Southwest Michigan area

[Jerngen]

We are leaving the Upper Peninsula behind (except for vacations) and have accepted a transfer to the Kalamazoo, MI area office.
We both grew up north of Grand Rapids and are familiar with Michigan from the Grand Rapids area all the way north to the U.P. but neither of us have ever spent much time in the lower southwestern part of Michigan.
We'll be staying with family up near Grand Rapids for the first few weeks and commuting to the office in K-zoo (the job starts on 10/12 so we only have a couple weeks to pack the whole house, clean, and get moved down there <we'll put our stuff in storage 'til we find a place).

We've only been through the area while traveling to Shipshewana, IN and back
From what we can see online for real estate prices and such, and the distance we want to be from the office (hate being close to bigger cities) we are looking in the Paw Paw/Teapot Dome area down towards the Three Rivers area (the office is in Portage, we would like to stay 20 - 30 miles out).
Anyone have any pros/cons to those areas? I'm assuming the growing season is similiar to our old home north of Grand Rapids (Montcalm County), perhaps a bit longer and warmer.
Any areas to avoid? No areas known for sinkholes, no high level prisons, biohazardous waste disposal facilities, hog farms, etc. etc.

I've read the Three Rivers area and south to the border is Amish country. Any bulk purchase stores or things of that nature we should be aware of?
Anyone have a favorite vet, doctor, pediatrician, dentist?
We love to hike as a family (three little ones), any places we should check out for hiking?
We are just starting homeschooling (oldest is 5yrs old), any homeschool groups in the area that you know of?
We love auctions, what are the good auction sites to watch?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

(Yes AngieM2, we're leaving the beautiful great white north behind! LOL Mainly due to wife's desire to be near her folks and easier homesteading/gardening/travelling down there)

[geo in mi]

Give Gretchen Smith at REMAX in Paw Paw a call to get on the MLS email list. Or stop by Family Fare to get the Kalamazoo Area listings in the newspaper/book format. I-94 is your best friend in the wintertime, as the plows will be out there first--and/or the heavy truck traffic will beat off the snow. Red Arrow Highway runs parallel to the north--turns into Stadium Drive--"O" (I think) Avenue runs parallel to the south and turns into Center Street in Portage. Van Buren County is a pretty good place to live, real estate pricing is maybe a little lower than Kalamazoo County metro area. You will love Kalamazoo--good shopping, WMU, great community spirit and festivals galore. Paw Paw, Lawrence, Lawton, Decatur, Gobles all offer an easy commute.

There are many real estate opportunities around here, but of course, you should use due diligence and get an inspection or a buyer's agent. You must choose your garden/farm soil very carefully. It will range from blow sand(dry white beach dune sand that only grows briars) to brackish, water soaked peat(good maybe for blueberries if you can get it drained). The topography changes from those two conditions almost instantly, along the same stretch of road, because the water table is so near the surface and the lowland is slow to drain, while any rise will dry it out. Even sandy loam, on level ground(which is what you want), will wear out very fast if you do not feed it huge quantities of humus. Also, because of the sand content in the soil, plan to irrigate during the dry seasons, if you want veggies. There are pockets of soil that have sticky, waterlogged clay underneath--very difficult for building. You would need to get a long auger sample of ten feet to be sure, but those clay deposits seem to be near river lands.

Plan on lake effect snowfall from Paw Paw westward, and lots of hazy, foggy days during Spring and Fall. Average frost dates are May 15th and September 15th, but always be prepared for a surprise, especially if you want ripe strawberries. One rather well-kept secret is Indiana & Michigan Power Co--its rates are only .08 per kwh--you should ask if the place you are looking at is in that company's service area. Consumers Power is much higher. Maybe not a deal-breaker, but certainly a bonus.

Plug Van Buren County Mi into Google for the County information center, you will get zoning areas, property lines, orthographic pictures (from Spring of 2007) and much more.

And the Teapot Dome? Well, if one guy in a red baseball cap in there is talking a little too loud and waving his arms a lot, it's just because he's had too much coffee and the other guys said something to get him riled up about something--they do it him every Saturday morning............

Welcome to SW MI Paradise and I hope you have many pleasant surprises. Tell Gretchen that George the Habitat guy sent you,

[AngieM2]

Okay - good reasons for leaving the UP. But, you're still close enough for visits. (but be aware, the UP never leaves you).

Angie

[Callieslamb]

SW Mi is my new home so I don't have much info for you. We grow a LOT of food down here. There aren't many farmer's markets as they all just sell it from their farms and I have taken full advantage of it. I have picked fruit from Wayland and Dorr to Niles. We looked at places near Paw Paw but ended up 25 mi south. I have made some really good friends from this site that live near K-zoo. Maybe they will chime in too. We absolutely love it here in SW Mi (ask me again after I feed calves all winter).

As for bulk purchases, these are all I know, so far:
MMPA - Mi milk producers Assn in Constantine, Mi has 50 lb blocks of cheese, dried milk, etc that you can purchase. I am going there next week for a run for folks from my church and can tell you more about it next week. last year the butter was $1.35/lb

Hajencia Honey Farm - Huntington Indiana - we got 50 lbs of honey for $85 this year.

E&S Sales - Shipshewana - chicken, cheese, grains
I am the person that runs the LDS storehouse in Indianapolis from our area (SMi-NIn), so if you need bulk wheat, rice, oats, beans...I go there every 2-3 months to work my shifts and am willing to bring things back for anyone that wants them.
I am sure there will be more bulk purchasing places near GR.

Homeschool - The public school my son is attending this year has a HS arm. You can take which ever classes you want through them and all other school activities are open to HS kids. Check with the YMCAs for fun classes for HS. Here is a link to a Kalamazoo HS group
http://www.kahsaconnection.com/

I wish I could tell you more, but I am so new here and have been so busy we haven't spread out much other than getting established this year. We really like the beach! If you like water sports - they are here. Check the parks and Rec groups - there is always something going on around here with the parks. A local park sponsors nature hikes every Sat.

Good luck with your move!

[ronbre]

nope i'm north of there but have a niece that teaches in Holland and a nephew that works for a survey company in that area.

[Rocky Fields]

I like the Berrien Springs area for fruit and the St. Jo River for fishin'...

[Callieslamb]

Here is a place for bulk beans posted on another forum I visit today.

http://www.coopelev.com/
they have a branch in Kalamazoo. I had to flitter around the site to find what info I wanted.

[Jerngen]

Thank you so much for all of the information!

I'll probably have more specific questions once we get down there but for now I'm off to start googling some of this info. Thank you again!

[Callieslamb]

Be sure to let us know where you land - even if you only PM us the info.

[dngrous]

Not sure if this will extend to that area, but I used the site extensively when I bought a house east of Ionia. http://www.grar.com/portal/

[Maura]

If you have kids, you might want to research the schools first. Areas with good schools are usually areas where people care about their community, regardless of their income level.

[Jerngen]

Update: We are renting a place for six months in the Kalamazoo metro area while we continue looking around the region and exploring.
I miss the wilderness but this hasn't been too bad

I wish I could find a website that lists all the festivals in the s.w. MI area. We like to know in advance and it seems like I keep hearing about potentially fun things to do at the last minute when we've already made other plans.

Thanks again for the links and info above! Now that we're unpacked and settled in (for now) I plan to put them to good use.

[||Downhome||]

I would avoid three rivers (at least the city) its a slum like many other michigan citys, I have family there and we were down that way fishing a few month ago and this economic climate has not helped them any! maybe 50-60 miles out it gets rural pretty quick but your still in range for the city dwellers (slab walkers) if shtf and they need your supplies.

[Jerngen]

Yes, we thought Three Rivers was quite an interesting....... paradox (for lack of better word) on our drives through recently.
We intend to buy a place in the country, just need to be within 45 minutes commuting distance to Portage (where the office is).

We are currently looking in the Fulton, Mendon, Leonidas, and Colon areas. I would prefer to be further out but this works best for our family at this stage in the game.

[Drew Cutter]

If you are into grass fed beef check out www. buggyridge.com web page. Jim lives near grand rapids.

[truckdriverx72]

Originally Posted by Jerngen

Yes, we thought Three Rivers was quite an interesting....... paradox (for lack of better word) on our drives through recently.
We intend to buy a place in the country, just need to be within 45 minutes commuting distance to Portage (where the office is).

We are currently looking in the Fulton, Mendon, Leonidas, and Colon areas. I would prefer to be further out but this works best for our family at this stage in the game.

The areas you are looking at are good ones- quite a few Mennonite (Amish branch) families in these areas. Schools are great. But if you have to be in Portage in 45 minutes, I would suggest Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Lawton, Mattawan, Paw Paw, Galesburg, Climax, Scotts, stay within 20 miles- the winter drive will be longer than you think!! The different County Visitors Bureaus should be able to help you with upcoming festivals and such. Feel free to PM me with more questions-

[geo in mi]

Glad you found a place to land for now. Before they run out, go to Meijer and get the 2010 Michigan Engagement calendar, photos by John Penrod. It will show a lot of the bigger festivals and gatherings around the state. Google the towns in the area and you should get a lot of the local, smaller ones.

Sounds like you will be making a few day trips around the various locales, to get some ideas as to where you want to settle full time. Good luck. After Christmas, you will get to see SW Michigan at its worst--snow, mud, grey skies, no tourists, no water sports, no festivals, everybody hunkered down waiting on their unemployment checks and stoking the woodstoves, nothing to do except for Monday nite Bingo. This is the best time to look at real estate, when things are at the worst conditions you can expect. But just wait till Spring, you'll love it here.