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I'm hoping the header summarizes it okay. Hubbie just this week accepted a job in Georgetown for a Toyota subsidiary. We've lived in a few states (explaining my username) and decided for ourselves a few states back that you don't buy until you've lived somewhere about a year. We'd like to keep our monthly rent around $1400-$1600/month. We have 3 kids - elem, middle & high school aged, that we'd like to have in their new schools on 1/4, not asking for much, eh? . The Georgetown/Lexington commute looks OK to us. Oh, and, um, Pie. Pecan pie. (See moderators, we read the note!)
We will be going out to see neighborhoods, etc., & our starting point is:
With 3 kids, we are looking for better PUBLIC schools: Beumont/Clark/Morton Middle; Dunbar/Laffayette/Clay High. Maybe Hayes/Clay if we can't get a 3br we like in these areas, but at that point we start looking back north at Georgetown, maybe? We want the schools to have good academic (college oriented) programs and for eldest to be able to continue her AP courses. Currently, we live memphis way where the "big city" has low rated schools vs. the 'burbs -- but it looks like Lexington is more the other way around.
Right now we're working from Craiglist mostly as realtor.com doesn't have rentals for Lexington (they do for much of the U.S>) and kentucky.com has mostly smaller and student rentals or the really high end. Being careful, though, as we see that a lot of the Craisglist stuff is scam. (Getting email replies like "I'm out of the country but want to rent my house, send Cashier's check, I'll send you keys." Yah, right.) Anyway, bottom line:
1) Can anyone recommend good sources other than Craigslist for rentals to families? (Finding a lot for students and apartments but not so much for mid-size family homes.)
2) For those with college bound kids, maybe you could say - would you choose some of the less-highly rated middle/HS's in Lexington if that turned out to be your affordability point for housing, or look back to Georgetown, Versailles, etc.? Maybe I'm prejudiced by the fact that the Scott County schools website just doesn't have all the information about academics/enrichment/AP courses, etc. that Fayette Co. does on its school site.
If anyone can point me at a good Farmer's Market (locally grown/raised) stuff in Lexington, maybe we'll just move next door to THAT. Thanks for any ideas with this & happy holidays!
I think you should be able to find something in your price range in a good school district. Even though they don't advertise some of the larger realty companies do have rentals. I seen signs from time to time with Prudential. If it were me I would focus on the schools. Some of the poorer performing schools have too many distractions. I would look to Dunbar and Henry Clay. Plenty of AP classes plus both have excellent magnet programs within them.
For middle school I would focus on Morton and Beaumont. If you look at Hayes be sure it's in an area that feeds to Henry Clay and not Bryan Station. The area feeds to both.
IF you decide on another county I would consider Woodford before Scott.
If you don't mind horrible traffic, then Lexington is for you. The city has just outgrown the roadways and it can be quite aggravating.
My husband and I both work at Toyota and live in Georgetown. The short drive to work is very nice, plus we are close enough to Lexington to be able to leave it there when we are done. If I were going to move to Lexington and it was within the school district of your choice, I would highly recommend living close to the interstate or suffer the consequences. :-).
You can easily rent a house of most sizes on your budget, anywhere in this area. I would subscribe online to the Lexington Herald Leader to find rentals, or just check with a local relator.
Belated thanks to all -- just got back yesterday and think we have a house, but there are also plenty for rent if it does not work out. Lexingtongal, we are looking at Scott if we aren't in Lexington, as the deciding factor for going outside Lexington would be commute sanity and husband's job is Georgetown. Got to see Nicholasville Road at the height of rush hour, and...seriously. That, *every* weeknight?
Georgetown - we will save commute time and money on auto, gas, rent. Lexington, we could be in an area that is more walkable and familiar to this city kid.
The schools are the issue I keep going back and forth on. Where we live now we are in a "top" school but that's party a function of a more affluent area where parents themselves are more educated/motivated where it comes to their kids' education. I would not say the teachers are all that much better - in fact many are mediocre & some are abysmal. By high school, if you aren't in the honors programs, you are effectively being babysat. Meanwhile, in the "B+" schools, you've got much the same kind of teachers but a less heterogeneous student population - some excel, some aren't really motivated, but the opportunities are still there. And there are downsides to choosing the "privileged" part of town if you can't exactly offer your own kid a "silver spoon".
But I'm digressing all over the place. I think we'll love wherever we are, but I am truly amazed that parts of Lexington seem to go into utter gridlock for a few hours every night -- worse than I've seen in LA or Chicago for pete's sake!
The secret to not having todeal with traffic is to live within New Circle Rd. Generally you will be going against the traffic grid. It is an entirely different experience than living on the outskirts of town and traveling with the herd!
I think there are certainly advantages to having your kids in a school that has educated parents; more involvement, higher expectations, etc. Lexington has one of the highest percentages of adults with a Bachelor's degree, or higher, in the U.S. (in the top 5 if I remeber correctly).
The above brings me back to my favorite school combination.
Ok, trying this again - it seems like CD just ate my post!
My husband has made the commute from the Man O War/Nicholasville Rd area (Waterford) to Georgetown, and he would not recommend it (this coming from a man who previoulsy commuted for an hour each way on the tri-state in Chicago).
Staying within New Circle will help with the commute and give you some good school options, like lexingtongal mentioned. If you can get to Newtown Pike, the jump to Georgetown on I-75 is easy. Also, the Hamburg (towards the east) and Masterson Station areas (towards the west) will give you more rental options with an easier commute, but the schools become more of an issue.
If you are considering Scott County, there are some rental homes that cater to relocation families affiliated with Toyota. There are some good schools in Scott County, but it is a much smaller district and the general lifestyle/cultural differences between life in Georgetown and life in Lexington are a consideration.
www.lbar.com has some rental on it now. Also, check the site for Ballhomes.........I think it is Ballhomes.com? They have some rentals on there too. Good Luck!
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. The Georgetown/Lexington commute looks OK to us. Oh, and, um, Pie. Pecan pie. (See moderators, we read the note!)
Thanks for any ideas with this & happy holidays!
