Moving - Please Help! (Baton Rouge, Lafayette: for sale, leasing, houses)

[selaguy]

Hello everyone,

Please help with any information that you can!

I am graduating in May from LSU. I have a job offer that is a traveling position and I'll be starting on June 1st, but my boyfriend runs his own business out of Baton Rouge. We are a gay couple with two large dogs (50-75 lbs) and also my mother will be staying with us. We would ideally like to rent a home for $900-1200 a month. The area has to be safe and we need a 3 bedroom or a 2 bedroom with a den (bf's business needs an office space in the home). Location is not that important as long as we are in a decent area with access to a nearby place for my mother to work at. Dogs have to be allowed and it would need to have a back yard. Another thing is that my mother will have no transportation so ideally, we would rather live in an area with nearby shops and stores if possible for my mother to work at (or in a place that has decent safe public transportation for her to get to work). She will be looking for a job as soon as we relocate, wherever that may be.

I wish I could just buy a house, but unfortunately I am not able to do so yet. I am not asking for someone to find me a perfect home to rent, but I would like to know where everyone thinks I could live. I am all ears for recommendations. I am willing to move as far West as a little past Lafayette toward Lake Charles and as far East as Slidell, so anywhere in between is fair game. We would ideally like to be within 1 or 1.5 hours of Baton Rouge for his current jobs, but the longer we live somewhere new, the more local business he can get in that new area.

Lastly, please keep in mind we are a gay couple - with that said, we have to be in an area that isn't going to hate us just because we are what we are. I know Louisiana can have those places, so we would rather avoid that.

I have searched craigslist and come up with very few options. Unfortunately, this move will be very soon, so I have to find a place and get crackin' on putting down a deposit, etc...

Thanks so much for all of your help,
Nate

[Opelousasbear]

You may want to consider the Opelousas area. Its only 45-50 miles from Baton Rouge, Its also centrally (since your employment will have you traveling) located to all southern areas of the state, Alexandria is 50 miles north, Lafayette 20 miles south, Baton rouge 50 miles east, Lake Charles 70 miles southwest.

We are a gay couple of (8years) living in Opelousas, I work in Lafayette the drive in is not bad at all. The neighborhood we live in, I find is very diverse (racially) and welcoming (we moved here in 2006). Since living here we've met most of our neighbors and come to find out there are about 5 gay households all within a few blocks of each other 3 gay, 2 lesbians. (at first we were a bit worried about being accepted) but even our straight neighbors are very accepting. It is an older neighborhood within the Historic District, Rent prices from $400 on up to $1200 depending on size of home. I don't know what kind of job your mom would want but there is a grocery store, 3 banks, 5 fast food resturants and finally an new Raisin Canes under construction, and some local resturants, all within walking distance of the neighborhood. There is also the Evaneline Downs Racino wouln't walk there from home though its about 1.5 miles, Public transportation is not avaliable yet. The City has recieved a grant to impliment a bus system I haven't heard anything about a time frame for when it will be implimented, But it is a needed service here.

If you are looking for more of a Gay Club Scene there are none here but, Lafayette does offer a few Clubs Downtown only 25 miles south.

Too Bad you cant buy now there are currently to homes on our block for sale both in good condition, and they both have attached outdoor kitchens that can be used for mother or mother-in law suits.
If you would like any more information you can email me at Lafcajun14@yahoo.com or thru this site.

[Scooter LA]

It's funny that I found your post because I was visiting the site where it stated Hammond, LA was one of the worst places to live because of violence. I have lived here all my life and never, ever had a problem. There are drugs and related activities everywhere and I guess that's were these statistics are coming from. I can bet that 95% of the time these statistics are directly related to drugs and people using them. Even the most of the victims are in a place they shouldn't have been doing something that they shouldn't be doing and get caught up.

Anyway, you are looking for a place to live. Housing rentals run from $800 to $1100 in Hammond for a 3 br and up to $1500 for a 4 bedroom in a very nice neighborhood. Hammond is a very accepting place to live. I think because of SLU, the diversity of our city is higher than most with plenty of things to do. I have several friends that are gay and none of them have had any problems living here and Hammond.

I know of at least 2 rentals that are coming up in the college area that may work for you.

If you would like, I can get you in touch with some of them. Reply back on this site and I will be glad to help if I can.

[selaguy]

Originally Posted by Scooter LA

It's funny that I found your post because I was visiting the site where it stated Hammond, LA was one of the worst places to live because of violence. I have lived here all my life and never, ever had a problem. There are drugs and related activities everywhere and I guess that's were these statistics are coming from. I can bet that 95% of the time these statistics are directly related to drugs and people using them. Even the most of the victims are in a place they shouldn't have been doing something that they shouldn't be doing and get caught up.

Anyway, you are looking for a place to live. Housing rentals run from $800 to $1100 in Hammond for a 3 br and up to $1500 for a 4 bedroom in a very nice neighborhood. Hammond is a very accepting place to live. I think because of SLU, the diversity of our city is higher than most with plenty of things to do. I have several friends that are gay and none of them have had any problems living here and Hammond.

I know of at least 2 rentals that are coming up in the college area that may work for you.

If you would like, I can get you in touch with some of them. Reply back on this site and I will be glad to help if I can.

Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated! I will actually have the rest of this week to search for a place by driving, so if you can find any places between now and friday evening or know of any already, please send me a PM and I will get back with you. As I said, the help is very much appreciated as I am basically having a lot of trouble narrowing down what to do.

[selaguy]

Originally Posted by Opelousasbear

You may want to consider the Opelousas area. Its only 45-50 miles from Baton Rouge, Its also centrally (since your employment will have you traveling) located to all southern areas of the state, Alexandria is 50 miles north, Lafayette 20 miles south, Baton rouge 50 miles east, Lake Charles 70 miles southwest.

We are a gay couple of (8years) living in Opelousas, I work in Lafayette the drive in is not bad at all. The neighborhood we live in, I find is very diverse (racially) and welcoming (we moved here in 2006). Since living here we've met most of our neighbors and come to find out there are about 5 gay households all within a few blocks of each other 3 gay, 2 lesbians. (at first we were a bit worried about being accepted) but even our straight neighbors are very accepting. It is an older neighborhood within the Historic District, Rent prices from $400 on up to $1200 depending on size of home. I don't know what kind of job your mom would want but there is a grocery store, 3 banks, 5 fast food resturants and finally an new Raisin Canes under construction, and some local resturants, all within walking distance of the neighborhood. There is also the Evaneline Downs Racino wouln't walk there from home though its about 1.5 miles, Public transportation is not avaliable yet. The City has recieved a grant to impliment a bus system I haven't heard anything about a time frame for when it will be implimented, But it is a needed service here.

If you are looking for more of a Gay Club Scene there are none here but, Lafayette does offer a few Clubs Downtown only 25 miles south.

Too Bad you cant buy now there are currently to homes on our block for sale both in good condition, and they both have attached outdoor kitchens that can be used for mother or mother-in law suits.
If you would like any more information you can email me at Lafcajun14@yahoo.com or thru this site.

I will certainly look into the Opelousas area. I used to be in a band and we once played a show at the Opelousas Little Theater. I remember that area didn't seem too.. uh... nice, but that was just one area. I would be willing to drive there and see some areas though. Any particular areas or neighborhoods that I should look at? Thanks so much for your help!

Also, those homes that are for sale - think any of those owners would consider leasing? Or probably not? Thanks!

[Scooter LA]

Originally Posted by ndrone1

Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated! I will actually have the rest of this week to search for a place by driving, so if you can find any places between now and friday evening or know of any already, please send me a PM and I will get back with you. As I said, the help is very much appreciated as I am basically having a lot of trouble narrowing down what to do.

Email me at Scooter70403@yahoo.com with a telephone number and I'll tell you about the houses. I am not sure about the dogs, kinda big, but you can check. I'll check my email after lunch. New to site, and not sure how to do a PM.