4 ms·
I grew up in Kalamazoo. Moved back last October due to the arrival a new child and desire to be close to family/cheap housing. Sold the house 10 months later a
by tjr225 6y ago
I grew up in Kalamazoo. Moved back last October due to the arrival a new child and desire to be close to family/cheap housing.
Sold the house 10 months later and I’m already back in Seattle. Whatever idealized version of Michigan I had in my brain was not there when I got there. Couldn’t stand the culture, weather, or evangelicalism.
It is cheap though. Not so much if you want to live anywhere remotely desireable however. Homes in our neighborhood were going for over 400k. At that price I’m going to live where I want to live instead.
- kyleblarson 6y agoYou said you are in Seattle? And you also said that a house over 400k was expensive?
- tjr225 6y ago400k is too expensive for Michigan, yeah. I’ll gladly spend more for somewhere nicer.
- gmadsen 6y agoAnn Arbor isn't too bad
- JAlexoid 6y agoAnn Arbor is a pleasant bubble, that is burst as soon as you cross I94
- refurb 6y agoNot sure what you're looking to buy, but $400k would get you a mansion around Kalamazoo and a 1-bedroom in Seattle. A friend lived in Portage (bottom half of K'zoo county) and had a beautiful home for $200k, great neighborhood, excellent schools.
- tjr225 6y agoI’d rather live in Seattle than live in a cheap mansion in Kalamazoo. I’d rather my family live here as well. That’s the entire point of my post. There is a reason it is cheap and it is not a price I am willing to pay.
- refurb 6y agoThat’s fine but what neighborhood in Kalamazoo is $400k? And if $400k is too much for a house, how do you make Seattle work?
- tjr225 6y agoSimply plug the numbers into Redfin or Zillow. This data is easily accessible. > And if $400k is too much for a house, how do you make Seattle work? If I’m going to have to spend this much to make Kalamazoo work I’m going to be seriously second guessing why I moved there in the first place. If I lose my remote job at the startup I worked at and suddenly am looking at making 60k a year as a windows Sysadmin at western Michigan university or Pfizer (if I’m lucky!) that house isn’t going to seem very cheap- even if my house is only 200k a year. In fact it’s going to start to seem really fucking expensive once you consider the tax implications. And yes there are cheaper neighborhoods to live in Kalamazoo. They don’t really inspire you much to want to stay there- that is unless you like guns and meth. I can afford more than 400k in Kalamazoo but that’s not the point. The point is that if I’m going to chose to spend every waking hour living somewhere; I’m going to choose a place that doesnt make me miserable.