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My wife and I will be retiring within the next couple of years. We both work for the postal service. I am 54 and she is 53. We currently reside in a close in suburb of Chicago (Forest Park, IL). We like our current home and its location, which is only 10 miles from downtown Chicago. Our current home is brand new and on a small city lot, 25’ wide by 125’ deep. We do not like the Chicago winters, so we are considering a move to a warmer climate. We have done numerous on line searches and based upon things our likes and dislikes, four cities keep popping up as possible place for us to move to: Austin TX; Louisville KY; Lexington KY and Chattanooga TN.
Here’s what we’re looking for:
HOUSING: Need a single family house. We like Craftsman, Arts& Crafts and bungalow styles. Need around 2000-2500 sq ft. We would prefer a newer house, a recently rehabbed house or one that is a wreck that we can demolish and built new. Must have large open, upscale kitchen. Energy efficient and low maintenance features are things we must have. Need 2 ½ car garage. A lot of approx 50’ x 125’ would be great. Would like to stay in the $300K to $350K price range. Would pay up to $400k for the right place in the right neighborhood.
NEIGHBORHOOD: We would prefer an established neighborhood with older homes, new homes and rehabbed homes with tree lined streets. Not interested in new subdivisions with no character. We like sitting on the front porch and saying hi to the neighbors as they walk by. Close to the central city would be nice, or even in the city in he right neighborhood. Having the big box stores like Home Depot, Target, etc nearby is also on the list. We like good quality healthy food and we eat at home most of the time. Whole Foods or equivalent is a must. We will be retired, so commute time is not a big issue. We have no kids, so schools are not important. Our current town’s motto is “Big city access, small town charm”. Hoping to duplicate that in our new home.
ABOUT US: We’re both liberal Democrats. Neither of us is religious. We like outdoor activities like hiking and biking. We also enjoy riding our HD motorcycle. Since we both workout almost every day, having a good quality health club (with a variety of classes) nearby is a must. We enjoy authentic ethnic food. Need a Mexican, Thai, and Italian restaurant nearby. Also enjoy great seafood. Love to eat at neighborhood “joints’ with good quality food. We would also like to be able to go to an upscale place to eat on special occasions. We like to travel, so being near a major airport is also important. Having a good quality medical facility within easy reach is also important.
We are planning a trip to Lexington in September or October to explore our options and to see if we “like” the city. We would really appreciate any feedback regarding neighborhoods/suburbs that we should explore. We will probably stay in a condo so that we can get more of a feel for the area. Any suggestions and/or comments would be greatly appreciated.
There are two enclaves of cute Craftsman houses. One is north of Richmond Road, and it's called Kenwick. The other one is north of downtown, and it's called Castlewood. I think you'd like both of them, since you aren't looking for schools.
There are some really good Victorians on the numbered streets (2nd thru 12th or thereabouts).
The Bell Court/Mentelle Park neighborhood is just east of downtown, and you might like that. It has a good neighborhood feel, and the houses go from cute to GREAT.
Lastly, there are two good streets between High and Maxwell, west of Rupp Arena. The streets are called Madison and Merino. The neighborhood has historically had a good feel and good cohesion.
Democrat - plenty of others. No problems there. Plenty of outdoor activities. Plenty of motorcyclists. There is some good ethnic food - enough to keep a person occupied. Health Club - try the YMCA on the south side of town (Beaumont). I have not been to the one on the northside, but I hear it's good too. There are upscale restaurants in town - some are very original, others standard stuff. Your major airport will be Louisville or Cincinnati; Lexington is OK, very clean and prompt, plenty of flights; but mostly the flights go to bigger hubs like Cincinnati or Atlanta.
Lexington has very good medical care options. It serves as the medical hub for the entire eastern half of Kentucky.
I'd say "stay where you're at" judging by the number of Chicago area people who are unhappy with Lexington.
I think people need to really look around Lexington more. I didn't care for it for a while, but then I found a number of great little places to eat and became more familiar and it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It could do some things to improve but so can every city. It's a nice town.
The neighborhoods mentioned have original Craftsman houses, a bit smaller than you favor - but you won't find large garages with many of them (other than the Ashland Avenue/Fayette Park Victorian/Queen Anne houses with converted stables, but these are likely to exceed your price range.
We've got the rest of what you list: health care, several good health food stores, excellent farmers' markets open in various locations around on different days of the week in season, restaurants, outdoor opportunities, even big box stores - but again, the big boxes are on the fringe of the city for the most part, while the Craftsman houses are in the older neighborhoods, closer to downtown. Still, a 15-20 minute drive could get you from one to the other.
As for weather...we've endured two major ice storms, one six years ago; the other this past winter. Winter weather intensifies after December, but spring arrives in March (when winter can also stick around). First tracking snow typically falls before Christmas, but flurries can be seen in late November. The last ground-covering snow usually falls by mid-March. There's a blizzard about once every ten years - it's unusual for more than five or six inches of snow to fall at one time durng a typical winter. Summers can be hot and humid with thunderstorms alternating with clear to partly cloudy weather, especially in late July and August into early September. We've had very unusually high rainfall this year leading to very green landscapes, but also flooding nearby and full creeks and rivers). Or, there can be summer droughts which leave creeks dry and fields brown. Springs and falls are beautiful, with mild weather, but tornados and tornado watches are not unusual in the spring (and occasionally in late fall). Definitely a four-season environment, with quick changes along the way the usual pattern.
Some older Lexington neighborhoods now have restrictions concerning remodeling of houses, which helps preserve our architectural history and maintain the visual character of the area. Too many bad remodels (really god-awful in some cases) and tear-downs of perfectly good, modestly scaled older houses in desirable neighborhoods so they could be replaced by ostentatious, out-of-scale, badly designed new megamansions led to these restrictions, which were requested and supported by neighborhood associations. Owners can still modernize interiors (not covered by the guidelines), and can still add onto existing properties - they just have to adhere to the rules. It's not any more costly to do it right and the character of the older neighborhoods is being maintained. Just don't plan on being able to tear down an existing house in order to build a new one more to your taste in an older neighborhood, though a sympathetic addition and/or interior remodel would certainly be able to fly.
Definitely look in the downtown area as well as the Richmond Road area (Kenwick, Ashland, Mentelle Park and Bell Court neighborhoods). There are a lot of craftman and victorian style homes in those areas and they are all quite close to downtown.
If you move outside of the downtown core, the houses begin to become newer and newer. There are several areas in the city with tree lined streets and, because Lexington is not very big, you are never very far from the core.
I wish you luck!
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