Suggestions for new CA family (Lexington, Louisville: upper-class, appointed, transplants)

[K. Dunn]

I am posting this on the forum in a couple of different locations. To keep it short basically we had narrowed our hunt to Boone county originally and were dissappointed [after seeing it in person]in the lack of real towns [even though we LOVED the style of homes and a few of the communities by Florence and Union as well as value], so now we have re-focused on Louisville area, especially Oldham county. I don't want to rule out Lexington though, since this was the area that first got us to even think about Kentucky [picture attached] from some friends that went and were impressed and showed us photo's.

Bascially we are looking at homes in the 250K zone, want to be 15-20 minutes outside of a big city, but with a area that has a real town feel to it, has to be a area with expectional public schools [thus, the reason for Boone and Oldham county], we like a more heavily wooded area with some property around it, still want some niceties like a upper-class shopping and casual dining nearby, but LOVE those area's that mix both the old and the new together in harmony.

I will be coming out again in just a couple of weeks flying into Lexington to see more of the LEX area, then to drive up to the Louisville area to do the same, this time covering more ground and having more time to absorb it all personally. So any suggestions for area's to check out in LEX would be helpful, hard to really see anything from the highway, so your help would be nice. Then just for sight-seeing, since I have to drive from LEX to Louisville let me know anything I can easily see quickly. Thanks again!

[K. Dunn]

Well I wanted to attach a picture to that last note, but couldn't figure it out and I'm good on the internet with pictures! Dag nab it. The Icon only let's you go to a URL picture, I can't seem to find anywhere where it let's you pull from your own photo's on the computer. If anybody knows how to do that please let me know. Ciao.

Well how wrong I was, the picture did pop-up.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by K. Dunn

Well I wanted to attach a picture to that last note, but couldn't figure it out and I'm good on the internet with pictures! Dag nab it. The Icon only let's you go to a URL picture, I can't seem to find anywhere where it let's you pull from your own photo's on the computer. If anybody knows how to do that please let me know. Ciao.

Well how wrong I was, the picture did pop-up.

K. Dunn....what do you mean "true towns?" Are you looking for something like a Pasadena? You must realize its much different out here....let me know what you mean, but I think the closest thing for you is going to be La Grange.

Also, you sound like a nicecandidate for a new urbanist community being built on the jefferson/oldham line in Prospect, KY (which you should consider).

Norton Commons

It is a planned community that will have its own little downtown and more traditional style housing. There is already a neighborhood deli/pub, ice cream shop, antique store, and a few other shops open on the town square. When builtout in 10 years, the it will have its own Catholic school, fire/police station, and a population around 10,000. If you want more rural, all you have to do is to go right past that area on KY 1694. Glen Oaks subdivision across teh street is super nice. I am less familiar with Oldham County, but Tomocox is your go to guy here. That is going to be the hot real estate corridor in the NE suburbs, so if you want more "country" I suggest you look for a random home just past Norton Commons across the Oldham County line. Its beautiful country out here, especially in the fall with the rolling hills, white picket fences, and fall foilage. Further out into the exurbs, you may like La Grange, although some people expecting too much out of it have been dissapointed...I can say it is much nicer than Florence and certainly not a massive strip mall like Mall Road around Florence Mall. It has a tiny, albeit cutesy downtown, replete with train tracks running down main street with a few antique shops and restaurants! This would be your lcoal mall:

The Summit Louisville - Home

The area around that mall is also popular, including Springhurst.

As a disclaimer, let me say you must at least check out the Bardstown Road area in Louisville just to see it. Follow a road called Cherokee Road around Cherokee Park while in the area. Check out the area around this:

Lakeside Swim Club: The Official Quarry Web Site

Its a great area for kids around trevillian way! There are good public schools in the city, you just have to make sure you get into them.

[K. Dunn]

O.K. thanks STX, I see what you mean, everybody's definition is different. Your suggestions sounds good. We have been looking at the Prospect area a lot, seems what were looking for but not a lot in our price range [a few though], so that is why we were also looking in River Bluff, Goshen, and La Grange [ a little worried that La Grange may be too far away from Louisville for work reasons, I don't like traveling more than 20 minutes max, but will push it for that ideal place].

Let me try to describe as well as you do what were looking for in a town. Currently living in Thousand Oaks, CA which to be honest we love for it's progressive attitude, great schools, country feel [at least compared to the concrete jungle of the San Fernando Valley or LA just a 1/2 hour away to the south], and mix of old and new. Thousand Oaks has been good in the way of when they do create new shopping area's they are now making them all outdoor types with lots of landscaping with waterfalls, streams, fountains, ect. Sounds good, it is? Rated in the top 5 for the least amount of crime in the USA! So why would we want to move from this? Well we want to be able to step up to a larger home in a even nicer neighborhood but were not able to because of the incredibly high prices in our zone, so that is why we started the wandering eye. First into Colorado, then into Kentucky.

That perfect town to us would be something similar to Thousand Oaks, but smaller with more historical blocks to it, a shopping area which kept its charm and maybe old world look, but is progressive enough to have newer and popular shopping haunts and casual restaurants too. Don't know how well traveled you are, but a really cute town we liked was in Colorado called Manitou Springs, a town on rolling hills, streams going through it, pedestrian wood bridge crossings, bycycle paths, ect. Just a place everybody likes to wander through. Out here in CA towns like Ojai, Santa Rosa, and Solvang come to mind too for that kind of character too. That Highlands area sounds like it may something like that from the forums descriptions, but the suburbs of that area sound too high priced for our $250K budget, plus I do not know of the schools in that area.

Really looking forward to seeing your area in person from what I have read it sounds like somewhere either south or east of Louisville might be the ticket. Thanks again for your suggestions and help in the past. Keep up the good work. Ciao.

For our home we like a spaced out maybe 1 acre between each home type community, not big on any kind of track homes or dense home area's. Hope that helps when it comes to what were looking for. Thanks again for all your help.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by K. Dunn

O.K. thanks STX, I see what you mean, everybody's definition is different. Your suggestions sounds good. We have been looking at the Prospect area a lot, seems what were looking for but not a lot in our price range [a few though], so that is why we were also looking in River Bluff, Goshen, and La Grange [ a little worried that La Grange may be too far away from Louisville for work reasons, I don't like traveling more than 20 minutes max, but will push it for that ideal place].

Let me try to describe as well as you do what were looking for in a town. Currently living in Thousand Oaks, CA which to be honest we love for it's progressive attitude, great schools, country feel [at least compared to the concrete jungle of the San Fernando Valley or LA just a 1/2 hour away to the south], and mix of old and new. Thousand Oaks has been good in the way of when they do create new shopping area's they are now making them all outdoor types with lots of landscaping with waterfalls, streams, fountains, ect. Sounds good, it is? Rated in the top 5 for the least amount of crime in the USA! So why would we want to move from this? Well we want to be able to step up to a larger home in a even nicer neighborhood but were not able to because of the incredibly high prices in our zone, so that is why we started the wandering eye. First into Colorado, then into Kentucky.

That perfect town to us would be something similar to Thousand Oaks, but smaller with more historical blocks to it, a shopping area which kept its charm and maybe old world look, but is progressive enough to have newer and popular shopping haunts and casual restaurants too. Don't know how well traveled you are, but a really cute town we liked was in Colorado called Manitou Springs, a town on rolling hills, streams going through it, pedestrian wood bridge crossings, bycycle paths, ect. Just a place everybody likes to wander through. Out here in CA towns like Ojai, Santa Rosa, and Solvang come to mind too for that kind of character too. That Highlands area sounds like it may something like that from the forums descriptions, but the suburbs of that area sound too high priced for our $250K budget, plus I do not know of the schools in that area.

Really looking forward to seeing your area in person from what I have read it sounds like somewhere either south or east of Louisville might be the ticket. Thanks again for your suggestions and help in the past. Keep up the good work. Ciao.

For our home we like a spaced out maybe 1 acre between each home type community, not big on any kind of track homes or dense home area's. Hope that helps when it comes to what were looking for. Thanks again for all your help.

Hmmm. I stand by my statement that I think you will like Norton Commons area the best. Just search all around that area. It is basically building a traditional looking city but much more upscale and cleaner with tons of amenities. It is getting its own little downtown with little shops, a few of which are already open.

You may enjoy living in a more semi-rural off the beaten path area a few miles past Norton Commons. Crestwood, KY and the area around it may be an option for you then. All the shopping you could want is located at I-265 and the Brownsboro interchange, and at the next interchange there is more at Westport Road and I-265.

The Highlands is awesome...but it is more like a hipster neighborhood that happens to have a lot of wealthy and yuppy families. Eclectic shopping and restaurants abound. Think Santa Monica hip with I, dunno, the Beverly Hills kind of houses on a historic park (ok nothing in KY is like Beverly Hills, but you get the idea. For KY, some of those homes are like the Hills )

That said, I DO think you should also consider the area known as the Heart of St Matthews. Located at the crossroads of Lexington Road, Chenoweth Lane, Breckenridge Lane, and Shelbyville road, this area has some nice little boutiques, coffee shops, and restaurants. It is very family friendly and well kept and EXTREMELY safe. Google the intersection of Canons Lane and Willis Ave and search a 2 mile radius around there. Streets like Grandview have some nice homes from the 1940's in the 250,000 range for about 2,000 square feet.

If you do want some land, I have heard great things about the Goshen area, and that it is attracting a lot of transplants, especially from Detroit or Chicago for some reason. Prospect is nice and super upscale, but lacks a traditional downtown. It has your basic neighborhood shopping and retail, but it doesn't look like an unkempt strip mall--development codes are strict there--you won't find the 20 foot pole signs for gas stations or McDonald's.

I can move this out of the Lexington forum if anyone wants. Or if you have more questions, PM me if you need to know about tour options.

[Peter1948]

Also, this is a popular local site for mothers in the Louisville metro area, and you can chat to local moms here:


KentuckianaMoms | Where Moms Connect

[K. Dunn]

Thanks again STX. Lots of good info and links for us on that one. You do have us down pretty good now. Your right that Norton Commons is the kind of stuff we like and would just want to live a bit further out to get a little more rural of a area. We have some friends who opposite of us, would be more of the highlands "hipster" type, so I sent that info you wrote to them too. My wife and my friends wife should also appreciate the mom's link you gave us. The more I hear about your area, the more I like it! Really does seem to have something for everyone.

Our good friends who in some ways are the opposite of us, more like modern hipster yuppies who are very liberal democrats and love living in the city, while we are the conservative republicans who like country living and space around us, and my in-laws, who would also follow us in just a few short years, want even more rural and away from the city living. Sounds like KY has something for everyone! Can't wait to see it all in person, when you mention "across the Oldham County line. Its beautiful country out here, especially in the fall with the rolling hills, white picket fences, and fall foilage", that is the sound of pure heaven to me and my wife! My two little girls [ages 5 & 9] will also be estatic from the sound of it. Thanks again.

p.s. I have contacted TOMOCOX since noticing his knowledge on Oldham county in the past, all is good. Will let you know my thoughts and share some pictures when I get back after the 8th of Nov. on my scouting mission of your area. Ciao.