CAn anyone tell me about the Shephard Hills area in Chattanooga? (East Ridge: transplants, for sale)

[gulfgirl]

I was on a realtor website and saw a charming 6 bed/3 bath house for sale in Shepard Hills for 228K. Being from Florida, that seemed like a great deal!!!

[jkmewright]

If it's the one I am thinking of, that's a cute cute cute little spot with a field/park area for the kids and pets to play. I looked at a home just around the circle from there. The school zones leave a lot to be desired but here are some great threads and info for you. The home is at the bottom of the ridge and not in the "neighborhood" but still has the benefits of being so. By the way that house is just too cute, did I mention that?

http://www.city-data.com/forum/chatt...e-housing.html

http://www.city-data.com/city/Ridgeside-Tennessee.html

Maybe P.M. Dasmarian for more info.

[dasmarian]

Thanks for the press jk . . . Yes I am a happy resident of Shepherd Hills. It is a wonderful place to live, and is somewhat of a hidden treasure in Chattanooga. Here is the lowdown:

SH is a 'secret' neighborhood on the east side of Missionary Ridge. It is walking distance to both the top of the ridge and the bottom. The neighborhood is about 200 homes, and is made up in general of older folks, many who have lived there for 30, 40, 50 years, and younger professional families. There is no way to describe it other than saying it is a mix between Mayberry and Wisteria Lane. The neighborhood is very close knit, in just over a year we have lived there we can probably greet about 60 neighbors by name. The homes are beautiful, each unique and with character.

When we found our house we were shocked by the "low" price. We had been looking in the wildly overinflated N Chatt and when we found our home felt we found a deal too good to be true. We still believe that and love living here.

There are many kids in the neighorhood (literally dozens and dozens) but as far as I know none go to public schools. Many go to GPS, McCallie, etc. Many of the McCallie instructors also live in the neighborhood, as well as the headmaster (not 100% certain on that).

I think the neighborhood is "low priced" for a few reasons. The first and foremost is the school issue. We personally don't have kids, so this was no biggie for us but it is a big deal for people looking in this price range. Second is that it is hidden - many people searching for homes don't find it in typical ZIP searches, and I don't think a lot of realtors market the area very much. People from Chattanooga always say "Ohhhh I loooove that neighborhood . . ." but even after a year of living here we hadn't even heard of it, until we found it in the MLS and we said "hmmmm."

So what are some things that make SH so special? Here we go . . .

SH is really a non-annexed city within Chattanooga (officially called Ridgeside). We have a mayor and and two other council members, regularly elected. We have semi-private recreation facilities (pool, park, tennis courts) and we pay our taxes to Ridgeside, not Chattanooga. We have no businesses or public services, so our taxes are used to contract those services. For this reason, we have trash pickup twice a week, private patrolling from East Ridge PD, recycling every week, and other benefits. We have "City" meetings every two months, and lots of people come - it is a social event as well as a public forum to discuss issues and move business forward in managing the city.

There is an old-fashioned community club that meets regularly (mostly, if not exclusively, ladies). Every house has luminaries at Christmas, and there are neighborhood open houses, ice cream socials, dinner clubs . . . it is truly the neighborhood that time forgot.

Geographically we are located only 10 minutes from downtown, 10 minutes from the airport, and about 4 minutes from 24.

We were transplants from Indiana and lived in an "old" restored neighborhood and missed that when we moved to Chattanooga. We didn't think we would find something that reminded us of home, and Shepherd Hills has been a wonderful place to have discovered. All the homes are unique. All street have sidewalks down both sides. There are still gas lamps and so many friendly people.

As long as I am employed in this area, it is here we will live, truly our dream home. We would have been in a bungalow / ranch for the same price in N Chatt. and instead have a 4000+ sq ft Tudor with a paneled library on 1/2 an acre.

If you want more info . . . here is a link to our somewhat abysmal community website, but there is a nice photo tour at least. Ridgeside, Tenn. Community Network . . . This page, easy to nmiss, has some old articles about the neighborhood as well - http://www.ridgeside.net/sections/hi...2001/2001.html


Good Luck!

[gulfgirl]

Thank you for that wonderful information.. I am seriously considering relocating to Chattanooga from Sarasota, FL--may try to look for a home that I can be in year round and my elderly mother would stay for a few months in the summer. I'm 50 years old and re-inventing myseldf--going back to school but I see Chattanooga Tech has the program I am going to school for so I may transfer there...I also am a real estate broker in Saarasota and would consider obtaining my license there...however, still will need to bring in some income while in school, so the restaurant business is another one of my previous experiences...specifically higher end or fine casual dining. How is the restaurant biz doing in downtown Chattanooga --- would love any helpful info!