Moving to BR and buying house in $130K range (Baton Rouge: houses, safe neighborhood)

[notquiteretired]

Looks like I'll be moving this summer from north Louisiana to Baton Rouge for a job. I hate traffic, but I need to do this. I will have to buy because of pets. I'm a single female, 60 years old, so need a safe neighborhood. I'll be working downtown, and as the thread title shows, only have about $130 - 135 max to spend. When I plug in the figures to realtor.com, the majority of homes show up in the Broadmoor-Sherwood Forest neighborhood. Looks like a nice neighborhood, like what I'm used to in Shreveport, but I'm just wondering if I'm missing something. I want a yard, gardening is a passion and I do have a dog. What can y'all tell me about living in that neighborhood? Am I missing an area to consider?

I don't want to go any further out, because I don't want to be out of town.

Thanks for any help.

[Imsoblue]

Broadmoor and Sherwood Forest are lovely neighborhoods with homes built in the 1950 and 1960's. The Garden District homes is closer to downtown but the prices may be higher than your budget. Capital Heights/Hundred Oaks have older homes. To avoid interstate traffic you can search in the really old neighborhood of Beauregard Town and Spanish Town.

[notquiteretired]

Thanks for the reply. Garden District homes are most definitely higher than my budget! I haven't seen anything in Capital Heights or Hundred Oaks when I plug in my price range to the online sites, but maybe I'll do a search particular to that zip code. I don't think I'd find anything in B-Town or Spanish Town that would give me a yard, would I?

It kind sounds like what I have been figuring, that Broadmoor is going to be the place with the most to choose from. I do like the houses that I see, and the yards.

How bad, really, would the commute be?

[Imsoblue]

Broadmoor offers LARGE yards which I refer to mowing. B-town and Spanish Town have yards that can be entire cottage gardens. Think picket fences. Broadmoor has privacy fences. You would probably get on Florida Boulevard from Broadmoor which would bring you right downtown. No interstate. Lots of lights though.
A commute isn't so bad if your destination is the house that you really, really love.

[Imsoblue]

AND, there's Port Allen, LA. It is just across the river from downtown. Sometimes you can get to Port Allen faster than you can get to Broadmoor. However, the bridge can be a parking lot sometimes. Your commute would be opposite the worst of the traffic. There is an older neighborhood near downtown Port Allen that is real close to the bridge. If you like the big city though (Shreveport) you might prefer Baton Rouge.

[notquiteretired]

Imsoblue,

thanks for your thoughts. I've been taking care of 2 acres (actually live outside of Shreveport), so a yard is not that daunting to me. I must have space for a garden, and I mean tomatoes. I kind of like the thought of a no-interstate commute, and don't mind a leisurely trip.

Port Allen - no. I have serious anxieties about that bridge. Used to zip back and forth across it 35 years ago when I was in school with no thought of being afraid of it, but I just hate it now. Can't imagine crossing it every day. Thanks for the idea, but, no.

Your input is helpful, thanks.