Chicago's Indiana Burbs (Oak Park, Lansing, Chester: home, transfer, schools)

[ericamarie]

Which, if any, suburbs of Chicago in Indiana would people recommend? My husband is getting transferred to Indiana, and will travel around the state for work, but we would like to live close to Chicago. Any suggestions?

[chet everett]

If you going to have to travel around the WHOLE state of Indiana it might not be real smart to live near Chicago, as the traffic is pretty horrendous in the NW corridor of 80/90 , I-94 and even 1-65.

Indiana is a fairly big state -- you'll burn a lot of fuel driving from Muncie or Terre Haute or Evansville back to someplace like Hammond, which really is not all that close to the attractions of Chicago anyhow... Oddly folks that live in Indiana and work in the Loop are almost more likely to commute in from the far reaches of the Indiana train service closer to South Bend than to be just over the line, maybe that is skewed because of lower cost of living or something about the quality of housing but that is what I've found. People I work with in the Loop come from Valparaiso, Chesterton, and Porter County.

Really funny thing is that as far as DRIVING from NW Indiana/SW Michigan you can be in downtown Chicago from those areas in under 90 minutes, so if you WANT to take advantage of Chicago it is not hard to do from someplace like South Bend which is DEFINITELY not a suburb of Chicago...

[Humboldt1]

Munster is great and close to Chicago.

What is your price range? This will help others on the forum know better how to direct you. Where will your husband be based out of in Indiana?

[LIS123]

Munster will last longer than that. People are so hung up on Munster schools, that home values tend to be higher in Munster than other communities on this fact alone. It's also much closer to Chicago and the Expressway than Dyer and St John. Plus, much of the South end of Munster contains high end and expensive housing. The newest community, Park West, appears to be off to a good start despite the weak RE market overall.

I'd agree that Munster is overrated, but think it will hold on for quite some time.

[Humboldt1]

I think Munster will end up being like Oak Park, but time will tell. I certainly hope it doesn't turn like its neighbor Lansing, though Lansing was never as nice and its cheap housing has allowed riff raff from Chicago to move in.

Munster can learn from Oak Park. By keeping housing expensive Munster will price itself out of the former project resident market just as Oak Park has done.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Really funny thing is that as far as DRIVING from NW Indiana/SW Michigan you can be in downtown Chicago from those areas in under 90 minutes, so if you WANT to take advantage of Chicago it is not hard to do from someplace like South Bend which is DEFINITELY not a suburb of Chicago...

I agree that South Bend is not a suburb of Chicago, however, many of its inhabitants believe that it is one. I don't know if the time change is still in effect, but for a long time the NW corne of Indiana (including SB) was on Chicago time, unlike the rest of the state.