Moving from Silicon Valley — need some local experts (Franklin: lease, houses)

[BirdieBelle]

I don't know WHY they're driving 12-year-old minivans. I don't judge people by the cars they drive, even though I live in Brentwood.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

I don't know WHY they're driving 12-year-old minivans. I don't judge people by the cars they drive, even though I live in Brentwood.

I judge people by what cars they drive. Not because of how nice the car is, but rather how the people that own a certain kind of car tend to drive (i.e. PT Cruisers are slow and inattentive).

[brentwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by mlp206

Yes, but they are driving the 12 year old mini vans in Brentwood because they wanted to buy a house they could not afford just to live in Brentwood and have their kids go to School in Brentwood right? Not that there is anything wrong with that..My neighbor is a banker, a mortgage broker..what is your point? that he has money? he does not..He is a really cool guy though..

We pay cash for higher end used cars because it's a smart thing to do. No reason to go into debt for an object that will decline in value if you can pay cash. So others could be driving 12 year old used cars for the same reason.
A friend from school lives in a $1+ million dollar house but colors her own hair because, according to her, it's too expensive to get it done professionally.
People are people, some are good with money and some are awful. I don't think that changes based on their zip code.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by mlp206

Yes, but they are driving the 12 year old mini vans in Brentwood because they wanted to buy a house they could not afford just to live in Brentwood and have their kids go to School in Brentwood right? Not that there is anything wrong with that..My neighbor is a banker, a mortgage broker..what is your point? that he has money? he does not..He is a really cool guy though..

I won't speak for WSMN, but the take away from her comment that I took was there are plenty of non-flashy people in WC.

This is the land of Dave Ramsey so yes there is flash but there are just as many people that are proudly debt free.

[Vandy-bound]

Interesting thread! We moved to Brentwood last year from the Chicago area. We are very happy overall with the Brentwood schools (Sunset/Ravenwood, and next year, BMS/BHS). Both BHS and Ravenwood have made the Newsweek or some other magazine's top schools in the US list. While I may not agree on the metric used to qualify schools for this, they still do produce an abundance of students who go to top schools in the nation (including many Ivy Leagues). We have also lived elsewhere in the country and found that the Brentwood schools do hold their own. We have not found our Brentwood neighborhood to be competitive (keeping up with the Joneses), and we enjoy the proximity to the bike paths that go throughout the city. The way they keep adding on, I am guessing in a few years you could ride your bike from Nolensville Pike to the library on Concord. ;-)

I commute from Brentwood to Vandy during the week and it's really not that bad of a commute. Now that we've moved to our new house, my commute time averages 25 minutes--most of that not even on 65! And it's not bumper-to-bumper. I can count on one hand the number of times since August I've been in that kind of traffic. Each time due to an accident and each time, as soon as you passed it, you were flying again at 70+ mph. I can't speak about a commute from Franklin, but 35 minutes sounds about right.

Overall, we're thrilled with our decision to move to Brentwood. Close proximity to Whole Foods (can't wait for the new one on McEwen to open!!) and Fresh Market, local farms with CSAs (both produce and meat!), and the schools. We didn't go into the school thing thinking that _any_ school would be perfect, but when we looked at our options, the Brentwood ones were the best fit for our kids. If you plan to be involved parents (which it sounds like you are), then you should be pretty happy.

Good luck with your decision!

[YallWantHam]

I'm glad to know that anyone driving a $60k car living in a $400k house is clearly "keeping up with the Joneses" and must be eyeball deep in debt, while those with nice houses and older cars obviously have their priorities straight. Any other helpful tips I should know?

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by YallWantHam

Any other helpful tips I should know?

Wearing a scarf with your fedora = fashion savvy.

[BirdieBelle]

I love y'all so much.

[yank283]

Wow, I remember when this website was dominated by real estate agents steering everyone to the nearest surrounding suburb and Davidson County expats who's last and seemingly only perception and of their old neighborhood was from 1989. It's great to see pros and cons for "every" area of middle Tennessee on a regular basis now.

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by hubbstar

Thanks for the responses thus far.

@Wmsn4Life — I don't think WC is devoid of character, creativity and personality. Downtown Franklin has loads of it. The problem is all the neighborhoods we saw did not. I'm hopeful they exist!

@mlp206 — to be honest, East Nashville was an option until I looked at the crime maps. That entire area was lit up like a Christmas tree, and that was just for the first several months of this year. It makes me nervous with a small family, but maybe that's unwarranted. Happy to be convinced otherwise. On Sylvan Park, we drove around but didn't see anything that jumped out at us. We loved Cherokee park, however. What are the nicer streets in Sylvan park?

@septimus — Whitland Ave is great. We love that area and know a couple who live there with 2 kids. They say it's loaded with young families and very strong community. I chuckled at your comment regarding garages as primary architectural features. I want a garage (another knock on many urban homes), but there are more tasteful ways to address the issue. Can you recommend some streets / neighborhoods in Franklin that are worth exploring? I'll be working in Cummins Station, and I could tolerate a 30 min commute (don't need dunkin donuts). That's about as long as I want to endure. How much longer does it take going up Hillsboro Pike as opposed to 65?

You said, "They say it's loaded with young families" like that was a good thing...oh wait you have kids, right? Never mind...bwahahaha..