It’s sunny and clear in South Bend today, beautiful really. I went for a run for the first time in ages.
At Realst8.com we often work with people moving to the area who want to be near Notre Dame. That is on the north side of the city, so they select homes there, or in nearby Granger.
But, looking around as I gasped for breath, I was reminded why I’m partial to the south side of South Bend. I brought a camera and snapped its shutter a few times. These images are from Ridgedale, a neighborhood of older homes with one or two new ones and Erskine Manor, a neighborhood of newer homes with one or two older ones.
If I were in better shape, I’d have continued to Topsfield and Deer Run, or even Stonehedge and New Road.
If you are considering a move to the South Bend area, I’d encourage you to keep an open mind and look at all your options. Unless you want to be walking distance to a specific spot, the difference between getting in a car and driving one mile or driving five miles is trivial. South Bend traffic isn’t bad.
If you look a bit off the “beaten path,” you might find options that surprise you.
The last house shown is one of my favorites. I just love the tile roof and the brickwork around the house. My wife always says that she would love to see the inside everytime we drive by that house.
Just noticed Keenan Court has reduced their prices to $149,900 on four listed units. Has the bank taken this project over? What has actually sold?
I TOTALLY have to agree with you. When we moved to South Bend, our realtor kept showing us homes in Granger. They all had the same cookie-cutter feel. Then, she showed us a house on the southside. While it was DEFINITELY NOT for us, we took a drive around the area and fell in love with it. After doing some research, we decided to look EXCLUSIVELY at the south side. The crime rate is not even close to other parts of town, the convenience is incredible (with Erskine Village, Wal-Mart. Meijer, etc.) and the people are second to none. This is a very stable area. Don’t let the test scores of the schools fool you either. I have to admit, I was EXTREMELY apprehensive of enrolling my kids in South Bend schools. (even though we don’t have any school aged children yet.) However, if you have a child who is a good student (I don’t mean genius: I mean a good kid with the ability to become the best they can be, whatever “level” that may be), you don’t need to worry. You can also apply to the magnet schools if you feel the need for “extra security.” I have spoken with my neighbors (at length) about the schools around this end of town, and not one of them is unhappy. One of our neighbors has two kids at Riley. Through them, I found that the South Bend schools also have students who are accepted to Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc.
This end of town also offers a wide variety of housing options. If you are looking in the 80-100 range, I would suggest Twyckenham Hills, Broadmoor, Miami Heights (where we live: we found the exact era and type of home we lived in in DC for $90,000. 1920’s four-square with 3 beds, 1.5 baths and a garage, plus more yard than we could have EVER hoped for in DC. The equity from our home in DC PAID for the house here. This is the area bounded by Ewing on the north, Irvington on the south, Miami on the west and Twyckenham on the east. To the south of us is Ridgedale, $200,000 + homes.) or Scottsdale. If you can spend more than that, your options really open up. This area of South Bend is an undiscovered, unexplored GEM that is only 10-15 minutes to ANYWHERE in the metro area. Please consider making it your home.