Why You Will HATE Living in Kalamazoo, MI

There's a lot to love about Kalamazoo, Michigan but it's not for everyone. If you're considering moving to Kalamazoo or moving to Michigan, you'd better investigate these 7 things first. 

Welcome back to my Michigan Home Girl website where we teach you everything you need toknow about buying, selling, or relocating to the Kalamazoo area.  Here are my list of seven reasons why you are not gonna like living here and you’re not gonna believe what the #1 reason is so don’t miss it.

Reason number 7 - if you hate snow, don’t move to Kalamazoo. How cold should you expect it to be here? Well, here’s a point of reference … water turns to ice at 32 degrees. Between December 1st and March 1st, you can expect, in total, not all together, 3-4 weeks of temperatures between 15 degrees and 36 degrees. And the windchill factor, it’s a real thing. A 20mph wind can make 15 degrees feel like minus 2. Brrrr. You can also expect a lot of snow. We average 63 inches a season. It gets cold but we have winter sports that you may not have ever tried like snowmobiling, cross country skiing, ice skating.

Reason number 6 - if you like really hot summers, don’t move to Kalamazoo. Hot summers in Kalamazoo are really hit or miss. Some summers we’ll see temperatures above 90 degrees , but on average, our high temperature is 81 from June to August and can get down to a low of 59 degrees. It’s hot but it' not a dry heat. What’s nice is your always within 7 miles of a lake. Lake Michigan is only 45 minutes to an hour depending on where you live in Kalamazoo. The warm weather brings boating, swimming, fishing, beach, parks, hiking, and biking. 

Reason number 5- if you love fresh seafood and you’re looking for fresh lobster, fresh oysters, crab … well …. we get it out of state. The only thing fresh you’ll get is fish and we’ve got a lot of them … there’s more than 130 different specifies of fish swimming around, waiting for your bait. On a good day you can catch a lot of fish.

Reason number 4 - if you want to live close to the mountains, don’t move to Kalamazoo.  Michigan is about as flat as a pancake. We have hills but not mountains. Because it’s flat, and not windy curvey, all the roads are straight so there’s less chance of getting car sick. But if you like to ski … well, our ski slopes will take about 5 minutes to get to the bottom. So if your used to skiing the Rockies or Adirondack Mountains, you will be disappointed

Reason #3 - our roads - Michigan evaluates roads on a 1 to 10 scale (1 is lowest) and 39% of all the roads in Kalamazoo County have a 1 rating. Local roads are often worse off. I’m not gonna lie, our roads get pretty beat up after the winter and driving in the Spring can be a little dangerous. More like a pothole nightmare. These dangerous craters will have you dodging wide cracks and potholes so you don’t end up with a blown tire or bent rims. Because it’s flat, your gas mileage will be better!

Reason #2 - if you want a gigantic airport where you have to take a train from one terminal to the other, you’re not going to like the Kalamazoo airport.  We have 1 terminal and 5 gates. When I show up, and there are 20 people in line for security, I usually go, “Oh crud, I should have got here earlier!” But honestly, I don’t think I’ve EVER waited in line for security at the Kalamazoo airport for more than about 10 minutes. But our Kalamazoo Airport is pretty AWESOME because there are no lines. It’s a small airport. It is called an “international airport” but I don’t know of any flights out of the country directly from Kalamazoo. I think it has to go to Detroit and then it goes out of the country. So if you’re used to flying out of O’Hare, LaGuardia, or Atlanta, or one of these airports where you have to show up hours ahead of time, and by the way, long term parking costs something like $15/day, you’re probably gonna love the Kalamazoo airport. 

Reason number 1 If you like getting a big property tax reduction on your income taxes, don’t move to Kalamazoo. I talk to people that live in California and I used to live in New York, and seriously I don’t know how people do it. When you’re spending $30,000/year on property taxes, that’s just mind boggling. Typical property taxes here are $3000, $4000, $5000 - maybe if you have lakefront property you’re spending like a whopping $10,000 for property taxes. Our property taxes here are extremely reasonable. And you get a lot of house for your money too which is not a bad thing.

If you want to see my top reasons for living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, you should watch this video next where I tell the reasons I love it here.

So come join me on this video next.  https://www.michiganhomegirl.com/blog/why-i-love-living-in-kalamazoo-michigan/

Watch Living in Kalamazoo next: https://studio.youtube.com/video/7BRz...