So living in the ‘burbs starts to get real old after a while. Especially when you spend all your time downtown… eating, drinking, playing etc. But everyone and their mother has an opinion on moving to Detroit and it’s pretty much: “DON’T DO IT.”
While I understand the rationale behind it (high taxes, poor schools, crime, etc, etc) I clearly have to disagree… Especially since we have officially bought a house in Detroit! Yes-sir-ee! We are now official Detroiters!
The decision truly happened organically… As my husband and I started to talk about how our current house wouldn’t be the house we stayed in, we both started to give some thought to where we would like that forever house to be in. A more city/urban environment, close to restaurants, events, museums, the usual. Detroit seemed like a crazy choice, but we both seemed to be unable to let the idea go… Even with a baby on the way. So I started trolling the real estate internets and scoping out areas and prices. One day I came across a listing in Brush Park and emailed the realtor. We never saw that property (it was a duplex and we wanted a single family home), but we hit it off with the realtor who knew a great deal about another fantastic area: The Avenue of Fashion/Sherwood Forest/University District. That very same weekend I met a buddy for brunch who had recently looked into a house in that very neighborhood and raved about how gorgeous the homes were. Post-brunch we took a tour and I was in love. A few weeks later a listing came up, we went to see it and my husband fell in love- but with the neighborhood- not the house. That house was not for us.
But we both got a feeling about the neighborhood… the people, the businesses, the location, the vibe… It all just felt like where we were supposed to be.
So we saw some more houses and even got outbid on one, before stumbling across the ramblin’ old beauty above.
It was a foreclosure with 5 other offers on the table, but they chose us.
!!!!!
So now this big, old, ignored house becomes our home. Where we will bring our first son into the world and hopefully a sibling or two, and grow old together.
It’s an epic 3200 sq. ft., built in 1925, with original masonry and oak hardwood flooring throughout, with rich plaster detailing and a coal chute, still intact. It’s also a house with holes in the ceiling, disgusting carpet covering those hardwoods, old plumbing and electric, and cracks and gauges in that glorious old plaster.
It’s dirty, neglected and rough around the edges, yet charming and warm and full of potential—just like Detroit itself. And it’s ours.
And so our Detroit adventure begins!
THIS IS HOW WE DETROIT 