Moving to New Orleans-safe neighborhood? (Metairie, Gretna: real estate, apartment complexes, rentals)

[etincelle1007]

Hi everybody,

My boyfriend and I will be moving to New Orleans in the spring. We are trying to figure out where to live. We want to rent first. He will have a job at or near the New Orleans Naval Support. We need to find a safe appartment, 1 or 2 bedroom with 2 parking spaces. Safety is the most important issue. Rent can be up to about $900. Any suggestions? Thank you so much!!!!

[bustaduke]

Not sure if they can help you but here is a site for ya.

busta




Naval Support Activity New Orleans, LA (http://www.dodlodging.net/NSA_NEWORLEANS.HTM - broken link)

[MetroBTR]

That's on the west bank, right? If so, you should stick to the west bank. The CCC can be a real pain during peak travel times. Might be able to check out craigslist and find a small apartment or something in historic Algiers Point. The west bank really isn't my specialty. I'm sure WestbankNOLA will be in here soon with some golden information.

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by MetroBTR

That's on the west bank, right? If so, you should stick to the west bank. The CCC can be a real pain during peak travel times. Might be able to check out craigslist and find a small apartment or something in historic Algiers Point. The west bank really isn't my specialty. I'm sure WestbankNOLA will be in here soon with some golden information.

Shoutout to MetroBTR

etincelle1007
It depends on what you like. If you would like to stay on the Westbank and would like the whole New Orleans feel, I would recommend the point in Algiers. Historic, charming and relatively safe. If you want more of a suburban fell I would look to Gretna.

Since the commute would be to Algiers living on the Eastbank wouldn't be to bad since you would going against GNO traffic crossing the river. The only delay you would see would be a slight one at the dome and then hell going into Metairie.

Check out craigslist for rent deals. 2 bedroom for $900 isn't impossible but it will be easier to find on the Westbank than on the Eastbank.

[etincelle1007]

Thank you guys for all your responses. We are not picky, probably would rather prefer the "city-feel" rather than suburban feel. We don't have kids and don't plan on any and we don't have pets either.

I will check out the West Bank area and Algiers then (not sure if that's the same thing) - haha! I have to get acquainted with all the terminology of the neighborhoods, East Bank, West Bank, Uptown etc. I am not all that familiar with that yet.I was looking at Craig's list , there are some possibilities there.

Thanks again guys!! :-)

[Patstnt]

Algiers Point is a beautiful area with houses very much like uptown. But you do want to be very cognizant of the crime in the area.

[etincelle1007]

Patstnt,

Thank you for your reply and I am glad you did reply because I did some research and even though I found some places, I did the street view on Google and wasn't necessarily excited by the looks of it. It looks somewhat run down and iffy. Given, yes, the images were probably taken a while ago, but still.

To lay it out I basically don't want to have constant foot traffic on the street - and by that I mean "bad" foot traffic - drugs etc. I would prefer to not even live in a neighborhood that is in the close vicinity of a bad place and people "cut through". I just don't want to live somewhere where I have to wait in my car for a certain person to pass so I can get out.

At this point I give up on living somewhere to "get the feel of the city" - I just want a place where my car and house won't get broken into or cased every day (knocking on the door at noon etc.). I don't want people asking me if they can rake my yard or if I have a dollar for the bus.

Does anyone know if River Garden Apartments on either St. Andrew or Felicity are any good? This is supposed to be in or near an area called Gretna. Also, I saw a place called Saulet in the Lower Garden District, but someone on the web described it as "a luxury living in the middle of a ghetto". Is this true?

I live in a city where good and bad neighborhoods practically touch, so I understand that every city will have that, I just want to be out of the immediate vicinity of all the foot traffic and blue lights on non-stop.

Thanks so much guys!!!

[mnr3]

I hate to say this, being from Algiers, but even in the point, thinks can be iffy and much outside of there, more so. Unfortunately, the same can be said for most of the metro area, except when it gets to be really suburban; but then you get to play the traffic game or it's just far away from the stuff that makes NO great. The suggestion to check out short-term Naval support apt. is a good one, so you can then do some hunting about town, and use your own comfort level. The good 'hood touching bad one is the norm in NOLA, and since Katrina has even been more of a moving target. One thing I would suggest is finding something uptown, like half a shotgun or something, but because no one can know what your comfort zone and because things really go from good to bad back to good again in a matter of a few blocks all across the city, it's hard to give blanket recommendations. Best for you to give an address and get feedback. and I'll repeat that you might want to look less at apartment complexes and more at rented parts of houses. And it might be worth it to take a quick trip to visit some places. Or take advantage of the short term availability through the Naval support until you get your bearings. good luck!

[etincelle1007]

mnr3,
Thanks so much for your reply. I understand what you mean. Thank you for the suggestion about the shotgun houses - I read that somewhere on the internet too - also suggestions from people living in NO. I will definitely have to look into it! Thank you! I did see a couple listings for studios etc. that are basically a part of someone's house or their guesthouse etc. We will definitely come to New Orleans first, not blindly rent somewhere. We are not "scared" or anything, and we both grew up in big cities, we just didn't want to move into an area where we stick out like a sore thumb. I will keep searching and perhaps if something comes along, I can post it here and hopefully will get some feedback. I totally understand about the neighborhoods changing within a few blocks, it is like that here too. Maybe we should get a dog :-)) Thanks again for your response!!

[mnr3]

just on a whim, I checked out the nola.com real estate section, which also has a place for rentals, associated with the local newspaper, the times-picayune. don't know if it breaks any forum rules to post the full site address, but you can click through nola.com to find it. if you are familiar with big city life, then nola won't be a shock, but unlike many larger cities, there are not many clear dividing lines between good and bad, as I mentioned, like a "south side" where it's rough and a north side that isn't with a steady gradation between them. there are lines, but they are so numerous, it's just hard to generalize; but it's also what makes NO great, b/c there are still real neighborhoods. you need to figure out if he is going to be on the west bank or east bank, as I think the Naval support has installations on both.
nice moniker, by the way, "sparkie" (I teach French)