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Old 09-22-2016, 11:15 AM
 
1,347 posts, read 934,374 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dockfam View Post
Where we live now, Flower Mound TX - it has really grown and the population is booming. I guess now it is estimated to be around 86k but new housing developments, highways, stores, restaurants etc are going up everywhere. Homes are extremely expensive and property taxes insane. Traffic is horrendous in and out of the area any time of day. It's become an uber-suburban concrete wasteland.

So for us, we'd like something a little less suburban - with a charming downtown area, cultural things to do close by and a little more elbow room without sacrificing a good neighborhood and a good high school for our daughter.
I live in Fishers. With the exception of the sentence "Homes are extremely expensive and property taxes insane", everything in your first paragraph is true about Fishers as well.

I grew up in a small town (in another state) with a charming downtown. I would not call Fishers downtown "charming". There's a lot of development downtown right now but it doesn't feel (to me) like a relaxed place where you could hang out and take a stroll.
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Old 09-22-2016, 12:03 PM
 
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Are there any outlying more "rural" areas in Fishers?

They have a few areas like that in and around Flower Mound however you have to be a millionaire to afford to live in them.
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Old 09-22-2016, 12:31 PM
 
Location: TN/NC
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Fishers really doesn't have much left of whatever its downtown was years ago. There are a couple older buildings, like the Nickel Plate restaurant, but almost everything there is brand new. There are some mixed use buildings (stores and restaurants bottom level/high end apartments on the upper levels) with some sidewalks that connect to the government offices that are only several stories, but it's not a traditional downtown, nor is it really walkable.

IMO, Fishers fits the stereotype of suburbia perfectly. Everything is new, fresh, and safe, but there's no "there there." It's spread out, you really have to drive to do anything. Traffic is bad and likely to worsen, especially around 116th St. and on 69 with all the construction.

Carmel has a really nice downtown that saved some of the older historic stuff, but is tastefully modernized. Carmel is also more fully built out than Fishers, so you'll probably see less newer construction. What there is likely to be much more expensive.

Fishers sprawl now stretches into Noblesville, but it does lighten up a lot. North Noblesville is still far enough away from the metro to have a small town feeling and Noblesville has a good downtown, though not polished like Carmel's. For a true rural feeling, you'll have to go east into Hancock County out toward Fortville or north into Madison County toward Pendleton and Anderson.
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Old 09-22-2016, 12:42 PM
 
Location: Fishers, IN
4,965 posts, read 6,226,273 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dockfam View Post
Where we live now, Flower Mound TX - it has really grown and the population is booming. I guess now it is estimated to be around 86k but new housing developments, highways, stores, restaurants etc are going up everywhere. Homes are extremely expensive and property taxes insane. Traffic is horrendous in and out of the area any time of day. It's become an uber-suburban concrete wasteland.

So for us, we'd like something a little less suburban - with a charming downtown area, cultural things to do close by and a little more elbow room without sacrificing a good neighborhood and a good high school for our daughter.
Much of what you're wanting sounds more and more like Noblesville. It would be even farther away from downtown Indy and the airport due to it being north of Fishers. But it has been a more established city for longer than Fishers. It's has a very nice, old fashioned Midwestern downtown built around the town square filled with restaurants, antique stores, and other boutiques. It's is sprawling more and more, especially north toward Morse Reservoir and southeast toward I-69. Traffic right downtown can be a nightmare sometimes because of the narrow streets and lots of stoplights, but outside of downtown, traffic isn't much of an issue in Noblesville. Home prices tend to be slightly less than Fishers I think.

Honestly, I don't think you will get a true feel for anything unless you come check it out for yourself if you can.
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Old 09-22-2016, 01:23 PM
 
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Thank you so much. I can't wait to get up there to visit. My husband will be there towards the end of next month, I'm looking forward to his feedback and pictures. We might not get up there until December some time.

Again, thank you - this forum has been the most helpful group to ease my fears about relocating!
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Old 09-22-2016, 01:25 PM
 
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
135 posts, read 179,195 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ischyros View Post
Much of what you're wanting sounds more and more like Noblesville. It would be even farther away from downtown Indy and the airport due to it being north of Fishers. But it has been a more established city for longer than Fishers. It's has a very nice, old fashioned Midwestern downtown built around the town square filled with restaurants, antique stores, and other boutiques. It's is sprawling more and more, especially north toward Morse Reservoir and southeast toward I-69. Traffic right downtown can be a nightmare sometimes because of the narrow streets and lots of stoplights, but outside of downtown, traffic isn't much of an issue in Noblesville. Home prices tend to be slightly less than Fishers I think.

Honestly, I don't think you will get a true feel for anything unless you come check it out for yourself if you can.
Agreed. I would think Zionsville better fits the bill, as well.

I honestly think Fishers is starting to do a lot more things right as it matures (though that's certainly debatable). But, I don't know if they'll ever be able to leverage their growth into "charm" or walkability in their downtown (as Carmel has managed to do) given the infrastructure that exists around 116th and I-69. Both Noblesville and Zionsville have more of that traditional small town "charm", but with the good schools, the elbow room, and the neighborhoods, etc. Zionsville may also have slightly easier commutes, but I believe the real estate is a little more expensive, too.
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Old 09-22-2016, 02:14 PM
 
Location: Fishers, IN
4,965 posts, read 6,226,273 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jarcolem View Post
Agreed. I would think Zionsville better fits the bill, as well.

I honestly think Fishers is starting to do a lot more things right as it matures (though that's certainly debatable). But, I don't know if they'll ever be able to leverage their growth into "charm" or walkability in their downtown (as Carmel has managed to do) given the infrastructure that exists around 116th and I-69. Both Noblesville and Zionsville have more of that traditional small town "charm", but with the good schools, the elbow room, and the neighborhoods, etc. Zionsville may also have slightly easier commutes, but I believe the real estate is a little more expensive, too.
I agree Zionsville could be an option as well but could be too expensive for what she originally said. Most homes in Zionsville proper that I've seen are $400-500k or more. Unless you go all the way out to I-65 but then you get back into the vinyl village cheaper homes in the middle of cornfields and lose the charm that is Zionsville.

The biggest issue Fishers has is that it obviously never planned for the massive growth. As recently as 1990, the population was under 8,000 people. No need to have more than a handful of buildings in "downtown" to handle that. Put a few neighborhoods around it, like Sunblest, and that was good. Add a couple fast food joints and gas stations for the interchange at I-69 and 116th St and things were fine. Then the population exploded. The city of 80,000 with no real downtown had to try to make do with what it already had. There was no time for a real downtown like Noblesville and Zionsville have without tearing down a bunch of buildings. Neighborhoods went in between all the county roads and left no room to build a nice grid system of roads like most cities have. That's why traffic can be a nightmare sometimes. Through roads are a half mile or more apart. Not to mention 116th St is the last exit on I-69 for five miles so much of the population of Fishers has to exit the highway there and onto SR 37. An exit at 126th St would be perfect.

Incidentally, I remember when I moved to Fishers in the mid-2000s, there was a plan to tear down literally everything along 116th St out to I-69 and rebuild it as a true downtown, a la Carmel, but it would have been very expensive and there was quite an outcry as I recall from businesses and residents alike.

Last edited by ischyros; 09-22-2016 at 02:27 PM..
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Old 09-22-2016, 03:27 PM
 
Location: Central Indiana/Indy metro area
1,705 posts, read 3,050,671 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dockfam View Post
Are there any outlying more "rural" areas in Fishers?

They have a few areas like that in and around Flower Mound however you have to be a millionaire to afford to live in them.
There were some lots in the far SE corner of Hamilton County and some in the far SW corner of Madison County (Pendleton Schools) when we were looking for lots. An acre in Madison County, less than one mile from the Fishers city limits (eastern edge of Hamilton County) would likely run one about $25K-$35K depending on the type of lot (flat, wooded, walkout basement potential). The same sized lot in the Fishers just within a few miles will run at least twice that due to demand. I actually wouldn't be surprised if they were triple that. Our builder was getting around $65K-75K for some decent sized lots that were walk-out basement lots in Hancock County. There was a flat, odd shaped three acre lot just east of the Geist area and they were asking $100K or more for that. That right there was $33K/acre, but due to the size they likely were asking less than just for say one full acre. I bet they could sell one full acre of similar size and topography for just $50K, because a lot more people will have $50K to put down than $100K.. I wish I would have had that money. The home they built on that lot is really nice.

Last edited by indy_317; 09-22-2016 at 04:12 PM..
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Old 09-23-2016, 09:59 AM
 
70 posts, read 127,155 times
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From what I see there are a ton of new houses being built in the area. I wouldn't mind having a bit of an older home with a nice lot size - whereas my husband would jump at the chance of buying a brand new construction home for the low prices they are advertising in some of the neighborhoods. That would mean less work for him when he's at home not travelling.

I'm finding 4 bedroom 2000-2500sq ft homes for less than $250k in these planned communities with trails, pools, clubhouses etc. - that is absolutely unheard of where I live now. Are they just throwing these houses up or are they of decent quality? I'm not expecting to live there for the next 10+ years but we would want something to hold up pretty well for at least the next 4-5 years or so.

My husband and I like opposite ends of the spectrum so this should be interesting... I wouldn't mind one of the brand new houses, they are beautiful, it just sounds like I'll be living in another Flower Mound if we end up doing that - and I wanted to experience something a little different.
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Old 09-23-2016, 10:50 AM
 
70 posts, read 127,155 times
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Let me throw one more area out there for your opinion - McCordsville/Geist ?? There are some new housing developments there too with awesome pricing. What is the area like? High schools there - Hamilton County or no?
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