by "Variance" (Variance)
Published 04/05/2017 at 20:36
by "Variance" (Variance)
Published 04/05/2017 at 20:36
Tags: Detroit
; Relocation
; Garage
STARS: 0
As some of you may remember, I posted a few weeks back seeking advice on various residential areas in the Detroit area, due to a job possibility. Well, I got the job, and have spent the last 2 weeks or so trying to find a place to live.
It’s been 5-6 years since I last relocated, and holy shit, I had forgotten how annoying/frustrating this whole process can be. It seems like everything fitting my criteria that I find is one of the following:
Almost an hour (or more) from my future office (due to evening rush hour traffic)
Really expensive
A shit-hole, or just way older than I want to deal with
I’ve been assigned a real-estate/rental-finding agent as part of my relocation package, but it still feels like I’m doing all the work (any promising leads so far have come from me). To top it off, she’s gone dark and I haven’t heard anything from her in 2 days.
I knew that wanting a 2-car garage (or at least the ability to rent 2 1-car garages, like I do in my current apartment complex), would make things a little more difficult, but damn. It seems like whoever built all these apartment complexes didn’t believe in garages; instead, every damn place has these stupid carports.
Anyway, sorry, I just needed to rant a bit. Here’s a picture of the Shelby, for your time.
"Saracen" (manualdoucheelitist)
04/05/2017 at 20:43, STARS: 1
I can’t blame you for ranting. I’d hate to park my baby under a carport too!
"Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire" (arch-duke-maxyenko)
04/05/2017 at 20:44, STARS: 1
Try buying a house.
I still feel like setting myself on fire from the process.
"Milky" (jordanmielke)
04/05/2017 at 20:55, STARS: 0
Missed your other post but I live downtown and commute 45 minutes north. For what I’m doing, I love it. Granted at 75 I turn onto 696 and miss where it gets congested, but I can cruise up 75 doing 85 everyday. Its nice.
I’m kind of surprised there aren’t any houses with garages in Ferndale that you’d like. Have you tried Berkley? Still close to Royal Oak, just on the other side of Woodward.
Sucks that Chrysler is actually that far up 75 though.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 21:10, STARS: 0
Unfortunately, from what I’ve been seeing when I do my “commute checks” on Google Maps, areas like Ferndale and Berkley end up with 45 min-1 hour commutes in the evening, due to the congestion on 75 from around Oakland Mall to the 696 interchange. They’re sub-30 (barely) in the mornings, but the evening looks pretty brutal.
I found some stuff in eastern Sterling Heights that I had to eliminate for the same reason; it seems like congestion on M59 gets really bad around Utica, and drives the commute time up significantly.
The issue is that I’ve had a 10-15 minute commute for the past 5-6 years (and even shorter when I was in school), so the upper limit of ~30 that I set for myself is already going to take some getting used to. I did a 45+ minute commute for a few summer internships, and I reaaaally don’t want to deal with that again.
Right now I’m focusing my search on Auburn Hills, Troy, Rochester Hills, the western halves of Sterling Heights and Shelby Township, and northern Royal Oak/Madison Heights.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 21:15, STARS: 0
Haha, and my problem is that I have TWO babies that I don’t want parked outside. If I only wanted/needed 1 garage space, it seems like I would have a lot more options. I’m almost considering renting a storage unit for the less-frequently-driven car, but hate the idea of having to drive somewhere to go get it any time I’d like to drive it.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 21:17, STARS: 0
Depending on how comfortable I end up feeling in this new position, I might be in that boat sooner rather than later. I’m kinda tired of throwing money down the drain renting, so if I end up liking FCA, I’ll probably be looking to buy in a year or two.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
04/05/2017 at 21:21, STARS: 0
If you stay along the m-59 corridor and stay to the west of mound, your commute should be fine. That route east on m-59 doesn’t get too backed up till you get past mound and it turns into hall road. I’m not familiar with the rental properties available, because we’ve been house hunting in the area. You might be able to source a rental house in the areas east of dequindre and west of van dyke south of m-59. Might add a bit to the commute, but you can take side streets to get around everywhere up here. And a house would probably get you a garage.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 21:32, STARS: 0
Yeah, throughout my search I’ve been doing “commute checks” with Google Maps, and noticed that M59 gets turns “red” once you hit the outskirts of Utica. I had to eliminate a few places in eastern Sterling Heights because of it.
There’s a smaller rental house with a 2.5-car garage in Troy that I’m really hopeful about, but I’m having difficulty getting a clear answer from the agent as to its availability.
"Milky" (jordanmielke)
04/05/2017 at 21:35, STARS: 0
Well we know a thing or two about Shelby Township.
Honestly I’m not to helpful on the other areas. They’re a bit too burb for me, don’t hangout there much. I can say the two people on the couch next to me are from Troy and they’re pretty cool.
Had a friend commute from midtown to Chrysler for an internship, he ended up just going/leaving early. I’d do that.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
04/05/2017 at 21:37, STARS: 0
That’d be awesome. Hopefully it will work out. I rented a house for a job down in Augusta a few years back, it was great. No noisy neighbors and a two car garage. I split it with the project manager, so the rent wasn’t too bad, but if you can swing the added costs, that’s the best way to go. Let me know where you end up. I’ve got a garage and tools in Sterling Heights 16 and Ryan area, if you need something.
"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
04/05/2017 at 22:16, STARS: 0
Houses are dumb. Everyone should live in an RV.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 0
Damn, those rants were savage.
I get torn on whether I want to be closer to work or closer to “things to do.” I have friends in Ann Arbor that I’d like to be closer to, but when I really think about it, I’m pretty much just a homebody. I spend most of my free time sitting on my computer, playing video games, working on my cars, and driving said cars. Since I never actually go out, I’m kinda thinking that it might be pointless to try to live closer to an “active” area, haha.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
04/05/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 0
i tryed setting myself on fire but the water in the basement of the house i’m trying to buy keeps putting me out
"Variance" (Variance)
04/05/2017 at 22:41, STARS: 0
Funny that you’re in that particular area; there are some really slick townhouses being built near the corner of 15 Mile and Ryan Rd with 2 car garages (though it’s a tandem layout), but they aren’t available until June/July. I thought about just doing something temporary until then, but that’s a long time to have my household goods (and probably one of my cars) in storage.
"Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire" (arch-duke-maxyenko)
04/05/2017 at 22:52, STARS: 0
YOU TOO?
"Levitas" (levitas)
04/05/2017 at 22:58, STARS: 0
Does FCA give you a strict start/end time? I know many people that live in Royal Oak/Ferndale or Plymouth/Northville/Farmington that commute to Dearborn every day. Earlier in, earlier out, unless there’s snow or an accident I don’t think they end up much more than 45 minutes.
And unfortunately, it’s just part of living up here. My last supervisor commuted over 60 miles, each way, each day. Just have to drive the GT350 every day and make up for it.
"RyanFrew" (ryanfrew)
04/06/2017 at 00:51, STARS: 0
Dude! Forgot you were in NKY! I wound up buying a ‘14 981 Boxster S. Doing any cruises this year? Autocrosses? Crescent Springs C&C?
Edit: I clearly did not read this post before adding my comment.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/06/2017 at 01:08, STARS: 0
Haha, I figured that you had something else catch your eye when you never got back to me about checking out the Shelby. I was heavily considering a Cayman GTS for a while, so I can’t argue with your choice; I ended up just wanting a little more usable trunk space. It’s a shame that Toyota didn’t release the Supra quickly enough for me to take advantage of my employee discount before leaving, haha.
I’m going to miss the area, even though I didn’t really get out much. I might try to make it out to one of the C&C meets before I leave, but we’ll see; things are kinda hectic right now.
"RyanFrew" (ryanfrew)
04/06/2017 at 01:14, STARS: 0
Let me know for sure!
I’ve been blessed not to really interact with a GT350 yet. When I do, the envy will be strong; it’s the better car. For me it boiled down to the fact that I have a ‘67 Mustang and have always wanted a newer Porsche...so it just wasn’t an objective decision.
"jimz" (jimz)
04/06/2017 at 02:32, STARS: 0
dude, I don’t know where your expectations came from, but expecting a 2-car garage with an apartment is a pipe dream. A condo, maybe. but an apartment? LOL. you’re lucky if one offers covered parking at all.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/06/2017 at 04:31, STARS: 0
I guess what I wrote was easy to misinterpret. I’m not annoyed by not finding apartments with 2-car garages, I’m annoyed by:
Not being able to find apartments with garages in general
Not being able to find rental houses with 2-car garages that fit my other criteria as well
I currently rent a 1-bedroom apartment, and rent 2 detached 1-car garage stalls in the complex for an additional fee. I would be perfectly happy with doing the exact same thing again (since I don’t need a lot of living space), but I’m struggling to find any apartment complexes that even HAVE garages available to rent; it seems like everything is either open-lot parking, or carports. I have found some places that offer townhome-style units with attached garages, but those are mostly 1-car ones, with no additional space available to rent (if I could rent one of these townhouse units plus an additional detached garage space, that would be fantastic). Most of the apartment complexes in my current area offer garages to rent, so I’m surprised by the seemingly complete absence of them up there.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/06/2017 at 04:42, STARS: 0
Better in some ways, worse in others. My car may be faster, but at the end of the day, it’s still a Mustang with a special engine and fancy suspension; it doesn’t come anywhere close to a Porsche in material or build quality.
Honestly, I really wish Porsche made a “modern” 944/968. Price-wise, the Boxster and Cayman line fill that segment, but if Porsche offered a front-engined coupe to give me the “practicality” I wanted, I would have been ALL OVER IT. I looked at 944S2s and 968s for a while, until I realized that DDing a 25+ year-old Porsche is a TERRIBLE idea.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
04/06/2017 at 11:23, STARS: 0
No doubt, I’ve seen those units going up, hopefully they will finish them on time, but no telling. Our house is in a great price point on the market because a person could purchase our house for the same or less than a condo/townhome unit. So I would assume if there are any rentals in our area, then it would be comparable pricing to rental of a townhome. There were a bunch out there as few years back, but those have since been bought up. There is a high turnover in my sub though, so folks might go the rental route in the coming weeks/months, but now these homes sell fairly quickly, so there’s no guarantees.
We love our neighbors and the location right now, but we are looking to go bigger. We’ve even discussed expanding the current house, but because the schools aren’t the best in the area, we will likely just pick up and move.
I wish I could assist in storage help for you, but right now I barely have enough space for our vehicles and all the kid stuff. But if you need a place to wrench, I can make space for a few days at a time.
Good luck with the search. Are you dead set on renting? Or are you contemplating ownership? Like I said, you can have a home in the sub I’m in for sub 200k, but not sure if you’re looking to make that permanent a move.
Once you get into Oakland county, which is the other side of dequindre road from me, the values of the homes go up by at least 100k for similar sized homes. Taxes bump up too. Macomb county is a relative bargain compared to the surrounding areas, half the tax bill... but if you are set on rental, then these don’t concern you.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/06/2017 at 16:55, STARS: 0
I appreciate the info. If I had more time, I would potentially look at buying, but it’s just not in the cards right now. I found a townhome condo in “The Preserves” that a private owner is renting out, so that may end up being the ticket; it’s a little more than I had hoped to spend, but with an attached 2-car and 15-20 minute commute, it’ll at least work for a year or so while I get settled. I had really hoped to be along the I-75 corridor, to facilitate quicker access to friends in AA, the airport, etc., but as you said, Oakland County just seems to be expensive.
Think you’ll be going to the Oppo meet in May?
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
04/06/2017 at 17:47, STARS: 0
Sounds good, hopefully that will work out for you. Once you get settled in the area, you can catch your breath and look around a bit.
I might make it to the meet, but not likely. I do volunteer work on that morning, and might not be able to get momma to cover with the boys to make it over there. But we will see. We have some family and friends over that way, so might be able to stop out for a bit.
"Variance" (Variance)
04/11/2017 at 23:46, STARS: 0
Never fails. Drove up this past weekend to check it and several other places out. Was the first person to see it and put in an application, and I found out today that the landlord chose somebody else.
Apparently being a single engineer with no pets and an ~800 credit score isn’t good enough. Who would’ve thought?
Back to the drawing board...
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
12/10/2018 at 16:09, STARS: 0
What a beautiful beast ... Well- spec-ed (leaving the stripes off)!
As a potential future owner, what would you tell me about these?
How robust has the Voodoo motor proven to be? Any common issues popping up on the forums?
"Variance" (Variance)
12/10/2018 at 21:54, STARS: 0
Haha, yeah, I had to find an available allocation (which was damn near impossible without markup at the time) and special-order, specifically because I didn’t want stripes.
My biggest advice would be to r esearch the model years and option packages to make sure you get what you want. Mine is a 2017; from 2017 on, they made the “ T rack P ackage” standard (Magneride, engine and transmission oil coolers, larger rear lip spoiler, and probably something else I’m forgetting), and began offering the “Electronics Package”, which allowed you to get Sync 3, the larger infotainment screen, and a few other goodies, while still retaining the Recaro seats. For the 2015 and 2016 model years, you had to choose between the track pack and “Technology Package”, which gave the electronics and magneride (but not the oil coolers) , but also forced the Mustang GT’s heated/cooled/power seats on you. 2016s with the tech pack are the least desirable iteration, with prices to match, generally. The Recaros are GT350-unique, and are amazing; any car without them is worse for it.
As for the Voodoo, I don’t really hang out on any forums anymore, but I’ve had no issues in the... 15k- ish? miles that I’ve driven. It drinks gas, though; I average around 16 mpg in combined driving, though my evening commute home involves a decent amount of traffic on the highway. On longer highway trips, I get between 19 and 21, depending on what speed I set the cruise to. Another expensive thing is oil changes: it takes 10 quarts of 5W-50 full synthetic and a unique filter. I do them myself for around $120; partially to save money, and partially because I don’t trust a normal Ford dealer to do it. Some earlier owners reported that their dealers followed the Mustang GT procedure, which only calls for like 7 quarts, resulting in engine damage; others reported having the oil filter back off while driving, resulting in oil spraying everywhere. Because of the vibrations inherent in the flat-plane crank and requisite firing order, the filter has a torque spec; if not adhered to, the vibrations can back the filter off over time.
If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Also, if by some random chance you’re in the greater Detroit area, I wouldn’t mind letting you take her for a spin (after Winter passes, of course).
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
12/10/2018 at 22:46, STARS: 0
Thanks for all this! I really appreciate it. Sounds like ‘17 on would be what I’d be holding out for. I currently have an E90 M3, so I’m fully aware of the poor mileage and expensive oil that comes along with a high-strung engine - ha!
The heavy vibrations do make me wonder about how these will hold up long-term, but hopefully they prove to b e built stout enough to handle it.
Very kind of you to offer a drive - wish I lived close enough to take you up on that. I do need to take the kids and just go find one for a test drive sometime, just to see if they fit okay in the back.
"Variance" (Variance)
12/10/2018 at 23:13, STARS: 0
Yeah, I actually opted for an extended powertrain warranty because I was unsure of the longevity of the engine. It has a pretty massive damper built into the crank main pulley, and the vibrations are far more isolated from the cabin than I expected, but who knows what’s going on inside the block.
Honestly though, once I start it up and flip the exhaust into “sport” mode, none of that really matters. It truly does make a glorious noise (and I’m not even an “American Muscle” kind of guy).
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
12/11/2018 at 08:56, STARS: 0
Smart. Hope that proves unnecessary in the end!
Glorious!! I always roll my window down when there’s one around...