Shenandoah LA--a wise choice to move there?

[redbean]

Originally Posted by lam09

my main concern is finding a 'homey,' friendly, old-fashioned area to settle.

Can someone kindly give me the real story on Shenandoah?

I would think that the Southdowns, Capitol Heights, or the Garden district would be the best fit for you in light of the above. Shenandoah is bland blah suburbia; great for those with kids but if you are single, I can't imagine that it is where you would want to live. And the commute from LSU will definately take you about 45 minutes to an hour at peak times. The other areas will take about 10 minutes. One of the main keys to being happy in BR is avoiding traffic Check back with us when you narrow down some places. It's probably a good idea to rent for a while, but that first-time buyer stimulus is tempting. Good luck.

[lam09]

On second thought, I could rent a room until I'm more settled in--are there areas where I should definitely avoid rentals of any kind? Any suggestions/opinions on this approach (not hotel rooms but private home room rentals)?

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by lam09

On second thought, I could rent a room until I'm more settled in--are there areas where I should definitely avoid rentals of any kind? Any suggestions/opinions on this approach (not hotel rooms but private home room rentals)?

Are you referring to apartments or extended stay ?

[Rosinante]

Not only is Shennandoah as redbean describes it, there are NO areas within the Baton Rouge metropolitan area that are immune to the wrath of a hurricane passing through our area.

[redbean]

The only thing I can think of for private room rentals is Craigslist. And I believe there is a roommate-matching service on the internet, something like roommates.com (you'd have to google it). It would be iffy but not a bad way to get familiar with the city, and find a decent place to live. BR is fairly expensive for housing so that might be worth looking into; just try to stay close to LSU.

[lam09]

BRMan,

I'm just thinking short-term room rental, just to settle in before renting an apt.

[lam09]

redbean,

I'm not too keen on craigslist--you're right in bringing up the point that finding a room there would be 'iffy.' I'd rather find a private advertisement for a room for rent (in a decent area, of course). I'd like to avoid a roommate at this point. Thanks, though, I'll be sure to stay close to LSU.

[BetaBeta]

Well I live close to Shenandoah in Hickory Ridge... I assume you are referring to the subdivision shenandoah as I'm unaware of a town named that here. I also work for LSU although I work from home a lot also.

The area is a wonderful place to live and provide the type of houses you described, good solid bones not the fancy/chic but cheap construction you see a lot of today. Hickory Ridge is mostly middle aged to seniors, although a few younger families are beginning to move in. However the various parts of Shen. has a more varied population in age. There are different parts to Shen, such as Shenandoah Estates, Shenandoah, etc. The cost of the housing varies with the part you are in.

On the commute to LSU no problem if you can schedule your classes correctly. If you can wait and leave shortly after 9:00 you can get there in 15 minutes normally. There is a back road, called Tiger Bend Road, this road changes name to Jefferson Highway. You take it across Airline to Siegen lane, then Siegen Lane to I10 West. Take the Darymple exit and basically you're at LSU. Now again during rush hour this can be a nightmare, but after 9:00 AM no problem. Also no problem before 7:00 AM.

I can't tell you how it is coming back that way as I usually take Highland Road to Siegen to come back so I can check on my mom. Since I stop at my mom's I really don't know how long the highland to siegen route takes to come back. But I do know that Siegen is pretty clear after 6:00 PM and I have a pretty straight shot home.

On the rare occassion when I have to be on campus for 8:30 AM I leave early and take the backroads (Jeff Hwy across Airline to Siegen, stay on siegen it changes names a couple of times but ends up on campus).

Having said all of that, there are some really good places closer to LSU with older, solid construction homes such as Kenilworth, Magnolia Woods, etc. However I don't know how the prices are running in those areas compared to what you get in Shen.

You didn't mention age, but if you're younger than 30 you would probably appreciate being closer to campus. If you are middle age like me you will probably appreciate being able to get away from it all at the end of the day! LOL

The good thing about Baton Rouge... or it could be a bad thing depending on how you look at it, is that it is very compartmentalized. Once you are home you never have to leave your neighborhood for things you need, i.e. dry cleaners, church, movies, restaurants, grovery stores, etc. unless you just want to. The malls are in good locations and kind of act as hubs for all neighborhoods to come to. For instance, taking the back way I just described, I can normally get to the Mall of La in less than 10 minutes on the weekend as it is located just off of I10 between Siegen and Bluebonnet. Or Cortana Mall in about 15 as it just further down on Airline. Yet there are nice restaurants and movie theaters in this area so no need to deal with big mall crowds for those things unless I want to.

I've been in this area since 2007 and haven't had to take I-12 once and you don't need to take Coursey nor Sherwood to get from here to LSU. Hickory Ridge is above O'Neal lane (Shen. is below it) so I can't tell you how that would be during rush hour since I have never had to deal with it either.

You might want to just rent an apartment for six months until you get to know the area better and can decide, good luck! Excuse my typo's etc. its late, :>)