Moving business out of state - Help!

[someguy]

So, to keep things short and simple (please feel free to ask questions), my family's business is residential land development. My grandparents own the business, my father is a contractor, my brother is a construction worker, my sister is an accountant, I am a salesperson. We have many project subdivisions in our area that are going nowhere despite our best efforts.

In the past year, we have began to seriously consider taking our business elsewhere. By this, I basically mean liquidating what we can and using any available funds to start a project in a more prosperous area, hopefully somewhere within a reasonable driving distance because we will need to haul plenty of heavy machinery and that's not cheap. Also, it would be nice to be able to get there in 6-8 hours if possible. We are thinking probably Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio if any of those are an option.

So, I guess what I'm asking is for any advice from anyone in an area not too far from Flint, MI. What is your area like? Where would be a good area to begin researching? How would we go about acquiring the information we would need to have to make a decision like this?

Also, anyone please feel free to ask questions and offer general advice about this idea. What other questions should I be asking? I won't try and hide the fact that I know quite little about how this could be accomplished (hey, it's not technically my business, I'm just trying to gather information for those who are really in charge!), so any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who can help. :)

[mkrishnan]

So if I understand correctly, is your family in homebuilding, or commercial development, or both/either?

In terms of commercial, Michigan is a toughie... have you investigated whether getting into any riverside projects in Detroit is a possibility? That seems to be one of the few pockets of major commercial development right now. In the Western suburbs and beyond in the direction of Ann Arbor, there's a fair amount of construction going on too, particularly in a lot of the tech parks that the non-US automakers are building. Chicago seems to have a fair amount of urban development going on, although I'd suspect it's not necessarily an easy market to enter.

In terms of homes, I'd guess the situation is somewhat less dire in the up-and-coming Detroit suburbs, but I don't know how rife they are for new development yet, in terms of housing bubble recovery.

[someguy]

So if I understand correctly, is your family in homebuilding, or commercial development, or both/either?
While we have had a few commercial ventures in the past, our business is primarily residential homebuilding. Sorry I did not specify in my original post.

[Roger1]

How about moving around the Traverse City Area? Or Petosky and Cheboygan?

[someguy]

How about moving around the Traverse City Area? Or Petosky and Cheboygan?
What about those cities make them ideal locations? What is going on in these areas that ensures a healthy economy for the future?

[Roger1]

Cheboygans population has grown in the last few years, by about 3% Income has also gone up slightly.

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=21697


As for the others, I'm not sure. I kept thinking they were closer to each other than they really are.

[someguy]

That's interesting, but how does one predict whether this trend will continue?

I realize that it would be foolish to make a decision like this before a new president is elected, because with any luck, our new president may be able to change something for us increasingly poor Michiganders. Maybe? :o

I did stumble across this page (http://www.housingpredictor.com/top25.html) that laid things out a little bit for me. Nowhere on this list do I see anywhere that would be feasible for us to relocate to, however.

Can anyone find a more broad list, maybe Top 100?


Also, I should probably note that our thinking is we would not technically move to this location, but instead have a temporary rented residence for ourselves there while we ease into a project. All the while, we'd be travelling back and forth as needed.

EDIT: This page (http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/invguide_realestate/3.html) shows Grand Rapids on the rise a bit with an even better projected 2008 increase. Where are my Grand Rapids people? :D

[Roger1]

That's interesting, but how does one predict whether this trend will continue?

EDIT: This page (http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/invguide_realestate/3.html) shows Grand Rapids on the rise a bit with an even better projected 2008 increase. Where are my Grand Rapids people? :D


I'm not sure how to predict the trend. As for Grand Rapids, it seems to be a nice place. I've taken my kids to Meijer Gardens a few times. Really, really nice place.

[mkrishnan]

EDIT: This page (http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/invguide_realestate/3.html) shows Grand Rapids on the rise a bit with an even better projected 2008 increase. Where are my Grand Rapids people? :D

Grand Rapids has traditionally been fueled by different industry (retail / service industry, durable goods outside of cars) than the rest of the state, making them a bit inured from the woes of SE Michigan... I haven't been there in a few years, though.

[someguy]

I'm not sure how to predict the trend. As for Grand Rapids, it seems to be a nice place. I've taken my kids to Meijer Gardens a few times. Really, really nice place.

Grand Rapids has traditionally been fueled by different industry (retail / service industry, durable goods outside of cars) than the rest of the state, making them a bit inured from the woes of SE Michigan... I haven't been there in a few years, though.

Thanks for the information. It is definitely a possibility. Any other info you have, please do tell. :D


On another topic, anyone know anything about GM's plans in Oshawa, ON? Just another place we are considering.