Little Flower (Indianapolis, Fishers, Washington: hardwood floors, sale, foreclosure)

[sweetana3]

My hairdresser lives in Emerson Heights. She loves the area but serious crime has increased dramatically. She and her grandson were robbed in front of her house. Prostitution is very evident and constant, etc. She wants to move but sales are slow to nonexistant.

I like the houses as they are small with good yards, but the area is not safe right now. (and yes, there is a police presence but the crime is more than they can resolve.)

It is like the streets around Woodruff Place. While WP can be a wonderful place to live, one block over on Tecumseh, there is a significantly increased amount of property and personal crime. I have a friend who has lived there for decades and watched it happen.

[dave.dawsn]

Originally Posted by sweetana3

My hairdresser lives in Emerson Heights. She loves the area but serious crime has increased dramatically. She and her grandson were robbed in front of her house. Prostitution is very evident and constant, etc. She wants to move but sales are slow to nonexistant.

I like the houses as they are small with good yards, but the area is not safe right now. (and yes, there is a police presence but the crime is more than they can resolve.)

It is like the streets around Woodruff Place. While WP can be a wonderful place to live, one block over on Tecumseh, there is a significantly increased amount of property and personal crime. I have a friend who has lived there for decades and watched it happen.

Where is Emerson Heights in relation to Little Flower?

[Michelle Morris]

Wow, that was way better than any awswer I could have come up with!!

As for Little Flower, I think the answer has already been given. When a lot of people are wanting to move out of an area, there is probably a reason why. Unless they have all been transerred or happen to be moving for other reasons. I have seen that happen in my own neighborhood, 4 people on the same street were moving all at the same time, but 1 was a job transfer, 1 wanted a bigger house to fit a growing family, and 1 was moving out of state to be closer to their family.

I am unfortunately not allowed to comment on specific neighborhoods the way you would like me to. What I can do is point you to sites that will rate the schools, crime stats, etc., and answer what I can about the houses you are interested in. I hate it, but the best I can say is for you to do your research (as you are here) and drive through the different neighborhoods at different times of the day and week to get a good feel for it before buying anywhere.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by dave.dawsn

Where is Emerson Heights in relation to Little Flower?

From their website:

The developers established the boundaries of Emerson Heights as Tenth Street to the north, Michigan Street to the south, Linwood Avenue to west, and Emerson Avenue to the east. These remain the neighborhood’s boundaries today.

http://www.emersonheights.org/

So basically, it is due south of Little Flower's eastern half.

[grmasterb]

For kicks, I drove around a bit of Little Flower this afternoon -- Bosart, Drexel and Bancroft. I didn't see that many places for sale. A lot of nice little places in there.

[PlannerGrl]

I'm in a similar boat. I am looking to purchase my first home and I have found one in Little Flower that I really like. However, I'm told (and can see) that the near-eastside has a lot of violent crime.

I'm also a city planner and can by education look and see the characteristics that a neighborhood "should" have and it appears that Little Flower has a lot of positive aspects. It is extremely important that when looking for a home that the neighborhood has an association and community related events. However, with the crime...I'm not so sure. I also noticed that Linwood Avenue has a lot of homes for sale. I think honestly that a lot of them were foreclosures and have been flipped.

Do not move to the Fountain Square area. Crime there is horrible and I looked at a home recently and was called an obscene name by a woman standing in the driveway of the home I was looking at.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by PlannerGrl

Do not move to the Fountain Square area. Crime there is horrible and I looked at a home recently and was called an obscene name by a woman standing in the driveway of the home I was looking at.

I call shenanigans

Furthermore, how is someone who visited maybe once or twice qualified to make a blanket statement about the crime down here?

[PlannerGrl]

Aw, my best friend lives on Woodlawn. I've visited a lot.

[restorationconsultant]

Little Flower has "potential', However the reason you are seeing so many homes for sale over there is that it is a high foreclosure/short sale area. I dont see that area going up in value in the short term 3-5 yrs but the long term may be better. There is alot of section 8 rental property in that area still.

In my opinion look for a high "owner occupant" area with less rentals.

I would suggest Holy Cross as a better alternative. Better housing stock, more stable neighborhood, few foreclosures and they have a very strong neighborhood association. Very high owner occupancy rate.

You didn't say what your budget was. Most houses over there between 150-300K some new construction stuff over 350K. Property on State and Sturm is more affordable as it the 15-1600 block of Vermont. You can still buy under 100K if you look. State Street is the "line' for most people though some of the people who live in Holy Cross have started to buy investment property a block or two further east. and thats a good sign.

You might like Fletcher Place as well, same qualities as Holy Cross but smaller houses.

[chalcedony]

If you look at the BIIIIIG unofficial boundaries of Fountain Square, it's a real mixed bag. Close to the commercial "core" of the neighborhood at Shelby/Prospect/Virginia is in good shape and constantly getting better. But travel a few blocks east toward Santorini and it's a bit dicey; by the time you get to State/Prospect it's fairly rough. But even the worst parts of the area are likely to improve as more urban-minded folks discover an area with great architectural character who can stay organized enough to tolerate--and mostly deter--the crime.

Little Flower has long had a strong neighborhood association which should allow it to weather the rougher times; the homes are terrific and would require fewer renovations than homes in Fountain Square. If I were a gambler, I'd say the safest bet would be the core of Fountain Square, followed by Little Flower, followed by Fountain Square East. Even the worst areas, though, have cheerleaders for urban living who are committed to organizing their neighborhoods enough that they can tolerate--and often deter--the serious crime.

Even the Asst Mgr of the Fletcher Place Community Center, based at Prospect and State, recognizes that the neighborhood is changing. The organization moved from the actual Fletcher Place neighborhood about 5 years ago because that area was so gentrified that their GED/literacy classes no longer served a purpose. The need is great at Prospect and State right now, but that is likely to change in another 10 years. Regarding all the "for sale" signs in Little Flower, I've seen tons of them in much more stable neighborhoods like Lockerbie Square, Old Northside, and Fall Creek Place. I think it's more attributable to the awful economy, because those are areas where the population has a high net worth. Most "urban" neighborhoods in Indy (with the likely exception of Martindale-Brightwood) are headed for improvement in the upcoming decade, I think.