safe places to live

LEXpert’s top picks for around $150k

by John Rice

Let’s say you are a first time buyer, retiring, downsizing, or maybe you just don’t need a big house.  Your budget is around $150k.  You don’t want to compromise location.  You don’t want a characterless neighborhood.  What to do?  Where to look?

Here are my top 5 picks for neighborhoods to consider.  All are from the 80s and 90s and all are in southwest Lexington:

  1.  On the low end of the budget, you should consider Overview Drive in Hidden Springs.  One side of this street backs to a creek, so you have a little breathing room since the houses on the other side of the creek are a little further away.  Not that you will, but you could walk to the Boston Road Kroger, or Starbucks, or all the stores on either side of Boston Road.  You’ve got a gas station and pharmacy too.
  2. If you like being in an affluent part of town at a bargain price, look into either Ashbrooke or Harrods Point.  Both are right on the Fayette-Jessamine County line out Harrodsburg Road.  Both are nice, quiet and convenient locations.  You have Bellerive Shopping Center sooo close.  Just down Harrodsburg Road is Palomar Shopping Center, the library and the YMCA.
  3. Copper Trace is in the middle of it all.  It is on the outside corner of Man O War and Clays Mill Road. Anything you want to do in south Lexington is a very short drive.  Unless you are on Spring Run Road, there is only one way in and out of either side of this neighborhood.  The huge pin oak trees that line the streets give it that established vibe everybody likes (except in the fall when the leaves drop!)
  4. While all of Clemens Heights is a nice neighborhood, one street in particular is amazing.  If you know the area, you know I am talking about Steamboat Road.  Almost the whole street backs to either greenspace or the city owned Waverly Park.  I’ve been in many houses on either side.  The wooded greenspace is a great view.  Waverly is a real gem of a park.  Just the right size and all the features you’d want.
  5. The fifth one was Harrods Point, but I combined it in #2 with Ashbrooke since they are so close.

The LEXpert tours Timber Creek

by John Rice

It was a beautiful day yesterday.  Had to put the top down and talk about one of my favorite neighborhoods in all of Lexington in the $120-160k range……Timber Creek.

If you want to be near Hamburg in this price range, your choices are pretty much the neighborhoods off of Liberty Road or Timber Creek.  I’ve always recommended Timber Creek.  It just has a lot of things going for it.  It’s got a park close by, a walking trail, banks, restaurants, gas stations, a veterinarian and other businesses, it is just across Man O War from Hamburg, and it is in an area with much higher priced houses.

I tend to think of Timber Creek as two neighborhoods really.  The earlier section has bigger lots.  It feels a lot like Eastwood, which is another neighborhood I like.  The newer section has smaller lots and more of a Masterson Station vibe.  My favorite section is the older one just because it has more space, but the location is so good that I can recommend both.

Here is a video I did of the park that is within walking distance from Timber Creek:

Guess these 2 neighborhoods that are so much alike?

by John Rice

This neighborhood use to be on the edge of Lexington.  It was a rural setting with high end houses on acre lots.  There is a section of land that later became available.  Those houses are still on larger than normal lots, but less than an acre.  It is close to upscale dining and shopping.  It has other equally desirable neighborhoods around it.  When you are in this neighborhood, you still can feel a little bit of how it use to be in the country.

Know what two neighborhoods I am talking about?  I bet some long term Lexingtonians who know 40502 will say Lakewood.  Everybody else may think Greenbrier.  Both are right.

Back in the 50s when Lakewood was being developed, it was on the edge of town.  There were no curbs on the streets.  The lots were big.  It was a rural setting.  Things like New Circle Road and The Lansdowne Shoppes did not exist.  There was no Alumni Drive.  Just a country road called Mount Tabor.  It eventually became surrounded by other nice neighborhoods.  Then in the mid 80s to mid 90s various bits of a large chunk of land became available and were developed.

In the 70s and 80s, Greenbrier was in the country too.  There was no Man O War nor Hamburg.  You took Winchester Road or Bryant Road to get there.  Greenbrier is now surrounded on 3 sides by neighborhoods like Walnut Grove Estates, Bryant Oak Place, Ashford Oaks and The Reserve at Greenbrier (which has absolutely nothing to do with Greenbrier….guess you can’t trademark neighborhood names?)

Greenbrier is in for some changing.  It has already begun.  It really isn’t a rural neighborhood any more.  It is turning into the classic upscale 40509 neighborhood much like Lakewood, or Ashland Park are to 40502.  What makes both unique are not only the larger lots, but the feel of the neighborhood that just can’t be matched elsewhere.  Those newer streets in Lakewood were full of much nicer houses than the others when they were new.  Right now, the Jimmy Nash houses are much nicer than anything in Greenbrier proper.  But what can’t be duplicated is the mature landscaping and the peaceful easy feeling you get in the older parts of Lakewood and Greenbrier……those features were part of developing the neighborhood.  Developers just don’t do that any more.

So, I think we will see more buyers viewing Greenbrier as a unique neighborhood surrounded by other upscale neighborhoods in a convenient location.  When I moved here in 1985, Greenbrier was way out of town.  It is hard to believe there is a Costco less than 5 minutes away now.  Lakewood 2.0, here we come!

What happens when Lexington runs out of space?

by John Rice

Want to know what I am thinking about?  Land.  That’s right, how much of it we have left in Fayette County and what it means when we run out.

Lexington has an Urban Service area, which is the land available for development…..it’s like our version of what other towns call their “City Limits.”

Short of expanding it, we will run out soon.  Now, I am sure the city will reluctantly expand it a little, but we don’t really have much space left.  Period.  We are already to Jessamine County on the south.  We have giant horse farms to the east and west.  These are farms owned by people who don’t need money.  Even if they decided to sell, it just would not be profitable to develop.  Plus, many farms sold off their property development rights, aka PDR, to the city.  That means they will always be farms.  Anything outside the urban service area cannot be subdivided into anything less than 40 acres.

About all we have left is out towards Georgetown and Winchester Road.  After that it is infill.  After than we will probably see more construction in adjoining towns, giving Lexington “Real” suburbs.

So what will happen at that point?  Prices in Lexington will go up.  Neighborhoods/locations that have been less than desirable will become more desirable.  We’ll see many older neighborhoods renewed since people will be happy to live somewhere in Fayette County.  We’ll see more additions and remodeling too.

Lexington will continue to grow, like it or not.  It is just too pretty of a town to not.  It has enough large employers that it will always be the commercial center of this half of the state.  Many people go to college here and never leave.  Truth.

Think of it in these terms…..the 40502 zip code has always been the most desirable part of Lexington.  There really are no bad areas of 40502.  Kenwick was the armpit of 40502 until about the mid 90’s.  That neighborhood still has a long way to go in the very back, but it is getting there quickly.   People want to live there for its location.  Same thing will happen all over Lexington eventually.  Many neighborhoods that people are not interested in today will go up a notch or two in desirability as living anywhere in Lexington becomes more desirable than commuting from a surrounding town.  As prices in 1st choice neighborhoods go up due to demand, that will push buyers to their 2nd choice neighborhoods.  Rinse.  Wash.  Repeat.  The values of the 2nd choice neighborhoods will go up, pushing buyers down another ring.  At that point many will have to pick between living in Lexington or being in Nicholasville, Winchester or Georgetown.  Those are the surrounding towns that I think will grow the most as we run out of space.

NOW is the time to get into Lansdowne Merrick

by John Rice

Pepperhill

Lansdowne-Merrick.  Kind of reminds me of Kenwick in a way.  I mean, here are two neighborhoods that have an awesome location and have been the bargain of the 40502 zip code.  Kenwick was underpriced all the way up until the late 90’s.  It has arrived.  Lansdowne-Merrick on the other hand, is about to arrive.

What makes this neighborhood so right?  The location.  Just like Kenwick, it is surrounded by super desirable neighborhoods costing much more.  Check out a map and you’ll see what I am talking about.  You’ve got Lansdowne Estates and the Glendover area just across Tates Creek Road.  Across Alumni Drive is Turkey Foot and Lakewood.  Warrenton Woods is right beside you.  Castlegate is across Chinoe Road.  Oh, and you have a large park and elementary school in the neighborhood too.  Throw in being 5 minutes to The Lansdowne Shoppes, Chinoe Shopping Center and the Romany Road area, and you can see how you are getting the 40502 lifestyle everybody wants for half price.  I’ve always considered this neighborhood to be the “Lite” version of Turkey Foot.

This is a 70’s neighborhood.  You get some ranches, 2 story houses, a few split foyers.  You will see some wood sided contemporary homes too.  Most range from 1800 square feet to 2500 square feet.  Some have basements.  Some have finished basements that would add to that square footage.

The value range is mostly $200-300k.  Towards the lower end, you’ll get a solid house that may need some updating.  On the higher end, you should expect either a nicely updated house or a larger one with a basement.

I have been saying for a long time that this place will pop like Kenwick did.  I’ve noticed a few super updated houses on the market lately.  Today, I saw this house that is undergoing an extensive renovation.  They are blowing out the back of the roof to add more space.  When you start seeing this, you know it is a good time to get in the neighborhood.  You just cannot beat this location.  As prices in surrounding neighborhoods have gone up, this is the last undervalued spot to be in 40502.

Other neighborhoods on my watch list:  Meadowthorpe, Idle Hour and the front part of Gaineway.