Detroit Real Estate

Relocating to Michigan?

Whether you are thinking of moving to Northville, Canton, or Plymouth one way to get a little more information than this site or my other websites.  But that is just the beginning.  You should also check out other websites to compare the different cities you are interested in.  A informed buyer will make a better choice even though they have never lived in the Metro Detroit suburbs.

One site you should check out zipskinny.com  It gives you indepth information about schools, demographics, median income, and other census info.  One feature I like about the site is the ability to compare one zip code to another.  It is just one more tool in your tool box when relocating to Michigan.

Search Metro Detroit homes for sale and get your personalized list of homes for sale  

Plymouth MI Photos during the spring

Plymouth MI is a great little town located in Wayne County MI.  What is great about the City of Plymouth is that they are trying hard to keep the old downtown area alive by bringing in people from outside the city to visit by promoting different festivals throughout the year.  ( And they are doing a great job of it)  The festivals they have appeal to different lifestyles so everybody will have a favorite Plymouth MI festival.

The Plymouth festivals are:

• Plymouth Ice festival
• The Green festival
• Plymouth Art in the Park
• The Chili Cookoff
• The Plymouth fall festival

Sometimes these Plymouth festivals draw a couple of hundred thousand people that shop and eat in all the local Plymouth restaurants.   They bring tourist dollars to the city.  Plymouth's Art in the Park is one of the top ranked Arts and Craft show in the state.  I think it is only behind Ann Arbors Street fair in size and the number of people that attend.  Even in the frigid cold month of January the Plymouth Ice Spectacular draws huge crowds.  It keeps the local businesses afloat by bringing in outside dollars and makes the old time downtown a place to "be".  It's fun to go down there whether you are young or old.  Kellogg Park comes alive.  Here are pictures of the "Green festival"  The green festival had vendors  and information on how to make your house and yard more green.  Plus it was fun.    How to recycle, and how to plant your garden to conserve water.

The Green Festival doesn't draw the type of crowds yet that Art in the Park or the Fall festival does but I think as time goes on it will.  With more and more people wanting to "be green"  I think there will be more interest.  

There was a petting zoo, and a box city for the kids to play in.  There were even facepainting, and sand art for the kids.  Plymouth MI Festivals are a great way to spend the day whether you live in Plymouth, Northville, Canton or any Oakland or Livingston county city.

Plymouth is a great little town to live in.  For more information about:

Plymouth MI real estate

Plymouth MI city data

Plymouth Subdivisions

Plymouth relocation information

Or to search Plymouth foreclosures and to get the latest Plymouth real estate listings emailed to you join my Plymouth Real estate VIP club

Russ Ravary  you local Plymouth real estate agent

Photos of Plymouth MI (edit/delete)

Plymouth MI is a great little town.  What is great about the City of Plymouthis that they are trying hard to keep the old downtown area alive by bringing in people from outside the city to visit.  ( And they are succeeding!)  The way they do that is to have some different festivals throughout the year.

The Plymouth festivals are:

• Plymouth Ice festival
• The Green festival
• Plymouth Art in the Park
• The Chili Cookoff
• The Plymouth fall festival

Sometimes these Plymouth festivalsdraw a couple of hundred thousand people that shop and eat in all the local Plymouth restaurants.   Even in the frigid cold the Plymouth Ice Spectacular draws huge crowds.  It keeps the local businesses afloat by bringing in outside dollars and makes the old time downtown a place to "be".  It's fun to go down there whether you are young or old.  Kellogg Park comes alive.  Here are pictures of the "Green festival"  The green festival had vendors  and information on how to make your house and yard more green.  Plus it was fun.  

There was a petting zoo, and a box city for the kids to play in.  Plymouth Festivals are a great way to spend the day whether you live in Plymouth, Northville, Canton or any Oakland or Livingston county city.

Plymouth is a great little town to live in.  For more information about:

Plymouth MI real estate

Plymouth MI city data

Plymouth Township real estate MI

Plymouth Subdivisions

Plymouth relocation information

Or to search Plymouth foreclosures and to get the latest Plymouth real estate listings emailed to you join my Plymouth Real estate VIP club

Russ Ravary  you local Plymouth real estate agent

Michigan Property tax explanation

Michigan property taxesare confusing. Some counties do it differently but here in Metro Detroit area most of the counties pay their property taxes ahead.  Wayne County, Oakland County, Macomb County, Washtenaw County, and Livingston County all pay their taxes in advance.  So when you pay your winter tax on Dec 1 2009 you are paying for the period from Dec 1 2009 to November 30 2010.  It is the same way for summer taxes.  When you pay your summer taxes on July 1 2009 you pay for the period from July 1 2009 until June 30 2010. 

Many Michigan relocation buyers when they move from a different state think that the winter tax pays only for a six month period and then the summer tax pays for the next six months.  That is false.  We pay a full year period.

What confuses some people is that many counties allow you a grace period also.  So your taxes may not be due up to 2 months later.  They allow you a grace period to pay late without any penalty.  And who says the cities and counties are not nice.

If you are moving to Michigan and the Metro Detroit area feel free to call me with questions.

Russ Ravary your local metro Detroit realtor

I saw  an article on msn about all the crazy things that Google Street view picked up on its cameras.  Here is the link to the slide show.  It is almost too funny what the cameras picked up randomly. 

http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=19502470&GT1=40000

If you are looking to buy a home it is always good to use the internet to the maximum.  Sites like

•  Google Earth
• Google street view
• Live search maps
• Map Quest

are great to look at potential Metro Detroit real estate that you like.

Knowing what your possible new home looks like from the sky or from the street at different times can help you if you are buying from a long distance away.  Especially if you are an out of town investor or just looking for Michigan relocation information.

I hope this helps in your search of Michigan homes.

Have an enjoyable day!

Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit real estate specialist.  

Many people are still relocating to Michigan.  Right now I am working with 3 young doctors that are doing their residency at Botsford Hospital and Providence Hospital.  This isn't a blog about Michigan relocation but actually just a way of giving one of those clients a quick look at a Farmington Hills condo.

My doctor that is moving to Michigan spent a day looking at about 10 - 15 Farmington Hills Condos.  But after they went back they still wanted to see one more.  So I ran out there and took some pictures of the condo.  So really this is just a way of the relo people being able to see one more condo from out there.

Front entrance to both condos are close              dining room has mirrors on one side and sliding

                                                                     glass doors on other side.  Brown carpet  

White cabinets (not expensive cabinets) small tile.

View of dining room from living room.  You can see the kitchen in the back ground.  The carpet is worn in that walkway.  It would be possible to put a throw rug there.

Light chocolate carpeting is in decent shape.  This is view from the front door area.  Dining room is to the left of the living room.

here is the layout

                                     BACK OF HOUSE small patio and tree line across back so you can't see other condos too well.  Decently private

Kitchen                       Dining room      living room            2nd bedroom                     carport  

Washer Dryer room      Wall                                            2nd bathroom

furnace room               small hallway    entrance               master bath/closet

garage                                                                         master bedroom

                                    FRONT OF HOUSE

   Kitchen Older applainces so-so cabinets

    Laundry room left side    

                                               Laundry room

                                   A little room in the kitchen for a small two person table

  Furance room.  Door to the garage would be to the left by rug.                            Kitchen down the hall a little bit to the right of the picture.

Picture of dining room and living room from the door way of the kitchen.  Entrance way from the front door is on the right side of the picture.

My overall thoughts are

Tangle subdivision is much nicer.  Washer Dryer is a plus and a little storage area by furnace is good.

Middle's I think is a nicer condo in terms of nicer cabinets and better carpeting and over all apperance.  Tangle is older and done cheaply. Middle's kitchen bigger and I think over all dining and Living room is bigger there too.  I may be wrong.  Look at the room dimensions to be sure.    But Tangle has carport and closer parking. Tangle may be a 3 to 5 minute ride longer for both of you.

I myself think Middle is a cleaner nicer condo.