Reviews & Comments
Ann Arbor, MI
re: As expensive as Portland, Seattle, outskirts o -
5/26/2015Agreed. The cost of living is completely failing anyone who didn't buy here in the the decades before 2000. To put it truthfully, it doesn't exist. A house that would cost you 225k in the suburbs will easily be double anywhere within city limits. Good luck driving around the potholes. The infastructure around AA has not been modified to take on the population increases during the past 25 years, expect heavy traffic and lots of accidents on US-23/I-94 on a daily basis. Not fun for commuters. Some wonderful signature dining/retail establishments have been driven off by unaffordable commercial leasing and overall commercial space availability much like with residential properties. This city SCREAMS yuppie and it doesn't take much more than a walk downtown to figure this out. Lots of arrogance in general - no sign of the vibrant counter culture/activist happenings that once thrived outside of a few bookstores and museums. Gentrification of the downtown area has taken much of the overall character. I'd rather walk in to a dive and drink warm beer then walk in to Bar Louie for anything. U of M (whole different thread) football fans pack the city on Fall weekends and love to trash the place and leave without cleaning after themselves.
Public transportation and recreation (trails, water etc.) are top notch and it's very nice to have access to such affordable modes of transportation and exercise.
Bottom line is you have to have money to live here. Very few employers pay what it takes to live here (Zingerman's for one, and they sell $15/plates of mac n cheese). The rents and mortgages and tuition will continue to rise and like everywhere else deemed likable, the middle and lower class will be squeezed out in order to make room for corporate America's fine upper class. Fun to visit but I'd move somewhere else if you're not part of "I have multiple bmw's in the garage" crowd.