Northwest IN advice needed! (Gary, Hammond: rent, new house, neighborhood)

[stacykb]

Hi Everyone-Im joining this hoping many of you can give me some good advice.
We live in a small community in Southern IA. My husbands company is moving him to a plant in Hammond, IN. We do not want to live that close to Chicago and we are looking at the other communities in NW IN. Ive been to the area once and Valparaiso and Crown Point are pretty. My husband plans on a 30-45 minute commute to work--I dont want him to have to be on the road much longer than that though.
From what I have seen on the net-the closer you are to IL the higher the cost of housing and taxes. I dont know much about Portage or Chesterton or Hobart. What can anyone tell me about these communitites?
Where should we be looking for our new home? We are looking to spend under 200,000 and need a 3 br/2ba. From looking on some of the realty sites--looks like you get more house for your money in Portage and Chesterton.
All your comments would be greatly apprecitated!

[domergurl]

We lived in Valpo and loved it. Hubby commuted to Merrillville in about 30 minutes. Now, if you want a small town with good schools (recently rated as 4 star schools in Indiana), you can try Kouts. It's a little further south on SR49, but you may be running into going a bit over your time frame on commuting.

Crown Point is lovely too and growing like crazy! They are getting a new high school, if it hasn't been completed by now.

Another small community that is actually betwen Valpo & Merrillville on US 30 is Union Twp. Good small schools too ... Wheeler schools.

[dumpstermcnuggets]

I've always heard Munster(which borders Hammond, and to the south of there) is supposed to be a pretty nice town. I've never been through that town, but I've always heard good things about that town. Not to also mention the schools are pretty decent in that town, too.

You could also try the Schererville-Dyer-St. John area, too. I remember driving through that area once, and it seemed to be pretty nice, from what I remember seeing of that area(and since I killled some time in that area a few years ago, before I saw a concert at IU-Calumet). There's a decent amount of retail stores around there, and it seemed like it had a nice quality of life(albeit that a lot of housing subdivisions that exist, which isn't much to my taste, as I more prefer areas that have more of a traditional neighborhood-like feel to it, but I know everyone's comfort zone and taste in terms of housing differ a little bit).

I'm guessing the original poster has done their homework on Hammond, am I right? Although I will admit(as much as the town of Hammond is economically depressed), I thought the area around IU-Calumet wasn't too bad(and one of the few nice areas of Hammond). And hopefully, the redevelopment of Woodmar Mall does turn out to be successful, since that area could use a positive economic kick.

[rrah]

Dumpster--IU Northwest is in Gary. Purdue-Calumet is in Hammond. You are correct in that the area around Purdue Calumet is fairly nice.

To the original op--I suspect Chesterton and Portage would put you beyond the ideal commuting time frame. 80-94 into Hammond from that area is a traffic nightmare during many hours of the day. Frequent accidents, heavy traffic, and even someone with a flat tire slows it down to a parking lot crawl. They should have expanded it to 4 or 5 lanes decades ago. Many of us familiar with the area use alterate routes if possible. It doesn't necessarily save time, but at least one is moving.

The commute from Valpo would also likely be longer. Depending upon where you live in Crown Point and where the plant is located---you might also be too far out. The St. John, Dyer, Schererville area suggestion is a great one. St. John is the farthest south of these 3 towns so the commute might be longer.
Munster tends to be on the pricey side. You might also consider the adjacent towns of Highland and Griffith. Both smaller, older communities offering a lot of house for the money. He could definitely do the commute in under 30-45 minutes from either of these places.

Welcome to Indiana!

[artemis]

I've always found the St John, Schererville and Dyer area to be a headache traffic-wise. Route 41 & US 30 have been developed to the point there's too many stop lights.

Chesterton is a nice city, very close to the Interstate. Very charming town.


Crown Point's new high school was finished a few years ago. Its about a block away from my parents house. Nice town too, its the County seat.

One thing you'll need to factor into his drive-time is the weather. He'll need to allow more time in the winter due to snow fall. The further out you get, he'll have to deal with drifting snow.

[winters816]

Originally Posted by stacykb

Hi Everyone-Im joining this hoping many of you can give me some good advice.
We live in a small community in Southern IA. My husbands company is moving him to a plant in Hammond, IN. We do not want to live that close to Chicago and we are looking at the other communities in NW IN. Ive been to the area once and Valparaiso and Crown Point are pretty. My husband plans on a 30-45 minute commute to work--I dont want him to have to be on the road much longer than that though.
From what I have seen on the net-the closer you are to IL the higher the cost of housing and taxes. I dont know much about Portage or Chesterton or Hobart. What can anyone tell me about these communitites?
Where should we be looking for our new home? We are looking to spend under 200,000 and need a 3 br/2ba. From looking on some of the realty sites--looks like you get more house for your money in Portage and Chesterton.
All your comments would be greatly apprecitated!

Hi, we were looking to do the same when we moved here about a year ago from a small town in MO. Well we had to settle for 1800/month rent and an hour and 10 min commute by train to live in northwest burbs. Commute is just a major way of life with chicago living if you want a 30 min commute you better plan on being able to pay around 500,000+ for a small house around willmette, (very nice town though) We couldnt so we went our further. Houses are still very high but we could barley afford the rent. This really great job we took was soposed to save us money and is costing us instead. We have recently looked into moving to IN because the taxes are much cheaper. I think we will pick Chesterton,but I still have a lot to learn about the area. I have not figured out where every one shops there it is like a country setting.
good luck post where you end up

[mom2johe]

We have always loved Munster - it is a truly wonderful town with the finest schools, park district activities, parks, neighbors etc. We just put our historic home on the market. If anyone is in the 400k range it is a tremendous home in a lovely neighborhood.

[richb]

I think you would be happy with many of the towns in NW Indiana that have been said already. You can buy a house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in all these communities for under 200k. You will not get a new house in any of them but in many of the places you can get a really nice older house. Buying in NW Indiana is a great value compared with the rest of the Chicago area.

[jabrown40]

One place that may be a little farther out, but in your price range is Lakes of the Four Seasons. Depending on which side of the lake you live on, your children either go to Crown Point or the Boone Grove Schools. This area is a gated community with a boating lake and a smaller pontoon lake, as well as a golf course, parks, beach, tennis, and pool. There are plenty of homes less than 200k. It just depends if your husband could drive about 40min.

[midwest1]

I recommend Beverly Shores. Route 12 is a more or less hassle free ride compared to the interstates and speeds are usually around 50. From Beverly Shores to Hammond is about 40 minutes. The first stretch is gorgeous (Indiana Dunes NP) and then there is the part through Gary, not so great.

Whereever you live, be sure to visit the Dunes often!