Memphis? Same old question.... (Jackson, Bartlett: real estate, rent, daycare)

[the4pits]

I have been reading this board for a couple months now, and seem to read the same questions with the same replies again and again. I may be transfering to the area for work. As I compare the Memphis forum to many other city forums they all start to sound alike. 9/10 people dont like where they are, and most want out because of crime,schools,cost of living,etc... I recently visited the Memphis area for a few days to check it out and look for a perspective area to move to. We drove around for 2 days, and didnt even see downtown. We drove through several areas the first day, and looked at many homes with a realtor on the second day. We saw homes in Lakeland, Bartlett, Collierville, Olive Branch, and Hernando. When talking with people that live in the area and work for my company, I asked them where we should look. None of them hesitated in saying Collierville, Lakeland, or Arlington. None of them really had an opinion of Desoto. My concerns are the school systems in Shelby. With all this talk of Memphis annexing surrounding cities and blending school systems, where are the ares that this can never happen? We are home shopping on a budget of around 150000-175000. Hernando seemed like the best fit so far, and have not heard anything negative about there on any boards. Can someone please shed some light on the deal with the school systems in Desoto and Shelby such as safety, quality of education, and NEVER being annexed by Memphis?

[simcity]

A good friend of mine has a home in Hernando. Many new homes available there for great prices and seems to be growing fast. You definitely wouldn't have to worry about Hernando being annexed by Memphis. Are you commuting to Memphis though? If so, I'd opt for somewhere closer to work. The commute times between Hernando and Memphis can be brutal, even though the distance isn't all that big. For public school system many will highly recommend White Station which includes the 38119 zip code. For your budget you can have a nice home in best school district of Memphis if you shop in White Station school district.

[strumpeace]

If you choose to live in the city limits of Millington, Arlington, Bartlett, Germantown, Lakeland, or Collierville (all of which are in Shelby County), you will never be annexed by the City of Memphis. If you choose to live in a designated reserve area of Millington, Arlington, Bartlett, Germantown, Lakeland, or Collierville, you will never be annexed by the City of Memphis. If you choose to live in any other part of unincorporated Shelby County, you run the risk of being annexed by the City of Memphis at any time.

To my knowledge, Shelby County schools are for the most part ok -- not great, but ok. Compared to the alternative (Memphis City Schools), most anything would be better.

I don't know anything about DeSoto County, except that you will have to pay a state income tax should you choose to live there.

[JMT]

The law in Tennessee is that no one city can cover more than 1/3 of the area of any one county. So the city of Memphis will have to stop annexing at some point. However, a way to get around it is to dissolve a city's charter so that the city and county become essentially one big happy city. That's what happened in Nashville, Jacksonville (FL), and a few smaller places like Lynchburg TN.

The mayor of Memphis has made threats from time to time that he will dissolve the Memphis city school district so that all of Shelby County would be under one school district. It's probably nothing but an idle threat just to keep reminding people that he has all the power. But be mindful that some people would love to see that happen, and given the high property tax rates in Memphis and Shelby County due in part to the dual school systems, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen in the near future.

So your best bet, unfortunately, would be to live outside of Shelby County altogether. At least that's my opinion. Maybe look at Fayette County TN. If you live in DeSoto County, you'll have to pay Mississippi's income tax as well as Mississippi's ridiculously high car tag fees.

[Pearlbob]

I take it you do have children? If you don't have kids, or if you have very young ones, it won't matter for now where you live in terms of school zones. You could move here, rent for a year, or buy a small home for a few years, then move elsewhere later when your kids are in school and you know the lay of the land better.

I do want to emphasize the issue of commute times. I don't know where you are living now, or where you will be working, but commuting from Hernando to Memphis is crazy (to me). I know people do it, but expect at least an hour each way. When I lived in Cordova (much closer than Arlington/Lakeland) sometimes it would take an hour then, due to wrecks, construction, etc. That being said, tons and tons of people make that commute everyday, but just be aware of it. What takes 20 minutes at 2pm can take an hour at 4pm. It is a big issue for co-workers who have children that they have to pick up from daycare or drop off at school in the morning.

And to emphasize as has been said, if you live IN a city (Germantown, bartlett, arlington) you will never be annexed.

[strumpeace]

The law in Tennessee is that no one city can cover more than 1/3 of the area of any one county. So the city of Memphis will have to stop annexing at some point. However, a way to get around it is to dissolve a city's charter so that the city and county become essentially one big happy city. That's what happened in Nashville, Jacksonville (FL), and a few smaller places like Lynchburg TN.

JMT -- IIRC, The City of Memphis (313 sq miles) already occupies 40 percent of Shelby County (784 sq miles). I know that Memphis' charter with the State allows for some unique things -- I wonder if this is one of them. The Shelby County Growth Plan, which was approved by the State (in response to Public Chapter 1101) has approximately 75 percent of Shelby County either belonging to the City of Memphis or subject to annexation by the City of Memphis.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

JMT -- IIRC, The City of Memphis (313 sq miles) already occupies 40 percent of Shelby County (784 sq miles). I know that Memphis' charter with the State allows for some unique things -- I wonder if this is one of them. The Shelby County Growth Plan, which was approved by the State (in response to Public Chapter 1101) has approximately 75 percent of Shelby County either belonging to the City of Memphis or subject to annexation by the City of Memphis.

Egads, that's a lot of land. Maybe I'm wrong. It was actually someone in Memphis who told me of that particular law, so maybe Memphis has an exception or I was misinformed. Either way, I'm sorry for not checking my facts before spreading bad information.

Still, I shudder to think what would happen if Memphis were to get to be 600 square miles in size. And given that Memphis has the midas touch (so to speak) when it annexes an area (real estate values plummet, people move out en masse), that would be tragic to see such a large area of urban blight.

I still love Memphis, but I do fear for its future.

[strumpeace]

No problem with the facts -- You're probably right about the law. Memphis has had a long-standing tradition of being able to get around certain state requirements.

If you get a chance, check out the map on the last page of this document: http://www.dpdgov.com/Portal/resourc...plan_intro.pdf

That should totally freak out the people who live in the unincorporated portions of the county.

[Pearlbob]

Strum - I have a big monitor on my desk here, but I can't read what the colors represent I take it the neon green is supposed to eventually be all of what Memphis annexes?

[AnnPedi614]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

No problem with the facts -- You're probably right about the law. Memphis has had a long-standing tradition of being able to get around certain state requirements.

If you get a chance, check out the map on the last page of this document: http://www.dpdgov.com/Portal/resourc...plan_intro.pdf

That should totally freak out the people who live in the unincorporated portions of the county.

One of the things that made us buy in Arlington is we were told they could not be annexed by the city of Memphis. Now don't get me wrong Memphis seems like a great city so far, but I am not big on living in an actual city.