Relocating to Northwestern Indiana (Gary, Hammond: sales, real estate, insurance)

[Rabubaker]

What Cities of Northwestern Indiana Has the least amount of crime?

Trying to avoid major cities.

Is there cities in Northwestern Indiana that has had the housing market crash?


Would appreciate any assistance.

[rrah]

Have you visited the area? All of Lake County is like one big contiguous city. As one drives from one city or town to the next, it's difficult to know one is somewhere else unless you notice a sign or know the boundaries. Even the far southern portion of the county is becoming more urbanized. I drove through over the holidays and was again stunned by the growth in Lowell and Crown Point.

I would recommend a bit of research on some of the towns here on city-data to get clear answers to the crime. I would guess Gary and Hammond have the most crime. As a guess, I would think St. John would be the most crime free. Many of the other areas have lots of shopping centers. With that comes shop lifting and other petty crimes.

From what I know of the Indiana market, NW Indiana, while sales may be down and slower, hasn't experienced the kind of crash seen in areas of Florida and Las Vegas. Real Estate is always local.

[domergurl]

The Chicagoans flowing over the border have been keeping the housing market in the region more stable than most markets. As for small towns, check out Union Twp which is between Valpo and Merrillville. Kouts, just south of Valpo on SR 49. There's also Lakes of the Four Seasons near Crown Point.

[WildWestDude]

Originally Posted by domergurl

The Chicagoans flowing over the border have been keeping the housing market in the region more stable than most markets. As for small towns, check out Union Twp which is between Valpo and Merrillville. Kouts, just south of Valpo on SR 49. There's also Lakes of the Four Seasons near Crown Point.

Wonder what that % might be from IL!
Are these the people mostly from the southern suburbs, or well to do city slickers than want to get away and buy something cheaper?

[domergurl]

Who knows? I remember when we left Valpo, people from Lake County were moving over to Porter County because th taxes were getting higher and higher from all the Illinois folks moving into Lake County and driving up taxes because they were trying to keep up with the growth. If they can get the South Shore through Lowell to Valpo, it will be toast for Porter County.

[Jima]

You think the Region is bad, I moved from NW Indiana many years ago to south Florida. If people are looking for diversity just come here. The Haitian, Mexican & Honduran gangs are shooting up Palm Beach County almost every day. The schools are overflowing with students from South and Central America, Dominican Republic etc. They are in school and can't speak English or don't want to. The Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County school districts have their own police departments with S.W.A.T. teams. Great weather? Sure, but I'm heading back to "Da Region" as soon as I can. I could sell my small house in Fla. for close to $300,000 and buy a big house in Valpo or Schererville. I've repaired my house and 300 ft. of fence many times after sustained hurricane force winds of 90 to 110 mph did serious damage not once but twice. I'll take a blizzard and sub zero temperatures anytime over a hurricane. Most homeowners pay more for insurance and property tax than the principal and interest on their home. If they could find an insurance company to insure them.

[domergurl]

Come on back when you can Jima ...

[lyndsaynicole]

My husband and I are thinking about a move to Lake County as well-it wouldn't be for at least a year though. But I was wondering which places would be best for a commute to Chicago? I will most likely be working in Chicago so the closer the better. I have heard good things about Whiting-so we'll probably look there. Also Munster. Any advice on where else to look or where to avoid? I'm not going to live in Gary or Hammond-those are really my only restrictions.

[LIS123]

I wouldn't recommend Whiting. It's an older industrial town, with many older residents. It's boring and the growth in the area is from Munster South. I'd avoid Gary, East Chicago, Hammond and Whiting.
Munster is overrated; unless you have a lot of $$ for houses on the South side of Munster, the rest of the houses are older and undesirable. Supposedly b/c of 'good schools,' but the Crown Point or Lake Central (Dyer, Schererville, Saint John) system should be fine. I'd recommend Dyer, Schererville or Saint John. Saint John is furthest South, so parts of South and West Saint John can be farther from either the EC train station or lengthen your drive to Chicago. Dyer or Schererville might be your best bets. They both have reasonable housing.

[backtochitown]

We're looking at these places in Schererville:

Available Homes for Purchase

Complete brick...good location...smaller lots than White Hawk though...