If you are looking to buy a place, I am about to sell my one bedroom condo with security entry in the Lyndon area. Very convenient to the Oxmoor and St. Matthews Mall and right off Westport Road area. I am about to graduate college and looking to relocate from Louisville (after 15+ years) for a bigger city with more job opportunities in my job field. I'm currently renovating it so it will be ready by spring.

And best of all we're not real sensitive about the spelling of our city's name -- it's even okay if you spell it Lousiville!

It's a great town for foodies with great variety and high-quality restaurants, specialty shops, and wine shops.

For sports, the new arena is really nice and Slugger Field is one of the best places to take in a baseball game. And of course, there's Churchill Downs. Derby is always a fun time, whether or not you actually go to the track. Finally, a good reason to buy a fancy hat!

Vibrant arts and music scene.

I would recommend St. Matthews and Crescent Hill -- hard to beat the location. 

I moved here in 2004 and was deligted with less traffic, great mom and pop restaurants and a city that really felt like a community. 

There's plenty of sports to keep you occupied.  As a casual sports lover, there seems to be an infinte number of places to watch sports.  It really is a sports town.

There are wonderful old neighborhoods here that are very unique and different than many places in the United States.  And St. Matthews is a great neighborhood.

And soon that neighborhood will have a pizza joint that serves until 5 a.m. everyday.  Sold?

Dear Louisville Newbie,

My family moved to Louisville in 1998.  We previously lived in Lexington, Ky and Atlanta, Ga. Lexington was great for college but too small for us in our post-grad life.  Atlanta was too big and had too much traffic for our liking...we lasted 3.5 years there.  We decided to move to Louisville because it was closer to family, had less traffic/congestion, good economy, affordable housing, progressive city for the most part,awesome public park system, and very convenient to other major cities (Nashville-Cincy-Indy-St Louis).  After 12 years we can honestly say we still love it here!

When we first moved to Louisville we lived in St Matthews as well (down the street from Seneca Park).  That area of town is very convenient to shopping, dining, downtown, parks, etc.  We stayed in St Matthews for 7 years.

As far as things to do sportswise there are plenty of options.  Our AAA baseball team, Louisville Bats, is one of my family's favorite things to do.  Of course my husband is a huge Cin. Reds fan so we head to Cincy quite a bit (1 hr/10min).  I, on the other hand, am a St Louis Cards fan so a four hour trip on 64 west only gets done once a year.  There is also all of the University of Louisville sports programs as well as University of Kentucky programs.  And of course you must check out Keeneland & Churchill Downs horse racing at some point...personally I prefer Keeneland (in Lexington) because it is smaller, cleaner, and more quaint.

Housing Market is like most midwestern states...still a buyers market but we are not struggling like the coastal regions so you cannot expect to 'steal' a house but you can get a deal.

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

Stephanie Mattingly
HGTV Featured Real Estate Expert 08/09/10
RE/MAX Properties East
502-751-3326 (cell)

I was just talking to a guy yesterday who told me he moved to Louisville 18 years ago. At the time, it was a temporary, work-related move expected to last a year and a half. This is a common story - as is the "boomerang" story. Lots of folks live in Louisville, leave Louisville, and then find their way back. My advice is: be careful. You just might not want to leave once you get here.