Looking for safe place to purchase a home in NWI (Gary: lofts, to buy)

[domergurl]

I think that you'll find what you are looking for in Crown Point or Valpo. But I'll throw this one out to you since you stated that your family is accustomed to private schools .. this one is suppposed to be one of the best around:

Forest Ridge Academy

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by Arene

Thank you, Svillechris, Chuckity, and Northwest Indiana. I appreciate everything. I have viewed homes in Munster but could not locate any that fit my price range and accomodate my wife's desires. An hour travel time to DT Chicago, IL does not bother me. I currently drive an hour to work now. Im truly impressed with Valparaiso's and Crown Point's school corporation. We perfer private schools but it appears that most include religious teachings and we feel its our job to supply religious teachings to our daughters.

One thing that does frighten me is the closeness of Gary to Merrillville, Highland, or Schererville. I honestly do not want my family shopping and or living near Gary. I apologize for my feelings to the citizens of Gary, IN, but from personal experience I desire to keep my children and wife away from there. That being said this is an excellent career opportunity for me and Valparaiso and Crown Point schools are excellent within the state of Indiana. [/SIZE][/font]

My husband commutes from Valpo to East Chicago - and that's 45 min. on a good day. Your travel time to Chicago from Crown Point or Valpo is going to be far closer and most likely over and hour and a half most days, and during winter, all bets are off. A two hour commute can be likely.

Svillechris brought up Dyer - great choice, homes within your price range and once voted one of the best communities to live ... and the commute won't kill you.

I drive thru Gary frequently ... and horrors, I sometimes stop. And I'm a white female and haven't been beaten & robbed yet. I understand your concerns as Gary, Indiana conjurs up some visions of crime & urban decay, but the bleed over is a non-issue. Gary residents typically kill and rob Gary residents.

[svillechris]

Chuckity is absolutely right, and this topic has been addressed before on this thread about Valpo commute times to Chicago. Depending on where you live in Valpo, you can expect a 20-25 minute drive to the Dune Park South Shore station, about an hour and 20 minutes on the train, then walking to your work from the station probably puts you around 2 hours one way. The Chicago Dash can take up to 1 hour and 40 mins (depending where dropped off in Chicago), but when you factor in driving to the pick-up spot in Valpo and then walking to your office in Chicago, that too ends up being around 2 hours. Plus, it's $7.50 each way. Believe me, I'm a big fan of Valpo growing up there, but the commute to Chicago from there on a daily basis is just unbearable, I know from experience. The only way I'd consider living there and working in Chicago is if your employer offers free parking in Chicago. Then I'd take the toll road straight up, which would be about an hour and 15 mins and costs would be roughly $10/day in tolls plus gas. Again though, in the winter on heavy snow days, you might double that commute time. Overall, I'd stick with Lake County in the towns I mentioned previously.

[Mustang219]

Although I don't see any issues from living in the communities close to Gary that are recommended in this forum, if you truly want to avoid Gary and any bleed over of crime I would recommend Valpo and Chesterton. In addition, your housing price point should get you more house for your money in these communities. If the commute doesn't bother you, both towns have excellent school systems, quality of life and an abundance of amenities for residents. I know many young families who have moved to these towns (and commute to Chicago) and have never looked back.

Best of luck and keep the questions coming to the board as you have them!

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by Arene

Thank you, Svillechris, Chuckity, and Northwest Indiana. I appreciate everything. I have viewed homes in Munster but could not locate any that fit my price range and accomodate my wife's desires. An hour travel time to DT Chicago, IL does not bother me. I currently drive an hour to work now. Im truly impressed with Valparaiso's and Crown Point's school corporation. We perfer private schools but it appears that most include religious teachings and we feel its our job to supply religious teachings to our daughters.

One thing that does frighten me is the closeness of Gary to Merrillville, Highland, or Schererville. I honestly do not want my family shopping and or living near Gary. I apologize for my feelings to the citizens of Gary, IN, but from personal experience I desire to keep my children and wife away from there. That being said this is an excellent career opportunity for me and Valparaiso and Crown Point schools are excellent within the state of Indiana. [/SIZE][/font]

I completely understand your hesitancy to live or shop near Gary. It's quite an interesting situation, but most of the towns relatively close to Gary don't see any affects of the spillover from Gary. I would argue that only Griffith, Merrillville, and Portage have shown signs of "Gary spillover" regarding the residents that live there. As you can see though, none of these towns were recommended to you. Therefore, any of the other recommended towns honestly do not show any signs of Gary or feel any affects from being relatively close to Gary. So it sounds like you're comfortable with and want roughly an hour commute to work in downtown Chicago and a half hour commute to Gary. With Munster (highly desirable town, but yes it is therefore much more expensive) essentially crossed off your list, my recommendations would be Dyer, Schererville, Highland, or Chesterton. All are safe, have no Gary spillover, have good schools, and appear to fit your desired commute times to both Gary and Chicago.

[Northwest Indiana]

What type of home do you and your wife want to get within your price range? Newer or older? Number of bedrooms, etc? This information can help us help you. Thanks!

[PJSaturn]

Originally Posted by Arene

Thank you, Svillechris, Chuckity, and Northwest Indiana. I appreciate everything. I have viewed homes in Munster but could not locate any that fit my price range and accomodate my wife's desires. An hour travel time to DT Chicago, IL does not bother me. I currently drive an hour to work now. Im truly impressed with Valparaiso's and Crown Point's school corporation. We perfer private schools but it appears that most include religious teachings and we feel its our job to supply religious teachings to our daughters.

One thing that does frighten me is the closeness of Gary to Merrillville, Highland, or Schererville. I honestly do not want my family shopping and or living near Gary. I apologize for my feelings to the citizens of Gary, IN, but from personal experience I desire to keep my children and wife away from there. That being said this is an excellent career opportunity for me and Valparaiso and Crown Point schools are excellent within the state of Indiana. [/SIZE][/font]

I still recommend Valpo, since you don't mind commuting. All of the communities which you mentioned are not really affected by Gary. Much of Gary is pretty awful, but life in the nearby cities is unaffected by it. The communities which you are considering are all safe and good places to raise a family.

[simplesouthernman]

Originally Posted by PJ8

I still recommend Valpo, since you don't mind commuting. All of the communities which you mentioned are not really affected by Gary. Much of Gary is pretty awful, but life in the nearby cities is unaffected by it. The communities which you are considering are all safe and good places to raise a family.

I thought you said you were at WORK?

[Chuckity]

I know people keep saying Valpo - and believe you me, I'm a fan - but you really need to speak with someone who does the commute to get a fair answer. Saying that long of a commute would be okay and actually doing it, are two very different things.

I've been in Valpo a decade and I only know one person who lives in Valpo who commutes to Chgo. I know they exist - but the fact that I only know one soul (and, um, I'm like pretty popular ) who commutes should give you pause.

(And that person only took the job because they had been out of work for almost a year ... pickens were pretty slim.)

IF you do decide to go for Valpo, you'll need to be looking as far north as possible to get you closer to the expressways and train in Chesterton. But go too far north & you'll be in Chesterton's schools - which, are pretty good as well. I live south of 30 in Valpo and it would take me 30-40 minutes to get to the train in Chesterton.

[Bluefox]

Yeah, I again agree with Chuckity. Commuting to Chicago from Valpo is DO-able, but there is just no fast way there. It's a commute to get to the freeway, and another commute once you're on the freeway. And it gets expensive as heck when you factor in gas, tolls, wear and tear, weather, or bus/train fares. Then again, commuting to Chicago only 30% of the time is definitely less burdensome and the commute from Valpo to Gary is not nearly as taxing. Definitely stick to the north side though.

Even so, I'd still say Chesterton is a better option if you want to live in Porter County but are commuting to Lake Co. or Chicago. Easy access both the 90 and 80-94 fwys makes for a faster overall commute to both Gary and Chicago. And the train station is there too. Not as many amenities as Valpo b/c it is smaller (but growing), but it has similar housing stock and school quality. It's so well-connected to the entire region that most things Chesterton doesn't have (movie theatres, malls, big box stores, etc) is a 20 minute drive or less whether its to Valpo, Portage, Michigan City, etc. The access to 90 and 94 really does make a huge difference and should be a factor in deciding where to live, especially if you are commuting.

As far as Crown Point goes, I actually have no idea how long it takes to get to Gary or Chicago. I'd imagine it's better than Valpo because you can hop on I-65, but it's pretty far south in Lake County.