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Thinking of moving down that way next year, property seems pretty cheap, and Ive heard good things about that community down there from some friends. Thought I'd hop on a forum and confirm that info, might also ask which parts of town are recommended to move to... Ive been car free for 4 years, and looking to keep that lifestyle.
FunkyStickman
10-24-09, 07:00 PM
The Westbank is pretty good, I lived there for about 9 years, though the roads aren't really cyclist friendly. Really, there's very few places in N.O. that have bike lanes. You can find neighborhoods in Metairie where you can walk to everything you need, much less bike. Property downtown and by the lake is expensive, and if you venture into N.O. East there's still tons of wasted neighborhoods that were never rebuilt from Katrina. It's pretty much no-man's-land once you go east of Gentilly.
The Westbank was rebuilt rather nicely, you can barely tell anything happened there four years later. Most of it didn't flood, and it was mostly wind damage. The market fluctuates, so it depends on what you can find, and where. More than likely, you'll have to find a house in a good neighborhood that needs fixing up, or re-fixing up if it was repaired hastily after the storm.
It's a cool place to live, but I have 4 small kids, and didn't want to put them through Orleans Parish public schools, couldn't afford private schools, and couldn't afford a house with a real back yard, so about 2 years ago we moved out towards Thibodaux, where I grew up. We still like to visit, and out of the places we'd live, either Algeirs or Weswego would be our first two choices. Neither place has roads with big shoulders, though Westwego has a park with trails not too far away.
If you have any specific questions, I'll answer what I can.