Relocating to Shreveport (Golden Meadow: apartments, rental, crime rate)

[jmcbrayer1027]

I live in california and just recently accepted a job offer at the regional airport in Shreveport. I need help finding the good areas. I read so many bad things about shreveport but I am sure there are many good things about the area. I will be moving with my fiance and two dogs and I don't know how to go about aquiring a place over there. Should I get a hotel until I can scope out the area for myself? I won't be able to get out there until it is time for me to report to the job. Any help is appreciated.

[annie_himself]

What do you want in a home?

[jmcbrayer1027]

Something small. Something like a 2 bedroom and hopefully a fenced yard for the dogs. I will need something around $700 a month to start out with until I can get settled and my fiance finds out how many hours she will be working. I'm mainly worried about safety cause there is a goodd chance I will be working graveyard and I want to feel that my fiance is safe at night.

[jmcbrayer1027]

I'm not opposed to living in apartments either but I'm having a hard time finding any that will accept big dogs. The Aspen apartments does in Shreveport. Does anyone knoe anything about them?

[hdwell]

Probably the Aspen is ok for the time being (not the best of areas, but not too bad) They have had a couple units burn down over the last couple years so that may clue you in. I don't hear anything crime wise bad about it though. Walmart isn't too far away.

[lizardspock]

I got here about 4 months ago and have found it very, very difficult to find houses/apartments that will allow larger dogs. I have a labrador retriever, and most places pretty much hang up the phone as soon as I mention that (Which is totally crazy. Small dogs are much harder to potty train). That or they charge ridiculous fees, which they refer to as a "non-refundable pet deposit" (not really a deposit at all, actually).

I work at the Air Force base, which is clear across town from the airport, but there are two decent apt complexes over here that allow pets. Cypress Pointe and the Villaggio. Both are nice, but you'll be looking at closer to $1000 per month for a two bedroom and the commute would be a little rough.

You can try to find a house to rent (Moderator cut: can only cite realtor.com) but in the $700 range you are going to be living in not-so-great parts of town and still having problems finding someone who will let you bring your dogs.

If you feel confident about the job, you should consider renting for a few months and then looking to buy - that's what we're doing now and there are some good deals out there. Lots of stuff in the $170k - $200k range.

Good luck.

[Mwahfromtheheart]

I'd like to add, that the airport is about a 20-30 minute drive from the furthest stretch of anywhere in SHV / Bossier. Traffic is never really heavy here unless some genius decides they want to force their way onto I-20 at rush hour. Your commute time really shouldn't be a consideration as to where you move in the area!

If you've heard bad things about crime, I'd say it's vastly improved in the past few years. The crime rate in Shreveport is at a near 30 year low.

[BeenThereDunThat]

It will be hard but not altogether impossible to find a place but you'll have limitations. You could try checking with a realtor who has lease / rental property. FWIW, a lot of people like South Bossier due to relative safety of the neighborhoods, good police presence and ease of getting onto Teague Pkway to I-20 or taking Jimmy Davis Bridge to Bert Kouns Inner Loop or 3132 to W. S'port /airport.
In S. Bossier check out neighborhoods like Southgate, Golden Meadows, Riverbend, BellAire, etc. Area is attractive to military so there may be vacancies due to military transfers, etc.
Good luck.