Louisville & Kentucky Friendliness (rent, buyer, luxury)

[CBfromVA]

I would say Louisville is much more religious than any place I have ever lived. And I have lived in NJ, Pa., Tx., and Va. in the last 14 years. I have never seen so many Catholic Churches and schools as I have seen here. Then add all the other denominations and mega churches. If one is an atheist,nonchristian, muslim.... I can imagine they will have a difficult time living in Louisville

[kingcopper]

actually, I'm an atheist and was born a jew and find no conflict with the common viller.

[BrushFyre]

I hear Louisville is more "live and let live" despite all the churches and such. I hope that is so. I have lived in places where if you were not the same sect/religion as the majority, you were sort of marginalized. Your kids are not included on teams or in clubs, you aren't hired, your volunteer application goes missing, etc and etc. It was BAD in some of the places I've lived. Houston wasn't like that tho. Louisville and Houston are about the same size, I think. But I have heard that excluding behavior isn't in Louisville. And I have heard that the various festivals the churches put on are really fun and everyone can go.

[kingcopper]

Houston is substantially larger than Lville, however, the church festivals are ALOT of fun and should not be missed; St. Josephs is the best!

[nlschr0]

We found that in Louisville religion had a much bigger influence than in other areas where we have lived. However, it is a big enough sized city that there were areas of acceptance for various beliefs and backgrounds.

[CBfromVA]

Originally Posted by kingcopper

actually, I'm an atheist and was born a jew and find no conflict with the common viller.

Would you mind saying what area of Louisville you live?

[kingcopper]

I live in prospect now but grew wise in the highlands-crescent hill area.

[hammockbrain]

Tomocox, I see you're a real estate agent. Wherever we decide to move, we don't plan on buying and don't want to rent anything fancy, just something with air, washer/dryer hookups and a little storage. Anything to be had like that, preferably outside the city limits?

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by hammockbrain

Tomocox, I see you're a real estate agent. Wherever we decide to move, we don't plan on buying and don't want to rent anything fancy, just something with air, washer/dryer hookups and a little storage. Anything to be had like that, preferably outside the city limits?

While I am a professional agent, and I would be happy to serve you, there are many Realtors on this site, too. My purpose here is to inform, not solicit.

That being said, yes, if you have time to be like a cat, patient but ready to pounce, opportunities for your perfect rental come open just every once in a while. Just don't do like so many home buyers or renters. When you find something you like, don' try to find better. Pounce!

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by hammockbrain

Tomocox, I see you're a real estate agent. Wherever we decide to move, we don't plan on buying and don't want to rent anything fancy, just something with air, washer/dryer hookups and a little storage. Anything to be had like that, preferably outside the city limits?

We normally do not allow realtors to give specific advice here on the chance that they are soliciting business for themselves. However, your situation is unique enough and you are wanting apartments, so tomocox, if you know of any suburban complexes please speak up. Tomocox is our NE suburban expert here.

With that said, I have been doing some exploring of Oldham County and am impressed with parts and not so impressed with others. There doesn't seem to be too many apartment complexes or retail for that matter. The most picturesque part of Oldham is on US 42 from Prospect to Goshen where many nice subdivisions, new schools, and developments go all the way to the river down to KY393. It also seems pristine and well kept with white picket fences and horse farms between subdivisions. I think this is the Oldham everyone "buzzes" about.

Exit 14 off I-71 is the KY 393 bypass and with the four lanes and all the develoment is the closest thing I have seen in the county to an upscale sprawlburbia suburb. It hosts the county's only Starbucks if that tells you anything. Other parts of the county really have turned me off, especially KY 22 and KY 146 heading out of Jefferson County into La Grange. This area is really dumpy and country looking, and IMO looks worse than the ghetto in west louisville in its own way, with intermittent shacks selling random goods along train tracks, ugly factories around Buckner, and some odd looking vacant country shacks with litter, old cars, and toys in the yard. Parts of this area are stereotypically "Kentucky." (which is ashame because KY is really more the beautiful horse farms and river like around US 42). KY 146 in Oldham looks like Dixie highway in south Louisville in parts, which has a reputation for clutter and haphazard development, plus horrific one lane travel with lots of congestion that will only get worse. Crestwood Station is a ghostown shopping center that must be an embarrassment to the county. All in all, La Grange has a cute downtown that is only about 3 blocks of shops but has massive trailer parks on all edges on KY 53, and this is just a huge turn off for an urbanite like me (sorry to be blunt). ironically, a very nice subdivison (L'espirit) lies on the edge of this trailer park park, but to me this is worse than living in urban luxury condos next to projects...why be all the way out there and live like that, paying so much for a high end home so far out only to live next to a trailer that costs less than your car? To me this premise is no different than living in the city in gentrifying area, but at least in the city you are close to everything.

Oldham still offers no large edge suburb feeling like other areas I have lived, including the north side of Indy around Carmel or Naperville, IL. This is my honest assesment of Oldham thus far. I think the best chance for the county is a large scale mixed use development with upscale hotels, condos around a lake, and lifestyle village setting retail....something like Norton Commons with national retailers. This would be best suited around the Buckner Exit as it was planned for Buckner Crossings, which I have not heard anymore about. I do know LaGrange has a mixed use proposal that may be years away but that is the type of development the county needs.

For now, the sum of the county is a mostly rural area with no retail, some bucolic horse farms interspersed with upscale subdivisions by the river, and some pretty crappy looking old country homes and factories connecting the historic population centers of the county. For some reason, urban decay doesn't bother me nearly as much as a country shack with toys and old cars in the yard.