Best place to live between Baton Rouge & New Orleans? (Lafayette: rent, house)

[SusanGray]

Help! - My husband's employer is sending him to LA... we are relocating from Ohio. He will be working in Westwego for 16 months or so then on to Baton Rouge and Lafayette. (new residential construction)

We currently live on 5 acres, have 3 dogs and NEED OUR SPACE! - We are within 18 - 25 miles of just about anything we could want including dining, shopping and the arts. My husband is willing to drive an hour + to work in order for us to find our "home away from home" ......... This will be an "interim" move for us - hopefully heading to San Antonio in a few years - so we don't want to put a lot of money into a home -but we have the option of quite a range from $150 - $275,000. or so. We can live simple - we just need LAND!! - an old house is fine

Can anyone offer suggestions? I've considered: Mandeville, Tickfaw, Gonzales, Madisonville...

Please help ! - This move is breaking our hearts - we love our home in Ohio and just want to be able to GET OVER the heartbreak when we move - not have it be worse!!

Thanks so much for any input !!!

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by SusanGray

Help! - My husband's employer is sending him to LA... we are relocating from Ohio. He will be working in Westwego for 16 months or so then on to Baton Rouge and Lafayette. (new residential construction)

We currently live on 5 acres, have 3 dogs and NEED OUR SPACE! - We are within 18 - 25 miles of just about anything we could want including dining, shopping and the arts. My husband is willing to drive an hour + to work in order for us to find our "home away from home" ......... This will be an "interim" move for us - hopefully heading to San Antonio in a few years - so we don't want to put a lot of money into a home -but we have the option of quite a range from $150 - $275,000. or so. We can live simple - we just need LAND!! - an old house is fine

Can anyone offer suggestions? I've considered: Mandeville, Tickfaw, Gonzales, Madisonville...

Please help ! - This move is breaking our hearts - we love our home in Ohio and just want to be able to GET OVER the heartbreak when we move - not have it be worse!!

Thanks so much for any input !!!

Mandeville - expensive, becoming overcrowded, and you'd have to face the Causeway commute, like half of St. Tammany Parish does

Madisonville - similar to Mandeville. A bit less expensive, though. And is just now being discovered.

Tickfaw - More affordable, slightly better commute (You'd be going down I-55 then I-10)

Gonzales - Being from BR, I kind of like the southern Ascension Parish area, as it is not yet suburbanized. And I'd expand the scope a little more to include St. Amant (pronounced "Sant-a-maw") and Sorrento. If you want acreage, though, I'd try to stay south of Gonzales. From Gonzales on north, Baton Rouge suburbia is marching southward, with its moderately expensive cookie cutter neighborhoods.

Since you mentioned Tickfaw, I'd also throw in southern Tangipahoa Parish (like Pontchatoula), which would be a bit less of a commute than Tickfaw. And western Livingston Parish (Albany, Holden, Springfield)

[Jamison]

Dear Susan,

My heart is breaking for you, as I know how it feels to have your "dream" ripped away!! In your case, the "dream" being your beloved home/hometown and having to leave it. In our case, being no longer able to handle the post Katrina crush of people and seeing our town (Ponchatoula) become a shadow of its former lovely and peaceful self. (we are miserable about this) Anyway, let me try to shake off this malaise, so I can hopefully provide you a bit of objective advice.... (as a point of reference, our town is 30 minutes to the west of M/M/C - please see below)

Mandeville/Madisonville/and Covington definitely have their charms, all offer a host of pleasing amenities, all are within minutes of each other, and all are popular. (I'm sure it's no coincidence this is higher ground, with less threat of flooding, etc. from hurricanes) The "north shore" area has plentiful pine trees, GREAT shopping (J.C. Penney, Belk, Circuit City, Old Navy, Kirkland's, Target, Barnes and Noble, on and on), great restaurants, and movie theaters - also, it's only about 45 min from New Orleans. It is well manicured, clean, and moneyed. I'm not entirely sure of the prices for acreage, but I think you should be able to find 5 or so acres with your (healthy) budget. In fact, this area was our first choice to build in, but we liked the fact that Southeastern Louisiana University would be 10 minutes from our door here in Ponchatoula... (should our kids - or ourselves! - need it) From the north shore, your husband can expect a commute of about one hour. He would have to take Causeway (which spans Lake Ponchartrain) down to Airline Hwy. (on the "south shore"), then to Clearview, then across the Huey P. Long bridge to Westwego. (Westwego is located on the West Bank) My husband commutes every day down to Kenner, on the south shore.

Tickfaw is about 15 - 20 minutes north of us on I-55 and is not experiencing the boom mentioned above. (this boom was in progress even prior to Katrina, the hurricane only accelerated an already fast moving train) Your land would probably be cheaper here and the commute would also be about one hour. If you're looking for REAL "country", this'll do ya. (LOL)

Gonzales is on the outskirts of Baton Rouge. (Baton Rouge is 45 minutes west of Ponchatoula, driving on I-12). My brother in law lives there, but there aren't any trees - they cut them all down for subdivisions!! (sorry, people look at us like we're crazy because we are tree lovers, we like the shade!~) This town is mostly subdivision after subdivision, and there's no land available that I'm aware of.

As far as I know, Westwego is mostly subdivision and single family homes along the river road. There is no acreage available there that I know of. (I did ask my husband) Lafitte is about 15 min from Westwego, and there might be acreage available there BUT, it is low ground and, uh, that might not be a good idea. (have you checked what's coming into the Gulf lately?? LOL. OK, not really)

Believe it or not, I was TRYING to make this reply short.

Having been born further north myself, I should mention however that southern/southeast Louisiana could possibly be a scenic shock for you. (I'm a four season, mountain, lakes, and forest type of person - so it was for me!) I'm not sure, because I've never been to Wisconsin to know the difference! Hopefully it won't be too difficult an adjustment for you. Here's a quick pro/con list that may help:

PROS:

- Awesome, fantastic, one of a kind FOOD, the likes of which you will not find anywhere else. If you like seafood, you will be in HEAVEN.

- The north shore area is scenic, with its lovely stands of pine trees all over and new construction, which looks so neat and manicured. The land is pretty flat, but very nice.

- Antique shopping and quaint-little-town-exploring are great around here. Plus you have Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Slidell, and even McComb Mississippi not too far away. (I would love to say what kind of shape Biloxi, a one and half hour drive, is in - but I haven't even had the courage to go there since the storm. My sister said it is basically GONE, which is a complete shock)

- North shore schools are GREAT. But I don't think your puppies will be needing them. (grin)


CONS:

- If, like me, you cannot take high humidity (UGH!!) then you will find the weather to be unbearable. Think 10 month summers. Think shopping at Christmas time in your shorts. I'm not kidding. (I guess if you are sick and tired of snow, this will be great for you. I WISH I could have snow!!!)

- There's a lot of traffic. A LOT. (the north shore is BOOMING, but you can still find plenty of land available a little out and away from the "boom")

Okay, I hope this helped and sorry for going on so long. It's only that when I check into other areas on this board, I really appreciate it when the locals are precise and detailed with their answers.

:-)

Jamison

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by SusanGray

Help! - My husband's employer is sending him to LA... we are relocating from Ohio. He will be working in Westwego for 16 months or so then on to Baton Rouge and Lafayette. (new residential construction)

We currently live on 5 acres, have 3 dogs and NEED OUR SPACE! - We are within 18 - 25 miles of just about anything we could want including dining, shopping and the arts. My husband is willing to drive an hour + to work in order for us to find our "home away from home" ......... This will be an "interim" move for us - hopefully heading to San Antonio in a few years - so we don't want to put a lot of money into a home -but we have the option of quite a range from $150 - $275,000. or so. We can live simple - we just need LAND!! - an old house is fine

Can anyone offer suggestions? I've considered: Mandeville, Tickfaw, Gonzales, Madisonville...

Please help ! - This move is breaking our hearts - we love our home in Ohio and just want to be able to GET OVER the heartbreak when we move - not have it be worse!!

Thanks so much for any input !!!

Is it possible he could just look for a new job?

Seriously, you are about to walk away from a lot to go to a place very different in topography and weather than you are used to. And I could not give up on my dream home so easily. But if you HAVE to move here is the problem...he will be working in 3 very different areas that are not very close together so his commutes will never be very good. And trust me you don't want to live in Westwego at all. BRman has given you good advice. I second the motion for going to the Gonzales area. Not only would you be more centrally located to your husbands 3 different job locations, but the schools there are better than just about any other place in the state. Best of luck to you!

[Rosinante]

lovesMountains is giving you the best advice. And, no, we don't have 10 month summers; 6 is more like it.

Sounds to me like you might be better off renting in some place nearer your 16 months in Westwego, then start looking for the land you want somewhere between Lafayette and B.R. Your options are limited there by the Atchafalaya basin, but there are some neat places on either side of it.

[Jamison]

I Swear To God It's 10.

(lol)

[Watson]

It is 6 months for people who live here and 10 months for people from
the north. My wife is from Kansas 70 degrees in December is Summer to her
but winter to me.

I agree maybe you should rent for a couple of months and then look for land.

[buckev]

I would consider Abita Springs land is more plentiful and affordable but you still get the northshore lifestyle

[Rosinante]

Originally Posted by Watson

It is 6 months for people who live here and 10 months for people from
the north. My wife is from Kansas 70 degrees in December is Summer to her
but winter to me.

I agree maybe you should rent for a couple of months and then look for land.

Well, I don't think there's any other place in the US of A where you can have an overnight low around 28, and then a few days later you break the record high for a late December day (I think we hit 80 one day last month. Where's Pat Shingleton when we need him?) like we did right before Christmas, but if you're like me, you start watching that calendar right around the tail end of April, and start hoping that June through September will fly on by licketty split. I think there's probably some data available through some page right here at City-Data that will show you that our mean temperatures fall off pretty rapidly some time in early October, and then don't start climbing into the Africa-hot temps again until late May at the earliest.

The 5-day forecast shows the highs for Baton Rouge to make it into the high 50s with lows in the 30s right now, and, to me, at least, this is winter.

[darylwi]

It's not 10. We just have extreme temps for up to 10 months of the year, like the stretch of 80s we had last month, even 2 weeks ago. We had 80s for 3 days in a row only 10 days ago. It's not that uncommon, but our averages are usually near 60. You get over it when the next day gets cold and wet and it's 40 something for a high. Then you're wishing for the 70s and 80s again.

I love it because it allows me to get outside and do physical activity almost whenever I want (although I do have to plan around the weather some). We don't have to hibernate 2-3 months of the year like our neighbors up north do.