Wanna find a rural Michigan town,
get some real estate and start making mortgage payments.
If you can stand the winter, you probably said yes today.
We're looking at great rural towns in the Wolverine state, Michigan.
The first permanent settlement in Michigan was established in 1668.
So Europeans have been around here a while and before we get going,
I wanted Topel a few, miss Michigan is not just Detroit and Flint.
This is a beautiful state filled with down to earth, no BS type people.
They're hardworking and they love their beautiful state.
Most outsiders just hear about Detroit Flint and a few other places,
and think the entire state is in bad shape, totally untrue.
It has its problems like every state,
but nothing near the stories you hear on the news or whatever.
If you haven't seen this series before we are looking for the sweet spot with
towns in this video, a decent place to live.
It's not too close to any major city.
It's easy on the crime rate and not five hours away from a hospital or so far
out in the sticks that you can't get good internet.
Those things knock a lot of small towns off these lists. In the other videos,
I explain that not all states have 10 good rural towns that fit our criteria.
And I don't wanna waste your time with some places that are a bit of a reach,
just swipe and get up to 10. Got it. Get it. Good. Let's take a look.
Number six, bad acts,
Michigan bad acts is in what some call the thumb of Michigan.
It's about two hours straight north from downtown Detroit.
I love the name of this town and how they got the name. It's kind of cool.
So back in the day, 1861 to be exact,
there was a couple surveyors Rudolph PS and George Willis pack,
and they were kind of checking things out and surveying for a road that would go
through the Huron county wilderness area. Well,
they made camp near where bad acts is today. And in that camp,
they found a well worn, damaged ax just in the dirt, I guess.
So in their notes and the survey notes and their whatever captain's log,
whatever you wanna call it, they referred to it as bad acts camp.
They also made a sign where their camp was and wrote bad acts on it too.
The name stuck these days, bad acts is a nice,
small rural town of about 3000 people.
They get a big thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's 67% lower than the national average. That is pretty good.
Housing also gets a big thumbs up their homes here.
Start off to get something nice. About 175,000 to 225,000.
You should be able to get a really nice place to live.
Over 250,000 will be a really, really nice place to live, ready to go.
You probably won't have to do anything. They also have some inventory right now.
They're about 20 homes or vacant lots for sale. Right now,
the lots start around $30,000. You can get one, start building a house.
Now these are just the average I'm getting from eyeballing.
What they have available right now. It's not the median.
Median usually confuses people on what it is so we won't even get into it.
I'm just eyeballing it and telling you what I'm seeing now,
when it comes to their healthcare, they also get a big thumbs up.
They have McLaren thumb region hospital in town, emergency room,
everything you're gonna need. It's a pretty good size hospital.
And if you go there,
you're probably gonna think this is a little too big for such small town,
but it kind of deals with the surrounding area as.
Well. Internet. They get a big thumbs up there too.
They have one company called air advantage.
They offer one G to a hundred percent of the town.
They also have Xfinity for 70% of the town.
So a lot of people have choices here, which is always good. Number five,
Kingsley, Michigan Kingsley, Michigan sits about 30 minutes south of trave city,
which in and of itself is a great reason to live here during the summer that
towns a lot of fun during the summer,
the land Kingsley sits on today was originally owned by its founder,
Judson Kingsley in 1872,
the Pennsylvania railroad was completed and that went between Cadillac,
Michigan and trave city, Michigan Kingsley built a station for the new railroad,
which happened to run right through his property. So he had every right to,
I guess he also opened a post office and in 1876,
Judson Kingley platted Kingsley station as a new village,
under the name of Kingsley. There was also a neighboring town called paradise,
but they eventually merged them together and just went with Kingsley.
This is a nice rural town, surrounded by forests and farms.
It's a great place to be if you like the outdoors. I mean, like I said,
trave cities, right up the road, you got wooded areas,
you got ponds and creeks and all that other stuff around this part of Michigan.
And they even got a golf course just outside of town.
This is a great place to retire or work remotely. If you don't mind the cold.
And that's pretty much true for every town on this list.
Michigan gets cold during the winters. Their summers are amazing. I mean,
other than the mosquitoes, but their summers are amazing. Winters can be brutal.
Keep that in mind. Throughout this list,
Kingsley has a population of about 2000 residents and they get a thumbs up when
it comes to their crime rate. It's 68% lower than the national average.
When it comes to the real estate, we're gonna give 'em a thumbs up.
They have a lot to choose from right now. They have a lot of new homes going up,
which are about 350,000.
But in recent months they've sold some nice homes may and April of 2022,
that went for around 250 to $275,000. They also have a bunch of open,
lots for sale, maybe not inside town,
but on the outskirts that they start off at around $30,000.
So you have a lot to choose from here. And that's why they get the thumbs up.
When it comes to healthcare, they do have some doctors in town.
So they're gonna get a thumbs up, almost a faded,
thumbs up because they got a couple clinics,
a couple doctors office and a dentist. If you need anything major,
you're gonna have a 30 minute drive north.
Like I always say not saying that they're doing anything bad in town. It's just,
they don't have really big facilities.
Kingsley's internet gets a thumbs up again, almost a faded, thumbs up,
cuz they got spectrum that offers one gig,
but they only offer it to 75% of the town.
They have century link offering 100 MVPs DSL.
And that covers about 98% of the town. So it's not the best,
but it's not terrible. Number four, Homer, Michigan.
Homer's about 30 minutes Southeast of battle Creek, Michigan.
They also got the St. Joseph river west of town.
So you got some fishing options. If you decide to move here,
a new Yorker named Milton Barney found his way here in 1832,
he opened up a store, a hotel, a saw mill. And in 1834,
they registered for post office and changed the name to Homer.
It was called Barney bill. Before that glad they changed it to Homer.
Actually Homer's not much better. Barney hill kind of blows,
but oh well who knows? I don't live there. I'm not too worried about it.
If you're traveling from lake Erie to lake Michigan,
Homer is about the midway point.
So it's a great place to get a drink and leave something you drank earlier.
Homer's got a population of a little over 1500 residents and they get a thumbs
up for their crime rate. It's 62% lower than the national average,
which is pretty good.
Their real estate also gets a thumbs up $150,000 will do nice livable
older home here. And they look like they're in good condition.
Like I've said before,
I'm not in there checking the electrical and checking out the plumbing.
I'm just going by what I could see on red fin Zillow, things like that.
And these look like decent well maintained older homes, 150,000.
If you wanna spend 200,220,000, you're probably gonna get something really nice.
At least that's how much, really nice places we're going for late 20, 21. Yeah.
Prices have changed a little bit, but not gonna change that much out here.
If you're looking for healthcare,
they're getting a faded thumbs up because they don't have an urgent care or
anything like that in town, they do have a clinic and cut full doctor's offices.
Anything you need past that emergency room,
whatever you're gonna be heading up to battle Creek, about 30 minutes away,
internet, I'm gonna give 'em a thumbs up,
even though Frontier's the main supplier of internet here and they offer it to
97% of the town, but they don't tell the speeds. They never do. For some reason,
other companies have enough confidence in their product and they show the
internet speeds, frontier doesn't, but they are fiber.
So at a minimum it's gonna be 500 MVPs. They also got a company called wow,
which offers cable, internet one gig,
but they only offer to about 50% of the town.
Number three Baren Springs,
Michigan Baren Springs is a small rural river town, about 25 minutes,
south of Benton Harbor on the St. Joseph river. And yes, it's the same St.
Joseph river that runs by Homer, Michigan. The St.
Joseph starts at lake Michigan at Benton Harbor and winds down to south bend,
Indiana. Then heads back north goes by Homer and a bunch of other places.
A lot of cities and towns in this area of the country are there because of the
St. Joe river, Muhammad Ali actually lived here for a while, saw a video on it.
Well, this is a great place. If you like to be around lakes and rivers,
like I said,
they got the St Joe river right there and they got a lake it's a great place to
fish. And anything else on the water? Maybe not surf. Surfing's rarely,
rarely that good on a small river or small lake baring Springs has a population
of about 2000 residents a little bit under,
they have a crime rate that gets them a big thumbs up.
It's 68% lower than the national average, which is pretty good.
Their internet also gets a thumbs up.
They have Xfinity offering 1.2 gigs and they cover about 98% of the
town. But you also have another option, which is called ACD net.
They offer one gig fiber or about 90% of the town. So you got some options.
They get their thumbs up. Actually we're gonna give 'em a big thumbs up,
cause it is great to have options when it comes to gig internet.
If you're thinking about real estate and variance Springs, it's pretty good.
They get the thumbs up for that too decent livable homes.
Right now they have three to choose from. One is a $100,000,
which might need a little work, but it's decent one, that's $170,000.
That one looks pretty nice. And then they got one right down by the lake,
which is $299,000. All of 'em are livable.
They don't look like they need a bunch of work, but it's decent.
In recent months, they sold a few homes and they seem to average between 150 and
$220,000 for something nice. They get a thumbs up.
Also when it comes to healthcare,
they got a few clinics and a few doctors in town,
along with the dentists and a family practice.
But if you need anything big or something, they can't handle,
you got about a 20, 25 minute drive, north ti Benton Harbor or the town of St.
Joseph, where they have full blown hospitals.
And we'll be able to take care of whatever you need.
I'm sure this is a small rural town, but they actually have a university.
It's not a giant one. It's Andrews university.
And it's just on the outskirts of town, kind of in town. Number two,
prudent Villa, Michigan prin sits on mountain lake about an hour east Cadillac,
Michigan.
This is an unincorporated area that sits next to the town of Howten lake,
which is also considered an unincorporated area. The homestead act of 1862,
which granted free land travelers that were moving west is how prudent and
this area got settled pretty much at the time Michigan was considered west and
for a lot of settlers, Michigan was west enough.
The prude area in 1870 had more than enough lumber and resources.
So it quickly grew into a nice little lake town.
The growing community was named after an early developer Peter prin,
for the most part, this is a seasonal lake town.
Most residents leave during the cold months.
If cold doesn't bother you and you like ice fishing, this might be worth a look.
Denville has a population of about 1600 residents and they get a thumbs up for
their crime rate. It's 70% lower than the national average.
They also get a thumbs up for their healthcare.
They have a couple of clinics and doctors' offices in town out lake has an
urgent care, but graying has a hospital about 30 minutes north. So, you know,
that's probably where you're gonna go before anything major,
but this little area does have an urgent care.
At least real estate gets a big thumbs up.
And there's a few reason we're giving it the big thumbs up.
It's relatively cheap for a lake town. And they've got plenty to choose from.
Most homes are walking distance to the lake and most will be between 160,000
and 300,000. Anything below 150,000,
which they do have a few of them is kind of a shack and might need some extra
work. They also have a golf course here.
And even the home that is currently for sale on the golf course is only 300,000.
The internet. They get a thumbs up there too, because they got a couple options.
First option is frontier. They cover 90% of the town.
Of course they don't publish the speed for some fricking reason,
but they also have spectrum offering one gig.
And that covers about 97% of the town.
So you should be able to get something without a problem.
All right, before we get to number one, don't forget.
We have another channel called on this day. There is a link down below.
We'd love it. If you went over there, watch some videos,
give some thumbs up subscribe,
and don't forget to subscribe to this channel and give this video big thumbs up.
All right. Onto number one. And number one, Hopkins.
Michigan Hopkins is a farming town.
About 30 minutes south of grand rapids with the bear Creek running straight
through town. Hopkins is legit rural town.
It is surrounded by farmland and it even has a grain silo in town.
They also have a strange amount of farmers,
only accounts listing Hopkins as where they live. Yes,
I looked it up while I was on the train, cuz we were delayed.
I say a strange amount because they have like 20 accounts and they only have 750
people that live in this town. Very strange,
but they get a big thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's actually 98% lower than the national average.
When it comes to their real estate,
they're gonna get a faded thumbs up because they don't have a lot to choose
from. They have like two places,
one being a farm with 34 acres and it's going for 800,000.
It really looks nice. And that's a lot of land for 800,000,
but it's still a little pricey.
The other one they have going in this again is outside of town.
It's six acres and it's $110,000.
Now back in may and April of this year, 2022,
they did sell like five homes and they all were older.
They looked decent and they all went for around 250, 270 $5,000.
When you look at their internet, they're also gonna get a faded,
thumbs up because they have spectrum. Spectrum offers one gig,
but they only offer it to about 40% of the town. They do have 100 BPS,
which they offer to 90% of the town. So it's not the best,
but it's still spectrum. It's pretty good.
They have some other ones that offer like 50 and a hundred BPS.
But Spectrum's your best bet. When it comes to healthcare,
they're gonna get a thumbs up. They have nothing in town,
but less than 15 minutes away, about 1213,
it says you have a hospital in Alligan and it's a good size place.
Emergency room, everything you need in Hopkins, they do have a fire department.
That's about it. But 12 minutes away is, you know, might as well be in town.
It's country roads too.
So chance of you running into traffic are next to nothing.
All right. That's today's video. Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Hope you got some information out of it. Now go out,
have a productive day and be nice to each other.