Andover Forest (Lexington, Richmond, Ashland: relocation, real estate, houses)

[Leaving LI]

We are moving from New York to Lexington. I was wondering if anyone has any input on Andover Forest? We visited last August and fell in love with that area? I noticed there are so many houses for sale in the 40509 zip. Does anyone know why? I am concerned about the schools and I would love to land in a subdivision with many children. Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

[lexingtongal]

The homes there are nice and the prices have been very reasonable. This has been due to the school district. However in 2008 there will be a new elementary school and this will probably cause the prices to rise. There is already a new middle school serving the area. I am not sure which high school the area is districted for though (it varies by subdivision). If you know of any particular streets you liked you can search the schools on www.fcps.net. There is a spot that you can enter a street name and get the schools for that street. One other thing to consider is that with Hamburg the traffic can get quite bad. There is a pool/golf club you can join that is quite popular.

[ic-epi]

High school for Andover Forest is Henry Clay (which is great). EJ Hayes middle and Yates elementary are less so, by test scores anyway. The Andover subdivisions are beautiful, but filled with many many empty houses for sale.

[Leaving LI]

Thank you for your response I know there are many houses for sale over there and I thought that was odd? It is such a beautiful area. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear about your favorite subdivisions in Lexington. From the multiple listings I thought Hartland looked beautiful as well. Mature landscaping, good schools and kiddies all around would be great. I have a 15 year old, 15 month old and a baby in the belly due in August. My husband has a job offer there and we are eager to leave the high cost of living on Long Island. Hopefully family will see how beautiful KY is and follow soon after! Thanks again-

[ic-epi]

Originally Posted by Leaving LI

Thank you for your response I know there are many houses for sale over there and I thought that was odd? It is such a beautiful area. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear about your favorite subdivisions in Lexington. From the multiple listings I thought Hartland looked beautiful as well. Mature landscaping, good schools and kiddies all around would be great. I have a 15 year old, 15 month old and a baby in the belly due in August. My husband has a job offer there and we are eager to leave the high cost of living on Long Island. Hopefully family will see how beautiful KY is and follow soon after! Thanks again-

I think all of the various newer subdivisions like Hartland, Andover, etc will have kids all around, so I would not worry about that. The thing about Lexington is that there are beautiful subdivisions all over. At first glance it's very confusing why some of the beautiful houses in these subdivisions seem to be priced much less than similar houses in other (also beautiful) subdivisions. I really think a lot of it (maybe most of it) has to do with the various public schools that serve the subdivisions. The schools in Fayette county range from fabulous to not great in terms of reputation and I've noticed that the subdivisions that have schools with excellent reputation and test scores for all three levels (elementary, middle, high school) definitely are pricier, and the houses sell faster.

I don't live in Lexington yet (in about 3-4 weeks I will) but have done a lot of research and just came back from a five day house buying trip there. We restricted our search to the SE and SW sides of Lexington. Some of the subdivisions we loved are Ashland Park, Chevy Chase, (those two are historic, very close to the University, and pricey, but very nice), Lakeview, Shadeland, Stonewall, Wellesley Heights, Harrods Hill, Palomar. They are all served by great schools. You also have to consider commute time, as depending on where you (or your spouse/partner) will be traveling to work, the traffic situation can really vary from each of these subdivisions.

Lexingtongal knows way more than I do in terms of details about subdivisions, as does nlschr0 and some others who post here regularly. You might want to read back through some of the threads that they have posted on. I started a few threads similiar to yours that ended up getting excellent responses with a wealth of information about schools and subdivisions.

[Leaving LI]

Thank you for your time and your input on the various subdivisions. It is such a big decision with no room for era. The realtor that I have been corresponding with has been extremely helpful and honest but it is nice to hear opinions that will not benefit from profit.

My husband will be commuting to Richmond and Dry Ridge. I believe eventually there will be an office in Lexington.

My husband and son will be taking a trip to do some house hunting in about 3 weeks. I would love to go but because my due date is creeping up my physician advises against any long trips.

Congrats on your house purchase and Good Luck to you and your family. Please keep me updated in a few weeks when you are settled and have a moment to reinforce what a wonderful decision it is to move to Lexington

Thanks again

[ic-epi]

Thanks Leaving LI. I definitely will post more after I get there! It really is a big decision, and you're right, there is no room to make a mistake when your entire family is depending on you! Good luck!

[goldenmom7500]

Hi,

Well ... I was told that people in Andover tend to resort to the private schools. I recently drove around Andover for the first time and I really thought it was nice. Aside from the issue of new schools coming, buying in a neighborhood like that isn't always a great real estate investment - since there is so much new construction, everything somewhat similar, thus buyers have a lot of choice. On the other hand, it seemed like a really pleasant neighborhood and wonderful for children. (Again, depending on the whole school situation). Also, the houses just seem so spacious and with open floor plans.

If you like the new, super suburban like Andover (a side of me really likes that), you could look around Veterans Elementary or Rosa Parks, etc. (see my recent posts for some pitfalls). If you like more established neighborhoods ... Chevy Chase, Ashland, Glendover, and others mentioned by, I think, ic-epi.

best of luck -

[Sperrylex]

Andover Forest is good place to live. There alot of houses for sell across the US. Many folks got into revolving loans and can not afford to keep their new larger houses. I do not know about the schools but Andover and Beaumont are too of Lexington's higher end neighborhoods.

[Leaving LI]

We have purchased a house in Andover Forest and have been here for a little over a week. I cannot express enough how beautiful I think this subdivision is and our neighbors have been so nice and everyone I have passed on the street has been extremely friendly. There is every store imaginable within 5 minutes from here and plenty of restaurants to choose from. There are some houses for sale here so I suggest that anyone contemplating relocation to Lexington pass on through and take a look