k.

Benjamin, Jon, Suzanne and Emma Fellows walk through their Farmington Hills neighborhood.

JENNIFER LOVY
Special to the Jewish News

I

f real estate agent Kevin Ekus
wanted to look for a housing
trend, he could point to four
single Jewish women. He
recently helped each of these buyers
find a home in north Oak Park. As
for the single guys, Ekus says, a lot
of the ones he knows are still rent-
ing.
"Oak Park is a popular place for
young homeowners because it offers
good value in a good neighbor-
hood," said Karen Gula, 32, a first-
time homeowner who lives in north
Oak Park. "The are a lot of yOung
singles and young families in the

area, it's centrally located and
although the homes are older and
often need work, they are still rea-
sonably priced."
Young singles and couples make
up a significant number of north
Oak Park homebuyers and they have
for few years.
"It seems like the place people
want to be," said Ekus, who owns a
home in Southfield. "Huntington
Woods is still a hot spot, but the
starting price for a Huntington
Woods home is over $200,000, and
that's for an 1,100-square-foot
home.
"In north Oak Park, homes gener-
ally range between $130,000 and
$165,000 for 1,050 to 1,500 square

feet, which is why people are choos-
ing to live across Coolidge in north
Oak Park, where you still get
Berkley Schools."
Oak Park isn't the only area young
homeowners are migrating to. A
number of different areas, including
neighboring Berkley and
Huntington Woods, are also popular
mailing addresses. And while Royal
Oak and Birmingham are popular
weekend destinations, most young
Jewish homeowners do not reside in
these areas.
Of course, not all young Jews are
drawn to areas where their neighbors
are friends or acquaintances. For
example, the Young Adult Division
of the Jewish Federation of

Metropolitan. Detroit sends its mail
to numerous zip codes throughout
southeastern Michigan.
Six months ago, Eric and Elisa
Stearns purchased their first home in
Commerce Township. However, they
are much further west than many of
the other young Jewish homeowners
in Commerce. Their subdivision is
near Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital.
Eric doubts that many, if any, of his
neighbors are Jewish.
They were drawn to the area
because they could purchase the
home they wanted at a price they
could afford. Plus, when they first
looked at the neighborhood, they
could tell there were a lot of young
families. This was an important con-

PRESCRIPT

$7~ m

10/25
2002

108

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