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If you have over 500,000 to spend on a house in the South Bend metro area, you will definitely be fine. You can pretty much have what you want in a house here for that price. Do people think that South Bend is scary? In a simple answer, yes. But let's be honest, no metro area is crime-free. It just doesn't happen. South Bend is by no-means a dangerous city. It is small enough to where the crime is contained within certain areas. And I've been to numerous cities. EVERY city is like that.
In fact, I honestly think the worst of South Bend has passed. It has a bright future, which I play in part to the University of Notre Dame being located there. That has a HUGE effect on the metro area.
As far as where to look, there are so many neighborhoods in South Bend within your price tag and are safe. Let me give you a brief outline of each of the three cities:
1) South Bend
The anchor of the metro area. Largest city, however is decreasing slightly. This may be stabilizing as recent data would suggest. Population of around 101,000. If you choose to live here, this would be the more urban choice. Historic neighborhoods dot the city.
2) Mishawaka
Twin city to South Bend. About half of the population of South Bend with around 49,000. Traffic can be much worse due to the expansive shopping area. To put it into perspective, the Grape Road-Main Street corridor is the second largest shopping destination in Indiana. That should tell you something about the area. Mishawaka also has a downtown, just like South Bend. However, South Bend's is much larger. There are a few historic neighborhoods in Mishawaka as well.
3) Granger
Granger technically isn't a "city." No established downtown. Granger is known as a CDP (census-designated place). Basically, high-end retail as well as middle and upper class neighborhoods. Mostly newer homes and nice neighborhoods. Some can be cookie-cutter, but some are definitely custom, especially with your pricetag. You would be closer to shopping here.
I hope this helps! Also, something to consider. There is a river that travels through the entire metro area and even extends into neighboring Elkhart County. I'm not sure if Nashville is similar, but many nice homes on the river in all metro areas. So if that is something that strikes your fancy, you might want to consider that as well. For the most part, the rivers are pretty clean and a great asset for the communities.
I know that statement in bold came from the visitmishawaka site, I just have a hard time believing that seeing as how their are at least 4 malls that are bigger than UP mall in Indiana, 2 in Indianapolis, 1 in Fort Wayne, and 1 in Greenwood, all serving a much larger population base. And with malls comes all the additional shopping strips and big box retailers. Other than that I think this is a pretty spot on assessment of the area.
For the OP's budget they can pretty much afford to live in any area of the South Bend metro, minus a few super small pockets. They can also afford to live in the areas insulated from most of the crime.
Granger and Mishawaka would be my choices. I always thought there were some very nice homes along the Lincoln Way in Mishawaka. And for nice homes you can't really go wrong in Granger.
You have $550K to spend on a house in South Bend? That will get you a palace with a great security system and a couple new high end cars and still leave you with lots of loot. Yes South Bend has a ton of crime but it's on the west and north ends mostly. I would opt for Granger. Granger is right next to SB and seems like it would much better fit your lifestyle. You would have University Park mall, "rich people Martins Supermarket" is in a plaza there, and lots of shopping/dining.
Just so you know though this area is mostly chains. Not a lot of ma-pop shops, sure there's some but it's chain by majority. People in this area also tend to seem unhappy/hateful compared to some other places I have lived, maybe visit and see for yourself.
I agree with the bolded. One thing I haven't see before like I do here, is the serious destain for not liking people as a whole because of where they live. "Everyone is Granger is (fill in with something negative)". I suspect because the area is not that large so its just a few cities to choose from.
I agree with the bolded. One thing I haven't see before like I do here, is the serious destain for not liking people as a whole because of where they live. "Everyone is Granger is (fill in with something negative)". I suspect because the area is not that large so its just a few cities to choose from.
But, the top ranking city is NYC - quite a difference. It mentions SB but did the study include Granger,
Osceola and Mishawaka (because most group the areas together)? Granger is more or less considered
a suburb of SB/Mishawaka.
When we moved there, a long time ago, Granger was a small town with the primary subdivision of
Knollwood. As time went by, more subdivisions were constructed. What I found puzzling was,
we worked with people who lived in some of the subdivisions (they all came from different parts
of the midwest) and none of them were shown homes in South Bend by real estate agents.
After they lived there for a short while and got to know the entire area, they were surprised by
some of the nice neighborhoods in SB (never knew they existed) and would have bought a home there.
But as time went by, Granger grew as well as everything else in the area.
But, the top ranking city is NYC - quite a difference. It mentions SB but did the study include Granger,
Osceola and Mishawaka (because most group the areas together)? Granger is more or less considered
a suburb of SB/Mishawaka.
When we moved there, a long time ago, Granger was a small town with the primary subdivision of
Knollwood. As time went by, more subdivisions were constructed. What I found puzzling was,
we worked with people who lived in some of the subdivisions (they all came from different parts
of the midwest) and none of them were shown homes in South Bend by real estate agents.
After they lived there for a short while and got to know the entire area, they were surprised by
some of the nice neighborhoods in SB (never knew they existed) and would have bought a home there.
But as time went by, Granger grew as well as everything else in the area.
I found the whole article through another news source a little bit ago. Another complaint I have, the media here needs some work. Anyway, the larger article broke it down by population so ya NYC compared to smaller cities like South Bend doesn't make sense. The whole article breaks it down by the small cities and large.
My realtor hated Granger so she didn't want to show me anything out here. She was something else. Long story. I loved the Sunnymede area because I prefer older homes with character but I don't care for the schools in SB and I didn't want to pay for private. So for me, Granger was pretty much it even though we lived in a charming neighborhood in Mishawaka for a bit while renting a home. There just weren't any for sale in that area.
^^^^I can understand that and yes Sunnymede, Jefferson Park, Coquillard Woods, Ridgedale, Twykenham Hills are nice
areas. The problem back then was bad press (word of mouth) about South Bend's schools and eventually it stuck.
Washington HS definitely has some problems but other schools like Adams, Clay and the new location of St. Joseph HS &
elementary, Trinity and Indiana's voucher system may change some of that. My children went to Adams which is across the street from IUSB and I was very pleased with the education they received. I am also very familiar with Penn HS and Marion
as well.
^^^^I can understand that and yes Sunnymede, Jefferson Park, Coquillard Woods, Ridgedale, Twykenham Hills are nice
areas. The problem back then was bad press (word of mouth) about South Bend's schools and eventually it stuck.
Washington HS definitely has some problems but other schools like Adams, Clay and the new location of St. Joseph HS &
elementary, Trinity and Indiana's voucher system may change some of that. My children went to Adams which is across the street from IUSB and I was very pleased with the education they received. I am also very familiar with Penn HS and Marion
as well.
Do you have an opinion on Riley High School? I went there. Curious where it stands in the rankings of the 4 public high schools in South Bend.
I know that statement in bold came from the visitmishawaka site, I just have a hard time believing that seeing as how their are at least 4 malls that are bigger than UP mall in Indiana, 2 in Indianapolis, 1 in Fort Wayne, and 1 in Greenwood, all serving a much larger population base. And with malls comes all the additional shopping strips and big box retailers. Other than that I think this is a pretty spot on assessment of the area.
For the OP's budget they can pretty much afford to live in any area of the South Bend metro, minus a few super small pockets. They can also afford to live in the areas insulated from most of the crime.
Granger and Mishawaka would be my choices. I always thought there were some very nice homes along the Lincoln Way in Mishawaka. And for nice homes you can't really go wrong in Granger.
From my experience, and I've visited all of the major cities in Indiana, is that the South Bend/Mishawaka metro area is the second largest metro area in Indiana, only behind Indianapolis. There are 1.3 million people living in Michiana. The reason being is that there are so many counties surrounding the South Bend area that shop in South Bend/Mishawaka. When you figure that 1.3 million people (possibly more) use Mishawaka as their shopping destination, you are going to have everything concentrated in one area, aka as the Grape Road-Main Street corridor. There are not many areas in the United States that have EVERYTHING concentrated in one area. This is what makes it the second largest shopping area.
Granger is the best place to spend $550K. It is safe, not far from retail, restaurants, etc. Generally some neighborhoods in Granger go for over 700K. Homes in neighborhoods like Park Ridge, Waldon Park, Woodland Hills, Shamrock Hills consistently for in upwards of 600- 3000K. Mid range would be Covington Shores, North Brook Shores, Knollwood, Waterford Green etc where houses typically can go anywhere between 200- 600K sometimes more.
Personally I would never live in South Bend having lived in Granger. South Bend simply is not safe, regardless of whether you have children or not. You kind of have to make a decision whether walkability is important to you vs safety. Most people in granger will drive, even though it is less than 5-10 mins away from shopping and restaurants simply because there aren't any sidewalks to commercial areas from Granger.
^^^That is the bad press that stuck with South Bend. Yes, there are a few bad areas in the city of South Bend.
At one time the downtown was a vibrant area with a lot of potential however due to some bad decisions by a number
of organizations and city leaders they decided to dedicate and designate a good portion of the downtown area to social
services such as the homeless center.
If SB was so dangerous, why would St. Joseph HS decide to build a new high school in South Bend or WNIT's relocation to
downtown? Are people so frightened that they also avoid the Morris Civic, LaSalle Grill, The South Bend Museum of Art
and the Studebaker Museum? There are neighborhoods (which I mentioned earlier plus Harwood Heights) that are
unlike anything Granger has - beautiful, well maintained and historic older homes, tree lined streets and side walks,
parks, the St. Joseph river and much of this no more than 2 miles from ND and Eddy St. Commons. These are called
neighborhoods. And, let's not forget there is also safe water to drink and bathe in.
The promoters of Granger were very successful instilling fear to potential buyers many years ago. I find it ironic that
many of those who feel SB is not safe but do drive to work there and attend colleges in the very neighborhoods
that some Granger people criticize.
.
Last edited by baileyvpotter; 07-28-2014 at 03:49 PM..
Reason: correction
^^^That is the bad press that stuck with South Bend. Yes, there are a few bad areas in the city of South Bend.
At one time the downtown was a vibrant area with a lot of potential however due to some bad decisions by a number
of organizations and city leaders they decided to dedicate and designate a good portion of the downtown area to social
services such as the homeless center.
If SB was so dangerous, why would St. Joseph HS decide to build a new high school in South Bend or WNIT's relocation to
downtown? Are people so frightened that they also avoid the Morris Civic, LaSalle Grill, The South Bend Museum of Art
and the Studebaker Museum? There are neighborhoods (which I mentioned earlier plus Harwood Heights) that are
unlike anything Granger has - beautiful, well maintained and historic older homes, tree lined streets and side walks,
parks, the St. Joseph river and much of this no more than 2 miles from ND and Eddy St. Commons. These are called
neighborhoods. And, let's not forget there is also safe water to drink and bathe in.
The promoters of Granger were very successful instilling fear to potential buyers many years ago. I find it ironic that
many of those who feel SB is not safe but do drive to work there and attend colleges in the very neighborhoods
that some Granger people criticize.
.
This ^ Cannot rep enough.
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