May be moving to NOLA area from LA area (Metairie: subletting, apartments)

[thedonk13]

Hi, I recently was offered a job in NOLA with a communications company. I currently make about 73k a year, salary, and will be starting off at 65k a year, hourly, in NOLA if I accept the job offer.

My questions are:

where is a safe area to live for us, not party type, recently married, have two dogs, two cars, and a harley? (i am already considering the St. Charles Parish area based on what i've read on this site)

where is the best place to browse rental listings online for the NOLA area?

we are both small town, Christian, conservative kind of people with our roots based in Alabama, will it be difficult for us to assimilate into the NOLA culture?

i am currently paying 1300 a month for a 1 bed 1 bath apartment with a garage here in california. I have noticed rent a LOT cheaper down there, but I have not been able to find much listed as I do here in California.

Thank you for all your help if you can!

[lmcintyre1s]

A couple comments/questions:

- No, you should have no trouble fitting in. NOLA is for everybody .

- Where will you be working, and how far of a commute is too far?

[thedonk13]

i do not know the exact location of the job, they have office in Metairie, Destrehan, and Merraro. I have no problem commuting up to 30 miles each way, would prefer to be closer, but I don't want to be in the big city area.

[Oildog]

Why taking a pay cut?

[pandorafan5687]

Metarie seems like a nice suburb

[slincoln_wx]

If the job is likely to be out west, then your best bet might be to aim for Kenner or Metairie. If you want to be removed from the city, but still within commuting distance, Mandeville might be do-able for you as it is at the north end of the causeway.

[NOLAJim]

Call me crazy, but 65k in NOLA compared to 73k in LA is a fair raise weighted by cost of living. You should be able to find something quite nice around 900-1k in the Metarie and River Ridge areas to your liking. As for researching them, you can poke around in other threads, but I had noticed new orleans lacks the online infrastructure of managed apartment/condo complex that many other cities have.

You can try craigslist and the general apartment search websites, but I think the best thing you could do, given enough time, is to inquire of the new employment if they have any recommended areas, or else to work on getting in somewhere temporarily (corporate housing or subletting) while you can poke around the metro area on your own.

[lmcintyre1s]

Lots of apartments in River Ridge, which is where I'm at currently. Check "The Creeks of River Ridge" on Google. For the price you were paying in Cali, you can probably get a nearly new 2 bed/2 bath in a very nice complex.