Moving to Granger, Indiana

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by irish_eyes

We moved here 5 years ago and it's a very nice area with wonderful schools. We don't have children at home anymore so schools weren't an issue. There were a couple of things about Granger I didn't care that much for. The icky water was a kind of a big issue, most people buy huge bottles of water and all of the grocery stores have these big water machines you fill your bottles with. Some thoughts on which battles to pick in the Granger areas, you will have to live near either the toll road, the railroad tracks (many many trains a day) or high tension wires, or any combination of the three. It's almost impossible to avoid any of those things. Some bothered me more than others.

I've heard that the Penn schools are absolutely top notch, especially the elem and middle. The biggest problem with the high school is that it is HUGE...I believe close to 4000 students! In that, although it's very well run with few problems, if your child wants to play a varsity sport, unless he is the best of the best he will never ever make a team. I've had parents tell me that when say, football or cheerleading, softball, lax and some of the other favorites, 300 - 500 kids try out! Years ago my daughter went to college on an NCAA scholarship but I doubt she would have made the team at Penn.....just a thought.

The only other bad thing in this area, no matter where you live, the property tax billing system here is an just horrible. The tax bills are supposed to be sent out twice a year and since we've been here they have never ever been sent out on time. Which is a nightmare if you have your taxes taken out of your mortgage, it's just mind boggling. I will never understand it.

All in all this is a nice safe area with very friendly people. Notre Dame sports offer many games that are free or small entrance fee. Notre Dame football and basketball have very loyal fans here and if you get a chance during football season if you can't get football tickets, walk around campus it's so much fun on football Saturday's. The campus is beautiful especially in the fall. Winters are brutal! This past winter was especially bad, it snowed every day until like April. It's very depressing in the winter, so treat yourself to a great lunch at the mall and you'll forget about it for a little while. Have fun and good luck finding a home!

You gave a good summary! When we were looking at houses in Granger, we had to figure out what obstacles we could live with. For us, hubby's job has a strict attendance policy and getting caught by a train was not good. He is also a cancer survivor and Im not too hip on living by power lines. So we opted for being by the toll road. We come from a large city with lots of noise and traffic so the toll road didnt seem too bad to us. I was concerned about re sale value but it doesnt seem to deter anyone as the homes in our sub sell pretty well.

Oh the water.. When hubby first moved here, my son and I stayed behind in our home state to settle affairs. I came down alone to spend time with hubby and we went to a mexican eatery. I had no clue about the water. So after a nice big mexican meal and two large glasses of water, well...I will spare you the details but I thought was dying. I thought our next stop would be the ER. I buy bottled water.

I would like to see the area become a little more like a true college town. This area could have a lot more if South Bend could be cleaned up some. Coming from Detroit, one of the worst places for crime, I am shocked at how much crime this area gets (not Granger but South Bend and Mishawaka). People in Granger need to be a little more alert as I noticed almost everyone in my sub leaves their garage doors open all day and sometimes they forget and leave them open all night. Hubby and I are still paranoid Detroiters so we hardly ever leave our door open.

One thing you mentioned that I did not know was the tax bill problem Do tell cuss years ago hubby and I had issues with our escrow back in MI over the homestead tax. It was a nightmare getting it fixed. So I would like more info on what you said so I can prepare myself.

[domergurl]

Just a thought ... to save on buying bottled water, we had a reverse osmosis system installed on our kitchen sink. The cost has already been recouped because we drink more water and we don't have to dispose of plastic bottles!

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Just a thought ... to save on buying bottled water, we had a reverse osmosis system installed on our kitchen sink. The cost has already been recouped because we drink more water and we don't have to dispose of plastic bottles!

osmosis system? I will have to look into that. We have the large bottles. Primo is the water. Lowe's sells it and we recycle the bottles at the store. A exchange type thing. I would love to have it delivered but its quite costly. They want you to buy like 6 months worth up front. So we just make the trip to Lowe's every 2 weeks.

[domergurl]

It's called reverse osmosis. I think that Culligan installs the things. We had ours installed by Aqua Systems. We love it! Seriously, I've never been a big water drinker, but now I am ... it's even hooked up to our icemaker, so our ice cubes are nice a clear!

[claremarie]

"Some thoughts on which battles to pick in the Granger areas, you will have to live near either the toll road, the railroad tracks (many many trains a day) or high tension wires, or any combination of the three. It's almost impossible to avoid any of those things."

No, it's not. I live in Granger. The toll road is several miles away, you can only hear trains on a clear night (and even then it's a faint, faraway sound), and there are no high tension wires near my neighborhood.

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by domergurl

It's called reverse osmosis. I think that Culligan installs the things. We had ours installed by Aqua Systems. We love it! Seriously, I've never been a big water drinker, but now I am ... it's even hooked up to our icemaker, so our ice cubes are nice a clear!

I will look into it. Our fridge has ice/water in the door. Our ice tastes fine (dont use the water). But our fridge has a filter built in so maybe that is why.

By the way, we are having trouble with our irrigation system just curious if anyone knows a good place to buy parts. We have been to Wissco in South Bend and John Deere Landscaping in Elkhart. Wissco was kind of high in price and John Deere is ok but just looking for another option.

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by claremarie

"Some thoughts on which battles to pick in the Granger areas, you will have to live near either the toll road, the railroad tracks (many many trains a day) or high tension wires, or any combination of the three. It's almost impossible to avoid any of those things."

No, it's not. I live in Granger. The toll road is several miles away, you can only hear trains on a clear night (and even then it's a faint, faraway sound), and there are no high tension wires near my neighborhood.

I think it depends on the price point. When we were looking, we had the obstacles of toll road, wires and trains. If we did find a house we liked away from those things, we then had the sex offender issue.

[jodyrose]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

osmosis system? I will have to look into that. We have the large bottles. Primo is the water. Lowe's sells it and we recycle the bottles at the store. A exchange type thing. I would love to have it delivered but its quite costly. They want you to buy like 6 months worth up front. So we just make the trip to Lowe's every 2 weeks.

I agree with Domer on this one Falling... RO systems for water are awesome! We had one in Florida when our water was HIGH in sulphur (read rotten egg smell and taste) and it was heaven. I can tolerate the well water here to drink, but if you cant, RO is the way to go. They sell them at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. You could then have a plumber install. Might be less $ than going with a company like Culligan.