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My husband and I are currently staying with relatives in Louisville. (We are homeless - long story). I have been offered a job in Winchester. Needless to say, I'm not willing to commute from Louisville to Winchester. And being homeless at present means having options. We have been throwing around the ideas of Winchester, Lexington, and Mt. Sterling (We have relatives in Morehead, and commuting doesn't bother me.)
Forum Sticky Questions:
-Where you are working
Lexington Road in Winchester.
-How much you are willing to spend on housing
$1000 maximum. We'd really like a townhome/condo/or house - no apartments.
-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate
30 minutes to 45 minutes. Hour maximum.
-If you have kids: Private school or public school?
Two kids: 14 (Freshman) and 7. Public. (Oldest son is interested in pursing a career in cultural studies, if Lexington has magnet programs/specialty schools.)
-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight?
We have lived everywhere from a dead end road in Morehead to the middle of Cincinnati. Our preference is a friendly town with 24 hour options (such as 24 stores, etc.) that is still safe (meaning I can park my car outside my front door without worrying that it will be stolen within minutes. Don't laugh: it happened in Milwaukee.)
-Community amenities important to you
There must be easy access to a college/university. My husband is returning to school for a master's in teaching. He actually graduated from UK with a BS in Accounting, but had been considering other college options (such as Morehead State). He has not yet committed to any college. The cost of rent is not as important as safety: I want to know my teen can ride his bike around the neighborhood without his safety being an issue. Commute is not an issue. My concern with Winchester is will there be enough for the family to do? Or is it close enough to Lexington that hopping over to find something to do isn't an issue? What is there for teens to do in Mt Sterling?
-Pie or cake? Cake, pie if it's warm and has vanilla ice cream.
I am not originally from KY: I was raised in Milwaukee, relocated to Dayton, OH, then down here in 2000. I lived in Morehead the first 2 years, then we moved to Louisville. We've spent the last three years in Cincinnati. My husband was raised in Louisville, but moved to Lexington to attend college. He left Lexington when we moved to Louisville. So he has not been in the area since 2000.
Frankly, I would really like to move to Lexington, but my husband is POSITIVE that the schools are horrible, crime is high, and our lives would be in mortal danger at every turn. I'm not sure why he feels that way, since everything that I've read tells me that Lexington can't POSSIBLY be as bad as some of the places we worked/lived in when in Cincinnati (such as his job in Over-the-Rhine).
If anyone has some more information on schools and neighborhoods in Lexington, I would appreciate it. Or if anyone has lived in both the Cincinnati area and the Lexington area: if you could give me some kind of comparison that he and I can relate to (such as "this neighborhood is like Over-the-Rhine, but this neighborhood is like White Oaks...West Chester...etc.") I'd really appreciate the input.
Crime in Lexington is not a concern. Compared to any other metro in the region, Lexington probably has as low or lower crime rates. Since you are familiar with Dayton and it is roughly the same size, Lexington's crime rates are much lower.
The majority of Lexington's neighborhoods, especially outer loop, are nothing like those of the CITY of Cincinnati. Every home looks the same and is built as cheap as possible. Aim further into the city for older districts, but beware the price!
He's worried about crime in Lexington? I nearly laughed at that one, granted there are a few undesirable areas in Lexington but it's safe for the most part. Crime is higher in Louisville and even higher in Cincinnati, so I think he's confused....
There are excellent public schools in Lexington, especially Dunbar High School.
If you have a place to stay in Louisville, why not try to find a job there? It is a much larger city with more opportunites than Lexington. The same can be said for Cincinnati. There is no comparison between Lexington and Cincinnati neighborhoods. Cincy's city neighborhoods are substantially older and more urban in general and Cincy's suburbs offer way more amenities than Lexington. Lexington is a great town but it is tough to compare it to much larger cities. I also agree that Lexington has less crime than Louisville or Cincinnati, likely secondary to its size.
stx12499 - We have interviews Thursday and Friday for places in Lexington and Winchester. We've had no luck even finding interviews in Louisville. My husband is an alumnus of UK, so it will be easier for him to re-enter school than U of L (though not impossible either way; just easier for him.) My husband lived in Lexington in the 90's, and seems convinced that the area is horrible (I tend to believe it is because of his personal life experiences from that time period, and not the city itself.) We both worked in Winchester in the past, but frankly I didn't get to know the city well because I lived in Morehead.
I really appreciate everyone's responses. Thank you for the input.
I'm probably a little late to the party. Your husband is definately confused about crime in Lexington or perhaps just had some sort of biased experience that gave him that opinion. I was born and raised in Lexington, and I would recommend the Cassidy, Morton, Henry Clay school districts (elementary, middle, high school, respectively). The district that feeds into these schools can be pretty expensive but can also be very diverse. Worst neighborhoods are anything Northside or north of downtown - you should not even consider. Frankly, there is no neighborhood in Lexington comparable to OTR. Just about anything in the SE quarter of town will suit you. It contains UK, downtown, Hamburg shopping areas, etc., and all feed into the good school districts. Commuting is an option but the cities surrounding Lexington do not offer much for entertainment. Hyde Park would compare to the Chevy Chase and Ashland areas. These are two of the most high priced areas in town, are centrally located, feed into the best schools. Assuming you are wanting to rent, $1,000 can very well get you into the generally viccinity of these areas (Chevy Chase and Ashland), so that would be my recommendation. Check out the little row of townhouses located directly across from Christ the King Church -there is a place for rent right now. Or there are nice townhomes in the Taborlake subdivision.
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