any advice about moving family to nola!?! (New Orleans, Metairie: best neighborhoods, rent)

[rachel_p]

Hi!

My husband and I (in our late twenties), along with our 4 year old son are planning to move to New Orleans next Spring/Summer. We visit the city a few times a year so we are somewhat familiar with the area but mostly just the places you visit while on a 4 day vacation (the Quarter, Marigny, Garden District, City Park area, Algiers Point, etc)

I have read a lot of the threads about people looking for "safe" neighborhoods or the burbs but I love the city for what it is and I don't want to live on the Northshore in order to escape "scary" New Orleans lol. We would still like to live in a family friendly area that is reasonably priced and somewhere I would feel comfortable walking our dog in the evening and letting my son play in the yard without being too far away. On our last trip a few weeks ago we drove through the Gentilly Terrace and Lakeshore area and liked what we saw but we asked a few people who are from Nola and they had mixed feelings...although those people have a much bigger budget than we do We have even considered Algiers Point but all I know about that area is from what I have seen after taking the ferry and strolling around for a hour or so.

Also, we are prepared to send our son to private school if that is our only option since I have not heard great things about the schools but if anyone has any info/advice about charter schools I would love to hear it!

Thanks!

[rburnett]

See: //www.city-data.com/forum/new-o...relo-nola.html

There are plenty of options for you in the city. No need to run off to the burbs. Definitely rent first though.

While Lakeshore and Gentilly are inside the city limits, they are suburban in character (single family homes, car centric, large front lawns, marginal walkability). That said, the vibe is still noticeably different and much more New Orleans than Metairie or up on the Northshore. If that's what you're looking for, then Lakeview, Lakeshore, and Lake Terrace are the best neighborhoods to look at. Extremely low crime and well kept properties. As a bonus, the land close to the lake here is well above sea level. Second choices would be the western portion of Gentilly near City Park and West End.

If you want a little more walkability, check out Navarre, Broadmoor and the City Park triangle.

If you want true walkability and good transit, you're going to have to look at the older neighborhoods. The safest of these is going to be Uptown on the eastern side of Audubon Park, but it's very expensive. Other parts of Uptown as well as well as Carrollton and Mid-City (close to City Park Ave.) are good second choices. Carrollton tends to have the most crime out of these three.

[Yattycathy]

Well, what is your price point? You might check out Lake Vista and old Metairie. You also have to consider flood insurance rates-- everyone is complaining about it! I personally like midcity but not sure how safe it is.