HAD ENOUGH OF SEARCHING, between two rocks here, please help

[popcorn247]

What about Lafayette, IN?

[cdr18]

Originally Posted by Lilacsky

As far as Elkhart goes, we did consider living there in the beginning but we found that my boyfriend couldn't transfer his job to Middlebury, so we decided we could look elsewhere than. Now its just become a HUGE search and basically we wasted money and time looking in Fort Wayne. We loved Middlebury, very relaxed town. We may look into Elkhart again, as long as there are jobs and the area is decent. Which side of the city is best?

To be honest, the outskirts of the entire city would be considered middle-class. A few areas even considered upper-class. Elkhart doesn't have any bad parts except near the downtown neighborhoods. Everything else is well kept-up.

The area with the most new development is going to be the County Road 17 corridor, which is a north-south 4-lane roadway that connects the EAST side of Elkhart to Goshen. Lots of new development along this corridor, thus being the nicest/newest. However, you can't go wrong anywhere you look on the outskirts of the city.

[Daze55]

These isn't near Fort Wayne at all, but Portage and Valparaiso come to mind. For your budget, you could afford a decent, small house in Portage. Valparaiso may be a bit of a stretch for your budget, but I have seen some fixer uppers in the $60,000 range. Both Portage and Valparaiso are safe towns with plenty of jobs, and while being close to Michigan, they are also relatively close to Chicago (around an hour) if needed. Since you would most likely be buying a fixer upper, you would score lots of profit when selling in either of these towns.
The third town I think of is Hammond, IN. You can easily find a decent house for your budget in Hammond and it offers the easiest access to Chicago, so the job opportunities are almost endless. Hammond for the most part is relatively safe, but I would try and stay on the south end of Hammond near Munster (which is actually one of the richest cities in Indiana actually), or near Purdue Calumet. IMO, the housing market in Hammond seems to be making somewhat of a comeback, and if you buy a fixer upper (which could easily be scored for under $50,000), you should still be able to make a pretty good profit. I hope this helps!

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Muncie is not that bad. It looks alot worse than what it really is. You should be able to find a fairly nice house in a safe, well kept neighborhood in Muncie near Ball State for $60,000. The NW side of Muncie is as nice as anything you'll find in Fishers, only older. Muncie gets a bad rap from Hoosiers outside of Muncie. But Muncie has alot going for it that people from outside of Muncie don't even realize. Think Bloomington without the hype and the congestion. It's really one of the best kept secrets in all of Indiana.

[auntlucy]

Originally Posted by Lilacsky

First off Im from Michigan, and moved to Omaha NE, and later met someone from Iowa, Now we are in Iowa and want to relocate closer to Michigan without being in the state. We chose Indiana for its affordable housing. We first looked into Middlebury, than Elkhart than Goshen with no luck.

We than took a break and I discovered some good sounding things about Fort Wayne, we than took a trip only to find pure garbage..Very disappointing. Now we are looking at Muncie because we can afford homes there, however we are still unsure of the city due to reading up on the cities data and the posts here on the forum.

We are just starting out our life together, we dont want to live in crime, we really would just like to find a city that has work and affordable housing. We are tired of searching lol, Our realitor in Fort Wayne found us some semi decent homes but smack in the midst of crime, no thanks. So basically what we are looking for is again the above and someplace relatively close to Michigan , more so on the north east side of Indiana. If anyone can help , we would appreciate it. We would like to move soon.

Oh and I do not want to live in Ohio for various reasons, other wise I would be looking there instead same as Michigan.

Did you relocate yet? I would suggest Goshen. Middlebury is expensive and out of the way from what you need, as for groceries, drs, etc. We live on the West side of Goshen. Let me know if you have already relocated. If not I can tell you more. Send message.