Moving to New Orleans for school (Jefferson, Claiborne: apartment complexes, renting, crime)

[jamills21]

I might be moving to New Orleans this August for school at Loyola New Orleans. I would like to find a place that is safe and walking distance to campus. How feasable is it to get around NO without a car? My budget is around $1200 for a 1 bedroom but a studio would be more than fine if the location is close to campus. How is crime and general safety? I've read that Power outages are slightly more common than other cities, how true is this? Sorry if I have a lot of questions... I've been to New Orleans a couple times but not enough to make correct judgment calls at this point. Thank You.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

$1200 will get you a VERY nice 1br in the University area. And you'll be right on the streetcar line (runs right in front of Loyola campus). You can get down to the quarter, get drunk, and get back home for $2.50- and you'd be far from the only person doing that.

As far as safety, it's the safest part of the city, other than some outlying areas that are more suburban in nature.

Don't worry about the outages. The Super Bowl was a fluke.

[jamills21]

What is the lowest price for an apt around that area that you would recommend. Is there a particular street I should stay near/away from? Also, are there grocery stores within walking distance or options like grocery delivery readily available?

[annie_himself]

Stay away from the west side of Carrolton Ave, north of Oak St. I think you can use Louisiana Ave as the eastern boundary and Claiborne Ave or Fontainebleau for the northern.

Find the cheapest place you can in that area, I've been looking for years and haven't seen anything decent under about $800.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

I wouldn't go so far as Claiborne, unless you're staying west of Jefferson Ave. Areas like Freret (between Jefferson and Napoleon) are hit-or-miss, with some nicely renovated houses sharing a block with boarded-up properties. And for $1200 a month, you won't have to sacrifice anything in terms of safety, amenities, etc. The easiest thing to tell you is to look close to the universities; not only is it a really nice neighborhood, but (for obvious reasons) it's where most of the students live. As far as streets to be close to, St. Charles is "the one with all the mansions" and nice throughout, and Magazine, Maple, and Oak are where all the coffee shops, stores, etc. are (retail is really on Magazine).

[NorthStar602]

I recently looked for weeks and weeks for a 1 bedroom with a budget of $1200 a month in the Uptown/university area. Everything I saw was a mess. Maybe the students with the nice apartments weren't reading to move out for June 1st, but that's the only rationale I can think of. I ended up renting in one of the apartment complexes and I'm quite content with my decision.