Cool family looking for awesome place to live... (Louisville, St. Matthews: low crime, big house)

[WildCatMama]

Hi, everyone. I'm new to posting here, and I know that other people have asked similar questions, but I still feel a little lost.
I got it into my head that Louisville was the place for my family a few years ago, and have been ruminating on it while finishing school. Now I have two semesters left and need help!
We're a family of five, with three kids aged 2, 4, and 6. When I'm done with school, I'll be an RN and my husband is a woodworker. We live in Gainesville, FL now and we love it, but are looking for a fresh start in life. Gainesville has a great nightlife, college town, music, schools, all of that... but I've lived here my whole life. I want change!
I am amazed at the low cost of living, especially housing, in Louisville. I would like some neighborhood recommendations, if you kind Louisville residents would oblige. We need a big house for a low price. We're not afraid to put a little sweat equity into a house, but we'll need a neighborhood with low crime, and close to parks and open spaces, but not too far from downtown. We're sort of public transportation people, so bus routes are a must.
Also, any advice from area nurses would be awesome! How is the hiring? Is it fairly easy to get a job? Around here they practically sweep nurses off their feet.
We will be visiting your fair city in June next year. Any off-the-beaten-path stuff we should know about? What are the neatest restaurants and stores?
Thanks, everyone!

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by WildCatMama

Hi, everyone. I'm new to posting here, and I know that other people have asked similar questions, but I still feel a little lost.
I got it into my head that Louisville was the place for my family a few years ago, and have been ruminating on it while finishing school. Now I have two semesters left and need help!
We're a family of five, with three kids aged 2, 4, and 6. When I'm done with school, I'll be an RN and my husband is a woodworker. We live in Gainesville, FL now and we love it, but are looking for a fresh start in life. Gainesville has a great nightlife, college town, music, schools, all of that... but I've lived here my whole life. I want change!
I am amazed at the low cost of living, especially housing, in Louisville. I would like some neighborhood recommendations, if you kind Louisville residents would oblige. We need a big house for a low price. We're not afraid to put a little sweat equity into a house, but we'll need a neighborhood with low crime, and close to parks and open spaces, but not too far from downtown. We're sort of public transportation people, so bus routes are a must.
Also, any advice from area nurses would be awesome! How is the hiring? Is it fairly easy to get a job? Around here they practically sweep nurses off their feet.
We will be visiting your fair city in June next year. Any off-the-beaten-path stuff we should know about? What are the neatest restaurants and stores?
Thanks, everyone!

You need to search my posts for all this, especially cultural and restaurant stuff. The amount of options for this stuff will be about 10 times what you have in Gainesville. If you want to ride the bus and be close to hospitals, I would most definetly target my search in three areas:

1) Audubon Park and environs

2) Germantown including Schnitzelburg and St. Joseph

3) Clifton and Clifton Heights

I believe other nice areas with good bus access will not be affordable for you (ie Highlands).

Another area that is more suburban but not too far from downtown is Lyndon. If you live on an express line, it is not too far from downtown, and it is close to the very large St. Matthews hospital district. A little known fact is that University Hospital and UofL employees ride TARC for free anytime anywhere!

TARC:

A good area to look in Lyndon is around this new lifestyle center, where property values are rising:

Westport Village - Louisville's most gracious outdoor shopping, dining and gathering place


The three areas I recommended are not nearly the wealthiest, trendiest, or hippest areas, but based on your description, I believe they fit your needs (and they are safe, scenic, and park like while being urban). Keep in mind that public transit outside 264 is spotchy, but is quite good inside the loop. The public school situation is confusing, but your best bet is to contact JCPS NOW, and work on getting your kids enrolled in a magnet school. Also, ask them for a list of schools with the best CATS scores.

Parent Assistance Centers Do you need information about educational programs for your child? Would you like some assistance in learning when and how to apply for programs and understanding terms such as: Resides school Magnet programs Optional progra

Additionally, I will be moving this thread to the Louisville subforum......

[censusdata]

If you look hard you might even be able to find a large 'fixer upper' in parts of the Highlands. Old Louisville is even more affordable than the Highlands, although parts of it have moderate crime problems. 6th Street south of Ormsby, Floral Terrace, or Park Ave (west of 6th) are the safest in OL (outside the pricey St James Court area)

[TeamZissou]

I'll chip in my two cents here. My wife was born and raised in Gainesville and left town after she got her bachelor's from UF. A month and a half back we moved to Clifton and she and I have been ecstatic about the neighborhood, the people, and the accessibility of everything.

We moved 8 months pregnant and just gave birth to our first son recently. I was wearing a Gator shirt when we went into the hospital and there were several RNs and even a doc that all lived in Gainesville for quite a while and really took special care of us. There seems to be a healthy population of Gators around the area up here, for whatever that's worth!!

[TNKY]

You sound so much like my wife and I (check out my entry "Louisville or Knoxville"). We are also coming down in June to check the place out, my wife's an RN, we have young kids and we're looking for a change and are leaning toward the East side. I wish us both the best of luck and I'd love to keep in touch to see how things work out for each other respectively and to share any info on hospitals or good nieghborhoods or whatever.