Ping: Indianapolis Folks

[sterlingice]

I'm trying to think if we actually have any people from Indy on the board here and I'm drawing a blank. But that's just probably my faulty memory more than anything. If there aren't, well, there's a lot of wasted words about housing later on down the line but oh well. It helped to organize my thoughts anyways.

Job Update

Anyways, for those who hazily remember, in early February, we found out I was probably losing my job in Richmond but we didn't really have details. I set about looking for a job and through some fits and starts, I ended up transferring into a really good job in Indianapolis. It's going to be one heck of a great learning experience with technical writing, training, and transition all happening in the first year or so but I also have good experiences in all of those categories to help make things go smoother. I'm going to be a team lead- so some sort of supervisory role for the first time in my career and it's a brand new contract so as long as we make good, it should be around for quite a while. In other words, it's going to be a lot of hard work but it's going to be a great experience career-wise and definite a good challenge.

There's a really long story about how I got it as I found the job less than a month after I made the previous post and had worked towards it and been courted for it for 3 months but it almost didn't happen due to internal finances ("yeah, we know you're the right person for the job, but we'd rather take the financial credit for your layoff than get the right person for the job"). Heck, I had already started going through the process to transfer to another job locally because I thought this was long dead when someone much higher up the ladder called me and said the transfer was approved after it has been denied twice.

Housing Intro

The important takeaway from all this, aside from the very stressful last month, is that I have less than a month to move to Indy and I'm looking for some help from anyone who is local to the area. We're flying out there this coming week to look for a place and, below is what I can gather by looking through a ton of house listings over the past week. I'd kindof like to know where I'm right, where I'm wrong, and what I'm missing- maybe there are options that I don't know about or aren't fully considering.

First, we have some criteria. We're looking at renting for a year and then deciding what to do from there as you just can't buy something in such a short timespan. We are looking at 3 and 4 bedroom places. There are only 2 of us but we might go the family route fairly soon. We also have a lot of crap and my wife works from home so she needs a home office. Those two things put together means we're looking at a minimum of 3 bedrooms or at the very least, 2 + finished basement. We barely fit in our 3 bedroom 1200 sqft apartment now- getting smaller really isn't an option. We're trying really hard to stay under $1200 per month and below $1000 would be great. We can afford more but we'd rather save the money so we could buy down the road.

Oh, and since I never listed this anywhere else that I can find- I'll be working smack dab downtown at the giant business that seemingly takes up the bottom half of downtown. If you're local, you probably know what I'm talking about, tho I try to not put searchable company names in threads I'm posting about.

Also, a lot of this info has come off of searchings and listings off of Craigslist and the Indy Star classifieds, which, yeah- not the best tool around. I have a few decent places (realtor.com for example) to grab more "legit" listings but if anyone has more places to look, I'd love to know them.

Indy Locations

So, when you jumble all that up, there are a few different categories of places.

Inner East
There are quaint (read: old) homes not that far away from downtown, particularly to the east. On Google maps, it looks like there's just this odd arrangement of really close together streets and houses that I imagine are small and practically on top of each other. These go anywhere from $700 to $1500. A garage seems like something that would really help us as we have a lot of stuff that could be stored out there and is instead inside our apartment- these don't have any at all. Not only that, but I will be cursing us moving back to the midwest (much as I wanted to), the first time I'm scraping ice off the car.
Pros: Fairly cheap; Very close!
Cons: Small 3 bedroom could be cramped; no garage (valuable storage space, icy winters, street parking); possibly sketchy neighborhoods

Inner North
Ok, so there's this part of town called Broad Ripple that I keep seeing in a lot of ads. It looks like a just-out-of-college area that specializes in, ahem, "quaint" housing. Yeah- I don't want charming, I want cavernous. So, it looks a lot like the the stuff off to the east of downtown except the neighborhoods range from college student to starving just out of college to young professional. It's still small, cramped, and lacking some suburban amenities. But you've traded the sketchy neighborhoods for a little higher cost and a longer commute, all along city streets because there are no highways that go through there.
Pros: Moderately priced; Kindof close; Decent neighborhood but might be loud
Cons: Small houses; no garage; costly for the size of house you get

Inner West
This is basically west of downtown and includes the areas by Speedway and outside of the loop towards the Airport. There's also a lot of railroads there. So, there's a lot of NIMBY. I mean a lot of NIMBY. Everyone I talk to about the area says you don't want to live near Speedway. Which is a real shame but probably also explains what I see as there are quite a few bargains to be had there. More suburban style homes with sqft around 2000 instead of 1500. There are appliances more readily furnished, neighborhoods that look ok in Google Street View, garages are likely, and even the possibility of other amenities like a basement, nice yard, patio, etc. It would actually feel like a home but how good is a home if a plane is going over your house or train rushing by every 5 minutes in the middle of the night
Pros: Moderately priced but big house for the cost; Kindof close; Additional home amenities; Decent neighborhoods?
Cons: NIMBY issues; Are they really decent neighborhoods?

Distant North
Indy's not a large city. The distance from one side of the loop to the other is about 15 miles, if you're being really generous, and a large portion of the city is contained within. However, there is some building outside of the city and, particularly to the north, Indy appears to have started gobbling up little towns around it. Or maybe those towns just existed as feeder communities to Indy and are gradually getting absorbed. I don't know the history. In these areas, you're looking at somewhere between a 30~45+ minute commute. The things that are more towards the 30 are more like what we were describing above- more "older city", smaller, etc. The further out ones are more what you think of modern suburbia. They're larger, more comfortable homes in the 2000-3000 sqft range. The prices are towards the higher end, anywhere from $1000 up to $5000 executive specials (really? If you're going to rent for a year and flush $60K down the drain, why not just buy a damn house?!?). These are going to be nice, suburban neighborhoods and newer houses with garages, yards, etc. The problem is that there's no direct highway from the north to downtown- you have to either go around to the far NW corner of the loop or go around all the way to the E side, thus adding much needless time onto the commute. Oh, and did I mention, the entire north side of the loop will be under construction for the next 2 years from what I've been told.
Pros: Great houses; Great neighborhoods
Cons: Expensive; Long commute with lots of traffic

Distant South
This is a lot like the areas to the north but substitute Carmel with Shelbyville and Fishers with Greenwood. The areas aren't quite as nice and trendy (fine by me) so you pay a little less, get a slightly smaller house, but don't have as much traffic to deal with. But you're still a decent haul away- we're talking 30~45 minute commute. Looking at Greenwood, there's a lot to like out that direction as it's right off of 65 and prices aren't too bad. We just can't find too many homes for rent out there. I get the impression no one really wants to move from there. Shelbyville is a little community that's about as far a drive from downtown as you can get (hence why I equate it with Carmel and not Fishers since at least Fishers has an interstate running through the middle). Again, nice homes, a little bit of a small town feel but kindof expensive, particularly for something with a 45 minute commute one way.
Pros: Good homes; Good neighborhoods
Cons: Expensive (less than N); Long commute (but less traffic than N)

Distant West
Avon and further out is kindof what you get when you mix the distant north and south. You have the less than optimal commute where you have to first take a US highway to get to the loop and then backtrack partially around the city to get towards the city core. However, the living accommodations are maybe a half step below the northern suburbs, which makes them more like the south. Considering we don't need anything that fancy, any of the suburban areas are more than enough house-wise.
Pros: Good homes; good neighborhoods
Cons: Expensive (less than N); Long and less than optimal commute

The Black Holes (Southwest and Northwest)
I just haven't seen much for rent out towards the SW along 70 or out 65 towards the NW. They look like they would be much better commutes then some of the other areas but just not developed very much. Frankly, I don't understand why the Avon area to the west with no highways and the 74 and 69 corridors that dead end into the loop got built up while the other two just languished. It seems like it should have been the opposite where you build along the major highways and then the lesser ones once those major lines are filled up. I just don't have any knowledge of either area. Looks like both would be good places to go but I just don't see much development, much less anything for rent, out those directions. What's the story here?

Conclusion
So, that's my outsider's view of Indy and housing. I'd love to be corrected where I'm wrong and better informed before we head out there this week as this is our only shot to find a place to live. I'll worry about food and sights at a later time once we've already moved. I hear they have some sort of large race there some holiday like Columbus Day or something which is vaguely famous.

Oh, and if anyone has a great house to rent with an FOFC discount... yeah, probably not that lucky

(note: one's posts might be too long if they need headings for sections)

SI

[spleen1015]

I have lived in Fishers (northeast suburb of Indy) since 1999 and it is awesome. If you're looking to start a family, the school system is top notch. Both high schools are rated within the top 1000 schools in the country year after year.

My house is about 13 years old. There have been a lot of new houses and neighborhoods going up ever since I've been here. To give you an idea, in 1990, there were 19K people living in Fishers. In 2008, there were just under 70k.

There are lots of good communities around the city. I am only familiar with the North side though. Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville and Zionsville are all good places to live, IMO. Brownsburg would be closer to downtown and I hear good things about it. Avon is just south of Brownsburg. It is decent, too.

Welcome to the Circle City, bro. Indy is a really great place to live. If you guys like to get out and do things, there are a ton of things going on all of the time.

[DaddyTorgo]

You have to deal with Payton Manning though, so that's a net-negative.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

You have to deal with Payton Manning though, so that's a net-negative.

But Peyton Manning is pretty awesome.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Distant North
Indy's not a large city. The distance from one side of the loop to the other is about 15 miles, if you're being really generous, and a large portion of the city is contained within. However, there is some building outside of the city and, particularly to the north, Indy appears to have started gobbling up little towns around it. Or maybe those towns just existed as feeder communities to Indy and are gradually getting absorbed. I don't know the history. In these areas, you're looking at somewhere between a 30~45+ minute commute. The things that are more towards the 30 are more like what we were describing above- more "older city", smaller, etc. The further out ones are more what you think of modern suburbia. They're larger, more comfortable homes in the 2000-3000 sqft range. The prices are towards the higher end, anywhere from $1000 up to $5000 executive specials (really? If you're going to rent for a year and flush $60K down the drain, why not just buy a damn house?!?). These are going to be nice, suburban neighborhoods and newer houses with garages, yards, etc. The problem is that there's no direct highway from the north to downtown- you have to either go around to the far NW corner of the loop or go around all the way to the E side, thus adding much needless time onto the commute. Oh, and did I mention, the entire north side of the loop will be under construction for the next 2 years from what I've been told.
Pros: Great houses; Great neighborhoods
Cons: Expensive; Long commute with lots of traffic

It seems like Indy has always been about 5 years behind as far a infrastructure. One portion of 465 is always under construction for expansion and the cycle just keep starting all over again. You are right that the Northeast portion of 465 is currently under construction.

If you're traveling DT from where I live, there is Fall Creek Parkway that gets you downtown. The commute is about the same as the interstate, but it is an easier drive than the interstate, IMO.

I work on the NW side. I have a 20 mile one way trip to work and I don't use the interstate because it sucks at my commute times. It takes me about 40 minutes.

If you're working where I think you're working, you're on the south side of downtown. Living north side, that could add 20 minutes to your commute. But to my knowledge, the best places to live are north side.

[ColtCrazy]

I'll echo what spleen said about the Fishers area and NE indy in general. Tons of stuff to do up there without having to travel into downtown, but Indy's highways make getting to any part of the city fairly easy.

I also put my 2 cents in for south of Indy (Greenwood area). Again, lots of things to do, very good neighborhoods, and solid school systems. 65 gives you a straight shot into downtown. I can get from Greenwood to downtown in about 15-20 minutes. Housing on the south side would be cheaper than the north.

Indy's a funny town in that downtown is nice, and then there's a ring around downtown that's either run down (near south), sketchy (near west), and downright scary (near east). But as far as cities go I'll take it by far over the other 2 cities that form a triangle around where I live (Louisville & Cincinnati). Pro sports, good shopping, good schools. Downtown indy even has a surprisingly good night life.

[sterlingice]

So we've had an "exciting" turn for the worse.

We went out to Indy last week and, with the help of a helpful Century 21 agent, found a house we loved. Rent was $950, it was just about the right size for our needs if not a little big, it was not a bad commute (Camby, for the locals) of maybe 25 minutes, and we went to the property rental office to go through all the paperwork.

Well, we spent 2 hours there doing their application and tracking down info for our credit check because we wanted all of our i's dotted and t's crossed before we left town. My wife and I won't fail a credit check- we have no debt and both have credit scores- well, they're good- and with a flawless rental history.

They said the ap takes 3~5 days to complete. Well, so we think we have our house in the bag. So we go to an Indianapolis Indians game that night, spend Friday doing the grounds tour at the Indy Speedway (well worth it, I might add- if you take a trip out there, make sure it's a day when you can do the entire tour and not just the museum), and Saturday visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We try to leave Saturday evening but get held up- tornado warning at the airport, had to head into the shelter, had to be rebooked for Sunday. Then again, my wife and I were the ones up against the glass wall on the terminal watching it come in with the weather radar on my laptop so fun times.

Well, today, we get a call that they found out the owner had already rented the place and they didn't know. How are you the property manager and don't even know how it's rented. Oh, and how did you wait until now to tell us when we were there in your office and could have been looking for another couple of days?

So, now we get to rent someplace sight unseen because the other couple of places we looked at, we weren't really keen on and I guess "What's in the box" is better than a known substandard place. Hooray. The good news is that at least we're only doing a rental, probably for a year, before deciding whether to buy or not. And we do have a C21 agent who has been helping us a lot and has offered to continue helping be our eyes and ears on the ground even when we're not there.

Also, after visiting, we like Indy quite a bit and think we'll really like living there, all this grief aside. This move has been fraught with difficulties from the start but ultimately, it should still be worth it.

SI