Any Californians considerer Indianapolis? (Irvine, Orange: high crime, homes, job market)

[socrates1234]

I would highly recommend Indy as a great chance for someone priced out of the California market. I'm a lifelong Chicagoan, with a few years spent out in Indy. They just came out with an affordable cities index, and Indianapolis came out on top as most affordable big city. The county just north of Indy, Hamilton County, is the most affluent area in Indiana, and quite impressive. The housing stock is solid, impressive, and extremely affordable. The suburbs in the county are just north of the city, and very upscale. Carmel and Fishers are about 70,000 each, and there are several other smaller burbs that are quite quaint, with antique districts and such. The Carmel HS district is near the tops in the nation. Per housing, starter homes can be had in Carmel for under 150K. Most of the stock was built after 1980. One can pick up a veritable mansion out there for 400-500K that would easily go for 2 million back in California. Most important, its far more livable there than you might think, the job market is decent, and the cost of living is far lower than average. Much is geared towards children, with yearlong living history recreations at Conner's Prairie, http://www.connerprairie.org/, great museums for kids in DT Indy like the Childrens' museum, http://www.childrensmuseum.org/, and one that I was very impressed with, http://www.in.gov/ism/, the indiana state museum, which rivaled the Field Museum in Chicago in my mind, with its dinosaur, fossil, and natural history exhibits........the Libraries in Hamilton County, like Carmel-Clay, are first rate, and huge. with their own Starbucks, huge video resources(I believe they have the complete set of every series PBS ever transcribed to video), and great kids programs. www.carmel.lib.in.us/ Per shopping, there are plenty of upscale malls, and per sports, you have the NFL champion Colts and NBA Pacers. There are wonderful drives in the area, particularly south near Brown state park, with beautiful rolling hills......to sum, many folks are choosing Texas for affordability, and I've been there often enough, and lived in Austin for a spell.....trust me, Austin has nothing on Indy. No decent public libraries, no spending on public spaces, nothing for kids....its actually hilarious that that has become the spot to go to for affordable housing. I forgot that there is a bike trail, http://www.indianatrails.org/Monon_Carmel.htm, that goes through Carmel and most of indianapolis, for joggers and strollers as well....nothing even remotely like this in Austin.....I haven't lived in Indy for years, I don't work for any agency out there, but I do think that Hamilton County and Indy are by far the best bet if you are looking for affordable housing AND a great lifestyle for a family.....nothing in Texas remotely compares, and I would think it far easier to adjust to midwest winters than Texas summers and the abject lack of culture and spending on education(50th in the USA) in Texas(yes, even below Mississippi). Those looking to relocate might want to at least look into this....


Here's a stretch of the Monon bike trail.....goes 15 miles to DT Indianapolis


Hamilton county would be the northern burbs on here...Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville..etc.

Carmel-Clay library


All I can say is, at least check out Indy before you relocate to Texas, if thats on your agenda......there are far better affordable markets out there.......

[allisonguru]

I do, we plan on moving out of this armpit California as soon as the market gets better. I am originaly from Indiana and dream of the day i return. Now i have a young son and dont really want him going to these schools out here. By the way, those pictures are so nice, pure beauty.

[ArizonaBear]

Note that many of not most people leaving California (illegal immigrants do not count) tend to head to either other Sunbelt states or the Pacific Northwest------few of us would consider '4 season' states (hot summer/cold winters) Midwest/Mid Atlantic on north.

Hence things still relatively inexpensive in Indy, etc. Low demand for housing.

I am a Wash DC native and know of what I speak of there.

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by ArizonaBear

Note that many of not most people leaving California (illegal immigrants do not count) tend to head to either other Sunbelt states or the Pacific Northwest------few of us would consider '4 season' states (hot summer/cold winters) Midwest/Mid Atlantic on north.

Hence things still relatively inexpensive in Indy, etc. Low demand for housing.

I am a Wash DC native and know of what I speak of there.

I'm well aware that most Californians prefer what they are familiar with, but thats not necessarily the case per places those priced out of the Cal. housing market are going to. Colorado is a big-time 4-seasons state, and has always been a popular relocation state. Texas is in the deep south, has a deep south mentality, is a red state, and spends little to nothing on public infrastructure and is 50th in spending per education, yet it is popular now as well, and newly popular at that. Indianapolis is pretty much "east" for them, so they just aren't familiar due to it being out-of-area. Many of the areas they have been migrating to are blast furnaces 4-5 months out of the year (Nevada, Phoenix, Texas).....I think, at this point, SOME Californians may be interested in a 4-season city in the midwest that is safe, very affordable, with a decent job market, and a high amount of spending on the education and public infrastructure they are used to. Finally, these relocatees are leaving because of an unaffordable housing market, which would exclude the entire Northeast as well. The south and midwestern cities have the last affordable housing markets in the USA, and will soon be on the Cal relocatees radar, as Texas has recently done....soon, you WILL see californians checking out Des Moines, Indianapolis, Madison, Wisc, and such....Californians are very able to adapt to environments they aren't familiar with, and, last I checked, weren't a different species of hominoid.

[EscapeCalifornia]

I recently saw a chart of housing affordability across the country and Carmel was at or near the top. By "affordable", they didn't mean cheap but instead measured the ratio of home price to income. No surprise, California's bigger cities rank at the bottom of the chart.

[vegaspilgrim]

Socrates-- while I'm not sure about Indianapolis (I've heard they have a high crime rate), you make a very good point. Of all the 49 other states in the nation, there's only 3 or 4 states that Californians seem to be moving to in bulk: NV, AZ, CO, and now TX all of a sudden (why TX I have no clue-- with the exception of far west Texas, like El Paso and Big Bend, TX doesn't even remotely resemble anywhere in California). I've lived my entire life in the "shadow" of California, growing up in Denver and now living in Phoenix. I'm willing to bet that half the population of Phoenix and Las Vegas is from California. I think a lot of it has to do with wanting to stay in the west-- after all, I'm not sure if I would want to live in the midwest either, even though a city like Chicago would be a better place career wise than any city in the west. I guess if you can't afford CA, you might as well go with the next best thing, at least that somewhat resembles CA, in one part or another-- that's how the thinking goes. You're right though, if people could just think out of the box a little bit, they would discover a whole country's worth of cities worth living in.

[Mvn2nc]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Socrates-- while I'm not sure about Indianapolis (I've heard they have a high crime rate), you make a very good point. Of all the 49 other states in the nation, there's only 3 or 4 states that Californians seem to be moving to in bulk: NV, AZ, CO, and now TX all of a sudden (why TX I have no clue-- with the exception of far west Texas, like El Paso and Big Bend, TX doesn't even remotely resemble anywhere in California). I've lived my entire life in the "shadow" of California, growing up in Denver and now living in Phoenix. I'm willing to bet that half the population of Phoenix and Las Vegas is from California. I think a lot of it has to do with wanting to stay in the west-- after all, I'm not sure if I would want to live in the midwest either, even though a city like Chicago would be a better place career wise than any city in the west. I guess if you can't afford CA, you might as well go with the next best thing, at least that somewhat resembles CA, in one part or another-- that's how the thinking goes. You're right though, if people could just think out of the box a little bit, they would discover a whole country's worth of cities worth living in.

A fifth state to add to yours is North Carolina, there is quite a few comming this way.We fly "under the radar" just because N.Yorkers are comming in by the car loads

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Socrates-- while I'm not sure about Indianapolis (I've heard they have a high crime rate), you make a very good point. Of all the 49 other states in the nation, there's only 3 or 4 states that Californians seem to be moving to in bulk: NV, AZ, CO, and now TX all of a sudden (why TX I have no clue-- with the exception of far west Texas, like El Paso and Big Bend, TX doesn't even remotely resemble anywhere in California). I've lived my entire life in the "shadow" of California, growing up in Denver and now living in Phoenix. I'm willing to bet that half the population of Phoenix and Las Vegas is from California. I think a lot of it has to do with wanting to stay in the west-- after all, I'm not sure if I would want to live in the midwest either, even though a city like Chicago would be a better place career wise than any city in the west. I guess if you can't afford CA, you might as well go with the next best thing, at least that somewhat resembles CA, in one part or another-- that's how the thinking goes. You're right though, if people could just think out of the box a little bit, they would discover a whole country's worth of cities worth living in.

Actually, I was referring to the northern suburbs of Indianapolis...they are roughly as affluent as any in Orange County, and have the same ambiance as Irvine and such. Very outdoorsy, with bike trails everywhere, and Hamilton County has an outdoor ampitheater, Verizon Wireless Music Center, that seats 20,000 in the summers and gets all the major tours. Northern Indianapolis is probably as dangerous as Santa Barbara..........

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Socrates-- while I'm not sure about Indianapolis (I've heard they have a high crime rate), you make a very good point. Of all the 49 other states in the nation, there's only 3 or 4 states that Californians seem to be moving to in bulk: NV, AZ, CO, and now TX all of a sudden (why TX I have no clue-- with the exception of far west Texas, like El Paso and Big Bend, TX doesn't even remotely resemble anywhere in California). I've lived my entire life in the "shadow" of California, growing up in Denver and now living in Phoenix. I'm willing to bet that half the population of Phoenix and Las Vegas is from California. I think a lot of it has to do with wanting to stay in the west-- after all, I'm not sure if I would want to live in the midwest either, even though a city like Chicago would be a better place career wise than any city in the west. I guess if you can't afford CA, you might as well go with the next best thing, at least that somewhat resembles CA, in one part or another-- that's how the thinking goes. You're right though, if people could just think out of the box a little bit, they would discover a whole country's worth of cities worth living in.

I might add that most of Texas is as flat as the midwest, and far more barren of greenery. I lived in Austin for 3 months from march to may this year(2007), and saw California plates on cars for days. Being from Chicago, I was very impressed with Indy while I lived there from 2002-05, and, while it is exactly the same size as the Austin metro area, it is far better in every way. Austin has a cheesy DT with no shopping, and an entertainment area(basically two streets, Congress and 6th street) that take up a good part of the DT, outside of nondescript state government buildings. Indianapolis has a huge shopping district DT, along with two pro arenas, a washington dc-like strip of greek-classical monuments, and a multitute of museums and cultural exhibits. I honestly didn't see anything in Austin but a hundred or so clubs with live music, and lots of outdoor eateries. If one is single, and wants to see live music nightly and eat outside, great. If one has a family, not so great. If one gets tired of hanging out on the same two streets each night for years, not so great either. And no major outdoor arenas in Austin either. If I can get just ONE family set on Austin to consider even more affordable, far more livable and decent places such as Indianapolis, I will think it worth
spending my time typing this stuff up....

[Woof]

Too much humidity, pollen, and crime.