Places to live near BR - new LSU faculty member (Baton Rouge: for sale, condo) - Louisiana (LA) -Metro area - City-Data Forum

Mobilemom52 · 01-03-2011, 09:39 PM

I will be doing some scouting out of areas near Baton Rouge for my daughter and son-in-law, and would like some suggestions.

They will be moving to the area in July from Berkeley, CA, and he will be on faculty at LSU. They had originally wanted to live close to campus, but have decided they don't want the hassle of the football game-day traffic, etc.

They are 30 yrs. old, both very well educated, quite active in their current church and community, and very down-to-earth. Good restaurants, places to run, and an active, welcoming Catholic parish will be important to them. A home with character would be great; I believe their budget will be around $250,000. I was told about St. Francisville, but the commute would likely be more than SIL will want to deal with (I gather it's about 45 minutes from campus). All suggestions welcome!

mhounit · 01-04-2011, 04:34 AM

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Homoudont · 01-04-2011, 02:06 PM

I know a lot of faculty live in the Riverbend area which is really close to LSU. And they don't have to worry about game day traffic as long as they don't go out of their house on game day. Just prepare ahead of time and you'll never know there's any traffic. Another area where a lot of professors live is collegetown (sp). It's also right by the university but the houses are on smaller lots and you don't get as much bang for the buck.

My wife is faculty at LSU and we currently live in Zachary, LA. It's quite a ride but we had to go for the best school district since we had a little one entering kindergarten. We may move into Baton Rouge in the next year or two but for now Zachary is a nice area and town.

Mobilemom52 · 01-04-2011, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homoudont

I know a lot of faculty live in the Riverbend area which is really close to LSU. And they don't have to worry about game day traffic as long as they don't go out of their house on game day. Just prepare ahead of time and you'll never know there's any traffic. Another area where a lot of professors live is collegetown (sp). It's also right by the university but the houses are on smaller lots and you don't get as much bang for the buck.

My wife is faculty at LSU and we currently live in Zachary, LA. It's quite a ride but we had to go for the best school district since we had a little one entering kindergarten. We may move into Baton Rouge in the next year or two but for now Zachary is a nice area and town.

I was looking at listings for some homes for sale in the Zachary area. How long does it take your wife to get to campus?

BRMan · 01-04-2011, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mobilemom52

I will be doing some scouting out of areas near Baton Rouge for my daughter and son-in-law, and would like some suggestions.

They will be moving to the area in July from Berkeley, CA, and he will be on faculty at LSU. They had originally wanted to live close to campus, but have decided they don't want the hassle of the football game-day traffic, etc.

This is only an issue if you live between LSU and Lee Dr/College. Riverbend is not really an issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mobilemom52

They are 30 yrs. old, both very well educated, quite active in their current church and community, and very down-to-earth. Good restaurants, places to run, and an active, welcoming Catholic parish will be important to them. A home with character would be great; I believe their budget will be around $250,000. I was told about St. Francisville, but the commute would likely be more than SIL will want to deal with (I gather it's about 45 minutes from campus). All suggestions welcome!

St Francisville, depending on the subdivision, would be more than 45 minutes, esp with traffic. Depending on whether schools are the issue (I'll assume not for sake of discussion), I like:

(1) Concord Estates (integrated, upper middle income to upper neighborhood)
(2) Peggy Drive off Moss Side Lane
(3) Kenilworth
(4) Pollard Estates
(5) Woodchase (next to Pollard, may be more than 250K, though)
(6) Plantation Trace, with the caveat that Game Day traffic is less than a joy, since this neighborhood can only exit through Highland near campus
(7) Riverbend - big caveat, though - this neighborhood is ONLY convenient for LSU and downtown. Not a ton of good retail out there, and with students nearby, that messes up home resale values. Plus, there were issues with sandboils and/or seepage when the Miss river is nearby.

Anyway, these are fairly close to LSU and aren't prohibitively expensive for what you get.

champa · 03-08-2011, 07:59 PM

We did the same move a few years ago. We looked at Riverbend and for the price range that is probably the newest and affordable subdivision for faculty in the area. The others in the price range are probably Fairhill at Bluebonnet and its sister sub across the street. College town, southdowns, etc. are nice and affordable but homes are way older. We settled for a home off of highland rd but moved last year. At peak traffic the communte to LSU was close to 30min from highland/I-10.

I know people who claim they have no problem living in Denham or Zachary, but I think that communte is crazy. No way we could deal with 2 hrs lost in a day just driving to work.

Don't rule out subdivisions further south (e.g., Jamestown on Perkins and Pecue ln) since they have easy access to Burbank and once there it is a straight shot to LSU; or places around Corporate Blvd, although these are either more expensive or very old homes.

Hope you can find a nice place...

things and stuff · 03-11-2011, 10:30 PM

Riverbend is a logical option. If you dont mind older established neighborhoods theres some great living around the old goodwood area as well as Tara subdivision. If you dont mind smaller, old bungalows then the Garden District is for you. Lots of professors live in the Garden District. A lot of the ones with a higher budgets and families live in Southdowns because of the larger lots.

MetroBTR · 03-15-2011, 11:47 AM

The Garden District might be a really good option for them.

Rosinante · 03-16-2011, 02:59 PM

Is the size and age of the house important? Would you prefer a condo or a single family house? Do you want a big lawn or do you have better things to do with your time? Similarly, with the price of gasoline soon to be nearing $5, do you want to spend a lot of time and money commuting to and from work?

Mobilemom52 · 03-19-2011, 10:27 PM

Thanks for all the good info. SIL (the incoming LSU faculty member) looked at a few places while in town for a meeting a month ago. He has decided he'd rather not face a long commute, though my daughter is interested in a great house we had seen in Shenandoah.

Kenilworth is a neighborhood that has been mentioned to them by other faculty members; they were told that homes often are under contract before they even have a chance to formally hit the market, and that May is a good time to look seriously. They have a house-hunting trip planned then, and are doing lots of research long-distance in the meantime.