moving to South Bend~ Help! (Mishawaka, Granger: rentals, crime rates, how much)

[ElizabethW]

Hey! My husband and I currently live in fort worth Tx are wanting to relocate to South Bend. ANY advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated! We are a bit concerned about the winter weather, housing and job markets, the kind of people there, (nice or keeping to themselves) etc, the normal things people wonder about. We have been researching it quite a bit, however it is nice to hear from people who live there or surrounding areas rather than a book or web page. So, whatever you can tell us we would really appreciate! Thanks so much!

[domergurl]

I grew up near South Bend. It's really what you make of it. SB iteself has good parts and bad parts. I know a few years back, the school system there was in shambles. Not sure if it still is. When we thought we were moving there, we looked in Granger and the Penn Harris Madison school system, which is big, but good. If you want a small town atmosphere, check out Plymouth. It takes about 30 minutes to get to SB. Or, if you want, look into some of the communities in Michigan ajacent to South Bend, you could do that as well.

SB is the home of Notre Dame, so football weekends can be hellish. There's a nice mall in Mishawaka (University Park Mall). You are also a 2 hour train trip from Chicago on the South Shore Line that leaves from the SB airport. The Indiana National Lakeshore is about an hour away too. Also the Michigan side of Lake Michigan is close.

I can recommend a great RE agent if you want me to pm it to you.

[ElizabethW]

Thank you! Funny that you say the schools were in shambles... both my husband and i are teachers. We are young so no kids yet. We havent actually even traveled to SB, like i said, weve just read about it and done some research. We originally started looking at Green Bay, then a few places in MI then decided on SB. We are young so the college town type doesnt bug us. Im sure you know how tough it is to decide to uproot and move somewhere that seems so foreign to where you currently live. We HATE the hot weather here.. its horrible. I spent a few weeks in the summer and a few months in winter in MI so i know that the cold can seem almost unbearable to some. We look forward to it. It seems overall that SB is a nice place. Would we benefit from living in a surrounding area? At this point we know the statistics but sometimes those can be thrown out if we find people there that disagree. Is the cost of living ... reasonable? Thank you so so much for your help! i cant tell you how much we appreciate it!

[domergurl]

The cost of living is phenomenal. But then again, I say this after living in Chicago where they tax you every chance they can!

Winters aren't too bad. Invest is a good snow blower and a good coat and boots, don't be a slave to fashion. You won't need a 4 WD unless you want one, but definitely get a front wheel drive car. SB gets the lake effect snows, so you can get a big dumping, but the plows are there fairly quickly. The Indiana Toll Road can be trecherous. Just be careful driving.

SB isn't necessarily a college town. ND is pretty isolated.

[CrazyMomDaze]

We're looking to move to SB area also. We should be all moved by the time school starts.(fingers crossed!!!) But first we need to find aplace to live. We are looking at the Penn school district. It seems that rentals are really hard to come by unles you want to live in SB proper (& we don't).Really didn't want to have to buy so fast so I could really have time to figure out just where we really wanted to be. SO can anyone tell me what the going rate for a house is, in Mishawaka/Granger area? What are the family statistics like? Average income? Area racial demographics? Religion?

Thanks,
CrazyMomDaze

[ElizabethW]

My husband and I are trying to decide between moving in Dec or May. what would you recommend? I know there will be a lot of snow and what not, but my thinking is it might be better to adjust in dec. then have to deal with it later. if that makes any sense at all.

[ElizabethW]

Crazymom- Domergurl gives a lot of good advice and there is also a book that i have found extremely helpful... its Cities ranked and Rated second edition. it breaks everything down from income, diversity, crime rates... i mean everything lol. I can type up some of the specific things you are looking for if youd like... instead of buying the book. What is SB proper? thanks! good luck!

[domergurl]

Go to our mothership, www.city-data.com and you'll get great information too.

[CrazyMomDaze]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Go to our mothership, www.city-data.com and you'll get great information too.

Thanks for the site info. It really came in handy. Think I might start to look in, Mishawaka, for a house in Penn schools. Looks like I could get lots more house for alot less money, and lower taxes too boot!

CrazyMomDaze

[hunnja]

I grew up in South Bend, been away from there for a long time, but still have family there, so I visit often. The Granger/Mishawaka area is a better area to live in, but some of it is expensive (like Knollwood), but there are some areas that are still reasonable. Property taxes there have been going up lately. Penn High School is one of the largest I've seen (4 to 5,000 kids). Nice mall. It's exactly like the one near me in Florida (same developer). Summers can be hot but not as hot as Florida or Texas! Winters get cold and some winters we had tons of snow (Blizzard of 1978) and some winters almost none. Hope this helps.