Moving to Louisville: Very excited and looking for advice! (Frankfort: fit in, 2013)

[gimpofhearts]

Hello everyone!

I have checked these forums many times throughout the past few months and recently received my first job offer from the Jefferson County Public Schools. I'm very excited to begin my teaching career in Louisville with my fiance and am interested to hear opinions on the best place to live. I'm a Kentucky native, having lived in Western Kentucky my entire life. However, my fiance and I (we will be married in about 2 weeks!) have wanted to move to a larger city for quite some time and Louisville was the choice we made! Here are the fast facts from the sticky thread about newcomers.

-Where you are working
I will be a teacher with the Jefferson County School District starting in August but do not know my exact placement at this moment. I will be glad to update this once I know.

-How much you are willing to spend on housing
My fiance and I would like to rent a 2 bedroom apartment/townhouse for about $1000-$1200/month. Most of the one-bedroom apartments I have seen were much too small for us and considering that we will likely have visitors from out of town, we would like to have a place for them to stay with plenty of room for us newlyweds to not want to kill each other.

-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate
30 minutes max.

-If you have kids: Private school or public school?
No kids.

-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight?
Small city excitement is probably the best description of what we are looking for. We are both young (I'm 28 and she is 25) and would like the opportunity to walk/bike to entertainment. Bardstown road appears to be an area we will frequent often and we also enjoy parks and other recreational activities that allow us to leave the house and explore the city, making friends along the way. Having the opportunity to walk back to our apartment or pay for a short taxi ride after a night of, um...enjoyment would be fantastic!

-Community amenities important to you

Friendly people, outdoor and indoor activities, nightlife

-Pie or cake?

Pie for me, cake for my fiance. We compliment each other well.

Thank you for all of the replies and we eagerly await our move to the ville!

[Msradell]

There are very few apartment complexes in the Bardstown Road/Highlands area. Instead, there are many nice apartments located in renovated homes that would meet your criteria. You are certainly correct, this area is where many young professional couples like to initially settle. Being centrally located, you could very easily travel to any school you got assigned to within 30 minutes. Another area, you may want to check out would be the St. Matthews area. It also has a lot of various restaurants and bars within walking distance, and is much closer to shopping areas.

Here are 3 websites that you may want to investigate to see what's available:
Louisville Apartments For Rent and other Louisville Rentals — Trulia.com
Louisville Apartments for rent & Louisville KY Apartment Rentals - Zillow
Louisville Apartments - Rent Apartments in Louisville, KY

[gimpofhearts]

Originally Posted by Msradell

There are very few apartment complexes in the Bardstown Road/Highlands area. Instead, there are many nice apartments located in renovated homes that would meet your criteria. You are certainly correct, this area is where many young professional couples like to initially settle. Being centrally located, you could very easily travel to any school you got assigned to within 30 minutes. Another area, you may want to check out would be the St. Matthews area. It also has a lot of various restaurants and bars within walking distance, and is much closer to shopping areas.

Here are 3 websites that you may want to investigate to see what's available:
Louisville Apartments For Rent and other Louisville Rentals — Trulia.com
Louisville Apartments for rent & Louisville KY Apartment Rentals - Zillow
Louisville Apartments - Rent Apartments in Louisville, KY

Thank you for the great advice and resources. I have already started exploring the websites and have decided that what we are looking for is completely affordable. Thanks!

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by gimpofhearts

Thank you for the great advice and resources. I have already started exploring the websites and have decided that what we are looking for is completely affordable. Thanks!

I still like craigslist. You have to search it daily and check it very often to get the best deals and locations:

Here is a super swell located one:

2 BR, 2 Bath Highlands APT

Besides the Highlands, the Heart of St Matthews area, near the Molly Malone's bar, would be a great option for you guys.

If you guys are more urbanite types, looking into downtown, Old Louisville, Nulu, Butchertown, and even Germantown are options.

Another great area is the frankfort avenue corridor (Clifton and Crescent Hill), especially if you like good dining and coffee shops. Louisville just has so much to offer a couple your age. In general, I would avoid the large, corporate owned apartment complexes in favor of the smaller, individual landlord owned places like the one above.

That said, there are a couple large complexes out there I am just so impressed with:
Photos » Waterside at Riverpark Place

When you check out Waterfront Park and the pedestrian bridge, at least check these out. Right now, the area is kind of isolated from retail even though its so close to Butchertown, downtown, the lower Highlands, and Clifton, but that should change.

[tomocox]

Jefferson County is a large county. Even from the center (Highlands) to Valley Station, you can expect a 25-30 minute commute. I would wait until you have an assignment to get serious about housing if commuting is important.

[gimpofhearts]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Jefferson County is a large county. Even from the center (Highlands) to Valley Station, you can expect a 25-30 minute commute. I would wait until you have an assignment to get serious about housing if commuting is important.

I totally agree. While I am generally surveying at the moment, we will seriously consider our options around mid-late June with a planned move in between mid-july and early-August. By that time, I should know my placement.

Originally Posted by Peter1948

I still like craigslist. You have to search it daily and check it very often to get the best deals and locations:

Here is a super swell located one:

2 BR, 2 Bath Highlands APT

Besides the Highlands, the Heart of St Matthews area, near the Molly Malone's bar, would be a great option for you guys.

If you guys are more urbanite types, looking into downtown, Old Louisville, Nulu, Butchertown, and even Germantown are options.

Another great area is the frankfort avenue corridor (Clifton and Crescent Hill), especially if you like good dining and coffee shops. Louisville just has so much to offer a couple your age. In general, I would avoid the large, corporate owned apartment complexes in favor of the smaller, individual landlord owned places like the one above.

That said, there are a couple large complexes out there I am just so impressed with:
Photos » Waterside at Riverpark Place

When you check out Waterfront Park and the pedestrian bridge, at least check these out. Right now, the area is kind of isolated from retail even though its so close to Butchertown, downtown, the lower Highlands, and Clifton, but that should change.

Great info Peter! I love the complex you posted above though, it is a bit out of our price range. Being newlyweds and the fact that my fiance does not have a job at the moment in Louisville, I'm a little nervous about raising my housing budget. Perhaps, closer to moving time she will have an idea of her job salary and I will be able to commit to a larger budget. Also, I will most certainly be monitoring craigslist often for deals and housing that does not fit into the "corporate" category that you described. Thank you very much for all the information!

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Hotpads - Louisville is a great website with a lot of stat info.

Congratulations and Welcome to Louisville!

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Also don't forget Louisville's Trulia's Rentals

Trulia

Trulia also

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by gimpofhearts

I totally agree. While I am generally surveying at the moment, we will seriously consider our options around mid-late June with a planned move in between mid-july and early-August. By that time, I should know my placement.



Great info Peter! I love the complex you posted above though, it is a bit out of our price range. Being newlyweds and the fact that my fiance does not have a job at the moment in Louisville, I'm a little nervous about raising my housing budget. Perhaps, closer to moving time she will have an idea of her job salary and I will be able to commit to a larger budget. Also, I will most certainly be monitoring craigslist often for deals and housing that does not fit into the "corporate" category that you described. Thank you very much for all the information!

As far as "complexes" go, there are a few other "infill" type apartments in urban areas that I would recommend. One of those is this one:

Welcome to Flats on Frankfort

[matryoshka4811]

Congrats on your teaching job! A good website I've been using to check out rentals is PadMapper. It has lots of customizable options as far as price and they put all the listings on a map so you can see where in the city the rental is. We're actually moving out of Louisville but it's been a great home to us the past 5-6 years. We've always lived in the Old Louisville area and the old charm is lovely but I always loved my friends' homes in St. Matts and Bardstown too. Good luck with teaching!