Recession proof your life with an American dream in Natchitoches, Louisiana

 

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Carol Forsloff - While the oil spills into the Gulf, as a part-time Louisiana resident I am often asked how I am.  But I am safe and sound and living the good life in Natchitoches, surviving the recession and ready to share this secret.

Seniors have been seriously impacted by the recession. But that hasn’t happened everywhere. Some small towns in the United States have actually been doing okay despite some struggles and a few frayed edges.

If you are bound for a career and want to work your way up to the big time, then perhaps Natchitoches is not for you.  Getting a good job can be harder in small towns anyway, especially in a recession.

But if you are in the trades, a superior carpenter with diversified skills, you can join the ranks of the busy in town and have work in plenty to do.

Need a home on the cheap, yet beautiful.  Well, Natchitoches is the personification of beauty.  The run-down house is an aberration in most of Natchitoches that prides itself on looking good, not just for strangers but for friends as well.  That humble-looking house on the corner can be absolutely stunning inside.

A house can be had for $125,000, sometimes less, sometimes more, just a tad  those these days.  This is not a town that overdid itself so that real estate plummeted, leaving hundreds of people broke and properties wasted.  There are many good deals to be had in a place where one can know their neighbors and become part of a vibrant community and bounce with the town.

A recent interview with the town mayor of Natchitoches, Louisiana, provides insight into the secret why seniors will make it in some places and may not in others. I spoke with him to find out what that secret might be.

Natchitoches is a college town and also a place designated by U.S. News and World Reportlast year, as well as Kiplinger at various times in the past ten years, as one of the top ten retirement destinations. It is also the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase and a place where people come from all over the world to do research on history of the French settlers, the Spanish, and the English, who came to Natchitoches by turns over the years.

Despite the downturn and layoffs recently at the University, that ambiance of the small University town still exists, with things to do that are fun and that don't cost a lot of money.

In addition Natchitoches is a small New Orleans with architecture that is similar to the grand old city, now in ruins. It also has jazz, a river, and an exotic Creole community as enticements for visitors. But it isn’t just that historical significance of Natchitoches that is keeping the economy going and thereby helping seniors. Like other small towns, it’s a number of things.

Diversification and not over-spending, Mayor Wayne McCullen of Natchitoches points out,  are keys to how the town will likely fare over the recession. That diversification will help everyone, he says. The fact that the town is small, little more than 18,000 means that businesses are able to connect with one another and exchange ideas through meetings. That willingness to lean on one another is the hallmark of the small town.

Natchitoches has tourism, a college and that retirement designation. It is one of the few towns that hasn't shown a significant drop in its tax base and continues to grow, just a tad, but in the positive direction overall.

 

Many of the local banks, like the Bank of Montgomery that has been in Natchitoches for generations, refused to take on subprime loans, preferring to do business in that old-fashioned way. That old-fashioned way included knowing your customer and giving loans that were based on the borrower having a reasonable down payment and earnings to support the payments.   That's a good thing to know for first and second time home buyers.

In some ways, Natchitoches is in a bubble, with the insulation of that bubble provided by a growing number of baby boomers with solid defined benefit pensions that aren’t affected in the same way that private savings can be.

A local realtor, Janice Bolten,  underlines the fact that because the homes of seniors didn’t inflate in Natchitoches as in other places, it is easier for them to sell their homes than it would be in cities. So these seniors, if their health is serious enough, can move to join their children, unlike what has occurred in other places, according to reports. This is unlike seniors in cities and other places where the fact that seniors can’t move has increased local budgets, causing economic problems.  At the same time, for those seniors looking for an economical place to retire, Natchitoches is the town that affords a lot for these folk.

Natchitoches is unique in many other ways, and those who look for places to retire can be assured of some financial stability they might not have in other places if they move to Natchitoches. The town of the Steel Magnolias, where the movie was made, shows its steel again in the spines of the residents who have lived through hard times before and can likely do it again, as town leaders maintain. It’s likely folks elsewhere may need that steel even more than the folks of Natchitoches, given the fact that other places might not have the same support systems.

The town is having its own tough times, with layoffs and some folks leaving for University jobs in other places.  Natchitoches worries as well about its good neighbors to the South, as it is always that good neighbor with storms come and people need a place to run.  But it has that resilience, that way that says "I know I can" like good people everywhere who believe in themselves and the American dream that remains.

 







 

Now those who live here advocate their town, like people do everywhere, but in times like these where pennies have to stretch just a little bit more, isn't it nice to know that towns like this exist and are within the reach of many reaching for the American dream that exists in knowing your neighbors and knowing, like they do, you can make it somewhere after all.