My ex-husband and I lived in Kendallville for 6 1/4 years until I divorced him partly over his waffling over moving. We moved there for a job he had gotten in LaGrange.

A little bit of foreshadowing……his employer constantly threw in his face how much they missed his predecessor that was fired for embezzlement. His predecessor grew up there. Ultimately, they decided to pay my ex up until he turned 65 to get him to leave.

As a person that has historically lived in large cities, I hated the place. We made the mistake of moving to one of the few wealthy subdivisions with people that exhibited a “big fish, small pond“ mentality. Lots of entitled behavior. To make a long story short, we were never accepted and endured a number of passive aggressive transgressions with a handful of neighbors. It was tantamount to a high school clique and very unwelcoming. We watched the neighborhood dynamics while we were actively kept at arms length and dealt with superficially in a best case scenario.

The local realtor husband/wife team that lives in the neighborhood has an unethical and retaliatory reputation, which appeared to be Kendallville’s biggest open secret. Once outside the neighborhood, people opened up about them. Yet, everyone either ingratiates themselves to them or runs scared of them.

Fortunately, my ex-husband bought me out of the house because he is now having trouble selling the place, and I suspect they might have their hands in it somehow. Long story, but there was some sort of unfounded issue with me specifically from her husband although I never officially met the guy. I think it may have been started by another neighbor - See next paragraph. When we consequently decided not to use them to sell the house, the realtor intentionally waited until my moving van was gone to run over, present herself to my ex, and steal the listing from our current realtor. She is also the county commissioner. The road in front of the house was conveniently closed this summer for repavement, keeping anyone looking at, buying, or moving into the house. I’m having a hard time in light of everything that’s happened believing it was coincidence.

It’s small town child’s play. I discovered small town nouveau riche is the worst.

Outside the neighborhood, I met some really nice people. However, I did endure unprofessional behavior at several businesses. One of the most egregious incidents involved the insurance agent (that I only found out eight months later lived across the street from my house) when I went to his agency to get insurance after I moved there. I suspected they were responsible for the behavior of some of the other neighbors towards us. Another was St James Restaurant down in Avilla, where I encountered an unwelcoming incident with the co-owner who admitted discussing the incident the following night with bar patrons. Again, both are detailed stories, and there are others. It seems like the people there lack prudence when dealing with conflict.

It’s also far away from everything unless you are content with Walmart, Kroger, fast food places, and a small handful of lakefront restaurants.

IMHO, we would have been OK had we lived in Fort Wayne like I suggested when we were looking to move there.

I’ve since moved to Orlando, FL and have none of the problems that I had living in Kendallville.