What is wrong with Terre Haute??? (Indianapolis, Bloomington: fit in, apartments, rental)

[Katlover888]

ISU is one of my possible choices for college. My parents & I are not familiar with Terre Haute or, for that matter, with Indiana. However, my parents have, for some reason I cannot fathom, put both a price limit & a SIZE limit on both the school & the town where the college is located. I cannot attend a college in a town with more than 75,000 population... & it must be in the MidWest.

I'm leaning towards ISU, because I'm a big basketball fan. However, my folks have been looking at Zillow & City-data. They tend to believe that the price of houses reveals a lot about a town.

They do not like the fact that so many houses within the city boundaries of Terre Haute are so cheap... a 2 storey house, divided into a duplex & therefore rental property for less than $40,000? An ordinary 2 bedroom house that looks OK for $13,000??? Comparible properties are nearly $100,000 & well above $60,000 in other Indiana towns of similar size.

In fact, the house that was $13,000 in Terre Haute had a twin in Columbus, IN for $68,000.

However, houses outside city limits have more normal prices... even a little town south of Terre Haute... Farmersburg... has similar houses in a more normal range of $50K+.

So, why are houses inside Terre Haute so cheap, while outside of Terre Haute they are within normal ranges? What is wrong inside the city????

[domergurl]

Why don't you go to IU or Purdue???

[Vision-Quest]

if your a big basketball fan go support the hoosiers at IU!! Bloomington has plenty of enough "expensive" houses or apartments you would like!! go check out IU and Bloomington!

City Population: (69,291) check

Average house cost: $150,600! (id rather have it the other way but that should suit you)

im sure your parents would love for you to go to IU in bloomington. great basketball team and town

[Katarina Witt]

Look at Valparaiso U. Although a private school, my daughter got a good scholarship which made it affordable. Valpo is a cute little town.

[Katlover888]

Hey Vision-Quest!

This is Katlover's mom.

There was no disrespect about Terre Haute intended by my daughter, Kathy (aka Katlover888). She really wants to attend ISU. We are not snobs, as you seem to imply <<< Bloomington has plenty of enough "expensive" houses or apartments you would like!!>>>

Her father & I do not want her in a big city or at a large campus. She will be living off-campus, wherever she goes.

However, we are concerned about the area. The low home prices & the disparity with areas only a few miles outside of town & with other similar structures in very similar towns is so unusual, that it sets off an alarm bell that there might be problems inside of town where she would be living.

Are there gangs? Is there a drug or other crime problem? Is there poor infrastructure? Is it bad government? Do people not keep up their property & let it fall apart? If it's a depressed job or income situation, then it's not widespread to affect nearby areas. So what's up? Why are prices inside Terre Haute's city limits so low?.. & Since it's so low, why are people not snapping it up?

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Katlover888

Hey Vision-Quest!

This is Katlover's mom.

There was no disrespect about Terre Haute intended by my daughter, Kathy (aka Katlover888). She really wants to attend ISU. We are not snobs, as you seem to imply <<< Bloomington has plenty of enough "expensive" houses or apartments you would like!!>>>

Her father & I do not want her in a big city or at a large campus. She will be living off-campus, wherever she goes.

However, we are concerned about the area. The low home prices & the disparity with areas only a few miles outside of town & with other similar structures in very similar towns is so unusual, that it sets off an alarm bell that there might be problems inside of town where she would be living.

Are there gangs? Is there a drug or other crime problem? Is there poor infrastructure? Is it bad government? Do people not keep up their property & let it fall apart? If it's a depressed job or income situation, then it's not widespread to affect nearby areas. So what's up? Why are prices inside Terre Haute's city limits so low?.. & Since it's so low, why are people not snapping it up?

Terre Haute is a blue collar town with a University in it. I don't know what else to say. Unlike Bloomington and West Lafayette, in which the Universities dominate the towns, Terre Haute is not the case. Although there are 2 universities in the vicinity,only 20% have bachelor's degrees, whereas in Bloomington, it's over half ... they come to school in TH and go away.

Have you visited the place yet? You may want to do that soon to investigate areas of interest. Talk to a realtor.

[beth1104]

I grew up in Terre Haute and went to ISU. I've been away for quite a while, but my parents still live there. I would not consider it dangerous at all! As for the price of homes, as in many 'cities', it's quite a bit less expensive to live in town unless it's a city with lots of culture, nightlife, sports teams etc... Terre Haute just doesn't have that, so there's not a demand to live there. (FYI - the Indianapolis Colts hold their training camp there, so it's a big deal for Hauteans to have them there in the summers) As for wanting a school with an exciting basketball team, I'm not sure it's a big deal there. (May have changed since I was there). I think the last time the students got into their teams was when Larry Bird was at ISU in the late 70's. As for Terre Haute, it doesn't offer a lot for most of the younger generation, so they're ready to move to 'bigger and better things' when they graduate. ISU is okay if you want a smaller school than something like IU or PURDUE. Personal preference of course, but I would find the others much more exciting, especially if you want the sports Hoopla! But again, don't worry about safety in T.H. !!! Good luck!

[ilflyya]

As a graduate/post grad of ISU, the university itself isn't bad at all. I recommend living on campus personally. The Residential Life dept. is great here.

I do wish I had gone to a larger big ten school. Housing is cheap because a majority of the homes here aren't anything to brag about, most are owned by slum lords, but there are very nice areas as well.

My brother's gf lived off campus on 6th street (south of campus) and was able to enjoy the view of a man getting stabbed! Not something you'd wanna see I bet. Meth and drugs are an issue. No, it won't be flaunted in your face, but I'd not go walking off the ISU campus in the evening.

An 18 yr old just made national news here for stealing money from some kid's lemonade stand!

Personally, I'd avoid any town where Target refuses to build. They won't build anywhere there's a low average income (TH is 28K/yr). Their policy is for good reason, they don't want to be like Walmart. (There are two walmarts here)

I came here because the aviation program looked better than Purdue's ( and I still feel that way), but if your degree isn't school specific, I'd look at some other schools. I'm jealous that my friends got to experience big ten schools.

This town acts like 4 universities/colleges don't even exist (ISU, RHIT, St. Mary's, and Ivy Tech).

ISU is a big "suit case" campus. Meaning that everyone goes home on the weekends. Also, be sure to understand that those from other countries will speak poor english, and their papers won't even be in APA format or cited correctly (even plagiarism) but they'll get an A, where you may not. Am I a xenophobe? Not at all, I've just witnessed it first hand. Big believer that if you come here, gotta play by the rules, no exceptions, why? Cuz I wouldn't get a break in their country... trust me! You will though, become very diversified in other cultures, as ISU has the most diverse campus in the state of Indiana. I've helped tutor Saudis, Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese among others in English, and helped to proof their research papers. They've all been very friendly, and even cook dinner for me in return for the help. I think ISU professors just don't want to cause an incident by holding foreign exchange students up to American standards. (not all of them are like that, there are many foreign exchange students that have taught me a lot!)

[Happy Cells]

---it's difficult to pronounce-----

[Shell71]

were talking college here right??I'm confused that means 18 or older usually so how does my mom or daddy not letting me fit in here ..You can do what you want right ?My kids are 15 and 18 and I don't think I'll be telling them where to go to school I might suggest and may not be happy but they work for it they pay for it and of legal age its their call..So this is a very weird forum to me