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0 pointsmiah_1y ago0 comments

I grew up here and left as soon as I turned 18! After living all over the US and trying out different cities and locales returning to Michigan made the most sense. Buying a home in the SFBay area isn't feasible unless you're willing to work multiple jobs or sell your soul to FAANG.

Want a house? Get ready to replace: The foundation, the roof, the sewer lateral, oh and the addition wasn't done with a permit so its not to code at all. All for the low low price of $500k! On a lovely 1/4th acre plot, you'll be hearing your neighbor while they fart in the bathroom. What, you only got $500k? Don't worry, this other person here has $550k and they don't have a problem with the house need to be rebuilt!

Oh I'm looking at $500k houses? I should be looking at 1.1mil houses to not deal with all those problems? Now I've got 1.1mil mortgage for 30 years. I don't want to work into my 70's for a house.

Compared to... come to Michigan, you can get 5 acres for less than $300k and your house is functional, maybe it needs a new roof within 5 years. My mortgage is 15 years and will be paid off before that.

I think "competition" is the big thing that drove me back home. I was tired of competing with my neighbors (people who live in the same city) for _everything_. I don't mind people, I loved meeting people in every city I lived. I just felt like I had to fight for every "inch" in most "big cities" (but especially SFBay area).

It's very peaceful here. I love it. Maybe I'll go to the big lake (Michigan) later and swim.

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ethbr11y ago

Agreed that competition is one of my major annoyances with big cities.

Once it gets big enough that "good" restaurants require a reservation any day of the week, and those reservations are difficult to get, I'm moving somewhere else.

Why work to fight to win... what you can just enjoy somewhere else?

fragmede1y ago

To be a total snob about it, it's because the "what" is better in some places. If the best restaurant in town is a Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden, and there are no reservations; hey, you do you.

ethbr11y ago

Fair!

But there's a pretty big swath of cities between {Cheesecake Factory} and {Manhattan}.

fragmede1y ago

Yeah, Manhattan sounds crazy. I was reading this whole article about this platform for NYC restaurant reservations, where people who book reservations at a restaurant can turn around and sell those reservations on the platform.

mdip1y ago

Michigan's housing prices vary pretty dramatically and we don't have a terribly low cost of living in parts -- especially real-estate. It's no SFBay, but it's rapidly getting worse.

You mentioned the 300,000 on 5 acres, and that's definitely possible, but you're not getting that in the desirable parts of Macomb or Oakland County[0], nor anywhere in Wayne outside of Detroit/Detroit-ish areas.

I watched a house on a busy city road (one where "pulling out of the driveway means an immediate traffic backup to the light" between 7-9 and 4-6 every day) which was 2,200 sq ft, 4 BR 2.0 BA, though it was new construction (relatively modern/upgraded interior) go for $550,000 in 2022 after multiple bids. The home I own (1800/3BR/1.5BA) which I purchased for $175,000 in 2001 and would have lost money had I sold it between 2007~2018, is worth about $330,000. This is partly due to the value increasing due to local changes and "what's happening everywhere in the country" housing prices-wise. I know folks who moved to Plymouth to a home with similar specs but paid a quarter million in 2017.

Cool. And because I didn't re-finance, I don't have a mortgage any longer. Except I want to upgrade. And had I done that in 2008, I could have afforded it. Now that upgrade is twice as much but my salary has not followed suit. My desire to upgrade went to near zero, already, once I paid it off. But now I couldn't even afford to if I wanted to. I figure I'll downgrade and move near the kids when they're older and take home some cash in the process.

One thing I love about where I live in Michigan, though ... it's rare that a house doesn't have a basement. Even in places you wouldn't expect -- our next-door neighbor on Lake Huron had a full basement with 12ft ceilings (and a hell of a system to keep it bone dry). And newer homes tend to have excellent ones you can make useful -- if not always up-to-code -- living/lab spaces out of. SFBay hacks in their garage. We hack in our basements.

[0] When people say they "Live in Detroit" that's probably where they live. Just like the Detroit Zoo.

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ethbr11y ago

Agreed that competition is one of my major annoyances with big cities.

Once it gets big enough that "good" restaurants require a reservation any day of the week, and those reservations are difficult to get, I'm moving somewhere else.

Why work to fight to win... what you can just enjoy somewhere else?

fragmede1y ago

To be a total snob about it, it's because the "what" is better in some places. If the best restaurant in town is a Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden, and there are no reservations; hey, you do you.

ethbr11y ago

Fair!

But there's a pretty big swath of cities between {Cheesecake Factory} and {Manhattan}.

fragmede1y ago

mdip1y ago

Michigan's housing prices vary pretty dramatically and we don't have a terribly low cost of living in parts -- especially real-estate. It's no SFBay, but it's rapidly getting worse.

[0] When people say they "Live in Detroit" that's probably where they live. Just like the Detroit Zoo.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse