Grosse Pointe

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The Homes of Grosse Pointe

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Lots of weathervanes, a feature that I love.

The homes of Grosse Pointe are super different than the homes in San Francisco. For all I know the houses here are typical Midwestern homes, but all this is new to me, so nothing here is truly “typical” from my point of view.

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A summer cottage back in the day. Photo credit: GP Historical Society

Initially (and without getting into all the nitty-gritty history, which can be found via the Grosse Pointe Historical Society), Grosse Pointe was first a French colony. After the Civil War, the upper echelon of Detroit started vacationing in Grosse Pointe, taking over farms and building summer homes. In the late 1800s, according to the GP Historical Society, the first year-round residence of Grosse Pointe was established. Huge estates started to pop up all over the Pointes – homes that took up full city blocks and have since been torn down, making room for several more modest homes.

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Typical Grosse Pointe brick home.

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More brick. And those trees!

So, here we are, present day. For sure there is a lot of brick going on. I don’t want to go as far as saying that most homes are brick, because I’m not sure that would be entirely true. Lots of red brick, of course, but also white-washed and sand-blasted brick, both of which I quite like.

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There are also a good handful of farm houses (which I would love, love, love to live in) and craftsman-style homes (also, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not an architect. Some of the terms here I’m using are probably not actually correct architectural terms. And I’m okay with that). A wee handful of stone homes, lots of siding, loads of columns…

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and a bunch of homes built in the 50s and 60s with some midcentury modern homes stuck in there (I used a correct architectural term! I think.).

homes.50smodern (739x800)Typical decoration items are weathervanes, mostly over garages, with mounts ranging from ducks to geese other birds to dogs. There are also many colorful front doors here, a favorite being bright red.

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Shutters are also extremely popular and colorful shutters seem to also be “in” (particularly dark teal-ish and mauve). Other popular decorations are the American flag (don’t see much of that in San Francisco)…

IMG_6944 (636x800)…and stone statues flanking the porch or front door or driveway. For example, two crouching lions or two regal dogs, or perhaps one dog holding a basket in its mouth, etc.

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photo credit: trulia.com

Something I really love here are the trees and plant life. San Francisco had trees and Golden Gate Park was gorgeous, but the trees here are enormous, reaching way up to the sky. And summertime trees are so full (and full of life) and bright. And they are everywhere. On every block. It seems like every house, big or small, has some kind of garden going on. Almost daily I see people working in their yards – weeding, putting mulch down, planting new flowers. It’s nice being part of a community that cares about nature (well, except for the pesticide thing. sigh).

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So there’s your short (and hopefully sweet) tour of the neighborhood. Coming soon in a future post, I’ll take you inside some of the homes we visited (and some we didn’t) on our house hunt. Helloooo, wallpaper!

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Twelve More Things I’ve Learned (about Grosse Pointe).

Lake St. Clair

Lake St. Clair

A few weeks after we moved here, I made a list of twelve things I’ve learned about Grosse Pointe. Now that another two months have gone by, I’ve learned a few more things:

  1. Wow. Your bedspread matches your curtains. In every room. (More on house-hunting in another post.)

  2. The electric oven is eons better than the gas oven. There, I said it.

  3. Everyone I’ve talked to has warned me about the vigilant and prominent police presence. Above all, do NOT speed, they say. Police are everywhere. Okay, done. So why does everyone ride so close to my bumper? Stop tailing me. Where are you even going? I would say that every time I get on the road, someone gets all up on me at least once. Some old guy in a Jaguar actually passed me the other day on a 25 mph road.

  4. I knew produce was going to be sad. Still. My one girlfriend here (also a California transplant) said to me with a shrug of her shoulders, “I hate to say this, but you really just have to…you know, lower your standards.” Now when I buy avocados, I buy at least five at a time, in case the first two I cut open aren’t usable.

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5. Lazy summer evenings are easily one of my top five most favorite things in life.  Oh how I’ve missed you, Summertime! Contrary to popular belief, San Francisco does not have a true summer. Certain pockets of the city might, but much of the city is covered in fog and cold during the months of June, July and August. Which is why tourist stores display their “I heart San Francisco” sweatshirts at the front of their shops in summer. And why I continue to see Facebook photos of my friends wearing parkas.

6.Kids live here! Sure, kids live in San Francisco, too, but you don’t really see them. It’s hard to explain. In Grosse Pointe, kids are everywhere and they’re made to feel like part of the community. Often kids are unaccompanied or even alone. I’m talking about little kids… five- and six-year olds taking their dog for a walk around the block or riding a bike up and down the street.

7.Running along the lake is just as great as running through Golden Gate Park. Although the dirt paths in the park were a little easier on the knees – yikes.

8.Seriously, stop tailing me already!

9.I may never eat good Chinese food again (unless I’m in Hawaii or San Francisco or London. Or maybe China).

10.Trader Joe’s is the only store that sells organic milk that is not ultra-pasteurized. I’ve looked everywhere. If you don’t know the difference between pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized, you can check out this explanation at Musings of a Housewife.

11.What’s that smell? Oh, it’s just pesticide. You know, a bunch of chemicals that are harmful to people and animals. It is pretty much on every front lawn. sigh

12.When all else fails, go for a bunny walk. This has helped stave off many a meltdown at our house. We haven’t actually seen any bunnies on these walks (although oh my gosh you guys, I saw a little baby bunny in our backyard last week. It was sooooo cute!) I’m sure the huge, black dog has something to do with that. But we have seen many from the car on our bunny drives.

I’m enjoying these lists. I may just make it a regular thing.

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Sold!

 

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Our (former) San Francisco home. Top floor.

We are no longer San Francisco homeowners. We closed on Monday!

The real estate market in San Francisco is beyond crazy right now. In order to sell our place, we shelled out 5K for a new paint job (inside) and another 5K for staging, and multiple other dollars for cleaning, gardening and a hardwood floor repair and polish. Was it worth it? Absolutely. It sold for well over the asking price.

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The living room, all pimped out.

After all the primping, the selling process was quick and easy. We had two weekends of open houses, a few agent showings and accepted bids on one day only (that’s the way it works, there. You do not accept any bids before the official date). I have to say that even with things being the way they are, we were still a little nervous about how everything would turn out. Selling your home is a stressful process, no matter what market you’re in.

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The kitchen, looking into the dining room.

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Dining room looking into living room and foyer.

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Second bedroom and office nook.

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The backyard.

Speaking of the crazy housing market, did you hear about the 3-unit building in Pacific Heights that went for $1.7 million OVER ASKING? According to Curbed SF, the list price was $2.095 million and went for $3.801 million, which means that it sold for 81% over the list price. Or the 4-bedroom home in Noe Valley that went for $1.31 million over? Or the 2-bedroom home in Glen Park (not one of the top most desirable neighborhoods in the city) that sold for $600K over asking? The list of these ridiculous offers is getting longer and longer.

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The Pacific Heights home that went for $1.7 million over asking last month.                                              Photo credit: sf.curbed.com

So who or what is driving up prices? A lot of it is due to the ever-booming tech market (Google, Facebook, Twitter and various IPOs) and foreign investors are also a factor. Another reason is because there just isn’t a whole lot of inventory out there right now. According to a local news article (KPIX 5), real estate agents said that if “new properties stopped coming on the market, San Francisco would run out of homes in five weeks.”

We’ve already started the house hunt here in Grosse Pointe. The market isn’t as bad here, of course, but it’s still a pretty hot market, considering, and there isn’t a whole lot of inventory here, either. For example, a home we looked at least weekend went on the market on a Friday afternoon and sold by Monday morning. But we’re hopeful. That at least we’ll find something by winter (please God!).  Stay tuned.

*photo credit for all our house photos: zephyr real estate

 

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Cha-Ching! Price Differences Between San Francisco and Grosse Pointe

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Hello readers, if you’re still with me! I’ve been enjoying Spring and thus slacking off on blogging. I’ve also been enjoying some of the cheaper costs of living here in Grosse Pointe. Granted, it’s a really nice neighborhood, so it’s not like prices of things are ridiculously cheap, but there are certainly considerable differences between San Francisco and this neck of the woods. Here are some comparisons, with San Francisco prices listed first:

  • Organic strawberries from Trader Joe’s (from California!) $6.99 / $3.79
  • Gallon of organic milk $6.99 / $5.99
  • Gas per gallon $4.58 / $3.79
  • Haircut and highlights  $155 / $130
  • Two-bedroom apartment (monthly rent) $2000 – $4000/ $750 – $1200
  • Babysitting per hour (for two kids) $18 / $12
  • Parking ticket expired meter $64- $74 (depends on area) /$10 (if paid in 10 days) or $20
  • Moving violation for no turn on red (um..no reason) $240 + 1 point /  $150 + 2 points
  • Minutes per quarter at a parking meter 8 /20-85
  • Emergency room visit for nursemaid’s elbow (dislocated) $587.27 / $142.58

I wanted to list a cup of coffee from Starbucks, but I haven’t been there in a while and I keep forgetting to pop my head in. I could also go on and on about the housing markets there and here, but we’re in the middle of it right now, so it’s too stressful to talk about.

If you’re curious about any other cost difference between the areas, just ask!

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Letter to the Editor: Let’s Get Rid of Styrofoam

GPMagAs a follow-up to my Burning Questions post, here’s a first step at public awareness for environmental issues that I care about: a Letter to the Editor of On Pointe magazine (also publishers of Grosse Pointe Magazine. Both periodicals are delivered to all Grosse Pointe residents free of charge). I would use the word “passionate” in place of “care about,” but then I would be holding myself accountable to bigger things, which I’m not really prepared to do at the moment. Baby steps.

Dear Sir,

I was so pleased to see that the Spring issue of On Pointe was focused on going green. As a new resident, it was great to read about the many steps the Pointes have taken to make our cities more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, and I’m proud to be part of such a community.

But I think we can do more. I was shocked to find out that restaurants and cafes in the area mainly use Styrofoam (or part-Styrofoam) for carry-out and take-home orders. Styrofoam is one of the worst products in our environment. One of the reasons being that its chemical byproducts leak into food, which can then harm our reproductive systems. And there is strong thought that food and drink consumed out of Styrofoam containers causes cancer (it’s classified as a possible carcinogen by the EPA).

I think it’s a perfect time to start the conversation (or pick it up, if it’s been started) about asking our businesses to consider alternative means of carry-out storage (paper-based, recyclable plastics, compostables). The Pointes have shown that they care enough to embrace change in order to better our communities.

And who knows where the conversation might lead… reusable bags in every purse and car trunk, the preference of water bottles to bottled water, recycling receptacles next to trash bins in shopping districts and parks, home-composting (which could eventually lead to a city-run composting program). We’ve come so far, but can go further. The possibilities are endless. Go Green!

Very Best Regards,

Lani Martin
Grosse Pointe Farms Resident
www.pointesofview.com