Moving to memphis (Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville: crime, attorney, houses)

[ch1992jones]

I will be moving to the Memphis area in 2010 due to retiring from the Armed Forces after 23 years. I'm looking for a home with 3+ bedroom, 2+ baths, 1600+ sq ft in the price range of 90,000 to 135,000 dollars. Also, I married with a son 12 yrs of age who will be in the 8th grade. Can anyone please give me some advice of nice areas to live in with a good school system?

[kingchef]

Originally Posted by ch1992jones

I will be moving to the Memphis area in 2010 due to retiring from the Armed Forces after 23 years. I'm looking for a home with 3+ bedroom, 2+ baths, 1600+ sq ft in the price range of 90,000 to 135,000 dollars. Also, I married with a son 12 yrs of age who will be in the 8th grade. Can anyone please give me some advice of nice areas to live in with a good school system?

for your stated house price range you might be able to find something in bartlett, it might be difficult. bartlett schools are relatively adequate for public schools. for the house, you might try the community behind rhodes. some of those english named streets like york, cambridge, and so on---i can't remember many right off hand. i have a friend, who is an attorney, that lives in this area. he has a wonderful place. carriage house windows, sunroom, stonefloor stepdown livingroom, 2 baths, eat-in kitchen, and two large bedrooms. the outside is stone. the door casings are moon-shaped. several cottage-styled houses in this area. i have other friends who live just north of the soccer field. they love the area, and have no complaints against rhodes students. hope this helps you as you start your search. this area would be memphis city schools. snowden elementary---guess that is too late for your son. i just cannot remember the jr high school in this area. you can visit memphis city schools on the internet. again, good luck.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by kingchef

for your stated house price range you might be able to find something in bartlett, it might be difficult. bartlett schools are relatively adequate for public schools. for the house, you might try the community behind rhodes. some of those english named streets like york, cambridge, and so on---i can't remember many right off hand. i have a friend, who is an attorney, that lives in this area. he has a wonderful place. carriage house windows, sunroom, stonefloor stepdown livingroom, 2 baths, eat-in kitchen, and two large bedrooms. the outside is stone. the door casings are moon-shaped. several cottage-styled houses in this area. i have other friends who live just north of the soccer field. they love the area, and have no complaints against rhodes students. hope this helps you as you start your search. this area would be memphis city schools. snowden elementary---guess that is too late for your son. i just cannot remember the jr high school in this area. you can visit memphis city schools on the internet. again, good luck.

Oh my gosh, please don't recommend sending this guy's son to a Memphis city school. While Snowden Elementary might be an ok school, there are no public middle or high schools in that area which are worth much. About the only decent public high schools in Memphis are White Station, Overton, and Ridgeway. The other dozen or so--and this includes the ones in the area you've recommended--are pitiful.

If the OP wants a good school system and housing for less than $130k, I'm afraid he'll be better off looking in DeSoto County. In Shelby County, Millington wouldn't be a bad option, either.

[Capt. Dan]

Across the river in Marion Arkansas---Good luck and I appreciate your service to our country!

[3southerners]

Memphis city schools has a graduation rate of 70% and the average ACT is 17. I would not relocate to the Memphis area at all. Even the Shelby county municipalities are affected by Memphis crime and crooked politics. The schools in Germantown and Collierville are fine as are some of the other Shelby County schools but you won't easily find a home in your price range.Be careful of possible annexation by Memphis. Just because the house is currently in Shelby County doesn't mean it will always be. Look on greatschools.com and it can give you demographics for every school. Olive Branch, MS is an up and coming area and the school system is reportedly good although I have not researched it. Good luck, and I also thank you for your service to our great country.

[Ginsaw]

Thank you for your service to the country.

I don't think you mentioned post retirement employment plans, or your wife's plans. That would have a large bearing on where to live, besides the schools issue. In my opinion, going forward it will be increasingly important to consider driving distance to work as a factor in picking the residence location.

I also don't know if you're more a city guy or if you like the feel of country living. That matters too.

If it's the latter case, then here is what I'd do. I'd skip anything in the Memphis city limits and look to the surrounding towns including Bartlett, Collierville, Rossville, Piperton and especially Lakeland and the various Mississippi addresses.

Even better, I'd look into the many even smaller unincorporated communities where you can still get a bigger piece of land with low taxes. I'd take a serious look at Tipton, Haywood, Fayette and Hardeman counties. And there are still such communities in Shelby County. I'll throw out the Brunswick community as just one example, only because it has a nice country store restaurant that puts on a popular Friday night catfish fry. It's also just down the road from the well attended Memphis Sports Shooting Association club. It has 2,000 members including many veterans. That's just a fwiw if you're interested.

The schools I'll have to leave for others to comment on.