Relocating to Jackson, MS (Madison, Ridgeland, Canton) Need Help! (Pearl: for sale, apartment complexes)

[mrasmussen329]

Hi. My husband, myself and our 1 year old son are moving to the Jackson Area (madison, ridgeland, canton) in July 2010 with work. We were wondering where a nice place to live would be and also about daycare for our son. Currently, my mother keeps him, so I am new at trying to find daycare. As far as a place to live, we are really just wanting to rent (house or apartment) for the first year, then maybe look into buying a house. But we are open to buying if the right opportunity were to arise. I really would like a place where I could take my son outdoors to have fun(playground/pool).
Thanks for any help you can give!

[jacksonian]

Do you prefer new homes in new neighborhoods or older homes in the more historic neighborhoods? Do you prefer an suburban or urban lifestyle? How far do you want to travel for work? Is walkability important? What's your budget? Answers to these questions will help us help you.

[mrasmussen329]

We prefer new homes in newer neighboorhoods. We are a young coupl and would like to live in an area where other young couples live. Lifestyle isn't important really. We are from a small town in TN but have lived in Downtown Memphis for a few years, so we are open to both. I am going to be traveling between four offices (Madison, Canton, Ridgeland, and Yazoo City), so somewhere a little North of Jackson would probably be best. As far as budget, there really isn't one. Thanks for the help!

[jhadorn]

Sounds like Madison would be a good location for you. Close to Canton and Ridgeland, and in the northern part of the metro so it's closer to Yazoo City as well. Madison has good schools too.

The down side is that it will probably be more expensive to live there than the rest of the metro.

[brickpatio]

There are no apartments in Madison. However, Ridgeland is full of apartments. I my opinion, the best location is the apartments on Rice Rd just before you get to the Reservoir. I think they may be named The Pointe, but I could be wrong. The nice thing is that pretty much right across the street is an entrance to the bike trail that runs parallel to the Natchez Trace and the Reservoir for several miles. It's also walking distance to several restaurants and bars on the water adjacent to Main Harbor marina.

There are a several other fairly nice apartment complexes along and near Lake Harbour Rd. about a quarter mile west of the intersection of Lake Harbour and Old Canton Rd, near a heavily wooded park there in Ridgeland with a walking trail.

[vanburen81]

As a pervious ;poster noted, Madison literally has no apartments. You could probably find a little home to rent though. It (and Ridgeland) is safe, suburban, clean, modern, characterless, very family friendly. For a town it's size there's a fair amount to do -- some good restaurants anyway.

Canton and Yazoo are quite different -- they both have charming little downtown areas and some Southern charm but are pretty run down and ugly on the outskirts, probably less safe. May be cheaper though.

I'd imagine a typical young family would prefer Madison or Ridgeland.

[mrasmussen329]

Thanks for the comments! But no one has mentioned any good daycares that we may check out. Do people in Madison/Ridgeland prefer in-home daycare or daycare centers? Thanks for the help!

[jacksonian]

Originally Posted by mrasmussen329

Thanks for the comments! But no one has mentioned any good daycares that we may check out. Do people in Madison/Ridgeland prefer in-home daycare or daycare centers? Thanks for the help!

Galloway United Methodist Church has a great day care located in Downtown Jackson. That's the only one I have any familiarity with.

[covedweller]

Originally Posted by mrasmussen329

Thanks for the comments! But no one has mentioned any good daycares that we may check out. Do people in Madison/Ridgeland prefer in-home daycare or daycare centers? Thanks for the help!

Madison has homes that can be rented in just about every size category right now I believe. The daycare situation in the area is a little tight; we are expecting and have already started getting on waiting lists (they were opening the lists for the next school year in March). Look up the churches in the area; several have reputable daycares (but waiting lists). There are a few newer daycares north of Madison in Gluckstadt (3 or 4), about a 10-15 drive from Madison. If you aren't firm on being in the city limits, Gluckstadt has several newer subdivisions you should be able to rent or buy in, and is a pretty good midpoint if trips to Yazoo City are part of the regular routine. No parks in Gluckstadt though, you'd have to drive to Madison for those.


This is a pretty good website for searching homes for sale. It doesn't list rentals, but it will give you an idea of the neighborhoods and the price ranges/types of homes.

http://homesearch.jacksonrealtor.com...)/default.aspx

[EasilySaidTHanDone]

I know I am a little late, but since the year 2010 has began you should have a larger choice of areas to stay. From my perspective im thinking Jackson has developed and its still developing somewhat like Atlanta. You wont find many new built homes in the immediate Jackson city area, there probably is, but it wont be a large variety to choose from. With that said, if you want a more urban environment, your timing could not have been better. Downtown Jackson is undergoing a multi-billion dollar residential/retail devlopment. This includes the new King Edwards Condos/Hotel that has already been opened, the new Standard life building, which will house condos and also a plethora of other projects (http://www.downtown-jackson.com/index.php/market-info-and-listings/development).
MADISON COUNTY. This is basically an extension of the northern Jackson metro into the cities of MAdison and Ridgeland. These cities combined have 4 very highly dense growing devloping residential/retail communities. Ridgeland consist of County line road(not much housing here just retail and a few apts). This is a fairly new renovated area although traffic still poses a problem. The High COlony Renaissance area/Township at Colony Park(consisting of shoppings and i believe some condos and pricy housings with lakefront properties). This is on the highland colony parkway close to many new neighboorhood housing, this area also consist of alot of high-end dining. Further deep into Ridgeland is the Lake Harbor/Harbor Walk area consisting of a very dense residential/commericial environment(maybe even the most dense in the metro). This are consist of alot new waterfront residntial developments on the resevoir and will be the future site of the another mutli-billion dollar Harbor Walk development(Hotels/housing/retail/pleasure-luxury environment). This area is plagued with traffic, in fact Rideland is growing so fast most of the city is. A couple miles further north aof Ridgeland is Madison, which has the Renuion(this place is just like a big neighboorhood resort on plenty water)GrandView Avenue in Madison has become the anchor of city hosting a parkway full of big box retailers, very dense area traffic starting to become a problem. The Town of Lost Rabbit in Madison is on the West shore of the Ross Barnett REsevoir. These are pricy homes on the waterfront/resort area with a marina. This is strait due east of Madison. The Southern and South/Eastern portions of the resevoir consist of Rankin county and the South east shore which house the suburbs of Floowood and further south Brandon and Pearl. These are due directly east of downtown Jackson and sometimes refered to as East Jackson. I do not know much about this part of the metro, but the one or two times i have been to this side all i remember was alot of new malls/shopping, alot new neighboorhoods, and definately ALOT OF TRAFFIC. It is also adjacent to Mississippi Medical Center area. Jackson metro has development somewhat like a tire and spoke arrangement with a center hub and booming suburb cities all around. The immediate inner urban part of Jackson saw a decline as suburbs boomed in the early 2000s, but as a result years later money has had no choice but to find its way being somehow poured back into the city and dowtown. Jackson finally has some tru investors behind downtown and is experiencing a redevelopment like never before the metro area should be something to watch for the next few years. As for transportation, if you were to get an APT downtown there are so many new developments in the making that would make for plenty convenience for walking. The bus system is reliable in the inner city, but the suburbs where alot of activity/shopping/entertainment occur are shy of this type of public transit.