Moving to Memphis/ University of Memphis (renting, condo, crime)

[Pearlbob]

jimlucas: you'll be able to get better answers if you post each question as a separate posting, and not just tag it onto this.

[christopher72]

what area north of UM is acceptable?
expensive. there might be affordable houseing just west of highland. north of summer would be cheaper, but i don't know much about that area, could be sketchy.
Which is better, Desoto County, Millington or Cordova if the commute time to UM is not important?
None if your on a scooter.
Anyone have any experience/comments about the UM Family/Graduate Housing located at UM South Campus at Park and Getwell?
Our ex-student worker lived there, they seemed to like it. Personally it's a little too isolated for my taste.

[jimlacas]

Christopher,
1. I had a good laugh about the scooter from Millington! I meant does anyone ride them in the city, not on the highways.
2. As far as north of the University, someone said that it was better than south but gave no specifics. If you mean the sea of duplexes off highland, they look like the projects. Also, I am not in the market to live in a million dollar mansion overlooking poplar or some midtown park. this is simply ridiculous...
3. I am a college student with a job and my wife works. We are not rich. I bet most of the critics of Memphis neighborhoods would not live where I do in Alaska. This neighborhood is full of stores, places to work, main roads, and *gasp* people who look poor. I have never been robbed or bum-rushed. I am unwilling to live an hour away from the city, as many rednecks do here. I live and work nearby, as many people I know do.
4. When I went to middle/high school in Georgia, the schools were in a city that is 60% black and most of the tension was between the rough types (and among themselves) and the rednecks.
5. I think that in most cases in the Old South, people are uninterested in setting aside their differences and getting along. The easiest way white people have found a way to escape from others is to price them out of real estate markets. Minorities are assigned to poor neighborhoods and new arrivals are steered toward low income housing, or condos in designated areas, or even renting since their credit is deemed unworthy.
6. As far as using this forum as a useful resource for finding a decent place to live in memphis, I think that it is impossible. A few sincere people have taken time to contact me privately and share their similar experiences as someone from another state having no connections to Memphis except for UM for school and work. Otherwise, I read the postings here in small doses and am starting to get the feeling some people here have a vested interest in discouraging people from living there, and/or steering people to live in a certain neighborhood. I hoped to get at least a vague idea of where to live, but so far it seems that memphis is a game of survival....

There, nice and neatly outlined...

[jimlacas]

my name is not jimlucas............................

[Pearlbob]

I find it odd that you put down so many people for wanting to move out of the city and away from "people who look poor" yet you use the term redneck quite loosely. Memphis is for certain not "old south" in terms of what most people consider the white majority having hold over the town with some poor black people living in pockets of the city. Memphis is very, very urban.

If you can afford a $500k home over looking Overton Park, why is that ridiculous? Some people like to live nice. Some people have the means to do so. No point in being jealous about it. Why would someone live in a 2 bedroom home in an iffy area when they could afford a 100 year old mansion in Overton? There is plenty of in between in Memphis if neither are your style.

Where is there a "sea of duplexes off Highland" north of UM? Especially ones that look like "the projects"? (is that a non-redneck term?)

Just because you are willing to live in the *gasp* city and not live like the wealthy rednecks, does not mean you are better than anyone. I don't think your post makes you sound any more accepting of our city than the people you have put down.

[iluvmem]

You hit the nail on the head, Jimlacas!!!!! I joined this forum to help people moving to Memphis transition easily, with as much factual information as possible, without any subjective language. The elephant in the middle of the room is say, "when an area gets more than 50% minority, it is no longer safe nor desirable." Same for the schools. That is such bull!!! But I think the "advisors" on this forum feel like they are doing readers a favor by insinuating this.......

I'll be happy to answer anyone's PMs that want to get out of this code-reading/writing, and give you an honest and unbiased answer to your questions.

[sliverbox]

I think that in most cases in the Old South, people are uninterested in setting aside their differences and getting along. The easiest way white people have found a way to escape from others is to price them out of real estate markets. Minorities are assigned to poor neighborhoods and new arrivals are steered toward low income housing, or condos in designated areas, or even renting since their credit is deemed unworthy.

No offense, but that's a really base and blatant mis categorization. You can't put a label on white flight as a predominantly Southern population shift because the same has occurred universally. I live in CA where supposedly, this kind of racial tension was supposed to have been gone years ago; washed away in a sea of progressiveness. But are whites, blacks, Asians, and so on living hand in hand, side by side peacefully and without prejudice here? Not at all, and in fact, the phenomena you mention of people pricing out others from the housing market is not exactly race based: I myself am a upper middle class white male and I am priced out of the market here, and not because of my race, but because the socioeconomic class system here is heavily stratified. So don't blame whites for jacking the prices in the South: they are high in almost every urban area, and because of socioeconomics. Not race.

As a native Southerner, I can honestly say that race relations in the South are actually better than they are out here in CA. Why? Because we confronted out racial problems in the 60's and 70's and admitted that we had a problem.We still do, but not anymore so than any other major metro. So far I haven't heard a peep from anyone here where I live now even though those problems exist.

[Pearlbob]

Who are the advisors on here? From what I can tell, everyone who posts is expressing their own opinions as a regular person on a forum. No "experts" or anything like that.

I don't recall anyone on here ever saying that because Memphis is majority black, that is why they are moving to the burbs, or sending their kids to private school, or that is why there are crime problems here.

[jimlacas]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

I find it odd that you put down so many people for wanting to move out of the city and away from "people who look poor" yet you use the term redneck quite loosely. Memphis is for certain not "old south" in terms of what most people consider the white majority having hold over the town with some poor black people living in pockets of the city. Memphis is very, very urban.

If you can afford a $500k home over looking Overton Park, why is that ridiculous? Some people like to live nice. Some people have the means to do so. No point in being jealous about it. Why would someone live in a 2 bedroom home in an iffy area when they could afford a 100 year old mansion in Overton? There is plenty of in between in Memphis if neither are your style.

Where is there a "sea of duplexes off Highland" north of UM? Especially ones that look like "the projects"? (is that a non-redneck term?)

Just because you are willing to live in the *gasp* city and not live like the wealthy rednecks, does not mean you are better than anyone. I don't think your post makes you sound any more accepting of our city than the people you have put down.

..........................
I never meant that in order to live in a rich neighborhood you had to be a redneck. In fact that is far from the truth. I truly believe that rednecks exist. In fact I can see some from my apartment window on a daily basis. What I found ridiculous is an earlier comment you made about plenty of $400k houses in your neighborhood for sale. I am not jealous. Let those people live there that can afford them, i could care less. They can have their sense of security and know that they are safe from urban invaders.

-Could I afford to live there right now? No. Our mortgage consultant said we could afford at most $100K for our first house
-Do I think that I could in the future? Yes. That is why I am studying to become a scholar/professor.
-Do I think some people are deathly afraid of a wealthy person-of-color moving next door to them? Yes. I have seen it with my own eyes in Florida visiting family in an all-white neighborhood.
-Is it racist to point out the existence of areas devoid of minorities? No. Because they are a reality.

If anyone cares, I wanted to live within easy commuting distance to the University (10-20 minutes at the most) or as an alternative a farther commute but with a sizable piece of land (2+ acres). I was told by many that it would be impossible to live safely near the university for my budget. That I should resign myself to renting or a condo, since I am not wealthy enough to live anywhere deemed safe in midtown or east memphis. The only way I can tell is to ignore all the negativity and talk to people who can help me find a place to live without all the preachy advice.................

[Pearlbob]

I think the fact of the matter is, $100k is not going to get your a very good home anywhere in this country today. Memphis, Boston, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Atlanta, where ever. That is just not much money anymore. That has nothing to do with Memphis.

But especially in Memphis, $100k will not get you a home in a safe area near UM. That's just the bottom line. That has nothing to do with race, black, white, poor, wealthy, whatever.

You could maybe get a townhouse or a condo in east Memphis for that price. Some of those around the Target on Southern maybe?

I am not putting you down, believe me. Until recently I sure couldn't afford much either, but $100k is not enough for a good home anywhere. Even out in the burbs, a small home in packed in subdivision of Lakeland/Arlington (much further away than you seem to want to drive) is going to be at least $120k.