Thinking about moving to Fishers (currently live in Chicago) (Indianapolis: for sale, real estate)

[luciajoaquin]

We are a family of four (a three year old and a one year old), and we currently live in the Wrigleyville neighborhood in the city Chicago. We've been here for over 7 years. My husband is a Financial Adviser and there is an opportunity for a transfer with his same company to Fishers, IN. I've never been there, so we have a lot of questions before we make a decision!

-How are the schools?

-We have a condo in Chicago, and we'd love to move to a house if we end up in IN, in a very nice neighborhood. We are willing to spend up to $325,000 (since I've heard that real estate in IN is cheaper than Chicago) for a 4 beds/2 baths and finished basement. Would love a place with lots of tress near parks or places to go with my kids - Any recommendations?

-How close from the city of Indianapolis?

-Are there good restaurants/shopping in the area?

-How diverse is the suburb?

Any feedback would be great!

Thanks!!

[rrah]

DG--This one is tailor made for you. Where are you?

Quick answer--schools are very good, restaurants and shopping are fine, etc. The Indianapolis metro area is VERY easy to get around. Maybe 30 minutes or so from downtown Indy?

Imagine moving out to one of the farther out Chicago suburbs, that's Fishers, except MUCH cheaper here! It's not an Oak Park type place, but more along the lines of a much smaller Naperville.

[hapaleeretired]

Years ago I met a couple from Chicago who moved here. They got so excited about the price of the first house they looked at they bought it. After they moved in they found that they paid too much for the house. Be well aware that housing prices are a lot different here.

[luciajoaquin]

Thanks for the feedback! Just yesterday my husband and I were looking into some houses online and got SUPER excited about the beautiful houses and the unbelievable prices! (A similar house in a suburb here would be 500K + and taxes!) That's why I'm asking about the subdivisions, since there are so many places for sale!

A small Naperville sounds nice We live in the hectic city and pay all cook county taxes, so thinking about moving to a nice place where it is more affordable to live...I think that we'll have a better life in general (especially for the kids)

Any other feedback? Is there a lot to do for the kids? Are there rivers around the area? I have Lake Michigan walking distance and in the Summer time we go all the time. How are the pre-schools?

How diverse is the suburb?

Thanks!!!

[MikiJayne]

Yes, home prices are NICE here in Indy! There is plenty to do for the kids all around Indy, and Fishers was recently rated as one of the best places to raise a family in Forbes magazine or something... I better go look that up to be sure. Ah, here's the article:

America's Best Places To Raise A Family - Forbes.com

I would love to help you with your search!

[BU191433]

Here are the stats about Fishers. These are from 2000, but it gives you an idea. Fishers is not very diverse - although I'm sure it is more so since these stats/. Yes there is a river - but I wouldn't say it is a destination. But there are places to walk. Let me know what type of restaurants you like and I'll make some recommendations. Plenty of shopping and things for the kids to do

http://www.city-data.com/city/Fishers-Indiana.html

Races in Fishers:

• White Non-Hispanic (90.9%)
• Black (2.9%)
• Hispanic (2.0%)
• Two or more races (1.0%)
• Asian Indian (0.8%)
• Chinese (0.8%)
• Other race (0.5%)

[luciajoaquin]

Thanks! We love all sort of ethnic restaurants, and since we live in Chicago we have a ton of diversity. Let's see what happens with the job, since the other option is in Phoenix...But all I hear about AZ is that the crime rate is super high...Plus all of our friends are in Chicago, which is very close to Indy :-)

Thanks for all the feedback!!!

[domergurl]

Ok .. hey .. I'm here!!! Been getting things situated for my mom .. she's out of ICU and will probably be home on Thursday.

Anyway .... deep breath. We lived in and around Chicago (including Wrigleyville/boystown for me) and we also lived in Fishers for about 4 years. For 325K, your eyes will pop out of your head at what you will be able to buy. And with the market, you'll have pick of the litter. You'll LOVE not having to pay those stinking Illinois and Chicago property taxes.

Schools ... each and every one is fantastic. Seriously, you can live anywhere within the Hamilton Southeastern district and have worry about schools.

Coming from Chicago .. well, it's an adjustment, but you'll find yourself being able to not have to travel so much. It does stink to be landlocked though and the food is somewhat lacking ... not horrible, but not as good as Chicago. There is a Nancy's Pizza in Fishers, which is a Chicago pizza place. One thing that Indy has that Chicago doesn't is the greatest Children's Museum in the country. I could get there from my house in Fishers (we lived on the extreme east side of town) in about a half hour. Hubby commuted downtown in about 40-45 minutes. And don't let anyone fool you about traffic in Fishers. The I-69 corridor in Fishers freaks most hoosiers out, but know what? I-69 is like the Kennedy or the Edens in non-rush hour ...

Summing it up .. for me:

I miss Chicago because:
Food, especially the ethnic cuisine
the Lake
The city itself
TRAINS and public transit
my Cubs

What I don't miss:

the taxes
how expensive everything is

See, now I can still go back to Chicago and get my fix of the things I miss, but not have to pay for it by living there. And apparently, that high speed rail corridor is supposed to get you from Indy to Chicago in an hour ... let's hope that gets going because then I'll really be a happy domergurl

[Colts42]

Hello,

We moved from Chicago (Wrigleyville) to Indiana. We don't live in Fishers, but we have been there many times. One of my friends lived there. (We live in Bloomington, which is 1 hour south of Indy).

Fishers a nice suburb north of Indy. I think its the fastest growing suburb in Indy, or close to it. Very nice schools and close to shopping. Its kind of a higher-class suburb, nicer homes. The north suburbs of Indy are the nicer suburbs that you want to live in. The south suburbs, Greenwood, is also nice. Don't know much about West (I just hear its growing fast) or East.

As for resturants, Indy has some good resturants, but not sure about Fishers. Carmel is close, which has some good ones. Indy is not Chicago with the densley populated ethnic neighborhoods where you can have amazing food all of the time. We miss that aspect, but there are some good finds in Indy...just not the same. No midwestern city is the same as Chicago.

One thing you'll never get over: when you go to the grocery store, you can drive there and park close. No hastle. Everybody is nice. Produce is much better than Dominicks or Jewell. Things are just nicers like that.

We were in our late 20's and ready to have a house and family, so moving to Indiana made sense. Its 4 years later, and we are very happy with things here. Most of our friends have left the city (Chicago), too.

Overall, I think you'll find Indy to be a great family city.

[luciajoaquin]

Thanks much to the ex-chicagoans domergurl and colts42 (and everyone else!).

I do hope my hubby gets the position in Fishers We want something good for our family!

The plus side is that Chicago is super close, so we can definitely come back in long weekends!

Thanks to all for all the good input!

Now that I know that real estatte is WAY less expensive, I guess that we'll be able to find a house for $250,000 and save a TON of money...Very nice to know that we can find great houses for that amount of money...What a difference from Chicago and the burbs around here!