Lakeland or Bartlett - commute, apartment ideas? (Memphis, Germantown: section 8, real estate market)

[sand83]

Moving to Memphis area shortly with an infant and a 4 year old. Balancing rental budget (~1200, for a 2-3 bed, some wiggle room, but not a ton) and daycare options/cost/availability, as well as school quality, it looks like Bartlett and Lakeland are my best bets. Working close to what google maps labels East Midtown and Cooper-Young.

Can anyone tell me if the 25-30 min commute google maps (during commuting hours) indicates is accurate from those areas? (generally the southern part of both, based on where rental places in my range are listed)

Also, I'm looking at houses, primarily via zillow and realtor.com, because there don't seem to be a lot of complexes and/or I'm having trouble judging whether the complexes are ok places. So if anyone has recommendations for complexes in good school areas in this range, without a bad commute, I'd love them (I've seen lots of recommendations for places not to rent here).

Safety and schools are priority (schools don't need to be absolute best, just solid/good without any luck involved), within budget constraints.

And property management companies to recommend/avoid or other tips on how to find a good place appreciated (doing all of this from afar which makes it tough!).

Thanks!

[CristenS]

If you are moving soon, I hope you already have a daycare in place. Wait lists are very long for the good daycares.


I haven't heard of anyone moving to Bartlett for the schools. They are a 2nd tier behind other suburban schools. Not horrifying, just not the best. Bartlett would be a much longer commute to Cooper Young than, say, Germantown, just FYI. Gtown would have much better schools and is safer, a better overall area, in my opinion. If you could get something on the western side of Gtown, be near I-240, Poplar Ave, Park Ave, etc, it would make your commute to CY pretty easy.


One major thing I need to emphasize is that before you move ANYWHERE you need to call the school district that you *think* the rental is located in to double check. So many apartments boast they are "Germantown" when in reality they are in Memphis proper and your kids would attend Memphis city schools. Same with Bartlett. All suburbs have their own school districts now.


The Vineyards in Germantown would be worth a look, very safe quiet area, looks like 2 beds start at $1220. Bridges at Germantown looks like they have a 2 bed starting at $1190. There are many condos for rent in the Fountain Square Townhomes complex, and that is definitely in Germantown, right on the edge, on Zillow they are 2 beds starting at $825 (on Poplar, just west of Kirby).



I don't know much about Bartlett so I can't recommend anything there, other than the generalization to stay away from the west side, and make sure to always check with the school district. So much around Bartlett is actually Memphis city, it's hard to tell where the suburb actually begins (west side at Raleigh, east side at Cordova).

[pappy35]

I'd stay where I was before putting my kids in the Memphis school system. Seriously. If you care about your kids just don't.

I would only consider Germantown or Collierville. I don't know much about Lakeland but have heard their system is good. Forget Bartlett it's too closely tied to Memphis.

Memphis has annexed parts of Bartlett and all of Cordova so though they have different names, all public services (police, schools, fire, trash, etc.) are City of Memphis. Its sometimes hard to tell which city any particular address is in but definitely heed the advice above about making sure which school system any particular rental complex is actually in. Don't ask them, ask the school system of the city they claim to be in.

I use Google Now everyday to check traffic and it's amazingly (almost scarily) accurate. I say this to encourage you to have faith in the time Google Maps predicts it'll take to get form point A to point B at any particular time.

There are many complexes here and many are not good. I would encourage you, if possible, to visit. It took me a couple of weeks to find an acceptable one.

Whatever way you go, Memphis and it's suburbs is an ok place to live if you come into it eyes open and understanding that it has many very rough areas that need to be avoided. C-Y is a very cool area to work. Best of luck to you.

[dc1538]

Neither Bartlett or Lakeland have many apartments. Both cities have only 2-3 apartment complexes each. If your looking on zillow, just stroll down to features and click on the county website link. It will tell you the municipal jurisdiction in which the property is in. If it says unincorporated it will fall under the Shelby County School Districts, which is really Memphis City Schools. I would save the link so you can check any address you wish to.

There are two apartment complexes that I know are Bartlett and Lakeland and I'm familiar with.

The Legends at Wolfchase -Nice apartments on the edge of Bartlett
Somerset at Lakeland (formally Champion Hills at Stonebridge) -Okay apartments at beginning of Lakeland on the Memphis- Lakeland and Bartlett border.

[Comingtomemphis]

Here's an out-of-the-box idea: Midtown. The elementary schools in Midtown, specifically Idlewild, Peabody and Snowden, are doing pretty well. I read recently that one of them has a waiting list for kindergarten. If you could find a house to rent in, say, Cooper-Young, within your budget, that could be an option. Having an extra three hours a week to spend with your young family would be a big bonus, as well as much lower commuting expense.

Others know that area better than I do, but I think you would want to be north of the tracks and away from the highway. Avoid any Section 8 apartment buildings. As a renter, you are only committing to a year's lease, which gives you some flexibility.

[eastmemphisguy]

1. The 40/240 interchange which leads out toward Bartlett/Lakeland/Arlington is being completely rebuilt. Traffic is a nightmare as you approach it. That is the biggest problem with that area right now. TDOT says work will be complete next year, but that's not a guarantee.
2. Germantown and Collierville are the most elite towns in the area, and have excellent schools but they are also expensive and don't have a lot of moderately sized homes. You will find more available for your money in Bartlett and the schools there are good also. Stay away from the apt complexes on Sycamore View though. They are not in Bartlett and are not where you want to be.
3. As mentioned by other posters, each town has its own district. Know what town you are in and you know which school district. Unincorporated areas and Memphis both send students to Shelby County Schools. Memphis used to have Memphis City Schools, but it was dissolved a few years back and no longer exists.
4. Lakeland is a very small place. Not even a high school. Make sure country life is a good fit for you if you think you want to live there.
5. Although most Shelby County are places to avoid, some are not. My neighborhood school, Richland Elementary, is very desirable and a lot of people move into the neighborhood specifically for our schools.

[CristenS]

If your child is 4 years old, will he be attending kindergarten next month? Or he'll have another year to go?


If another year - which I'm guessing is so since I believe age cut off requires children to be 5 by June 1 to get into kindergarten - I'd suggest renting anywhere for 6 months, see how you like it, by then you'll know more about the area and what district you want your children in.

[pappy35]

Originally Posted by eastmemphisguy

2. Germantown and Collierville are the most elite towns in the area, and have excellent schools but they are also expensive and don't have a lot of moderately sized homes.

Check to make sure the apartment you pick isn't part of the Shelby County School system then. The issue I see is that there are many elementary schools with varying levels of quality but they all feed up into fewer middle and even fewer high schools. Those are the ones you want to watch out for.

There are TONS and TONS of properties in both towns, well maybe more so in Collierville, that can be bought and owned for less that what rent would be. We just bought our house last March so I'm fairly up to date with what the inventory is and I can tell you we looked at at least a dozen that were between $160k-$185k, and up to maybe 2,000' with two car garages, all in good neighborhoods.

The real estate market here has gotten pretty hot in the intervening time so prices and inventory will have changed but there is a huge misconception that these two towns only have giant McMansions populated by lawyers, doctors, and FedEx pilots. I paid $250k for a 2,500 sq. ft. house on a 1/3 acre plot in a really, really, nice subdivision 17 months ago.

[Naper_Tiger]

Originally Posted by pappy35

Memphis has annexed parts of Bartlett ...

Really? Which part of incorporated Bartlett did they take? Never heard of that.

[pappy35]

Originally Posted by Naper_Tiger

Really? Which part of incorporated Bartlett did they take? Never heard of that.

Ooops. My bad...