Grand Rapids Michigan

[cjnix29]

My husband just came home and said there is a possibility of a position within his company to transfer to Grand Rapids. Can anyone tell me about the cost of living there? how the economy is? housing? schools? Figured some of my budget board friends must be from around there. Worried about moving to Michigan, since it's not exactly the most prosperous place these days. His job would be secure, so we wouldn't be worried about that. But wondered about the rest of it. Huge financial/personal decision....just wondered if anyone could help.

 

[Fire14]

It is 2nd biggest city in MI. Lots of stuff going up in area. I'd say stuff is pretty stable on that side of state. Lots of colleges in area, Great level 1 trauma center. Lots of fun stuff to do locally, an airport that is nice but currently on pricy side to fly out of but getting cheaper. lots of local museums that are worth the time to explore ( Pres Ford museum, Art museum, Public museum), A great zoo, A nice downtown, an appox 30-45 min drive to lakeshore. A really nice mall in town and a better one appox 20 min drive. I'd say cost of living is not bad. Areas that you could look at for housing include Wyoming, Cascade, Grandville, Caladonia Dpending on where Dh's job local is. If you need more info My friend lives in GR and is 5 min from downtown. Schools are hit and miss from what I've heard, but I didn't attend basic School in GR just College.
I will say I miss it dearly and would move back in heart beat if chance came my way.

 

[maxiesmom]

Hey, that is where I live!

First off, much will depend on which area of GR you want to live in. It is a pretty large city, especially when you take into account all of the suburbs.

Unfortunately, the Grand Rapids Public schools themselves are not the best. But we do have school of choice, you can live in one neighborhood yet send your kids to a different school district.

I am more familiar with the area I live in, which is the west side. I actually live in Wyoming, Mi, and it is a nice area. The city kind of grew to the west, so this area is newer. By newer my parents moved here 35 years ago, and the whole area was fields and trees.

But further west where my sister lives (Hudsonville) has been developed fairly recently. She had her house built there 15 years ago, and the area was mostly farmland at the time. Even now if you drive 5 minutes you will be by fields and farms. The schools are top notch too.

South of us is Byron Center, and while it has newer schools, I wouldn't recommend moving there. Unless you have a super conservative view point.

Depending on the area you pick, you can get a nice house for just over $100,000. Spend $200,000 and you can get a really nice house.

I hope this helps a little. I know our economy isn't the best, but this side of the state has much to recommend it. There are many parks, and I am live only about 45 minutes from Lake Michigan. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[sTINKS]

I am from the GR area and would be happy to answer any questions you have. You can do lots of good weekend trips - 3 hours to chicago, lots of beaches in the summer on lake michigan, Saugatuck, South Haven, Holland, Grand Haven, Charlevoix, Mackinac Island, Traverse City (great winery tours up there). There are some great school districts in West Michigan as well. The downtown GR area is really growing and seems to have lots of fun things going on. Overall, West Michigan is very family oriented and a good place to raise a family. If you end up moving here, the housing market is definately a buyers market. West Michigan is much less dependant on the automotive industry as the East side, so it seems to be much more stable.

PM me if there is anything I can help you with.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

My DH works in GR. We live in a rural area about 25 minutes away. GR is big. There are some nice areas, and some not nice areas. Do you know what area it would be? There are many good schools in suburb areas. I wouldn't even consider GR public schools. Grandville, Rockford, and Caledonia are some of the better schools.

As for housing, you can get a great deal right now. A lot of people have had to move away. Our economy is really bad, and finding jobs around here is not easy!

We get a lot of snow just to warn you. A lot of lake effect. I love the summers here, but I hate winters.

The cost of living will really depend on what area you end up in. There can be a huge difference depending on what county or township. We live in a township with high property taxes. The next one over is much less.

 

[cjnix29]

I'm Ok with snow. We used to live in Cleveland. But we will be buying a snowblower, and I'm glad we have a jeep! Thanks for the info. I'm not exactly sure where his job would be exactly. We are still in the beginning stages. He will be going up there probably next week. School systems are definitely a big deal to us. We moved to where we are now, and aren't excited about our schools, so I want to do more research before this move. DH is looking at houses now, and is kind of amazed at the options. DH loves northern michigan, and we were just up at Boyne Mountain a few weeks ago.

 

[johnsontrio]

Grand Rapids is still growing, which is a good indication that the economy isn't as bad as what it is here in the Detroit area. There is an enormous amount of philanthropic giving in the area. The colleges in the area, esp. Grand Valley, are expanding and they are getting a medical school in GR. Most major performers and theater come through there and you can easily travel to Chicago for cultural events. The people I meet from the west side of the state are nice family centered folks. You should be able to buy a whopper of a house for a nice price and that part of the state is pretty.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We used to live in Kalamazoo and went up to Grand Rapids a lot. It seemed nice and had we stayed in MI we probably would have moved up there. Good Luck!

 

[mjhd]

We're just outside of GR but have lived in the city before as well. Just think, one reason to move is you would have tons of Dis friends! If schools are important to you, two of the best school districts in the state are here - Forest Hills Public or East Grand Rapids. This is the reason we moved to this area 10 years ago. EGR is a very small area and housing is expensive. In the FHPS, you can live in a neighborhood or out in the country and in a few zip codes. Housing can be found more inexpensively here but is not cheap.

Like others have said, there is tons to do, lots of shopping, and the area is growing in leaps and bounds. While we have been hit by the downturn in the economy, it hasn't been as bad as some other areas in Michigan. We also now have Allegiant & Airtran flying out of GRR so getting to Disney won't be a problem Feel free to ask any questions!

 

[Disneyforus]

I grew up in Rockford, about 20 min north of GR. You probably would like any of the suburb areas around GR. We now live in Portage, about an hour south of GR, and if we moved back up towards GR...I would consider Zeeland....it's between GR and Lake Michigan and just a quaint clean town with good schools.

Michigan winters can be interesting. I am kind of "over" the whole snow thing. My husband is in the automotive industry so Michigan hasn't been too kind to us. I am in nursing school right now, and as soon as I graduate we will seriously consider moving from the area...I am thinking maybe....Orlando No, perhaps Tenn or Kentucky???

If your husband has job security in this potential move, then you will probably enjoy everything Michigan has to offer. Beautiful lakes, beaches state parks etc...

Good Luck!

 

[Beezle2]

Hello

I live in Kalamazoo which is about 45 minutes right down the highway from Grand Rapids. If your DH would be OK with a bit of a commute you might want to check us out. We have the Kalamazoo Promise here that gives our kids a free college education at any college in Michigan. It is a percentage based deal..if your child goes to a Kalamazoo Public School from K-12 they get 100% but even going just from High school you can still get over 1/2 paid. Our oldest started in middle school and she will be covered 85%. We are aiming for U of M for our youngest! We are a nice medium size town with decent but getting better schools, all of our recent millages and bond proposals passed and we have a lot going on in our community. We have Western Michigan College here, a thriving arts scene, lots of festivals, and many things to do as a family. I have lived in big cities and small towns and I think Kazoo is just right, not too big....not too small

 

[cjnix29]

Beezle....I was wondering what town had the promise. My sister lives in Marshall, so I have been shopping in Kalamazoo! I'm not sure how long he wants to commute, but thanks for the tip!

I had seen Forest Hills Schools when I went on greatschools.com/org, whatever the site is. We will have to keep checking it out.

Like I said before, my DH loves northern Michigan. We have a timeshare we can use in Boyne, and have been going up in the summers. We may have to learn to ski now. (Yikes!)

I am glad to know that the Grand Rapids area is better off than the eastern half of the state.

 

[Local_Girl]

We lived in Holland (about a half hour commute west from GR, on the Lakeshore) for 9 years up until this past Jan. when DH changed jobs and we moved over to the east side of the state. I really miss the area...my kids were in a great charter school. If I were moving to the GR area, I'd target the west side, Wyoming, Grandville, and out toward Holland. It is a more conservative area, but we liked that (family oriented).

 

[melafive]

We live in Traverse City but wanted to say my brother lived in Rockford for a while and absolutely loved it. Your drive from G.R. "up north" will not be a bad one at all. Good luck with your decision.

 

[marius97]

I think that it boils down to something you said...having good job security. If you are completely secure in the job, than MI is a great state to move to right now. Houses are dirt cheap. People are great (though VERY conservative and religious around Grand Rapids...not a bad thing, just the way it is), scenery is amazing, and cost of living is low compared to other "big" towns. My DW makes all the money in our family and has excellent job security (works for the state). It is horrible seeing what all the other families are going through. And we have been hurt a bit with pay freezes and threats of pay cuts, but we are way better off than most of our neighbors.

 

[Julylady]

Another Grand Rapidian here. I work in downtown GR and live about 20 minutes west. You have gotten good advice on this thread so far. There is huge diversity in terms of communities around GR - ethnic makeup, rural/urban/suburban, types of housing, schools. Make sure you spend some time looking around and visiting a wide variety of locales. Only downside of GR in my opinion is the weather. Long, gray, snowy winters get old fast. Make sure you budget for a winter trip to WDW each year.

As others have said it is a very conservative, family oriented community.

 

[ashleyasiegel]

As far as schools are concern Forest Hills would be my first choice over East as you can find cheaper housing. I live in Rockford and that is good school district also. We will probably end up moving into the Forest Hills area unless Rockford eventually splits into 2 high schools. My husband went to FHN and we would probably send our daughter to FHE as it the smaller of the 3 schools to hopefully allow opportunity to participate in more extracurriculars. Since Rockford is so large you really are limited to playing only one sport since there is so many kids to choose from. Michigan economy isn't the best but if your husband is in a secure job then you should have no problems. Overall Grand Rapids is a wonderful place to live and lots of things to do. Plus opportunity for some great weekend trips

 

[Fire14]

I see a west MI dis meet in our future I never realized how many disers lived on west side of state.

 

[cjnix29]

Fire14. Funny that you are giving me advice about living in Michigan...as I see you also say you are in Ashley Ohio...we are in Delaware!

So happy for all the advice. My husband is big on weekend trips, and would love to have a weekend place...ahh. dare to dream! Keep it comin'!

 

[Jennabeth]

Hi from another Grand Rapidian. We live on the NE side in the Northview School district and love our location. There are a lot of great suburbs to choose from and now houses are going cheap (we are selling ours if you're interested, LOL). The winters can get long but the summers at Lake Michigan make up for it. We are 30 minutes from the lake and leave after work on Friday nights to catch the sunset. Our economy is not as bad as the east side, there are actually companies hiring again.