Lansing MI area...now Hastings!

t71ford

t71ford

Over 1,000 Posts
Hey fellas,

I have an opportunity coming my way with a larger corporation that might land me in the middle of Michigan. I don't know crap about MI, wondering if those of you who live there might have any valuable insight. Looking in the Lansing area, but not in the city itself, or even just for groovy (and not so groovy) info about the state. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Big state! Lansing puts you about in the middle - 1.5~2.5hrs from most coasts. Economy is slowly coming back, but MI can be an expensive state to live in.

Other than cold (esp in the Lansing area it seems), the recent winters have been surprisingly snow-free ... we're probably due for a big one.

Stockbridge (east of Lansing) hosts an all-clubs motorcycle ride-in each warm month (I think). Cafe Racer is in Ypsilanti - Tues bike nights and the Ton Up Festival in the summer. Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids are cool towns. Woodward Dream Cruise north of Detroit in mid-August ... plenty of other big car/motorcycle events going on all over the place too.

Not a lot of twisties - the road system is almost entirely NSEW grid. Some terrain, but mostly rolling.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

i went to school at MSU for a while... great area man!! bring your sled cause there is some bad ass back country ou thtere.... let me know if you move man you can snowmobile with us!!!
 
Re: Lansing MI area...Very Expensive

Michigan is very expensive- especially since a fork lift operator makes $100,000. Lansing is overall a nice place but look around at the smaller towns. Portland Mi is one possibility. Places like Birmingham, Grosse Point, Bloomfield Hills, and even Grand Haven have the richest inhabitants, blowing away SoCal and Miami. Old money where generations don't work but they control the world.

Also, don't believe the cost of living calculators. They include all the places you wouldn't be caught dead in (well, actually.....). Figure $375,000 for a house plus $18,000 per kid for private school. The rest is gravy. Also, in Lansing you'll need a big four wheel drive like an F-250 or Suburban. They get hit big with snow and since its a no-fault State, you play bumper cars on the roads.

large_snow-roads-21.jpg
 
Re: Lansing MI area...


Any other small towns? I don't want to live in Lansing itself, but would rather the smaller towns. I looked at Portland, and it looks pretty nice. Are there other good ones?

I have no kids, and an F-250 (we get winter here in MT, too, haha) so all good there. I haven't seen housing prices tht high though. Maybe I'm just looking wrong, though.

Thanks for the help guys
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

where woudl you be working out of bud? if you know that i can ask the old man what he would sugest he has been up there way more than I... to be honest lancing is really nice... i would live there... hell i did live there!
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Being just south of their border I am kinda biased but...

The thing that gets me is Michigan has "No Fault Insurance" that means when the idiot or bluehair T-Bones you or rams you in the ass, all he has to do is fix his own car...your insurance has to pay for yours.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Towns within reasonable drives (<30min) from Lansing (closest to farthest);
South: Holt, Mason, Leslie & Jackson
East: Fowlerville, Howell & Brighton
West: Charlotte, Portland, Lake Odessa
North: St. Johns, Fowler, Owasso
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

redwillissuperman said:
Michigan is very expensive- especially since a fork lift operator makes $100,000. Lansing is overall a nice place but look around at the smaller towns. Portland Mi is one possibility. Places like Birmingham, Grosse Point, Bloomfield Hills, and even Grand Haven have the richest inhabitants, blowing away SoCal and Miami. Old money where generations don't work but they control the world.

Also, don't believe the cost of living calculators. They include all the places you wouldn't be caught dead in (well, actually.....). Figure $375,000 for a house plus $18,000 per kid for private school. The rest is gravy. Also, in Lansing you'll need a big four wheel drive like an F-250 or Suburban. They get hit big with snow and since its a no-fault State, you play bumper cars on the roads.

large_snow-roads-21.jpg
Click to expand...

Dude MI, is far from an expensive state to live in. I was born and raised their. I now live in NY now ( you want to talk expensive) I still own a home in Metro Detroit that I rent. I have no idea where this $375,000 for a home is coming from but not true at all. Actually my father in-law who owns 3 homes lives in Dewitt. You should also look there. He is selling his home that is in a gated community. The place is beautiful, 1st owner new build 3800 sq ft. Your can get a home for nothing right now. It's a buyers market for sure. They are selling for $250,000.00. Also the Since both my Father in-law and Mother in-law work and retired from the MI school systems I can tell you the public schools are second to none.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeWitt,_Michigan

Dewitt, MI School system is rated one of the best in the state. There is no need to send your kid to private school for $18,000.00. Dewitt is about a 15 min drive to down town Lansing.

Hell my parents own 20 acres all wooded that my dad paid $15,000.00 for. They built a huge house and a pay $1600.00 a yr in taxes. MI is cheap.

The other thing about MI is ya the people are a little over weight but. If you ever need ANYTHING. People are so nice in the Midwest it's almost bizarre. No one is in competition with each other like NYC.

Also as Joe mentioned there is a ton of back country especially in northern MI. You could ride for 10rs and never cross the same trail.

just my 2 cents take it for what it's worth. I have 4 brothers who still live in MI and love it.

Btw. Lake MI is the most spectacular Lake you will ever see in your life. MI winters where your going are no worse than my winters here in NY. I have been in NY for 8yrs. Same bullshit cold, snowy winter. Now northern MI is a totally different story that shit is cold and gets tons of Snow.

grant

www.cafefabrications.com
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Well, million dollar mansions are a little out of my range, but your house looks really cool man :)

I appreciate all the insight. I am fortunate enough with this job that my office will be in my house, so I am free to l live pretty much wherever. I chose the Lansing area since it is central. The job requires a fair bit of in-state travel, and access to the rest of the state from Lansing makes that easy (it looks like, anyway...). I like the small towns a lot, even rural areas. I've looked at St. John's, Portland, and Clarksville, and they all seem like nice areas.

How are the freedom-type things: ie. gun laws, car inspection laws, etc? It looks like Michigan has reciprocity with Montana's concealed carry permit, so I would assume that is fairly similar.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Michigan isn't actually that expensive - a lot of McMansions were built during the housing boom of the 2000s, so there's a glut of underpriced homes all over the place. $200,000 can buy you a lot of house almost anywhere in the central / south east Michigan area. $100,000 can give you a surprising amount of house, and $50,000 will give you a nice fixer upper. Lots of foreclosures around.

South east Michigan (basically everything within 50-75 miles of Detroit) is very nice, with everything from built up fancy cities to pleasant rural areas. Michigan gets pretty rural about 10-20 miles outside of Lansing, but Ann Arbor (where The University of Michigan is) is another interesting place not too far away surrounded by rural areas.

No car inspections here, not even emissions. The inspectors were so crooked that it wasn't doing anyone any good, and the state wasn't making enough revenue off it. If you can drive it, you can drive it. That, and pretty much everyone in Michigan has some "fun" car in the other side of their garage with dual quads and drag radials, so emissions testing has very little support. Make sure you check out the Woodward Dream Cruise at the end of every summer - thousands of cars and about a million people all up and down the Woodward avenue from Pontiac to Detroit watching all kinds of cars, trucks, busses, whatever cruise by. Very cool.

Not sure about guns, but I think only handguns have to be registered. There is a three day waiting period, but I don't know much about the subject.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

t71ford said:
I appreciate all the insight. I am fortunate enough with this job that my office will be in my house, so I am free to l live pretty much wherever. I chose the Lansing area since it is central.
Click to expand...

If you can pick, your best place to live is either Ann Arbor or Metro Detroit. Ann Arbor is where the University of Michigan is and is full of cool places to see and do. In Metro Detroit, the best places are Birmingham, Royal Oak, Beverly Hills, and Bloomfield Hills- but any of the bedroom communities around there (Berkley, Huntington Woods, etc) have great places to live and you are in the center of the automotive world. Anything you could want or need will probably be found withing a mile of your house- if your neighbor doesn't do it.

You can even buy a whole brick loft building in East Detroit and relive the scenes from Big or Quicksilver.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Agreed - lots to do in Ann Arbor. Scenery improves when warm and UofM in session ;D Football Saturdays can be frustrating traffic-wise with 150k+ fans decending on the town.

If Lansing area isn't a must and would rather be closer to SE MI stuff and still be small town, I recommend Dexter, Pinkney, or Chelsea.

You could even live in Hell!

With the exception of the Irish Hills, just about anything south of I-94 is flat land.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

ooh ya and you can register un titled bikes!!! i used to use a fella all the time from Mi, that used to get me titles (from the state) on vintage bikes without them... so if you move and get a residence... i will be hitting you up! hahaha
 
Re: Lansing MI area...Very Expensive

redwillissuperman said:
Michigan is very expensive- especially since a fork lift operator makes $100,000. Lansing is overall a nice place but look around at the smaller towns. Portland Mi is one possibility. Places like Birmingham, Grosse Point, Bloomfield Hills, and even Grand Haven have the richest inhabitants, blowing away SoCal and Miami. Old money where generations don't work but they control the world.

Also, don't believe the cost of living calculators. They include all the places you wouldn't be caught dead in (well, actually.....). Figure $375,000 for a house plus $18,000 per kid for private school. The rest is gravy. Also, in Lansing you'll need a big four wheel drive like an F-250 or Suburban. They get hit big with snow and since its a no-fault State, you play bumper cars on the roads.

large_snow-roads-21.jpg
Click to expand...

Ive lived in West Michigan my whole life...not sure about these "facts" haha... The housing market is dead right now and you can pick a 375,000 house for about 150k, or a more realistic 150k for about 100...public schools have suffered a pretty big hit in the last few years and a charter school may be a better option. In the Lansing area I would recommend Grand Blanc if it was close enough to your work. Avoid anywhere near flint and you will be ok! A big truck is nice but not necessary unless you live in the middle of nowhere...roads get plowed and to be honest we havent had a "big" winter in years. No Fault is a bitch but it is what it is...Outside of the unions the payscale is pretty standard here and there are some very rich communities but I can honestly say it is a great place to live and there is no better location in the summer time than lake Michigan! Oh and you could even live closer to Grand Rapids if you wanted in the Lowell area...great small town!!! And as far as guns... everything requires a soft check but only handguns require you go to the sheriffs to get a full back ground check.
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

JRK5892 said:
ooh ya and you can register un titled bikes!!! i used to use a fella all the time from Mi, that used to get me titles (from the state) on vintage bikes without them... so if you move and get a residence... i will be hitting you up! hahaha
Click to expand...

This has gotten a little more difficult...bikes must now be classed by nada and only a bike in fair or better can get a clean title meaning you can no longer get a clean title for next to zero tax...can still get them for any frame but just a bit tougher and pricier...
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

gijoe13844 said:
This has gotten a little more difficult...bikes must now be classed by nada and only a bike in fair or better can get a clean title meaning you can no longer get a clean title for next to zero tax...can still get them for any frame but just a bit tougher and pricier...
Click to expand...

Tell me more...I was looking really hard at a cb450t from PA with no title but bill of sale, and the Secretary of State told me I'd need to take out a security bond for twice the value of the bike and hold it for two years in order to title it in Michigan. What did I do wrong?
 
Re: Lansing MI area...

Worst cb650 ever said:
Tell me more...I was looking really hard at a cb450t from PA with no title but bill of sale, and the Secretary of State told me I'd need to take out a security bond for twice the value of the bike and hold it for two years in order to title it in Michigan. What did I do wrong?
Click to expand...

I have never had that happen...but every bike I have ever bought has been from Michigan. Did you go in with Nada evaluation?
 
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