St John and NWI questions (Gary, Hammond: real estate, foreclosures, HOA fees)

[Saturnthree]

We are looking to move from DuPage County, IL. In a couple of years. It would be my wife and the two kids, both college aged. Looking at St John. What other areas are similar please?. In terms of low crime, (far away from gangs) good and safe home areas. 200k range, single family. Would love to get Lake Michigan water. (Is there a listing of NWI towns having Lake Michigan water?) Lastly, why are there so many foreclosures in Lakes of the Four Seasons, another area we were looking at? Appreciate any info.

[CGab]

St. John was just voted safest town in Indiana.


St. John ranks No. 1 in Indiana on safest cities report | Lake County News | nwitimes.com


https://www.stjohnin.com/


Only 38 miles from downtown Chicago and easy access to I394. However, St. John does not have Lake Michigan water, but with a water softener I don't see much of a difference. It is also very hard to get a single family home here for under $250k. Most are closer to $300k, but if you look and act quickly you may be able to find one, but it will probably be older and need work.


Another good option would be Dyer or Schererville. Both are adjoin St. John and some parts have Lake Michigan water. You would probably also have more option in the $200k range. However, this is based on prices now and home values have been increasing here so who knows what they'll be in 2 years!


I moved to St. John last year from the Plainfield, Il area and are very happy! Property takes are WAY lower than in Illinois! I'm not familiar with Lakes of the Four Seasons. I believe that is in Crown Point, but not sure. Maybe someone else will chime in. Crown Point is another good option, I'm not sure about the water there.

[flamadiddle]

I believe that Crown Point "proper" has Lake Michigan water. Here's an example, although above your price point.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...609_rect/9_zm/

[Northwest Indiana]

As far as St. John goes, while there are not a whole bunch of Single Family Homes available in the 200s range, there is a decent amount although the majority of offerings will be in the Hanover Township section (anywhere south of 101st Ave) and less offerings will be in the St. John Township section which is zoned to Lake Central Schools.. The section south of 101st is zoned to Hanover Central Schools which serves the Hanover Township sections of Dyer, St. John, and Cedar Lake with most students coming from Cedar Lake (note that Cedar Lake itself is split between Crown Point Schools on the east side, Hanover Schools on the west side, and then a small sliver on the far south end of town goes to Tri-Creek Schools all the way in Lowell). Hanover schools have gotten better but are still not as highly rated as Lake Central or Crown Point schools and is also a much smaller district.

As far as "far away from gangs" most organized gangs are concentrated in the East Chicago area. But to be very honest with you, gangs are the least concern of most NWI residents right now. Most violent crime in the region that affects the vast majority of residents are not gang related but rather drug related which is not always connected directly to gangs. Heroin has taken far more lives and would be a greater concern for your children. Also, the issue with "gang violence" today is primarily not with organized gangs, but with smaller "sets" that are unorganized and commit crimes just to do it. There is no leadership left in gangs as most top gang leaders are in jail or dead and with no direction, many members will only claim a gang (e.g. throw up signs when in a conflict) but otherwise have nothing else to do with a gang other than maybe having some family whom were once officially part of it.

I offer the above explanation only so you are also aware that many top gang leaders have led EC, Hammond, and Gary gangs from the comforts of places like Crown Point, St. John, Merrillville, Munster, Highland, and Schererville. There is no significant organized gangs or gang related crimes in those communities (Merrillville has more than the others). But as far as being "far" from gangs, most of the subruban areas would be fine.

As far as foreclosures in LOFS, that whole area along with Crown Point and Winfield had some of the highest foreclosure percentages and raw numbers during the real estate crash in 2008 and even 9 years later, there are many foreclosures (as a sidenote, Highland, IN had the lowest foreclosure percentage and Munster had a low amount as well). I would say a lot of the reason could be Crown Points relative affordability allowed many young families to be able to purchase homes; however, these young families were maybe also early on in their careers and may not have been able to maintain mortgages once they lost jobs. A lot of people in that area also work in the mills and with periods of layoffs and maybe only one spouse working, it has led to these issues. With LOFS specifically, home prices have dropped significantly as the surrounding Winfield area has grown with more upscale housing overall. While LOFS is a gated community, a lot of the properties appear to be unkempt. With low price of entry (even with the HOA fees), a lot of people have been able to purchase homes but not maintain them. The east side of LOFS is in Porter County which has lower taxes than Lake County. It is also in a different school district which is decent but not as good as CP schools. I actually know of a few families that moved out of LOFS for various reasons but the common theme was just feeling that the development was just not as upscale as they felt it should be and that it did not look like it would improve.

As far as your budget goes, there will be a lot more offerings of SFH in Crown Point than in St. John. Additionally, you would be able to get a newer home in that range, although maybe or maybe not brand new. If you do look in Crown Point, stick to either Center Township, Winfield Township, or St. John Township areas. You might see some nice homes for a low price in the Ross Township section (north Crown Point) but this area is zoned to Merrillville schools which are not nearly as good as CP or LC schools and definitely not getting better as the presence of social issues continues to increase.

The other areas similar to feel of St. John would include Crown Point, Valparaiso, and Chesterton (with those three also having more downtown areas--Crown Point and Valpo being the best by far as far as downtowns go). Chesterton would put you close to the Lake and to the South Shore train if easy commuting to Chicago is needed. Valpo and Chesterton also have highly rated schools. Dyer and Schererville would be great options as well. Schererville is entirely within the Lake Central Schools as well. The downtown areas of Dyer and Schererville are not really anything significant although Schererville is trying to improve in that regard. Dyer and Schererville overall are definitely more developed than St. John and Schererville is getting to the point of being landlocked. There really isn't any more room to annex and available land is either hard to develop due to cost with tree/forest removal or flood control. Some of the more upscale subdivisions will still have lots available but in about 10 years, I do think it will be much more filled.

Munster is not exactly similar to St. John as far as the availability of land (Munster is pretty much fully developed and landlocked--teardowns are becoming more frequent but not anything like Hinsdale for example) but it does have the best rated school district in the region even despite some of the financial issues which have improved over the past few years and should definitely be getting better. The other thing about Munster is that while it may be closer to some "not so nice" areas than St. John, the crime rate is still low overall and to be fair, the best parts of surrounding towns are what border Munster. It is also close to Chicago for commuting and there are active plans to extend the south shore rail through Munster to the Munster/Dyer border. Also while the median home price in St. John is higher than Munster, dollar-for-dollar, the same home in Munster will be more expensive than in St. John. So while you may find a home in the 200s in Munster, it would likely be very small and need tons of work and updates. A new home in Munster would be 100% out of the question.

Hopefully the above explanation helps!

[CGab]

As "Northwest Indiana" stated above, there is no gang activity threat in St. John or neighboring towns. As far as the heroin problem is concerned, I don't think it's any more prevalent in Lake County Indiana than in DuPage County Illinois, If anything they are about the same. DuPage County might have a slightly worse problem actually as Naperville is more affluent than any town in NW Indiana. Neuqua Valley H.S. is seeing an overwhelming problem with it that has been featured on the news numerous times.


I was not able to find the final actual death numbers for Lake County, Indiana for 2016, but here are two articles in regards to the fact also including DuPage .


DuPage Coroner Releases 2016 Heroin and Opiate Death Statistics - Naperville, IL Patch


Overdoses alarm Lake County coroner's office - Post-Tribune

[Northwest Indiana]

The NWI counties with the biggest drug problems right now seems to be Porter and LaPorte.

[Saturnthree]

Thanks CGab, Flamadiddle, and Northwest Indiana for the information. Very helpful.Some thinking and looking to do.