Tell me about Valparaiso

[artemis]

**I understand that the train will be extended to have a stop at Route 231 in Crown Point,I think that's the SouthShore train. **

The South Shore runs from South Bend to Chicago, right along the lakefront.
It doesn't go to Lake of the 4 Seasons.

LOFS is ok. The roads aren't in the best shape. I by-pass that area when I'm on the way to Crown Point to see family. That can be quite the ride over to Valpo in the Winter.

My son used to rent a duplex just off of Route 30 in Valpo, near the WiseWay grocery store. I'll have to ask him who the landlord was.

[FinanceMom]

I live in Valparaiso, but I really don't know how much rents run here. It is a very pleasant town, with plenty of shopping, lots of parks, and relatively low traffic. The downtown is very quaint and many houses and apartments are within walking distance. If you're looking to squeeze by on a low income, then you might want to try Portage. (In Valpo you're paying extra for the great schools.) Portage is a good place to try because it's only 10-15 minutes northwest from Valpo, but it also has it's own decent shopping district. The housing is much less expensive and Portage is a good 15 minutes closer to Chicago than Valpo is. Portage is right off highway 80-90 and you can zip into Chicago in less than 45 minutes from there. Plus there is a train station just north of there as well. Just a thought. Another idea would be to drive down here for a weekend and just look around to get a feel for the area. That's what we did - we were looking from South Bend to the Illinois border and picked Valpo because it had everything we were looking for. If you check out Valpo, Chesterton, LaPorte, Portage, Kouts, and Michigan City, you should have a pretty good idea of what life is like here and whether you think you'd like to live around here or not.