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greetings all,
been a couple years since I've asked these questions. Spouse works for a company headquartered in Indy. Strong possibility of relocation in about 3 months. I have done about as much research online as someone could do. Combing past threads, using greatschools.org, using youtube for local news stations stories, and google maps.
Like most areas of the country I know there are towns and areas that people will disagree on. Personally I like when people cheerlead or debate on these towns. From my standpoint what someone might be cheerleading could be something I don't like and someone that is giving a reason why they "think" a town is undesirable may be what I am looking for.
So a little about me.... I am a musician/ vocalist. I currently play in bars in Bostons' Fanuiel Hall/Quincy market area. My main crowds are a mix largely of college students, tourists, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and some locals. Style of music stuff like Matchbox 20, goo goo dolls, counting crows, sublime. Best described as "unplugged Rock" meaning accoustic guitar with vocalist singing rock songs not folk.
Is there a market out there for this type of stuff?
next is towns. I come from a town of 3500 people (yes in Massachusetts they actually have some small towns). It has a quiet country feel but it is not Hickish or Hillbilly. Most of my neighbors work for big corporations but instead of a 15 min commute to work they elect to drive a little farther to get more for their buck. The school systems here are excellent. Massachusetts in general have the best schools in the country and the town I currently live is the best for the area.
The type of neighborhood i live we are all friends on facebook, have sunday morning atv runs, and are never afraid to ask for help and everyone is always willing to give it. The only reason we are considering this move is because my wife has worked in the field for a long time and if she wants to further career it has to go through home office. We would not make this move if it was a bad area and most people we talk to say that indy suburbs share a lot of the things we require.
Towns: We have focused on Zionsville, Brownsburg, Avon, and Center Grove. They are all bigger than what we are used to but anything past those areas look like cornfields. We are looking in the $400k range and don't want the 1/4 acre cookie cutter suburbia look and feel. But we don't want to buy a large lot on a county road to find that it has a super walmart moving in next door two years later.
Schools are of utmost important. On the surface Zionsville looks like the best candidate but I read the comments on greatschools and it concerns me that Zionsville highschool comments all seem to claim drug problems at that school. No one seems to deny it , the most people say to defend it is "well drugs are everywhere" I don't see any comments regarding drug problems from the other schools though. and they seem to be having some school funding issues.
population and school size are the two biggest reasons why I ruled out Carmel and fishers. My son is a gifted athlete for a 9 yr old. he plays 3 sports but one of them (soccer) he plays year round. out here they have division 1,2,3 or rec. He would normally play Division 1 but usually an age group ahead. so when he was 8 he would play U10 and at age 9 he is good enough to play at the U12 level. But he has always kinda been big fish in a little pond. I worry if he moves to a huge school system like carmel it may be possible for him to not be in the clique of the soccer coaches or kids that are already playing together.
For hobbies I like to atv ride, boat and fish, bike ride, but most of my time is spent in our large yard playing soccer, baseball, basketball with my kids. I also am involved in the coaching of his teams (how hard is it to get into coaching out there?)
We like to be within a 10 min drive to amenities such as home depot , target, and resturaunts but not too close.
So out of the four towns I listed Avon,brownsburg, center grove, and zionsville what can you say good about them and what can you say not so good about them? Thanks in advance.
greetings all,
been a couple years since I've asked these questions. Spouse works for a company headquartered in Indy. Strong possibility of relocation in about 3 months. I have done about as much research online as someone could do. Combing past threads, using greatschools.org, using youtube for local news stations stories, and google maps.
Like most areas of the country I know there are towns and areas that people will disagree on. Personally I like when people cheerlead or debate on these towns. From my standpoint what someone might be cheerleading could be something I don't like and someone that is giving a reason why they "think" a town is undesirable may be what I am looking for.
So a little about me.... I am a musician/ vocalist. I currently play in bars in Bostons' Fanuiel Hall/Quincy market area. My main crowds are a mix largely of college students, tourists, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and some locals. Style of music stuff like Matchbox 20, goo goo dolls, counting crows, sublime. Best described as "unplugged Rock" meaning accoustic guitar with vocalist singing rock songs not folk.
Is there a market out there for this type of stuff?
next is towns. I come from a town of 3500 people (yes in Massachusetts they actually have some small towns). It has a quiet country feel but it is not Hickish or Hillbilly. Most of my neighbors work for big corporations but instead of a 15 min commute to work they elect to drive a little farther to get more for their buck. The school systems here are excellent. Massachusetts in general have the best schools in the country and the town I currently live is the best for the area.
The type of neighborhood i live we are all friends on facebook, have sunday morning atv runs, and are never afraid to ask for help and everyone is always willing to give it. The only reason we are considering this move is because my wife has worked in the field for a long time and if she wants to further career it has to go through home office. We would not make this move if it was a bad area and most people we talk to say that indy suburbs share a lot of the things we require.
Towns: We have focused on Zionsville, Brownsburg, Avon, and Center Grove. They are all bigger than what we are used to but anything past those areas look like cornfields. We are looking in the $400k range and don't want the 1/4 acre cookie cutter suburbia look and feel. But we don't want to buy a large lot on a county road to find that it has a super walmart moving in next door two years later.
Schools are of utmost important. On the surface Zionsville looks like the best candidate but I read the comments on greatschools and it concerns me that Zionsville highschool comments all seem to claim drug problems at that school. No one seems to deny it , the most people say to defend it is "well drugs are everywhere" I don't see any comments regarding drug problems from the other schools though. and they seem to be having some school funding issues.
population and school size are the two biggest reasons why I ruled out Carmel and fishers. My son is a gifted athlete for a 9 yr old. he plays 3 sports but one of them (soccer) he plays year round. out here they have division 1,2,3 or rec. He would normally play Division 1 but usually an age group ahead. so when he was 8 he would play U10 and at age 9 he is good enough to play at the U12 level. But he has always kinda been big fish in a little pond. I worry if he moves to a huge school system like carmel it may be possible for him to not be in the clique of the soccer coaches or kids that are already playing together.
For hobbies I like to atv ride, boat and fish, bike ride, but most of my time is spent in our large yard playing soccer, baseball, basketball with my kids. I also am involved in the coaching of his teams (how hard is it to get into coaching out there?)
We like to be within a 10 min drive to amenities such as home depot , target, and resturaunts but not too close.
So out of the four towns I listed Avon,brownsburg, center grove, and zionsville what can you say good about them and what can you say not so good about them? Thanks in advance.
Carmel and Fishers have the best schools in the state.
Another alternative would be Westfield but its a fast growing suburb of 30k people but its much smaller now than Fishers/Carmel and im sure you can find better connections with your neighbors in Westfield.
Zionsville does have the drug problems like all schools have it to some degree. However Carmel/Fishers have been very proactive in keeping drugs off the campus. Teaching your kids not to do drugs goes a very long way in preventing a problem
First, Center Grove is a tiny little town. More than the town, when people refer to Center Grove, they are referring to the school district in White River Township in Johnson County.
From everything you've mentioned it's sounds like a good fit for you. It maybe slightly more/less than 10 minutes but there are plenty of Big Box stores nearby in Greenwood. I know there has been a growth of retail in Brownsburg and the Avon areas, but it seems like a lot less than Greenwood to me.
If I was spending $400,000, I would be far more comfortable spending that money in Zionsville or the Center Grove area. The median home value in Avon and Brownsburg is considerably lower.
I wouldn't let the Zionsville comments frighten you. As long as you are an involved parent and keep track of where your kids are and who they hang out with, you'll be fine. It's a sad fact that most upper income high schools have drug problems.
greetings all,
been a couple years since I've asked these questions. Spouse works for a company headquartered in Indy. Strong possibility of relocation in about 3 months. I have done about as much research online as someone could do. Combing past threads, using greatschools.org, using youtube for local news stations stories, and google maps.
Like most areas of the country I know there are towns and areas that people will disagree on. Personally I like when people cheerlead or debate on these towns. From my standpoint what someone might be cheerleading could be something I don't like and someone that is giving a reason why they "think" a town is undesirable may be what I am looking for.
So a little about me.... I am a musician/ vocalist. I currently play in bars in Bostons' Fanuiel Hall/Quincy market area. My main crowds are a mix largely of college students, tourists, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and some locals. Style of music stuff like Matchbox 20, goo goo dolls, counting crows, sublime. Best described as "unplugged Rock" meaning accoustic guitar with vocalist singing rock songs not folk.
Is there a market out there for this type of stuff?
next is towns. I come from a town of 3500 people (yes in Massachusetts they actually have some small towns). It has a quiet country feel but it is not Hickish or Hillbilly. Most of my neighbors work for big corporations but instead of a 15 min commute to work they elect to drive a little farther to get more for their buck. The school systems here are excellent. Massachusetts in general have the best schools in the country and the town I currently live is the best for the area.
The type of neighborhood i live we are all friends on facebook, have sunday morning atv runs, and are never afraid to ask for help and everyone is always willing to give it. The only reason we are considering this move is because my wife has worked in the field for a long time and if she wants to further career it has to go through home office. We would not make this move if it was a bad area and most people we talk to say that indy suburbs share a lot of the things we require.
Towns: We have focused on Zionsville, Brownsburg, Avon, and Center Grove. They are all bigger than what we are used to but anything past those areas look like cornfields. We are looking in the $400k range and don't want the 1/4 acre cookie cutter suburbia look and feel. But we don't want to buy a large lot on a county road to find that it has a super walmart moving in next door two years later.
Schools are of utmost important. On the surface Zionsville looks like the best candidate but I read the comments on greatschools and it concerns me that Zionsville highschool comments all seem to claim drug problems at that school. No one seems to deny it , the most people say to defend it is "well drugs are everywhere" I don't see any comments regarding drug problems from the other schools though. and they seem to be having some school funding issues.
population and school size are the two biggest reasons why I ruled out Carmel and fishers. My son is a gifted athlete for a 9 yr old. he plays 3 sports but one of them (soccer) he plays year round. out here they have division 1,2,3 or rec. He would normally play Division 1 but usually an age group ahead. so when he was 8 he would play U10 and at age 9 he is good enough to play at the U12 level. But he has always kinda been big fish in a little pond. I worry if he moves to a huge school system like carmel it may be possible for him to not be in the clique of the soccer coaches or kids that are already playing together.
For hobbies I like to atv ride, boat and fish, bike ride, but most of my time is spent in our large yard playing soccer, baseball, basketball with my kids. I also am involved in the coaching of his teams (how hard is it to get into coaching out there?)
We like to be within a 10 min drive to amenities such as home depot , target, and resturaunts but not too close.
So out of the four towns I listed Avon,brownsburg, center grove, and zionsville what can you say good about them and what can you say not so good about them? Thanks in advance.
You may want to give Westfield, Noblesville and Franklin a look as well.....
First, Center Grove is a tiny little town. More than the town, when people refer to Center Grove, they are referring to the school district in White River Township in Johnson County.
From everything you've mentioned it's sounds like a good fit for you. It maybe slightly more/less than 10 minutes but there are plenty of Big Box stores nearby in Greenwood. I know there has been a growth of retail in Brownsburg and the Avon areas, but it seems like a lot less than Greenwood to me.
If I was spending $400,000, I would be far more comfortable spending that money in Zionsville or the Center Grove area. The median home value in Avon and Brownsburg is considerably lower.
are there boundary lines to the area of center grove?? I have been looking at the area below w smith and above w stones crossing would this fall into center grove or just the school district?
You may want to give Westfield, Noblesville and Franklin a look as well.....
my only concern with noblesville is it seems you have to go through fishers to get to indy and i see a lot of concensus that the traffic is very heavy. my wife would only want a 30 minute or so commute and I think her office would fall closer to the SW section of indy. Google directions puts it at 40 mins and I assume it's without traffic it's right around lucas oil stadium.
franklin scores are very bad on greatschools.org and their median income seems pretty low. I wouldn't classify myself as an elitist in any way but areas of lower median income usually have a lot of other things going on.
When posters here talk about "Center Grove" there are referencing the school district, not the town.
just what i was looking for , thanks. So if someone lives in the district and has an elementary student. how do they decide which school to go to? is it whatever is closest or do parents have a choice?
my only concern with noblesville is it seems you have to go through fishers to get to indy and i see a lot of concensus that the traffic is very heavy. my wife would only want a 30 minute or so commute and I think her office would fall closer to the SW section of indy. Google directions puts it at 40 mins and I assume it's without traffic it's right around lucas oil stadium.
franklin scores are very bad on greatschools.org and their median income seems pretty low. I wouldn't classify myself as an elitist in any way but areas of lower median income usually have a lot of other things going on.
We live in Westfield and love it... The schools (Westfield Washington Township schools) are great. I work just south/SW of downtown and takes me 35-40 minutes door to door... But to be fair, I go to work early in the morning to avoid the traffic.
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