Relocation from Floirda, help us decide Fishers or Carmel (Greenfield: days on market, apartments)

[klaudiuz]

Greetings all,

I know this has been asked several times here on the forum already, but Id like to see if things may have changed since it was last discussed. So our family is being relocated to Indiana from south florida, my wife is going to downtown and ill be heading to greenfield. We have narrowed our search to Carmel or Fishers, we have two kids a 2 and 13 year old. Price range ~$325. The concerns we have from reading the comparisons here and from other discussions are:

- Carmel is the "goto place", everyone we spoke to suggested Carmel.
- Fishers is a newer city, without a real downtown
- Carmel has an overloaded highschool (my son will be starting high school this coming year)
- Carmel is better for older families (we are 30)
- Traffic from Fishers to downtown (Lilly) can be difficult
- I keep seeing houses in Carmel disappear (<30 days on market) as im researching them, while houses in fishers are on the market 30+ days

We are coming to hunt tomorrow, so any advice is much appreciated. Anyone know how the commute to greenfield is from either of those subs?

Thanks

[ischyros]

I live in Fishers and work in Carmel so I'll try to help you out the best I can.

Both Carmel and Fishers were incorporated about the same time, late 1800s so I don't know that one is older than the other. What did happen was Carmel's population grew much earlier than Fishers. For example, in 1970, Fishers only had 600 residents while Carmel had 6600. Even as recently as 1990, Fishers only had about 7,500 residents while Carmel had 25,000. Both now have close to or just over 80,000 residents. So Fishers has been playing catchup with its infrastructure for such sudden growth. It is true that Fishers doesn't have much of a downtown though there are details in the works to change that, starting with the current construction project in front of city hall called The Depot that will be ground level retail and restaurants with luxury apartments on the upper levels and a parking garage hidden in the middle.

Carmel does have, in terms of student population, the biggest high school in the state. But it's still ranked as one of the best academically. If your kids want to play sports, they may have a harder time making the varsity team but other than that, as far as education they should be fine. Fishers has two high schools, Fishers High School and Hamilton Southeastern High School. Both are also ranked at the top of the list of best schools in the state.

I don't know about Fishers or Carmel being better for old families. I don't consider 30 an old family. My wife and I are mid-30s and have a 2-year-old daughter and a son on the way. Median age in Fishers is 33 and median age in Carmel is 39 but it isn't something I've ever really noticed.

The problem getting downtown from Fishers is there is no direct route. You can take I-69 to I-465 to I-70 and this is probably the best route to get to Lily. I-69 is the only bad part of that drive but it was just recently widened to 4 lanes in each direction and the interchange with SR 37, the biggest bottleneck, has been reconfigured and is much better. Fishers would be closer to Greenfield. Carmel could be quite a haul to Greenfield depending where in Carmel you live (ie, how close to 465 you are). Carmel has Meridian with a direct route to downtown but Lily is on the very south edge of downtown.

I can't answer why more homes disappear faster in Carmel than Fishers other than, like I said, Carmel is a more desirable address. I've lived in Fishers for going on 7 years and love it!

Hope this helps you out a bit! And if you're coming tomorrow from south Florida, be prepared. I don't know if you're originally from south Florida but it is cold, cold, cold here! -6 is the low tonight but I think it's supposed to be up near 18 for a high tomorrow. Good luck with that!

[klaudiuz]

Thanks for the the valuable input. I am from south florida so this cold is going to take getting used to. I am leaning towards Fishers, I am glad to hear the majority of the people on here that live they or have lived there love it. Cheers

[grmasterb]

30 is an old family? Geesh, what does that make mine? Geriatric?

It would be easier to commute to Greenfield from Fishers. The high schools are comparable but smaller. As for the downtown commute, Indy Express Bus offers a Fishers-downtown route that includes a Lilly stop.

[klaudiuz]

I think the way I wrote it is confusing. I meant that I saw somewhere here that Carmel was better for older folks where fishers is better for younger. My Family is young, we are 30.

Any experience with the express bus? Is it a viable option with a toddler?

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by klaudiuz

I think the way I wrote it is confusing. I meant that I saw somewhere here that Carmel was better for older folks where fishers is better for younger. My Family is young, we are 30.

Any experience with the express bus? Is it a viable option with a toddler?

I have no experience with the express bus but it only runs during rush hour. I know it does 3 trips during the morning rush (between 6:30 and 8 am) and 3 in the afternoon between 3:30 and 5:30 pm). You would likely be the only person with a toddler on the bus. And at $150 for each monthly pass, it would be expensive. It is a charter type bus (think Greyhound) with free wi-fi, not a typical city bus. If you work outside these times, the express bus won't work for you. Carmel has the same express bus that also stops at Lily. Here is a link with all the details for both routes.

Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority | Express Bus

[wh15395]

I would suggest Fishers just because of the commute to Greenfield. They both have great schools (Carmel's are slightly better) and are considered desirable areas. With a budget of 325K, Fishers is also going to get you a larger or nicer home than what you would get in Carmel.

[mike0618]

Rent for 6 months to a yr. i would look in greenfield or fishers based on a comute to greenfield. That drive during rush hr sucks. From carmel would really suck. Bad traffic near 70, 69 and keystone or meridian north off 465. Look near 70. You can take it out to greenfield or in to downtown. Greenfield is nice to live in and only one of you would have a drive vs both driving.

More house for your $ out by greenfield and the drive into city is a streight shot and you avoid 465.

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by mike0618

Rent for 6 months to a yr. i would look in greenfield or fishers based on a comute to greenfield. That drive during rush hr sucks. From carmel would really suck. Bad traffic near 70, 69 and keystone or meridian north off 465. Look near 70. You can take it out to greenfield or in to downtown. Greenfield is nice to live in and only one of you would have a drive vs both driving.

More house for your $ out by greenfield and the drive into city is a streight shot and you avoid 465.

From Fishers it may make more sense to take Olio Road south (which turns into Mount Comfort Road) to I-70.

[mike0618]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

From Fishers it may make more sense to take Olio Road south (which turns into Mount Comfort Road) to I-70.

They will work greenfield and downtown. Fishers and carmel dont fit. Greenfield near 70 does better. Why should both of them drive. Greenfield has nice schools and nice homes and they can get ton of house for thier value.

Fyi i am a carmel person and am saying this.