BEST neighborhood/area to own a house in Bloomington? (rentals, new home)

[syracusa]

Is there any particular part of Bloomington that is considered THE VERY BEST TO OWN A HOUSE IN AND RAISE A FAMILY IN, in that it might have a mixture of very good schools, access to downtown, walkable, NOT rural feel, things to do, educated population, etc? Specific zip codes would be of great help.

Thank you so much for helping out someone who is not just completely CLUELESS about this part of the US but is also from a different country.

[Grandma(in waiting)]

Bloomington is a little odd in that due to the proximity of IU to downtown, many of the homes are rentals with a transient (student) population, however there are still enclaves of family homes.

The Bryan Park neighborhood (about a 10 block walk to downtown) is very nice with some new homes (the south Dunn St. development). The park, an elementary school and a high school are all within a few block radius and there is an active neighborhood association. The areas immediately west and east of College Mall and around the country club are also very nice. You're going to find very different neighborhoods within the same zip codes so no one is better than another (at least, in my opinion).

Bloomington has an excellent bus system, so you're never really going to be isolated within the city proper.

[babygirl5608]

There are a lot of friendly areas in bloomington to own a home and raise a family. i would first look at which neighborhoods are in a good school district. University Elementry and Childs Elementary are the 2 best schools in the area so I would start there. The Brian Park neighborhood is very friendly and close to downtown, however, the school district is one of the poorest (Templeton Elementary). That doesnt mean that you cant pay extra money to enroll your child in a better district though. There are other great schools in the system, but I believe University and Childs are the top 2. I would suggest logging on the MCCSC website and checking out each elementary school's website and go from there. Good Luck!

[gimme it]

If you want a walkable neighborhood you might like Elm Heights. It's beautiful and the schools are rated well on Greatschools.org.

[gimme it]

I think the top two elementary schools are Childs and Rogers/Binford. University is the 3rd. This is just based on test scores, which isn't everything.

[Grandma(in waiting)]

I had forgotten about Elm Heights. That is a lovely neighborhood, and very close to IU (which can be a curse or blessing, depending on how you look at it).

Elm Heights

http://www.elmheights.org/index.html

[babygirl5608]

Originally Posted by gimme it

I think the top two elementary schools are Childs and Rogers/Binford. University is the 3rd. This is just based on test scores, which isn't everything.

I'm glad you did your research...I was always told that Childs and University was the best but I never really looked into it. I am an education major here at IU and that's where most of us got placed for early field experience. I never really heard much about Rogers/Binford. It is an older building, I believe, but that doesnt mean anything. Maybe University is considered the 'best' because it includes many grad students children since it's district is in the campus housing. I really liked University but I've heard many people dislike the principal.