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Lastly, like I said we've lived in south Florida all our lives so we have no experience driving on icy roads. Is it as bad as most online articles make it seem or is it just a matter of getting used to it, driving slower than usual and keeping enough space between cars?
Also, what can we do to avoid damage to our cars due to snow, salt, and ice?
Above all I would sacrifice anything just as long as we land in a safe area. A nice quiet neighborhood. We mostly keep to ourselves and enjoy going out to movie and a dinner, but we don't need to live close to the action.
Sorry if any of these questions seem silly, I've tried to do a good amount of research already but I'd also like to hear from some with first hand experience.
Anything that I should know about coming from Florida, other than it'll be colder
We've lived in south Florida all our lives and have questions and concerns. Naturally, I don't know Indianapolis so I would like any advice as to the safest neighborhoods. I've read Carmel is well thought of when it comes to safe cities. After a little bit of searching I've stumbled on some articles about crime in Indianapolis increasing in the past years and maybe someone can speak to that as well.
There has been a fairly large rise in the number of homicides in the last few years, but overall crime has been trending down. The increase in homicides can be attributed to the large number of drugs (mostly heroin) making there way through Indianapolis. There are rough areas of the city for sure, but most people will never be the victim of a crime. Downtown, Meridian Kessler, and Broad Ripple are a few of the safest and most desirable areas to live in the city. If you want to live in the suburbs, you can't go wrong with any cities in Hamilton County or Zionsville. Carmel does offer the most in terms of amenities though.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think most teachers make $30,000-$40,000+ per year. All of the school districts in the northern suburbs are very good with manageable class sizes. I'm not at all sure how easy or hard it is to find a job as a teacher right now.
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Originally Posted by ThinkFast_
Lastly, like I said we've lived in south Florida all our lives so we have no experience driving on icy roads. Is it as bad as most online articles make it seem or is it just a matter of getting used to it, driving slower than usual and keeping enough space between cars?
Ice is always terrible. We haven't had a major ice storm in a few years, but when it happens you'll basically want to avoid driving entirely. Driving on snow is something that you'll just get used to. You really only need to slow down and give yourself more space.
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Originally Posted by ThinkFast_
Also, what can we do to avoid damage to our cars due to snow, salt, and ice?
Just make sure you take your car in for regularly scheduled maintenance. It also helps to get your car washed after snow storms. The salt on the roads can cause rust to form, so make sure you're taking it somewhere that has an underbody wash option. All of the Crew Carwash locations offer it.
Some winters in Indianapolis are mild. The last two have been cold, snowy, icy. All wheel drive is a good idea if you can afford it. Subaru or similar. Most cars don't rust anymore due to use of superior materials. You are more likely to have a car rust in Florida near the coast.
Anyplace outside of Marion county is a good choice for safety. There are nice areas in Marion county where housing costs less than outside the county, but you need to know where to live. You will know the high crime areas after you live here a year or two. One hint, don't purchase a home along 38th street. Downtown is safe for purchase, or for recreation.
Teaching jobs are more available at IPS. Some of the IPS schools are rough.
As a native Hoosier who has lived all over the country and now lives in Florida, I will caution you about something that I was never able to come to grips with: Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SADD
I lived in Florida for ten years and then returned to Indianapolis. The return to four seasons was great (especially the fall!) but the lack of sunlight in the winter was outright debilitating.
There will be periods of time in the winter and spring where you might not see the sun for any appreciable length of time over a week or two. While this doesn't sound all that bad on the surface, coming from Florida, where you see the sun daily, this is a big, big change.
I'm not trying to discourage you, just make you aware. Having grown up and lived in Indiana for many years I never gave it any thought until I came back and started to experience it myself. It was bad enough (coupled with getting slammed in my career by the economy) that I went back to Florida after a couple of years.
You're in for a real culture and climate shock, but hey, sometime change is good. Good luck with your relo.
Hi! I'm sure you will have people respond saying that Indiana is horrible, or that Carmel is snobby, or any other number of opinions. I lived in the Indy area for 48 years, but in the last several years have lived in 5 different states. EVERY place has its positives and negatives. EVERY place has friendly people and rude people. EVERY place has some crime. You can't expect a new place to be just like where you came from. You can't expect the grocery stores to carry the same items, or for people to dress the same way, or have the same kind of radio stations, same style of architecture, etc (those things were kind of a shocker to me the first time I moved to a new state.) Every place I've lived has been a VERY different culture---which was something I hadn't ever given any thought to, until I found myself feeling like I'd been dropped onto a different planet! You're like me in that you've lived in one area for your whole life, and everything about that area probably feels "normal" and "the way things should be," and perhaps it has never occurred to you just how wonderfully different various parts of our country are, in ways you can't even imagine. If you are prepared and willing to adapt to change, and to try to enjoy the differences, and to view all of this as an adventure, you'll do great!!
If I painted the Indy area with a broad brush stroke, the "best to worst" sides of town would be ranked north, west, south, east. So if you want to make it easy, look north and west first. But you'll find better home prices overall south and east, and there are certainly nice areas there too, although you have to be more careful. I'm sure you'll be using CD and google to research the various parts of town. I think someone else said to stay out of Marion County (for the most part, Indianapolis = Marion County because of a political/geographical thing called Unigov that was put into effect back in the 70s), and again, if you want to make it easy, that's reasonably good advice, but there are nice pockets inside Marion County. You just have to do your homework.
I've lived south, west, and north. I prefer the north side (I've lived in Carmel, Noblesville, and Westfield. All are nice, safe areas, good schools). Zionsville and Fishers (north) are also highly regarded in general. My own kids attended Avon High School (west side, a very good school, affluent area, but getting very congested as it has had massive growth over the past 20 years). Plainfield (west) is very nice, more middle class, mostly established neighborhoods, excellent schools. Mooresville (a little bit southwest) is a mix of old and new neighborhoods, might be more affordable than some of the other towns I've mentioned, but as it has become more popular it may have caught up in home prices.
The weather may be a challenge for you! I never did love the cold and snow, but you learn how to deal with it. And you need to know about products that you can spray on your car windows to keep ice from building up, and another product that you can spray on the windows to help melt the ice off. And invest in a good window scraper!! (I'll admit, the one thing I dislike most about living in snowy areas is getting off work, already tired, then have to spend 15-20 minutes in the freezing cold trying to get the car cleaned off enough to be able to drive home. Sorry, but you might as well be aware of these realities). You'll want to keep your cars in a garage, (preferably an attached garage) so if you think you'll need a 3-car garage to fit your stuff plus your cars, that would be a great investment. You'll find that 3-car garages are common in Indy. Or if you get only a 2-car garage, check the HOA covenants to see if you can have a mini-barn for your stuff like lawn mower, bikes, etc. But one way or another, try to find a way that you don't have to leave your cars outside in the winter! Also, you won't want a huge long driveway, because that's a lot of shoveling. You may want to buy a snow blower even if your driveway isn't huge. Shoveling snow is exhausting, and there will be days that you have to get up an hour or so earlier than usual to allow time to clean your driveway, and to drive slowly to work. A coat closet near the entry of your home is nice (for winter time guests) and also a place for your own coats, boots, etc near the door to the garage. At some pont you might want to put a fire pit in the back yard, or just get an outdoor stand heater, to let you enjoy your outdoor space a little longer in the fall. Most people don't have swimming pools (pool season is just so short), but I loved having an above ground hot tub, to enjoy as it's intended in the winter, but also to turn off the heat in the summer and lay in it on a floatie! (This paragraph was intended to give you tips to better enjoy Indiana's climate. I hope I didn't terrify you!)
I do love Indy. It is filled with mostly friendly, down to earth people, it is very green in the summer, many beautiful flowers and flowering plants thrive there, good cost of living. Can't compare it to NYC obviously, but I always found plenty to do to keep myself entertained.
Layers in the winter time. Thats the secret to the cold weather. It will take a winter or 2 for you to get used to it. I have lived in michigan and indiana for my entire life except for 6 months in savannah, heck i dont zip up my coat unless its single digits. But i wear a undershirt, sweatshirt and coat. If you get warm peal a layer off. If you get cold add a layer on.
The secret to driving in snow is to make plenty of room between you and driver in front and use brakes as little as possible. Keep those tires moving and dont stand on the brakes when skidding. Pump them even if its antilock brakes. You want the tires to move. If you can coast to a light its better than starting and stopping.
Cost of living in indiana is much less than s. Florida. Your wife needs to start applying for jobs now since school starts in august (early aug). Find a place to live after she finds a job. Look north burbs first for job and home. Its a very growing area a d she might do better in her searching there.
You didn't say where your job will be. That will have a lot to do with where you'll live, as it's not realistic to try and commute form one side of the county to another. Traffic is an issue in most cases, but even more important is the effects that weather can have on your commute, primarily in the winter.
This would go a long way in helping to give you more specific information on areas to consider.
While I can't speak for the north side and the school districts there, for the most part teaching jobs in Indy can be tough to find. Understand that unlike Dade County and the rest of Florida, Indiana, like most midwestern states, has community school districts that are limited to a town or city. For example, you have districts like Speedway to Carmel, which are relatively small. Then you have have township-wide districts like Perry Township that are fairly large.
These are nothing like Dade County - it's a behemoth of a district and far larger than anything you will experience in Indiana. That being said, the smaller districts can make it tougher to find a job - also, teacher's unions in Indiana are just that - unions. This is nothing like the so called teacher's unions in Florida, which due to legislative action have no real bargaining power.
The Indy metro is very spread out and large geographically. We have people in my office who commute from Whiteland, the south side, and Lafayette, and the guy from Lafayette has the easiest commute. You don't want to commute to a job in Carmel from Greenwood or something.
Crime in Indy is high, but it's mainly confined to certain areas, and a lot of it is a result of drugs. If you are a gangbanger and run in the wrong crowd, trouble will come to you. If you live a normal life and stay out of situations that look bad, you'll probably be fine. That's not to minimize the homicides, but if you stay out of trouble and don't live in the hood, you'll be fine.
Finding a teaching job will depend on where she is willing to work and what she can teach. If she is a special ed teacher it will be easier to find a job compared to a Social Studies teacher. The best school districts such as Carmel and Hamilton Southeastern receive thousands of applications for very few jobs. A relative was a permanent sub in Hamiltion SE as a way to get into the system and get to know the principal at a grade school. Jobs in IPS and the some of the township school districts are easier to secure if there is an opening. Some of those jobs may not be as desirable for a variety of reasons.
She should also look at the individual websites for all of the school districts. The East Central and West Central maps at this page will help her identify the districts. There are too many to list here.
Do FL and IN have a reciprocal license agreement? She will need to be licensed here to teach here.
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