Moving to Lexington this summer - need input on areas and schools (Lexington-Fayette: real estate, rental homes)

[pirdybirdy]

I am moving to Lexington this summer with my husband and our 2 children (elementary age). We are pretty laid back and love to do outdoor things with our kids like picnics in the park, bikerides, going to the lake, etc. We are moving from southern California and hoping for a slower pace to raise our children, not so populated, not too much traffic, great schools - absolute must!!, safe neighborhood, friendly people, and 4 seasons.

We will be renting (We prefer to rent to be sure that we have chosen the right area of town) - hopefully no more than $1000. Want a neighborhood that is not over populated but a still a neighborhood feel. I want to be safe when I go jogging or walk the dog. Is this reasonable to find in our price range? Where is a good place to look for quality rentals?

I have done some research on schools and think that Veterans Park and Rosa Parks seem like the best as far as scores. Is this accurate? Do these schools feed into good middle schools as we will be needing one in a year?

What areas or neighborhoods should I be looking for? Not worried about commuting. I feel drawn to the SW part of Lexington not sure why. I did also like Todds Rd Hamburg pavilion (I think that is what is was called) area but not sure about the schools. It seemed a little crowded.

Should we consider Georgetown? How are the schools there? Is it too small of a town??

If you could live anywhere in the Lexington area where would it be?? and why??

I appreciate any input you have

[LEXpert]

I think $1000 is doable, but that is probably going to be a smaller house. A newer 1300-1500 square foot, 3 bedroom home will rent for $900 here. There are a few rental on Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors Home, Classic Real Estate and Rentals, Classic Real Estate and Rentals

Since schools are so important, you will probably want to be in SW Lex. I love living near Hamburg, but it isn't for everyone. I assume that just about anything we have will seem laid back and smaller than where you are coming from. Georgetown is a really nice town, but I don't know enough about their schools to be qaulified enough to give an opinion.

Do you want an older area? Newer? What about lot size? That would help us to narrow down an area for you.

Use these links to help your search: Crime Map: Citizen's Crime Watch Home Page. Street Directory for Public Schools so you can cofirm the disctirct: FCPS Street Directory, and the sex offender registry: Kentucky Sex Offender Registry

You can checkout my blog at Real estate from the LEXpert's perspective too. I mainly blog about buying/selling houses, but some of the principles may also help you to find a good rental. I have a couple of video posts, neighborhoods reviews, etc that may help.

[pirdybirdy]

Thank you so much for all the links and info!!

We are looking for the 1300-1500 sq ft rental. Decent size yard but because it is a rental nothing too big. Would like something no more than say 15 years old. Zoned for the good schools.

Thank you for your help.

[LEXpert]

The more I think about it, I feel that a neighborhood called Pinnacle would be perfect for you. There are some smaller houses on roads like Miami, Lauderdale, Henderson, Orlando, Boca and Pompano. I don't like that this part of the neighborhood was built into a hillside, but you could walk to Veteran's Park (the park.....not the school!) and it is in Veteran's Park Elementary district. The park is really nice and it would practically be in your back yard. I checked the crime map for you. In the past 6 months there has been 2 burglaries and a car got broken into. While nobody likes to hear of any crime around them, I don't think this is too bad compared to average. The burglaries could be something as simple as a resident left their garage door open over night and somebody took their kids bike, or somebody took the copper from the air conditioner at a vacant house.

If you can't find anything there, here are some SW neighborhoods that I like: Willow Bend, Anything with the word Wyndham in it since there are several, Pera Place, Hidden Springs, Wellington, Waveland Estates, Pinecrest. Generally, all the schools in the Nicolasville Rd to Harrodsburg Rd corridor are good. There is a large park called Shilito Park that is an easy drive from any of these neighborhoods.

[ShawnCollins]

Since I live in the Hamburg Todds Road area and have 3 children myself I can say that this area has a lot of what you desire. The schools here are fairly new as is the entire area south of Jacobson Park. The middle school feeds into one of the top High Schools in the Nation and the middle school ranks pretty high in the state. The elementary school is still too young to know about yet, but it has been feeding the middle school for 3 years now so... Here is a great site I link to on my website, www.schooldigger.com . This end of town is still growing and has not yet seen its full potential. There are bike lanes on both sides of Hayes Blvd as well as wide sidewalks. there a lot of regular walkers over here. We are just down the street from Jacobson Park, which is perfect for any family outing you desire. You have your choice of shopping area either Richmond Road or Hamburg. My friend John has already given you the best sites to use for checking the area out, but here are a few more. www.golfandover.com , Jacobson Park, Lexington, KY : Reviews and maps - Yahoo! Local , Stuart Hall Neighborhood, Lexington KY , Chilesburg Maintenance Association, Inc.. A residential community in Lexington, Kentucky , Walnut Creek - Lexington, KY, Home (http://creeksideatandover.com/default.aspx - broken link) Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Lexington, Kentucky : Lakeside Golf Course
Hope these help you get your bearings and welcome to "The Bluegrass State"

[pirdybirdy]

Lexpert & Shawn - thank you so much for all the info and links!! We are very excited to have such a good start to our search. When we were there last, we like the 2 areas and it is nice to hear from the people that live there say it is nice too!! All the neighborhoods mentioned sound great and it is the exact type of info I was looking for.

The school link is great too. See you all soon

[bc531]

We live in Hamburg and rent from Lexington Rental Homes. We're renting a new (built spring 2009) 1,300 sq ft home for around your price range.

You might want to check them out for rentals. I know they had a lot of rentals in this area when we were looking last summer.

Homes For Rent In Central Kentucky - Lexington, Louisville, Georgetown, Versailles, Nicholasville, Richmond, UK Campus

[LEXpert]

Hamburg is a great area. I live out here too in Andover Hills! The only school you probably would want to consider would be Athens-Chilesburg(A.C.E.). 40509 is Served by A.C.E., Yates, Breckenridge, and Liberty Road Elementary. A.C.E. is the only one worth considering in my opinion. I think Liberty Road will be a good school, but it is too new to tell for sure. I have had a few deals where somebody was moving out of Yates District to get into A.C.E.

I think you may have a hard time getting into A.C.E. for the budget you mentioned. I have a map of the elementary boundaries, and A.C.E. serves just Andover Hills, Walnut Ridge, Brighton Woods, Creekside at Andover, a small part of the oldest section of Chilesburg, and a large area outside the urban service area (that means in th country!) The neighborhoods that will come the closest to your price range will be in Creekside at Andover, possibly Walnut Ridge, and possibly the little part of Chilesburg between Todds Road, the interstate, and Jouelett Creek. You'd need to get up to about $1300 to rent in Andover Hills.

Do some research on the other schools to see if you are comfortable with any of them. If you are, that opens a whole lot of options near Hamburg.

FYI, my wife and I did carry out at Carino's last night. In less than 20 minutes I left the house, got dinner, and was back home. It sure is nice having everything in Hamburg so close.

[tx2ky]

Originally Posted by LEXpert

The more I think about it, I feel that a neighborhood called Pinnacle would be perfect for you. There are some smaller houses on roads like Miami, Lauderdale, Henderson, Orlando, Boca and Pompano.

Just wanted to 2nd that. We are renting in the Pinnacle area, about 1/2 mile from Veterans Park and we love it! VP is great and don't know if your ids pay sports, but there are little league fields, soccer fields etc right there. There was lots of Little league hustle and bustle in the summer and it was fun tot watch! (I don't have kids yet, but it was fun to watch all the other kids!)
\ Relatively newer homes (I think ours was built around 2000) We have over 2000 sq. feet and pay $1200/month. Haven't had or seen any problems with the neighborhood and I go running all the time around most of it.. It's a good location to many things, and though some might complain of the traffic by Fayette Mall to get out there, it really isn't that bad, (I'm from Houston though, so I'm used to traffic hell!) and your can always enter the neighborhood off of Tates Creek, and the traffic isn't near as bad.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions about the neighborhood. We've been living there since July.

[pirdybirdy]

Lexpert:
I loved these streets. My only concern is the schools. Veterans Park is good but the middle and High Schools (Tates Creek) are not the highest ranking.

I couldn't find any of the other neighborhoods on the maps. But what about anything outside of Man O War in zip codes 40513 and 40514? It seems these go to good schools that feed into either Dunbar or Lafayette, which have high rankings. Would it be possible to find something in our rent range up to $1000? When we decide to purchase we would be looking for $175-215K at this point.

tx2ky:
The parks and the sports for my kids are exactly what I am looking for. What is the general feel there with the neighbors? Are people friendly, neighborly, or too snooty? We are pretty laid back. Thank you for your help!