House prices were typically a bit higher north of Broadway averaging about $80,000 while the houses south of Broadway typically averaged a bit over $76,000 in mid decade. The last three years of the decade have seen a narrowing of the price difference with an average price north of Broadway at $66,000 and south of Broadway at $65,000. There is lots of activity on the west side highlighted by the west side reunion every summer. Sidewalks are not as common here as they are in the north and south sides. So that saves shoveling the winter snows. Alleys have disappeared here as well. Some homes will have basements but the majority will be built on a crawl space.
The big green patch north of Broadway in the photo is Sunny side Park which is used for soccer games in the fall. Saturday mornning traffic can be quite heavy in the area. South of Broadway are the Pony League ball fields. Elevations rise gently from south to north but the topography can be steep in the north as one rises from the old glacial melt water spillway to the glacial upland. This is noticeable noticable along North Adams Street.
To the east, north of Broadway is the large cemetery cemetary and east of that Island Park. South of Broadway on the east side is Mill Pond Park with its swimming areas. Three bridges connect the west side with the rest of town and they are on Pickard, Broadway and High Streets. The park area continues to the south where on the south side of High one will find Chippawater Park which has a launching site for canoes and kayaks. A pedestrian bridge across the river at High Street connects the parks. There is a commercial strip along the north side of High Street which continues to the west.
Bradley is the western edge and on the west side of Bradley you can find cropped fields and a few buildings including the junior high school. Note the large white building in the southwest corner of the photo. Otherwise there are a few houses west of Bradley mainly at the north where development has moved west. At the north edge Pickard is the four lane corridor but there is no commercial development here. Just to the east of the residential area is some commercial and industrial activity. On the north side of Pickard was a State of Michigan facility which covers 360 acres and has had a number of name changes over the last 30 years but is now sitting waiting for further development.
In the center of the West Side is Ganiard School which houses kindergarten through fourth grade. Typically over the years about 12 houses sell a year north of Broadway down from the 20 at mid decade and about 9 south of Broadway down from 13 in mid decade. About 50% of the homes will sell within $12,000 of the above prices.
Characteristics of houses that have recently been on the market:
The west side has a lot of two bedroom homes with nearly 50% of the homes falling into that category. There are even a few one bedroom homes. About 40% will be three bedroom homes and the rest are larger.
Almost 70% will have one bathroom and 15% will have a bath and a half.
Fifty percent will have a basement - a few are finished. Some are just large enough to hold the mechanical units.
About 60% will have garages - about equally split between one, one and a half and two stall. A few will be larger.
Almost 75% will be single story homes. Bi-levels comprise about 10% and most of the rest will be one and a half story.
Heating is mostly forced air natural gas but at least 15% will have some other means of heat.
Central air is found is less than 30% of the homes and fire places in less than 20%.
Some of the older homes date back to the first decade of the twentith century but most were built in the 40's 50's and 60's.
Less than 20% are larger than 1300 square feet and over 50% will have less than a thousand square feet.