Collierville or Piperton (Memphis, Bartlett, Germantown: rent, condo, assessor)

[VOLFAN5]

I am relocating to area and will work in Germatown. Looking at moving with family (wife, 2 kids) to either Collierville or Piperton. I am not that concerned with schools - we homeschool. Collierville seems more upscale but has much higher property taxes. I heard that the risk in Collierville is that Shelby County government will try to punish the suburbanites by raising taxes even more. Piperton seems less developed and less upscale. Any opinions on Collierville vs. Piperton. Thanks.

[tomterr]

Piperton is in Fayette county, much less taxes, and likely to stay lower than in Shelby County. With the completion of 385, Piperton will be easily accessable from most of Shelby County.
Cities in Tennessee can annex across county lines, so the incorporated Piperton will protect you from Shelby County' s increasing demand to "get the 'East Memphis Devils'."
Parts of Piperton are very upscale, with more coming, due especially to its Fayette County location.

[UofMGrad92]

Shelby County can't raise taxes just on the suburbs. If county taxes are raised, they would be raised for everyone in the county. I suppose the County Assessor could rig the appraisals so taxes go up in the suburbs and go down in the city, but that would require the state to be complicit in appeals of the appraised value.

If I had to choose and I had the budget, I'd pick Germantown over Collierville or Piperton. If I had to pick between Collierville or Piperton, I'd pick Collierville. Collierville provides very good city services for the taxes you pay, and the school district is much better (even though you don't plan to use the schools, when and if you put your house on the market, that will be a concern). I believe that eventually (and sooner rather than later) Fayette County and Pipertons taxes will grow with the increased population. As the area grows, folks out there will look at the services provided by Collierville and start demanding the same. Taxes will go up to build parks, take care of roads, build community centers, etc. Also, at some point the bad schools in Fayette County will limit growth in the county, and taxes will go up to pay for new and better schools or growth will stop.

Actually, I wouldn't make the decision based on property taxes at all. Taxes overall are generally low in the area, and the comaparsion is ususally between low and lower taxes. I don't much care for any taxes, but if they are too be levied, I'm much happier paying them at the local level where I can bend my alderman/commisioner/mayors ear if they do something with them I disagree with. I hear from people who live in Memphis that they are overtaxed for the services they get, but I haven't heard that from anyone I know who lives in any of the Memphis suburban cities.

If you do pick Piperton, I don't think it would be bad (but only if public schools aren't an issue - they aren't for you). It's very close to Collierville shopping, dining, parks, and recreation. When 385 is done, it will have good access to I-40 allowing easier access into and out of the area for commuting or recreation, and if you are only commuting into Germantown, it wouldn't be a bad drive at all. I'd still pick Germantown first though.

[jjtempo]

I would rent first and then decide. To bad Collierville is in Shelby County.

[tomterr]

Originally Posted by UofMGrad92

Shelby County can't raise taxes just on the suburbs. If county taxes are raised, they would be raised for everyone in the county. .

Many formerly city services are being shifted to the county. The path to consolidation (when King Willie retires or goes to prison) has been started and will probably be successful when A. C. Wharton becomes Mayor.
This will even out the taxes between the City and the County, raising the taxes county-wide, even in Collierville and Germantown.
This is how the City of Memphis will milk the suburbs, and force them to pay for the corruption and incompetence of the City Government.

[UofMGrad92]

Originally Posted by tomterr

Many formerly city services are being shifted to the county. The path to consolidation (when King Willie retires or goes to prison) has been started and will probably be successful when A. C. Wharton becomes Mayor.
This will even out the taxes between the City and the County, raising the taxes county-wide, even in Collierville and Germantown.
This is how the City of Memphis will milk the suburbs, and force them to pay for the corruption and incompetence of the City Government.

That doesn't invalidate my point that there is no way to raise Shelby County taxes on just the suburbs. If Shelby County taxes go up, they go up for everyone in the county. The long term prospects of consolidation, continued middle class flight from Memphis, and a declining middle class in the City of Memphis are issues that confront anyone choosing to live in Shelby County. If you live in suburban Shelby County, you have to be prepared to carry more of the County wide weight in tax dollars to provide county services (jails, courts, schools, etc.) than if you live in inner city Memphis.

The trade off is you get a city that provides more and better services than what you find in Fayette County today. I think the trade off is worth it to live in a place like Germantown, Collierville, or Bartlett that provide good city services and have reasonably good public schools at reasonably low tax rates. However, this is just my opinion, and one good thing about the Memphis Metro Area is you can live in a different city than Memphis in Shelby County, a different County than Memphis in Tennessee, or two whole different states and the various cities and counties in those states if you choose.

[cwzuck]

I've lived in Memphis (still own a condo there if anyone's looking for a deal), Germantown (13 years), and have been in Rossville just east of Piperton for the last 6 years. Having been in all of them, I'm never moving again. Not only are the taxes lower ( I pay $414 a YEAR for a 3100 sq foot house on 8.3 acres with a barn and second house on the property), but the services are better. I lose power less often out here than I did in Germantown. Response times are excellent as well.

The really nice thing about the Piperton / Rossville are is that it has not lost the small town feel yet.
Schools may not be an issue, but my son and step son graduated from Rossville Christian Academy. They are much less than any private school in Memphis and give a good Christian based education with lots of personal attention. My step son didn't apply himself and got out of it whar he put in, but my son did very well and is going to college on a full academic ride. His graduating class (23 kids) had every student offered scholarships, average amount was in excess of $40K per kid, so they do get a good education if you should ever decide not to home school any more.

Piperton is closer by 5 miles to Collierville and is growing rapidly. We just got notified that Burlington Northern is building a 480 acre intermodal rail facility on the Piperton/ Rossville line that will be fed by a spur off the line running through Piperton. Outlet will be onto Hwy 72 via a dedicated 2 lane road, so keep that in mind if looking to relocate to Piperton. I wouldn't rule it out, but keep it in mind. This did not get much press attention. I've been to several of the meetings about it, and as bad as we didn't want the facility at all, the railroad is putting the whole facility in a 30 foot "depression" and all lighting will be hooded, so it will not be as offensive as their original proposal, and is only half the size proposed at the original location they were trying to get on the west side of Rossville.

Rossville also has some new subdivisions going in that look pretty nice. It may be worth considering, it's on ly 5 minutes farther from Germantown.

Hope this helps.

[sahmommie]

I think it boils down to what you're looking for in a home. If you're looking for more land, then go with Piperton. Other than that, I'd definitely go with Collierville. They have a lot of completely free programs for kids and families, the greenbelt, a wonderful parks system, and the property values are sustainable. The programs at the library (also free) are really great, and they have an excellent community theater. There are also a lot of homeschoolers and homeschooling groups in Collierville that get together for field trips, co-ops, etc.

[phlox0812]

You may want to also consider resale (depending on how long you are planning on staying in the area). In this case you would want a school district (even though you are homeschooling). Collierville schools are the top schools in the state.

[mymemphisperson]

Collierville is a great town with lots and lots of choices and variety. You will get more land and cheaper prices in piperton and the taxes will be much less in Fayette County(everywhere in Shelby is fairly uniformly high). However, if you don't like maintenance it might be tough to find something you like. There are some subdivisions going up. Also allocate in an extra ten minutes drive to work.