New to MI new to GRM Forum

Farmington/Farmington Hills is great, so is Royal Oak. Birmingham would be expensive to live in.

Novi is nice, basically a nicer and newer suburb, but houses are a bit more expensive.

Good luck with the search!

Personally, I'm soooo glad I'm not in the metro detroit area anymore. But if I had to move back down there, I'd go back to Livonia. Not as expensive as Farmington Hills, but not as ghetto as Redford (no offense, I've lived in both cities). Livonia has a great school system, is very safe and the housing prices run from affordable to the Joneses that everyone is trying to keep up with. If you ever have kids, you'll appreciate that, IIRC, no matter where you live in Livonia, you are never more than 6 blocks from a city park. The one at the end of our street was almost a city block. Huge, well kept, clean, safe, and fun.

Protege2886 wrote: Background info: 26 y/o male with more car parts and tools than furniture :P so a garage is definitely a must.

That's about the age I came here to work contract, although my contract manager rented me the garage at his house which made the short term housing thing alot easier.

Now more than a decade later as a transplanted Chicagoan I would say where you live in the Detroit area should be defined primarily by the kind of people you want to have around you and the environment you want to experience daily. Everyone sees this differently, things that are strong positives for some are dealbreaker negatives for others.

So my advice would be to visit all the usual places people suggest, but DON'T TAKE THE HIGWAY. Use local streets and just take in the scene. Detroit is a unique area, positive and negative, in many respects, but much of that you lose, for example if you only take Southfield to 696 to get from Dearborn to Royal Oak, you miss huge parts of the region that you might actually have an interest in. Same goes for 94 from Dearborn to Ann Arbor, there's alot in between that might be worth a look.

Keep your eyes and mind open and this place really grows on you.

Thanks for all the feedback guys! This is a huge help!!

grpb wrote: ...I would say where you live in the Detroit area should be defined primarily by the kind of people you want to have around you and the environment you want to experience daily. Everyone sees this differently, things that are strong positives for some are dealbreaker negatives for others.

^^ I completely agree with this statement

Now that we have that settled, lets find me a new job! College educated, automotive and heavy equipment experienced, business focused and engineer/technical minded.

fidelity101 wrote: Now that we have that settled, lets find me a new job! College educated, automotive and heavy equipment experienced, business focused and engineer/technical minded.

Shoot me a PM, my company is hiring and you might have the skill set needed.

Heading to royal oak tonight with my Gf. We're going to walk around for a bit before grabbing a bite. Any recommendations for RO?

Strangely enough I don't really go into Royal Oak for dinner very often. Most of my favorite places in the area are in the surrounding cities.

Sushi - Noble Fish in Clawson
Thai - Bangkok Cafe in Ferndale
Lebanese - Mr Kabob in Berkley
Breakfast - Flytrap or Mae's in Ferndale
Fish - Streetside Seafood in Birmingham
Lunch - Christine's in Ferndale
Nice dinner - Beverly Hills Grille
Vegetarian - Inn Season Cafe (my only Royal Oak spot)
Burgers - Redcoat Tavern on Woodward

Can't help you with the East Side, I'm a Livingston County guy. But if there's to be a get-together, I'm in!

DrBoost wrote:

fidelity101 wrote: Now that we have that settled, lets find me a new job! College educated, automotive and heavy equipment experienced, business focused and engineer/technical minded.

Shoot me a PM, my company is hiring and you might have the skill set needed.

sent!

Also to get great Indian food in RO is Moti Mahal. Their buffet is 7 days a week and only 8 bucks with coffee and tea!

We ended up at Mr. B's Pub for a quick bite and then finished off the night with dueling pianos at 526 piano bar.

I'm not a huge fan of Mr B,s but I like that piano bar alot, however their mexican food is meh.

welcome,

some of us escaped your fate.

we are still scared.

weeee!!!!!!!

OK Bastone in Royal OAk either Thursday 29th ot Friday 20th 6:00pm for dinner, a get together and a beer, or two, or three. What night works best?

do you mean 30th? I work both days til 7:30, so I'd be getting there late.

Thursday the 29th works for me. I will be flying back home for Christmas on the 20th.

You all are making me want explore southeastern MI. I was born there but my family lived in Jackson. Later we moved to Lansing. Metro Detroit was someplace we almost never went.

In reply to Type Q:
The two Michigans...Metro Detroit and Everything Else.
Maybe three if you separate off the UP.

JohnRW1621 wrote: In reply to Type Q: The two Michigans...Metro Detroit and Everything Else. Maybe three if you separate off the UP.

UP is def separate

JohnRW1621 wrote: In reply to Type Q: The two Michigans...Metro Detroit and Nothing Else. Maybe three if you separate off the UP.

FTFY. Based on all talking to my Detoilet friends.

LP is nothing but fudgies and trolls to the UP folks.

Ahh, Fudgies.
Yes, the island of fudge and manure (don't confuse the two.)

A number of times I have done the Port Huron to Mac sailboat race. On more than one occasion, if the wind is blowing from the right direction you can smell the island before you arrive. If it happens to be dark at that time, you can smell it before you see it.

Here in Lake Erie, our islands are not famous for fudge but rather "The Worlds Longest Bar", Wineries and general debauchery. Our tourists are known as ,"Day-Trippers." The ferries are known as "Whore Boats." They arrive early to the island with a load of fresh whores and return late with a load of soiled whores. They go back to the mainland to be "re-sleeved" and return again at a later date.

Put-In Bay huh?

JohnRW1621 wrote: A number of times I have done the Port Huron to Mac sailboat race. On more than one occasion, if the wind is blowing from the right direction you can smell the island before you arrive. If it happens to be dark at that time, you can smell it before you see it.

Ain't that the truth. I don't get the appeal of Mackinac Island myself, but to each his own.

I'm a fan of the west coast of Michigan. Whitehall, Silver Lake St. Joe, Ludington, Grand Haven. In fact, I'm wearing my "Lake Michigan: Unsalted and shark-free" T-shirt right now.

West side's not all bad: http://www.gingermanraceway.com/

http://www.grattanraceway.com/

kazoospec wrote: West side's not all bad: http://www.gingermanraceway.com/ http://www.grattanraceway.com/

Also, Silver Lake!