How is Holly Springs? (Jackson, Hattiesburg: apartment, crime, new house)

[miltownman]

Hi - I am one half of a diverse married couple from Milwaukee. Our kid is in college, and we have been doing alot of vacationing in Northern Mississippi the last year because we finally have the means and the time - and we love the area (it looks like northern wisconsin in many ways), the climate (we've had enough of the cold) and especially the Blues Music activity.

Being diverse, there are of course preconceptions, apprehensions, what have you, about the south - much of which is probably false, some of which may be true. But what we do know is we have lived in the "core" of a major city in the north the last 20 years, and the racial climate can't be worse than it is here - nor can the crime, noise, etc..

We have met many fine people in Holly Springs, most have urged us to consider buying vacation property in/near town or in Marshall/Tate/Tipah counties. We certainly have the area high on our retirement list - which is anywhere from 5 to 10 years away.

Property seems very cheap - the Memphis growth does not seem to have reached there yet, but its coming. I read the internet version of the local paper, and it still seems to be very much a small town type of place. And our visits seem to indicate that our cultural make up is not recieved any worse than it is here, and in many cases much better.

Any input or advice? Am I getting the wrong read?

Thanks from Milwaukee

[Overqualified]

Hi

Please don’t believe the Mississippi stereotypes. 95% are exaggerated-to-totally false. The same bad things here are in every state. We are a great people, people here are politically waking up and I believe Mississippi has a great future. However the stats about us being the fattest state are true. We love to eat! The food is good!

I’ve lived all over the world, and I always come back to Mississippi. It might just be the nations greatest secret spot when it comes to finding an affordable and quite place to settle down. Others might tell you otherwise and the delta does have extreme poverty due to generations of people getting too much welfare and forgetting how to work for a living.

I don’t know much about Holly Springs, but would recommend you exploring more of the state. The MS Gulf Coast is going to boom soon after Katrina recovery. A lot of Great towns in MS like Tupelo, Hattiesburg, Ocean Springs, Oxford, and many great communities surrounding the metro Jackson area.

Just my input, & I am bias I guess. Good luck!

[awnery]

I am searching for info about Mt Pleasant MS and Holly Springs MS.
I can't even find Mt Pleasant on the map!
I need to know if they're rural. I hate city life! What's the school system rating? Are there private schools? What's the crime rate? The average cost of living, rent, utilities, unleaded gas etc.??
PLEASE! ANY INFO IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

[msspa]

I live in Southaven , just North of Holly Springs and South of Memphis and inm my paticular county, it is becoming more and more diverse. There are alot of people moving here , it's one of the fastest growing areas in the nation and close to Memphis. Even the churches are getting more diverse( like mine).If you have any questions, i will answer them if I can...

[onenautiboy]

I was from Port Washington Wi, Moved to a small town in DeSoto County 5years ago and I am currently selling my current home to buy one in Holly Springs. It is a nice area, as is all of north MS, I just find Desoto growing too fast. Being a little further from the Memphis "element" doesn't hurt either.

[marmac]

a question---------awhile back Mississippi recieved national recognition from it's "certified Retirement cities " program. Cities could apply and had to meet certain criteria-------medical, safety etc. If their application was accepted ,they were "certified" and got promoted by the state nationwide to attract retirees.
I recieved much info (mail) from those cities----------even phone calls a few years back.

On checking recently-------------I noticed 2 were added (Brandon and Lauerl) but Holly Springs was taken off the list. (the only city removed from the list of a few years ago)

Anybody know why this is ?

[gmunu]

Originally Posted by awnery

I am searching for info about Mt Pleasant MS and Holly Springs MS.
I can't even find Mt Pleasant on the map!
I need to know if they're rural. I hate city life! What's the school system rating? Are there private schools? What's the crime rate? The average cost of living, rent, utilities, unleaded gas etc.??
PLEASE! ANY INFO IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

I live in Olive Branch, but I visit Holly Springs quite often. If you like rural, I guess Holly Springs is okay. It is a pretty small city with not a whole lot to offer in terms of commercial development, at least when compared to the Memphis metro area.

The public schools do not have a very good reputation. They are primarily Level 2 (underperforming), and like a number of other cities, most of the black kids go to the public schools while the white kids largely go to the private Marshall Academy.

I don't think the crime is particularly bad, but I know people from nearby towns who avoid going to Holly Springs at night. Not sure if their fears are justified or not.

Don't know much about Mt. Pleasant other than that it's very small and it's just off of HW72.

[liNmimom]

I would suggest you move to Tate county. It is a nice and quiet place to live; however, it's not far from the city life either (Memphis). Coldwater in particular is an up and coming area with beautiful new houses for a nice price. In my opinion, I think Desoto county is getting too crowded. Coldwater is only about 7 miles south of Desoto and would be a great alternative.

[Gritz-kun]

Hattiesburg. That is probably the best you can do in Mississippi for many reasons: Crime rate, college rating, hospital rating, shopping area, population, etc.

It's been rated one of the best places to live in the US. If you have a college student, I am going to USM, which has been the greatest, but I rate Pearl River Community College (Hattiesburg Campus) the highest and that was my favorite college. The atmosphere of the two colleges is outstanding and I haven't met anyone rude.

Hattiesburg also has, practically, unheard of crime. Yes, we do have those few everyonce in a while, but that's everywhere you go now. Generally, if you stay closer to West Hattiesburg or out towards Sumrall, you should be fine.

I don't think anyone cares about peoples' preferences anymore. There is a big gay community, interatial, etc. around here so there really isn't much that could cause an uproar. The ones you might have to worry about are the older folks but, because this is a college based town, kids are easy going now days.

Housing wise.. anywhere from 20,000-1mill. I live in Canebreak where housing, generally, starts around 350,000 and I have seen it as high as 2mill. Because of this, West Hattiesburg has higher housing cost than the US. average. But, West Hattiesburg also has normal cost, such as 150k+.

Forest County you can find cheaper housing. That line starts over I50 and prices of houses start to drop, going much lower past HWY 49. It also has beautiful historic homes.

Apartment prices are going to drop soon. More complexes have been built and, because it's cheaper to own right now, they can't keep up with lack of demand.

There are many places to shop and explore which are close to each other so you won't have to drive all over the place. Two Wal-Marts, Sams, a lot grocery stores, and a lot of discount groceries.

This city is also in the middle of everything. Short distance to Jackson, Coast, Mobile, New Orleans, etc. It has many ways to get to each, highways, interstates, and back roads.

Hope this helps!

[bigace]

Holly Springs seems like a nice quiet place in the beautiful hill country of north mississippi. It's a small town but it is also located about 20 minutes from Oxford and 30 minutes from Memphis so you can easily find what you cannot in Holly Springs.