Advice for Valparaiso (Columbus, Chesterton, Hope: apartments, income, live)

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Both 46385 & 46383 will get you the north side - there really is no good way on the public side of the mls to search a specific side of Valpo. The best thing to do is to look on the map feature when you pull up listings and check out where it is. You'll probably want to stick closer to 49 too for ease of travel to the train.

Before you look into Hobart, I'd look into Chesterton because the train station is right there.

Feel free to look in Hobart, but I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll end up in Chesterton or Valpo. If you work with a realtor, be very specific that you want to be as close to 49 as possible for train commuting purposes. They'll be able to do their magic!

[Luv4ThePaws]

Thanks a lot! No realtor yet, that's why it's a little more difficult trying to do the searches myself. We want to check it out ourselves first and all the advice has been great! Thanks for clarifying the ZIP codes!!

[Luv4ThePaws]

Okay, so I need to know the downside of living in the Valpo/Chesterton area. I SO appreciate all the honest feedback, which has been so positive, but what are the little things that bother you? Are there any? How is traffic through town? Does the college bring much rowdiness into area businesses (i.e. hard to eat with your family at area restaurants)? During the colder October-May months, is there much sunlight? Any humidity during the summer? Is there an area hospital with a good labor/delivery ward? Any mom's groups? It's all these little things that my husband and I have been thinking about and I figured I might as well ask you residents on here!!! Thanks so much in advance- we appreciate it!

[domergurl]

When we lived in Valpo, my second daughter was born at Porter Memorial. I was warned that the hospital was the pits, but I found the opposite to be true when I delivered. It's not luxurious, sure, but the nursing staff that I dealt with were all so incredibly nice and that's really all I cared about. I don't know what I would have done if hadn't found Gymboree. I loved that place. Met many moms who I still keep in touch with years later! I'm sure there are Moms groups too ... just never needed them. I worked for Valpo U for a short time and I never witnessed any spillover rowdiness ...

The only bad part was the town was kind of clannish to me, even in my neighborhood, it was hard. I made many friends at Gymboree, but that was about it. Mind you, I moved out in 2003, so maybe that's changed with all the new people moving in. If we were to move back, I wouldn't be so sensitive to it, but at the time, I was a new mom who just wanted someone to be my friend

[Luv4ThePaws]

Thanks, as always, for your quick and great post, Domergurl!! I was worried about the clannish effect that you often find in smaller, quaint towns. One of my girlfriends, who is from Madison, WI wants us to check out that area, but from what we are hearing, some of the Madison suburbs are like that too- hard for an outsider to gain entry to. We are a young couple who like to have friends over for bbqs and such, but more importantly, in a couple of years, I will be a new mom staying at home all day while my husband is in Chicago... And I don't want to sit at home feeling alone, especially in the dreary winter months! I would love some friends in the neighborhood, or at least ones willing to meet for playdates.... Unfortunately, you don't know until you move in how friendly people really will be... Thanks for your personal experience!!

[domergurl]

What neighborhoods are you looking in?? Have you called the realtor I told you about??

[Chuckity]

We moved out to Valpo in 2001 - our daughters were 5 and 4 at the time. And I can honestly tell you that my husband and I have never, EVER, experienced anything remotely clannish. Everyone has always been open and welcoming ... from neighbors to bank tellers (Centier is the BEST bank, hands down) to the mail lady - we're on a first name basis with not only all of our neighbors but also in all of the businesses we frequent.

Right now traffic is horrible in town - they've been repaving Rt. 30 the entire way through Valpo and they've torn up most of Lincolnway at the same time. But typically, traffic in town is fine.

As for the college kids, we're still trying to figure out where they hang out. We have no idea because except for Target in August (where they're all shopping with their parents) we never see them.

There's probably as much sun in the winter and there is in the summer - or enough where I've really never noticed the difference. And can it get horrible in the summer sometimes? Oh yeah.

Let's see, things that bother me ... um, pretty much nothing.

[domergurl]

We lived in Aberdeen, which, at the time, was hard to break into, socially. But working at the university, was the opposite, everyone was incredibly nice.

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by domergurl

We lived in Aberdeen, which, at the time, was hard to break into, socially. But working at the university, was the opposite, everyone was incredibly nice.

Aberdeen still has a bit of that reputation. But quite honestly, it's due to a small handful of women who most people roll their eyes at anyway. We live right there in the area and my girls have always had friends who live in Aberdeen - they go to the same schools. We even go trick or treating in Aberdeen because our neighborhood is too spread apart.

Anyhow, Aberdeen has a truckload of homes on the market right now - there've been a bunch of job transfers amongst the menfolk. But since you can still build in Aberdeen - the Links specifically - homes are not moving much at all.

[Luv4ThePaws]

Thank you both so very much for ALL your help!! We are so excited to visit- can't believe it's only 2 weeks away! We are going to drive around for awhile on our own and get a feel for the areas we like best, whether it be Valpo or Chesterton, and then once we have it narrowed down to where we want to live, we will probably contact a realtor (or maybe do that on a secondary trip). We aren't in a big rush to move, probably next spring, so we mostly just want a feel for the area and we look forward to enjoying the town. I really hope it is as pretty as the pictures, because our hopes are really high!!! My poor husband is so excited to go out there, but he is also a little nervous about moving too, as this will be his first time not living in Charlotte, except for his college years in NY. He is worried about making friends too, so I hope we find some somewhere!!