Dilema-S. Indiana or N. Kentucky? (Lexington, Louisville: real estate, how much, houses)

[4shell]

Hi everyone, need help with a major decision. My husband and I are relocating from SW Virginia (way too rural for us) to Bloominton, In. and parts south or N. Kentucky area. I love the farms and hills of S. In, have driven through Kentucky many times. Love the beauty of the area between Louisville and Lexington. Important things for us; No bible belt (we live in it and they do not teach their children about dinosaurs due to the conflict of scientific dates and its conflict with their time frame of the biblical dates), we would love some upscale boutiques, coffee houses, a walking quaint town area, restaurants (other than the chains). Prefer to not be in a big city but would like a reasonable distance to one. My husband loves golf and I do interior design. He's conservative and I am liberal. We both love the outdoors and want some land. We have and take in rescue dogs. We do not want a vinyl sided cookie cutter development with postage stamp lots. Housing and architecture are important to both of us, including the real estate and in an area of appreciation. We are middle aged, no children at home and are both self employed, let's say semi-retired. Any and all input will be greatly apprecialted. Thanks.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by 4shell

Hi everyone, need help with a major decision. My husband and I are relocating from SW Virginia (way too rural for us) to Bloominton, In. and parts south or N. Kentucky area. I love the farms and hills of S. In, have driven through Kentucky many times. Love the beauty of the area between Louisville and Lexington. Important things for us; No bible belt (we live in it and they do not teach their children about dinosaurs due to the conflict of scientific dates and its conflict with their time frame of the biblical dates), we would love some upscale boutiques, coffee houses, a walking quaint town area, restaurants (other than the chains). Prefer to not be in a big city but would like a reasonable distance to one. My husband loves golf and I do interior design. He's conservative and I am liberal. We both love the outdoors and want some land. We have and take in rescue dogs. We do not want a vinyl sided cookie cutter development with postage stamp lots. Housing and architecture are important to both of us, including the real estate and in an area of appreciation. We are middle aged, no children at home and are both self employed, let's say semi-retired. Any and all input will be greatly apprecialted. Thanks.

Bloomington is a great little liberal town. But outside the downtown area and 2 miles from IU campus, it is extremely rural and conservative. I am not sure how much of a change from SW Virginia it will be. I would try to stay as close to Kirkwood Ave as possible, and the SE side of downtown has some historic homes that are pretty cool and haven't been destroyed by the college kids.

Really, I think you would be at home in the Highlands of Louisville on or near Cherokee Road. There are beautiful historic beaux arts mansions from 1900 that sit on a park and are walking distance to upscale restaurants, boutiques, antiques, and more.

Your husband likes golf, yet you guys like historic communities and cool architecture...you just described Audubon Park, a "suburb" of Louisville built in the early 1900's on a traditional golf course. The houses are beautiful and the area is certainly no Bible Belt kind of place. I know you don't want a large city, but Louisville is not a huge one. It is bigger than any city in VA, but still, not a huge city.

Another option would be the Indiana suburbs of Louisville. A town like Jeffersonville, IN comes to mind. You can't go wrong with any of those options.

[jphillips]

I don't know what price range you are thinking of, but you might look into Oldham County. LaGrange has a lot of older homes with pretty architecture and a small town type main street with antique stores, boutiques and local restaurants. We have a choice of golf courses here and depending on your price range there are many places you can find some land. We are about 25-30 min. from downtown Louisville and about 15-20 from East Jefferson county and the nice shopping it provides. On a side note; it is so refreshing to hear of someone else taking in rescue dogs. I have two Huskies, one we adopted from his foster home, he was a rescue from neglect and our other we basically rescued from the breeder (He was extremely sick and no medical attention was being given). We hope one day soon to get more land so we can take in more, but for now the two we have are quite the handful! (Not to mention the stray cat that we take care of outside and the neighbors dog for whom we provide love and affection) Best of luck finding a place to care for those puppies!