Time to get serious (Indianapolis, Fishers: best neighborhood, short sale, to rent)

[Goodbye Florida]

As some of you may already know, my family and I will most likely be moving from South Florida to Indianapolis in the coming months. My wife was recently given a tentative offer for a position in Downtown Indy pending the results of her background check which we are told can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months (we are about 3 - 4 weeks in). She was given an estimated start date of end of Feb. beginning of March. I will obviously help her move up there and get settled in but will be returning to West Palm Beach so that our girls (3 & 6) can finish out the school year.

Up until now we've focused all of our energy on trying to sell our home via a short sale, currently, we have an offer and our realtor is working with the banks negotiator to find common ground, which we are fairly confident will happen. So it is time to move on to the next step, finding a place to live.

Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to drive around different neighborhoods / suburbs to see them for ourselves but thanks mostly to Google Earth we've been able to get somewhat of an idea of which areas we like. As of right now, we have narrowed our search down to Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel & Fishers, but other areas like Zionsville or Noblesville are not out of the question either, nor is Indianapolis proper. We have the same concerns as most people when looking for a place to live, safety, schools and proximity to work.

Basically, we want the best neighborhood, with affordable housing (in the 150K range), that's no more than 30 minutes from Downtown (with traffic), has the best schools and is safe for my family. Mind you, we are coming from an area with a VERY high crime rate, so in comparison, Indy's 'bad neighborhoods' might be safer than some of our 'good neighborhoods' here. We are firmly middle class and expect to move upwards in the years to come. However, number one priority is schools, we plan to rent for the first year or two, but when we finally do buy a home, we would like to stay within that same school district so that my girls won't have to switch schools again.

If anybody has any opinions on any of these neighborhoods, or any others that I may have missed, please add your two cents.

[PixiStix]

You will definitely get more bang for your buck in Avon/Brownsburg. (Hendricks County vs. Hamilton County-Carmel) We lived in Avon for 7 years & it's a good family oriented town with good schools & I've never felt unsafe there. We still own a home there. It's growing like crazy so there can be some traffic congestion at times but it does offer more ammenities than Brownsburg. I'd recommend staying more west in Avon vs. east.

I have a love affair with Zionsville but you will pay more there...

Good luck!

[Goodbye Florida]

Thank you Pixi, we've actually been leaning towards Avon, not sure why, we just had a better gut feeling based on what we've learned so far. I didn't want to mention that up front in order to prevent the appearance of bias. The West vs. East is great information, that helps narrow things down a little.

[PixiStix]

Very Welcome

You might have already seen this but here is the town website for Avon. It has some good info to get a feel for the area....

Town of Avon, Indiana / Town Homepage

[Michelle Morris]

I live in Avon and love it here. I don't see a huge difference in East Vs. West side of the town though. I like it all.

[domergurl]

Hey Florida ... I strongly urge you to get into a dm conversation with Michelle Morris ...

[Michelle Morris]

Awww, thanks, DomerGurl! You rock!