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Suburb needs 4 references just to buy there

The phrase “summering in Michigan” likely brings to mind the car-free charm of Mackinac Island or the beaches of Traverse City. But there is another, lesser-known retreat tucked away along the state’s shoreline — one where cottages can be used only six full months of the year and buying one requires four reference letters.

That place is the Bay View Association, a roughly 340-acre private community on Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay, just outside the city of Petoskey. Here, Victorian-era cottages dot tree-lined streets, and a summer calendar is packed with activities for adults and children.

It is no small feat to buy a home in Bay View, which opens in late April and closes in early November. Home buyers are required to be members before purchasing, which involves references, interviews and until 2019, a letter from a minister. And finding a suitable cottage can be a lengthy process. There are around 440 cottages in Bay View, almost all of which are Victorians built between 1875 and 1900, according to Mary McCarthy, a local real-estate agent. Many stay within families for generations, and when they do become available, they are often sold through word-of-mouth.

My suburb is fine. There’s an invisible dividing line and the other side is definitely nicer

A place can be many different things to many different people. An objectively beautiful place may be a place of sadness or regret for some. A seemingly ugly, unattractive place may inspire a feeling of joy. Objectively, my suburb is neither. It’s not beautiful or ugly. But looked at from the right way, it is something more.

My experience is narrowed by the fact that the majority of my time is spent in a small, older pocket of the suburb. While it goes unsaid, busy Stud Road is the invisible dividing line between the nicer side and the more average one and crossing over to the nicer side seems like a bridge too far. But the few times I’ve travelled across, it’s definitely nicer. Newer houses, wider roads. Trendy eateries. My side is more pedestrian, a little older, ordinary.

Revealed: The extent of tree canopy in your suburb

New suburbs in western Sydney not only have the least tree canopy coverage in the city but will also remain hot “moonscapes” because developers did not leave enough space to plant big trees, experts say.

Greater Sydney will struggle to almost double tree canopy across the city to 40 per cent by 2036, as well, because the current growth rate is just a tenth of a percentage point a year.

Figures published by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure suggest that Greater Sydney’s tree canopy lifted slightly from 21.7 per cent in 2022-23 to 21.9 per cent in 2024-25. At that rate, it would reach 23 per cent by 2036.

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