Tom,
I know you are the expert on all things Michigan, so I thought I’d ask you. Others - please chime in, if you’ve got some relevant advice.
A wife’s work colleague is moving to Albion, Michigan to work at Albion College. She’s looking for recommendations and/or advice on what neighbourhoods to live in. Any suggestions? Is the town of Albion relatively nice, or is it deserted like many formerly nice, small towns in the midwest?
Thanks in advance,
ccy
Io Triumphe! Class of 1994 here, and my sherpa was not only class of '92 but a faculty brat. (his dad retired in the late 90s)
Good school, but the town itself is one of those classic dying industrial midwestern places. There are a couple of nice neighborhoods south of campus by the river if you want to be close to work. However, I’d probably look in Marshall, which is the next town to the west. There you get better housing stock complete with National Register downtown, better schools, and fewer environmental and social problems. You get lots of people in Marshall who are either salesmen who base there because of the I-69/I-94 interchange or are commuting into Battle Creek. It’s maybe a 15 minute commute into Albion, and the roads are generally good even after a snowstorm.
I get the feeling that politically there can be a bit of a nudge to stay in town and get involved in the community and all, and you can get some nice older housing stock cheap, but I’d opt for the commute, especially if schools are a concern.
I’ll second what FLA Jill has to say. My wife went to Albion and her folks live down in Clark Lake (south of Jackson, maybe 25 minutes from Albion).
The housing stock is cheap, but it is not a happening place. Pretty much dying out entirely. You’d be driving everywhere for groceries, entertainment, dining, etc. You are way better off living somewhere we you can find those things and driving into work. I’ll second Marshall too–it is happening, is close to highways, and is close to Albion.
Jill, Dave,
Thanks for your input - all very helpful! Imagine finding someone who went to Albion College on ST?!
ccy
CCY, I have a good friend working at Albion College. I sent him your message. Here is his reply: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’ve worked in Albion for 13 years and lived here for the past 7. Housing is very inexpensive. There is an industrial resurgence going on. Advantages of living close to campus are many. Marshall is a nice town, but they are losing tons of jobs now, just as most industrial towns between the Rockies and the Appalachians have or are losing. People living in Albion are quite happy, and particularly with the mix of affluent and poor, black and white and yellow and brown. Schools are suffering from lack of funding, just like everywhere else. The College is the main economic driver in the area, and is terrific. Jim Whitehouse
Albion College
517/ 629–0237 ---------------------------------------- Aloha, Larry
Thanks Larry - Albion sure seems like a very friendly place. I’ll pass Jim’s note along.
ccy
Albion is far from deserted, but on the other hand, “thriving” would be a bit of a stretch. i do mortgages out of my primary office nearby in Battle Creek. Albion is a very nice, small, community. like most every other town of similar size in the region it faces some challenges. housing valus are not necessarily stagnant, but far from seeing stellar growth. problem is low level of housing sales compared to a while back. i have client who had a super clean, small, 2 brdm home, in a nice neighborhood, who waited almost a year for the place to sell. it sold…but…yawn. had that home been here in Battle Creek, or in Marshall, it would have been scooped up before being listed.
best thought i could offer is for your friend to closely review the requirement or push to be as near as possible to the campus. then look at potential length of time the area may be home…and then be very careful on sales price range for a purchase. much greater risk with high price range and short term, compared to lower price range regardless of length of time to be in the area. the farther away from city limits…the less risk on higher price ranges. i work with several excellent Realtors who would be more than happy to help with the process. and then of course…i can help with selecting the best loan program, if one is needed.
FLA jill and others- identify yourselfs, I went to Albion and graduated in 1992. Love to hear any triathlon tales fellow Albion grads have.
As to living in Albion, I always liked the houses near campus. The campus is just beautiful. However, the town in general is pretty tough- not much happening. I agree with Marshall, or Ann Arbor if you don’t mind a bit of a commute.
For training, lots of dirt roads to run, can get into the country side pretty easy. High School and college pool. Running, plenty of quiet streets. Not greatest training grounds, but not bad.
Jack Deegan '92
There are other albion alumni who follow this forum- I am sure they are waiting to pounce. Bowman, in case you are reading- swam at lunch- 2300- riding tonight. there you go, now you cannot say I am stealth training
I was Jill Spetoskey then and spent four years on the swim team, (distance free and eventually turned into a backstroker when Keith needed a second person for those events junior year) and a little bit of time on the track team throwing discus. My first open water swim race was on an AC swim team training trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Married to Ben Gillham, who was '92. His dad taught in the religion department.
Nice thing about the college pool is that the swim coach is also facility director, and he keeps it properly cooled and set up for for hard swim training. None of that heat to 88F for the water aerobics crowd nonsense.
Then I went to grad school in A^2 and turned into a big pile of goo. That continued when we were in Tennessee for a couple miserable years. I got into multisport in 2001, a couple years after we moved to Florida.
Identify the speaker: “It’s a great day to be alive!”
FLA Jill: Identify the speaker: “It’s a great day to be alive!”
Lew: The first part of a compound observation by Ernie Banks: “It’s a great day to be alive. Let’s play two.”
Albion context- Track coach and P.E. instructor Dave Egnatuk. Last thing he’d yell at us when weightlifting class got out.
Ah, I remember now. You were the one who alerted me to Tracy. I wonder if Dave got that from Ernie (who was the great shortstop for the Cubs).
A good phrase just tends to pop up all over. I remember Tracy from when I used to lifeguard on campus, and she’d show up at the college pool once in a while to splash around during her off season. She was a very impressive 11 year old.
Feeling old now since college is starting to seem long ago.