If you’re in the Grand Rapids homes for sale market and you’re not familiar with the area, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with the general geography of the area so your search can be a little more focused and your time a little more productive.  Let’s start with a break down of area by cardinal directions.

North

To the north or Grand Rapids, if we follow US 131, you run into Comstock Park, then Alpine, and finally Rockford.  If you want to look in these areas, have a look at where your daily commute will take you and keep in mind that US 131 is notorious for construction and backups during rush hour traffic.  Especially if you’ll take it through Grand Rapids in either direction.  The commute from Rockford to the Grand Rapids has broken many a road warrior, and driven them to look for Grand Rapids homes for sale closer in to the city.

South

To the south along US 131 we run into Wyoming, then Byron Center, and finally Dorr.  The thing to note in this direction especially is that as you get farther away from the city, things get exponentially more rural.  Dorr is still wide open farming county, while Byron Center has many more new, planned developments.  The actual town center of Byron Center still has a very small town feel and reminds you that the area isn’t that far removed from farmland.

East

To the east we find East Grand Rapids, Ada and Cascade.  These are some of the nicer area of town (read: much more expensive).  If you live here you either make a comfortable income or you want people to believe that you do, and really you’re hanging by a thread trying to pay the mortgage, the car lease, and the rent-a-center bill for your furniture.  You probably don’t mow your own lawn.  Farther out to the east is Berlin and mostly farm land.

West

To the west is fun, sun, sand, and water.  You’ve got Grandville, Allendale, Zeeland, Grand Haven and Holland.  There’s not too much remarkable about any of the areas until you get out to Holland and Grand Haven.  Granted, they are all very nice places to live that are growing quickly, and they all have excellent school systems.  If you’re looking for Grand Rapids homes for sale, these areas are definitely worth a look.  But Holland, Grand Haven, and the lake shore areas have something that no other area does: Lake Michigan.  And with that comes some of the best sand and beaches in the world.  If your daily commute allows it, take a look.