Relocation
Moving to Acadiana, and working out where to look.
Lafayette Parish is small enough that almost everywhere in it is inside half an hour of everywhere else. What varies is the age of the housing stock, the lot sizes, the drainage, and what insurance costs.
Orientation
The parish, in five minutes
Lafayette is the parish seat and the center of everything: the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the Oil Center, the hospitals, the airport. I-10 runs east and west across the top of the parish. I-49 comes down from the north and ends in the city. US 90 runs south east toward New Iberia and is being converted over time into I-49 South.
The towns around it each have their own municipality, their own tax millage, and their own housing stock. Youngsville and Broussard are to the south and south east and are where most of the new construction has gone. Carencro is north on I-49. Scott is west on I-10. Breaux Bridge is over the parish line in St. Martin, Opelousas is north in St. Landry, and New Iberia is south in Iberia Parish.
All of them are inside Acadiana, and all of them are a real commute to central Lafayette measured in the low tens of minutes rather than in hours.
What actually differs
The variables worth comparing
- Age of the housing stock
- Central Lafayette runs older, with a lot of 1940s to 1970s construction close in. South of town is dominated by post-2000 subdivisions.
- Lot size
- Older in-town lots are frequently larger and irregular. Newer subdivision lots are smaller and uniform. Acreage starts once you are outside the municipalities.
- Drainage and flood zone
- Varies street by street rather than town by town. The Vermilion River and the coulee system matter more than the municipal boundary does.
- Insurance cost
- Driven by roof age, construction and flood zone rather than by which town you are in. Get a quote per address.
- School district
- Lafayette Parish School System covers the parish. St. Landry, St. Martin and Iberia parishes have their own. Attendance zones are set by the district and change.
- Municipal taxes
- Each municipality sets its own millage and there are unincorporated areas inside the parish with different rates again.
Ask for the flood zone, the roof age and an insurance quote on any specific address before you decide it is affordable. Those three move the monthly cost more than the price does.
The thing people move here not knowing
Water and insurance are the local variables
Two things about south Louisiana surprise people arriving from elsewhere. The first is that the flood map is a lending rule rather than a forecast. In August 2016 a great deal of water went into homes in this parish that were outside the mapped high-risk area. Zone X means your lender will not require flood insurance, not that you do not need it.
The second is what property insurance now costs here. Carriers have left the Louisiana market, premiums have moved a long way, and roof age has become a central underwriting question. A house with an older roof can be hard to insure in the voluntary market, and the state insurer of last resort is priced above the market on purpose.
The practical version: before you decide a price range, get an actual insurance quote on an actual address in the area you are considering. It is the single most useful hour a relocating buyer can spend.
A sensible order
How to do this from out of town
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Get a local lender before a local house
A lender who writes loans in Louisiana regularly will know what the insurance escrow does to your payment here, which a lender in another state often does not until it is late.
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Pick two or three areas, not one
Based on commute, housing stock and lot size. Then look at real inventory in each and let the houses narrow it rather than deciding from a map.
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Come for a concentrated two days
Ten to twelve houses across the areas you shortlisted, in one trip, with somebody driving who can tell you what is around each one. Two focused days beat six weekends.
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Quote insurance before the inspection period closes
On the specific address. This is the step that most often changes a decision, and doing it late is what makes it painful.
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Close, and expect a notary
Louisiana closings are passed as a notarial act before a notary and two witnesses, which is different from what you are used to if you are coming from a title-company state.
The towns
Read the parish one town at a time
Each area page covers the housing stock, the corridors, the drainage reality and the commute, without telling you who lives there.
From wherever you are now
Start with the move
Timeline, price range, what the commute has to be, and whether you have a house to sell somewhere else first.
Relocation questions
What to settle before you shortlist
What is the commute actually like in Lafayette Parish?
Short. Almost everywhere in the parish is inside half an hour of everywhere else on a normal morning, and the towns around Lafayette run roughly fifteen to twenty-five minutes to the centre. Traffic here is about school and event schedules more than about distance.
Do I need flood insurance if the house is in zone X?
No lender will require it. Whether you want it is a different question, and in this parish the honest answer is usually yes: the August 2016 flood put water into a great many homes that were mapped outside the high-risk area. A preferred risk premium on a zone X house is often modest.
Why is homeowner insurance so expensive in Louisiana?
Carriers have left the state, premiums have moved a long way, and roof age has become a central underwriting question. A house with an older roof can be difficult to insure in the voluntary market at all, and the state insurer of last resort is priced above the market by statute. Get a quote on the specific address before you settle on a price range.
What is different about a Louisiana closing?
It is a notarial act. The deal closes before a notary with two witnesses, and the act of sale is recorded in the parish. If you are coming from a title-company state the mechanics will look unfamiliar, and title examination here is attorney work.
How should I run a house search from out of state?
Local lender first, then two or three areas rather than one, then a concentrated two days of showings rather than six scattered weekends, and an insurance quote inside the inspection period. That order saves the most time and catches the most expensive surprise early.
Check it yourself
Sources and offices you can use directly
Everything on this page is checkable against a public source. These are the ones behind it.
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FEMA flood maps
The current flood zone for a specific address, from the source. Zones vary lot by lot and the maps are revised.
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Flood insurance
What a policy covers, what it does not, and how the rating works. Useful before deciding a zone X house does not need one.
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Insurance complaints
Company lookups, the consumer complaint process, and the state programs that help pay for a stronger roof.
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The CFPB
Plain-language guidance on loan estimates, closing disclosures, and what a mortgage servicer must do when a borrower asks for help.
Related
Where to go next
The pages most people read after this one.
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Buying in Acadiana
Representation, flood zones, insurance, and the process through to the act of sale.
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Areas served
Lafayette Parish and the parishes around it, town by town.
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First-time buyers
Down payment routes, USDA eligibility, and what closing actually costs.
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A REALTOR® in Lafayette
Buying and listing in the city itself.