Grand Rapids Homes For Sale | Grand Rapids Real Estate
Grand Rapids, Michigan is a vibrant city with lots of job opportunities and real estate investment options. Whether you're looking for apartments, fashion house condos, historic townhomes or a suburban family house, Grand Rapids, MI has something to offer you. This website was commissioned by Grand Rapids real estate agents so you can see just how many options you have in this beautiful area. It has pages on health care, community, entertainment, industry, and much more - all the information you could possibly need to make a decision on your real estate investment. So browse through and see if Grand Rapids, MI is for you.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Furniture City
Grand Rapids, Michigan is located on the banks of the Grand River about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan. The city takes its name from the fact that there were once rapids on the river as it flowed past the city but these are long gone. The nickname "Furniture City" stems from Grand Rapids' domination of the home furniture industry from the 1870s to the 1960s. With a population of 194,000, Grand Rapids is the second largest city in the state.
Though the furniture manufacturing industry in Grand Rapids, MI is largely defunct now except for the three companies that make office furniture, Grand Rapids has many more diverse job opportunities. The surrounding areas still cultivate blueberries, apples, and peaches and the city is home to companies that specialize in a range of products and services from insurance to aviation to Christian publishing.
The major up-and-coming industry in Grand Rapids, MI today is health care and medical education. There are several hospitals, clinics, and medical programs located along Michigan Avenue, including the Butterworth Hospital and the Van Andel Cancer Research Institute, giving the area the nickname "the medical mile." Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine will also be establishing a campus in the medical corridor in the near future.
Residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan have more to do than study medicine and make furniture, however. The city is highly involved in promoting the arts. Since 1970 it has hosted the Festival of the Arts in June that has the distinction of being the largest all-volunteer arts festival in the country. The Grand Rapids Art Museum has been recently upgraded and the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is gaining increasing international renown.
For those interested in history, there are several ancient burial mounds along the Grand River that can be visited. Grand Rapids is also home to one of the oldest history museums in the country, the Van Andel Museum. The Gerald R. Ford Museum commemorates the life and accomplishments of that President and also houses his final resting place.
Neighbourhoods and Home Styles in Grand Rapids, MI
You will be surprised at how affordable property and living in general is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, especially considering how many opportunities the city offers. The cost of living is only 81.3, low compared to the United States average of 100. You can get a single-family detached home for an average of $135,000, and a newer townhouse or condo for $157,000. Renters will be looking at paying on average around $700 per month.
The city of Grand Rapids is divided into four quadrants by Fulton Street and Division Avenue. These quadrants mostly only show up in mailing addresses and correspond to the compass points of Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. These quadrants are further subdivided into neighbourhoods.
Grand Rapids has a wide variety of neighbourhoods both in terms of home sizes and styles and in terms of demographics. The Heritage Hill neighbourhood in the Southeast is one of the largest urban historic districts in the country. It has over 1000 heritage homes so you would expect to find a high percentage of well-to-do people with an interest in history there. Meanwhile the Eastown neighbourhood has more of a hippie, artistic flavor to it and a variety of different home styles.
Contact a Grand Rapids, MI Real Estate Agent
If you've done a thorough read-through of the information on this site and have decided that Grand Rapids, Michigan is indeed for you, congratulations! We're sure you will be very happy. To take the next step and get started looking at some real estate listings, or simply to continue your research if you've decided you're not sure yet, click over to our contact page to talk to one of our helpful real estate agents. All of them are familiar with Grand Rapids and area and can answer any questions you may have on the subject.
