Compare Indianapolis to St. Louis / possible move to Indy (Bloomington: low income, fit in)

[tdagarim]

Okay, so I’m currently in a pickle. I’m 99.9% sure I’m getting a divorce very soon. I currently own a home in St. Louis but will have to sell. I am originally from Effingham, IL where most of my family resides. Currently I run my own brand/business with most of my business being online so as long as I sustain it I can move anywhere with a similar cost of living as STL. I don’t know if I want to stay in STL because of the divorce and that I haven’t been able to get a really solid support group that I can rely on and have burned some bridges. The wife will be staying in STL. I will likely be 32 years young and single if and when I move. If I move it probably won’t be until early next year? But who knows, if I put the house up sooner I may need to make a decision. Since I’m sort of in a crisis I don’t know if I want to move further than close to a 2 hour drive from family. I would say I’m an artistic person who likes the quirky and funky neighborhoods. I don’t know much about Indianapolis to be honest, haven’t spent a lot of time there outside of the airport. I know housing and renting seems affordable. If I move I’d be looking at renting a home at first. I hate apartments and also run my business from my home. I would be looking at $700 or less hopefully. I’ve also heard good things about KC but it may be too far from family. What other cities could be options within a 2ish hour drive? I like the architecture and neighborhoods in STL like Dogtown, Cherokee Street, The Grove, South City, etc but again I’m unsure if I should stay here. Sell me on Indy or any other city nearby.

[Toxic Toast]

I won't sell you on my city. Come check it out sometime and decide for yourself. Fountain Square, downtown, parts of the near eastside, Irvington, and Broad Ripple would perhaps be of interest to you. Other areas nearby, Bloomington and Louisville.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by tdagarim

Okay, so I’m currently in a pickle. I’m 99.9% sure I’m getting a divorce very soon. I currently own a home in St. Louis but will have to sell. I am originally from Effingham, IL where most of my family resides. Currently I run my own brand/business with most of my business being online so as long as I sustain it I can move anywhere with a similar cost of living as STL. I don’t know if I want to stay in STL because of the divorce and that I haven’t been able to get a really solid support group that I can rely on and have burned some bridges. The wife will be staying in STL. I will likely be 32 years young and single if and when I move. If I move it probably won’t be until early next year? But who knows, if I put the house up sooner I may need to make a decision. Since I’m sort of in a crisis I don’t know if I want to move further than close to a 2 hour drive from family. I would say I’m an artistic person who likes the quirky and funky neighborhoods. I don’t know much about Indianapolis to be honest, haven’t spent a lot of time there outside of the airport. I know housing and renting seems affordable. If I move I’d be looking at renting a home at first. I hate apartments and also run my business from my home. I would be looking at $700 or less hopefully. I’ve also heard good things about KC but it may be too far from family. What other cities could be options within a 2ish hour drive? I like the architecture and neighborhoods in STL like Dogtown, Cherokee Street, The Grove, South City, etc but again I’m unsure if I should stay here. Sell me on Indy or any other city nearby.

Indy would be a nice choice. Good mid sized city. Also within 2 hours are Cincinnati and Louisville. The latter two cities will have better neighborhoods like you are used to in STL. However, I believe Indy has a bit more vibrant downtown than the others at this point.

KC is too isolated. I like how you are thinking. Plus, Indy is only 3 hours from Chicago!

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Cincinatti, Louisville, St Louis and Memphis are all river towns and they have similar old style river city archetecture, and are among the oldest big cities west of the Appalachian Mountains in the inland United States. Their hey-day was from the 1800's and peaked at around the 1960's when their city populations began to decline, as anybody who could afford to, left the cities for the suburbs, leaving the city with a low income population, and low tax base and crime infested every census since. But not Indianapolis. Indianapolis has prospered and grown into one of the fastest growing big cities in the Midwest. Indy looks decades younger and more polished than any of those river towns. Louisville got their act together and now that town is growing, whereas Cincy, and St Louis continue to shrink or stagnate. The way things are going, Indianapolis seems like it has the brightest future. Indianapolis now has a larger population than Cincinatti or St Louis ever had and it's only a matter of time until Indy Metro passes Cincy and St. Louis metro.

[Serious Conversation]

Your biggest problem is going to be finding a house at $700 or less. It might be possible in parts of Louisville. It probably isn't in a safe neighborhood in Indy. You would need to go farther out to a smaller town to find rents that cheap.

[W & C]

Louisville may be a little better fit in this case if quirkiness/artistry is of value - especially if you don't care if a city has major league sports.

[Sundown0934]

Recently retired and considering a move from the Chicago area to the Indianapolis area. Would like to buy a reasonably priced smaller home (just my dog & myself), 2 bedrooms, 1.5 - 2 baths, ranch, with a yard suitable to be fenced for my dog in a safer area. Want to keep the mortgage payments reasonable, with a sizeable down payment and only a 10 -15 year mortgage. Proximity to a college/university, coffee shops, and walking areas would be preferable. Any suggestions where I should focus my search?

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by Sundown0934

Recently retired and considering a move from the Chicago area to the Indianapolis area. Would like to buy a reasonably priced smaller home (just my dog & myself), 2 bedrooms, 1.5 - 2 baths, ranch, with a yard suitable to be fenced for my dog in a safer area. Want to keep the mortgage payments reasonable, with a sizeable down payment and only a 10 -15 year mortgage. Proximity to a college/university, coffee shops, and walking areas would be preferable. Any suggestions where I should focus my search?

I say go to Muncie. In the zip code 47304 can find a nice house on a nicely lansdcaped property in a safe neighborhood near Ball State for less than a $150,000. Ball State has about 20,000 students and it's own little downtown with coffee shops and bookstores and restaraunts and bars. 47304 is about 45 minutes to the Northern suburbs of Indianapolis and close to an hour to Monunent Circle and about 70 minutes to the Indianapolis airport. Muncie has most of the same amenities as Indianapolis without the higher cost of living and hustle and bustle and traffic jams and long lines to wait in everywhere you go. If you like to walk or ride your bicycle for recreation or exercise, the Cardinal Greenway runs thru Muncie and all of Delaware County from Marion to Richmond, about 70 miles.

Most of the town is run down but Muncie is making a come back and the area around Ball State and the 47304 zip code is like a completely different city. The Northwest and West sides of Muncie are not dumps by a long shot and, actually are not all that much different from the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers. Many folks in that area of Muncie seldom venture into other areas of Muncie, unless they just absolutely have to. No need to. Just about everything in the world they need is found right there in 47304.

[Pundcakesss]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

I say go to Muncie. In the zip code 47304 can find a nice house on a nicely lansdcaped property in a safe neighborhood near Ball State for less than a $150,000. Ball State has about 20,000 students and it's own little downtown with coffee shops and bookstores and restaraunts and bars. 47304 is about 45 minutes to the Northern suburbs of Indianapolis and close to an hour to Monunent Circle and about 70 minutes to the Indianapolis airport. Muncie has most of the same amenities as Indianapolis without the higher cost of living and hustle and bustle and traffic jams and long lines to wait in everywhere you go. If you like to walk or ride your bicycle for recreation or exercise, the Cardinal Greenway runs thru Muncie and all of Delaware County from Marion to Richmond, about 70 miles.

Most of the town is run down but Muncie is making a come back and the area around Ball State and the 47304 zip code is like a completely different city. The Northwest and West sides of Muncie are not dumps by a long shot and, actually are not all that much different from the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers. Many folks in that area of Muncie seldom venture into other areas of Muncie, unless they just absolutely have to. No need to. Just about everything in the world they need is found right there in 47304.

You don't even have to go that far out to get that kind of pricing.
Look at Franklin, Danville, Lebanon, Sheridan, Cicero (not on the lake), Anderson, Greenfield, and Mooresville.

[indy_317]

Originally Posted by Pundcakesss

You don't even have to go that far out to get that kind of pricing.
Look at Franklin, Danville, Lebanon, Sheridan, Cicero (not on the lake), Anderson, Greenfield, and Mooresville.

Well the second poster requested a college nearby. I'm not sure how important that is to them, or how big the school needs to be. Anderson and Franklin both have smaller, private universities. However, I'd caution that the enrollment cliff is real, so unless universities and colleges start taking in numerous international students, these smaller, private universities might close up (which has happened recently) which could seriously change the surrounding areas.

Muncie isn't doing well at all outside of Ball State. I'd choose Anderson before Muncie because at least there is likely going to be some spillover growth in the W/SW part of Madison County. Anderson's downtown has opened two restaurants and has two bakeries/eateries as well as some other stores. It still has a long way to go, but I believe that the growth in Hamilton County and that along I-69 (expansion of NTN) will help stabilize Anderson more so than Muncie.