WI thing, but somehow more anticipated than other seasonal treats).

Walkability will also save your daughter/kids from the worst part of living in MI - needing a car to get anywhere at all and/or see friends. I can't stress the isolation of the car-dependant culture enough - you and they will be way happier if you can walk to shops/pubs/busses. I don't know if where you live now is walkable, but it's a huge boon with dark winters.

Mi is the "3rd coast" - I forget people don't really understand that the great lakes are essentially freshwater oceans if they didn't grow up nearby. They have their own weather, huge storms, etc, and are a fascinating and wonderful part of the state. There are lots of other smaller lakes everywhere too. If you do any boating, you can almost certainly look forward to continuing it in A2.

You're responsible for clearing your sidewalks and walkways of snow and leaves and there will be major judgment if you don't clear em early and often. This may sound harsh and odd, coming from FL, but people still walk in winter, including usps/delivery and a lot of students.

Driving in snow is a skill. Avoid avoid avoid, but your daughter/kids will eventually be pros. A2 has winter bikers. God save them - I admire it but I couldn't do it.

This gentleman was kind to my mother when I was trying to get her to move into a condo in A2. She didn't go with him (or a condo), but he knew his stuff and bent over backwards to help her https://www.gayrealestate.com/usa/michigan/ann-arbor-gay-realtor/greg_johnson.html
posted by esoteric things at 3:42 AM on September 5, 2023 [3 favorites]


Southeast Michigan is very car-dependent, a little less so if you live in Ann Arbor itself. If you're like me and like to be able to do without driving entirely, you need to pay attention to retail and school locations and the AAATA map, but then you can do it. But, yeah, if you don't care about that then you can save on housing by considering a wider area.

The Ann Arbor public library system is great, by the way. The schools, I don't really know how to judge objectively. Ann Arborites on average are pretty wealthy and well-educated, so, no surprise, their kids probably do well, but I don't know how much credit AAPS should get for that. As a parent I find that their communication is bad--wordy and self-congratulatory and rarely actually helpful. Our kindergarten experience was also pretty bad--an experienced teacher left at the start of the school year to deal with a family health issue, and we ended up with a couple long-term substitutes instead. Other years have been good. AAPS is probably fairly well-resourced compared to area schools, but I'm not convinced it's always well run.

The electrical utility has been pretty unreliable in recent years, in ways that seem to affect some neighborhoods more than others. (My service has been fine, friends have been less lucky.) So that may be something you want to ask about as you consider different neighborhoods. Maybe factor in the price and annoyance of a generator if necessary....

You can overstate the impact of football. It's only 6-7 days a year, and the impact is pretty localized. Again, something to consider on a neighborhood basis. On the north side of town I barely notice, but near the stadium it will change everything on those days--in ways that you may find fun or annoying or both.

(I've even heard sports-campus-area residents complain about early-morning Michigan band practice, which I find mystifying. Again, if it's a question of knowing yourself and the neighborhood--if you really can't enjoy the sound of a band practicing, pick a quieter neighborhood and let other people have their fun.)
posted by bfields at 5:13 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]


I found many folks from warm climates are unaware of the need for snow tires. Most folks here have winter tires on a set of wheels so you can swap them yourself instead of taking it into a shop and having snow tires put on your existing wheels.

Make sure you know what poison ivy looks like.

The Ann Arbor farmers market is incredible, the lakes and rivers are amazing, and you can pick your own pawpaws (a native fruit that tastes like a caramel banana) in the late summer.

I own a rental property in Ypsilanti and most of my short term rentals are to folks moving here. They spend a few months getting to know the different areas before buying or renting long term. So that might be an option to consider.
posted by ananci at 6:23 AM on September 5, 2023


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