Just perusing the MSN site and ran across this article: 2008 MSN Real Estate best bargain markets

Witchita comes in first. But Indy also makes it into the top spots at No. 6, sandwiched between San Antonio and Pittsburg.

Indianapolis

Indianapolis, once a poster child for Midwest blight, has now become a model for urban renewal. It has a diverse economic base ranging from agriculture to financial services to industrial automation and technology. It also serves as headquarters to pharmaceutical and research giant Eli Lilly.

Its downtown has undergone substantial renovation and now boasts attractive new buildings, pedestrian zones and a state-of-the-art sports arena.

Spectator sports, including the NBA Pacers, NFL Colts and a few minor-league franchises, are a huge draw. The venerable Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and other events.

"There's a ton of stuff to do here," says Brad Slack, a 35-year-old surgical supplies salesman who moved here from Walnut Creek, Calif., nine years ago. But, he says, it's also a city from which you can escape. "You can be out in the wilderness within a 20-minute car ride of the city."

Arts and cultural opportunities are abundant, thanks to the nearby Indiana-Purdue joint campus and Butler University. Affordable residential neighborhoods spread out in all directions from the compact downtown, with the most desirable to the north. Higher incomes and affordable housing give city residents more buying power than most others around the country.

Cons: It is less ethnically diverse than many major cities. And it has minor growth and sprawl problems, as well as higher crime rates than some of the other cities on the list.