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Old 04-26-2011, 04:47 PM
 
17 posts, read 29,086 times
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Hi all -

I've been trolling over the past couple months while a decision to move to Nashville loomed. Now the decision has been made, and we're starting to move the ball forward. You all seem so helpful, so here goes…

We spent a whirlwind weekend in town a couple weeks ago and covered a lot of ground. Here's what we saw:

Franklin: Fieldstone Farms, Cottonwood area, had lunch downtown

Brentwood: McMansion sprawl east of I65 near Cool Springs exit, more cookie cutter homes further east of I65 out Concord road

Belmont / Hillsboro: Cottages on cross streets b/w Belmont & 12th south, streets b/w 21st and Belmont

West End: Richland ave, Cherokee Park

Green Hills: nice neighborhoods scattered northwest of Battery & Granny White

Reader's digest summary: loved downtown Franklin, didn't love Fieldstone farms and the rest of the McMansion cookie-cutter big box strip mall fast food suburb stuff we saw in WC. Conversely, we loved some of the more urban areas (West End, Green Hills). But the cost of desirable West End / Green Hills homes is pretty high, plus the longer term consideration of schools. Here are some follow-up questions from our weekend:

1) I'll be working downtown and thought anywhere near downtown Franklin would be an awful commute. True?

2) My wife has a feeling that she'll be more isolated in the burbs than in a more urban neighborhood like West End. We have a 2 y/o and another on the way, and she doesn't want to be stuck in the burbs with no community or a misfit community. Can anyone speak to this? I will admit we are yuppies…

3) Are there parts of Brentwood / Franklin that have more character and charm? Mature trees? Space between homes? Boutique restaurants, bars and shops? If so, what are the specific neighborhoods / streets we should explore?

4) We want to rent for a year before buying and choose an area we hope to be longer term. My concern is that living in DC for 5 years and then moving to WC is near tantamount to starting over with respect to local community and relationships, so I am nervous about the urban now, suburban later plan. We plan to have 3, maybe 4, kids, so schools and space will be of great importance eventually. Our rental budget is around $2k/mo and purchase budget will be up to $400k. Has anyone ever micro transplanted from Davidson to Williamson county and can speak to how hard of a transition that was with respect to establishing new community?

Hope these aren't too vague… we're trying to make a lot of these important decisions from CA, and it's not easy.

Thanks!
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Old 04-26-2011, 05:09 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,712,949 times
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It isn't easy, but the best part of this is that, even though your whole life is waiting to be planned, you don't have to take everything into consideration with your first decision. Don't worry about a "forever" house yet when you only have a toddler + baby. I have lived in Wmsn County for 20 years. I bought "for resale" from the get-go, so I never got to live in my dream home. When your kids are as small as yours, the house should be convenient, baby-safe and easy to get around in. The neighborhood will matter more to you because your kids won't care, so you can choose from less limited areas and not be restricted by stuff like school zones. When your kids are older and begin to form relationships and attachments of their own is when the "community" matters more.

Renting will help you decide which part of town really is for you. There will always be homes to choose from here. I will alert brentwoodgirl about your Davidson-to-Williamson question. She did it, and lots of my friends have done it. It's very common.

Lots of people think Williamson County is devoid of personality, creativity and character. It's not. Since it's expensive to buy a home here, it's not really a second-choice community for many. It has a lot going for it. And you'll have no trouble finding a community to fit in, as I'm sure you've noticed if you've been reading for that long.

I'll let others begins referring neighborhoods, but I just wanted to weigh in with a little "old mom" advice.
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Old 04-26-2011, 05:53 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
126 posts, read 326,098 times
Reputation: 107
Hello,

I am a native of Nashville and I am from Williamson County..I would not want to live there now but I prefer to live in an area closer to downtown and with a little more character. My parents still live in Brentwood.

I think the areas of Downtown that you may want to consider for your purchase budget are East Nashville/Inglewood, Sylvan Park, Hillsboro Village even though it will be tough but you can find a house in Hillsboro Village for that price. I think you are smart to rent for at least a year so you can get a feel for the city and what it is like to live here.

Those areas will offer less commute, more boutique bars and restaurants and coffee shops, and less chain restauraunts, strip malls etc.

Williamson County schools are better as far as public schools are concerned. Nashville has some great Magnet Schools which are on a lottery system. You will likely get more lot in a suburb but you will have to contend with HOA's in most subdivisons as opposed to living in the city where we have no HOA's.

I hope this helps some..I know there will be plenty more folks that can share there advise..good luck
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Old 04-26-2011, 06:50 PM
 
2,428 posts, read 5,530,809 times
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I came from a major east coast city. I was anti-burbs, but we ended up in Franklin and I'm overall pretty happy. I actually think if we had gotten the house we put an offer in on Whitland Ave, I would have been more isolated. Our subdivision has so much going and so welcoming to newcomers it is easy to jump in and get to know people.

We looked at Fieldstone Farms, but I didn't like it. I didn't want a house where the garage is the primary architectural feature.

The thing that turned me off green hills in general was the lack of sidewalks. I was used to walking everywhere and didn't really want to change that. Franklin has a lot of sidewalks comparatively.

I live on the west side of Franklin. I used to work downtown Nashville. I could usually get to work in about 35 minutes with a stop at Dunkin Donuts. It was usually 12-15 min to 65 and another 15-17 minutes to downtown (I worked by the Frist). About once a month there was a big accident on 65. Getting home at night usually took a little longer because 65 starts to back up at 96 (now with construction is backs up a little sooner).
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Old 04-26-2011, 06:55 PM
 
17 posts, read 29,086 times
Reputation: 22
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?

Last edited by hubbstar; 04-26-2011 at 07:05 PM..
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Old 04-26-2011, 07:25 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
126 posts, read 326,098 times
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Yes..I know what your saying..I too have a small child he is 9 I have lived here for almost 14 years ( East Nashville ) and I have had one car break in at a bar late one night. It is..I think you will see on that map most of the crime is isolated to some of the more transitional areas of East Nashville which covers a pretty large area. Some of those areas do have some issues from time to time.

Sylvan Park is a smaller area so the side streets off Murphy known as the " State " streets usually are nicer and Cherokee park is great. Please feel free to PM if you have questions.

The garage is going to be an issue in most urban neighborhoods. Inglewood is worth a look for sure. If you are working in Cummins Station..you will not like your drive from Franklin. Also look at MNPS.org the Metro Nashville School website and the Williamson County School website which I am sure someone on this forum will provide.
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Old 04-26-2011, 07:48 PM
 
Location: Bellevue
3,003 posts, read 3,249,830 times
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It is true living in Franklin or Smyrna & driving downtown to work is a chore. In bad weather I-24 turns horrible. You could look west of Sylvan Park along Charlotte to the West Nashville shopping area. Another area would be in Bellevue. A 2yr old may like the small play parks such as the Red Caboose. Warner Park is hard to beat.
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Old 04-26-2011, 07:49 PM
 
2,428 posts, read 5,530,809 times
Reputation: 1836
Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
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?
Hillsboro Pike is a disaster in terms on commuting downtown from Franklin. It is great if you are going to GHs. Once you get around the mall it can take 20 minutes just to get from Hobbs to 440. West Franklin to GH can take as little as 18 minutes with no traffic but usually closer to 25.

I worked in Cummins Station. It is an easy commute because you get right off the highway and you are there.

Sometimes I regret not getting the house on Whitland, but I also don't have the stress of figuring out private schools and paying for multiple children in private school.

It is a little far out but Westhaven : New Homes : Available Homes : Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Tn is really coming along and has a variety of price points. McKays Mill has some of the features of Westhaven, but a better location if you want to be downtown. The lots are smaller in both communities, but there are lots of greenways, amenities (pools, etc). Downtown Franklin has some really cute bungalows for sale right now on Fair St.
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Old 04-26-2011, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,712,949 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by septimus View Post
It is a little far out but Westhaven : New Homes : Available Homes : Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Tn is really coming along and has a variety of price points. McKays Mill has some of the features of Westhaven, but a better location if you want to be downtown. The lots are smaller in both communities, but there are lots of greenways, amenities (pools, etc). Downtown Franklin has some really cute bungalows for sale right now on Fair St.
I second these choices. I also think the Fair St./Battle Ave. area in older Franklin is a great up-and-coming area. The commute would get old, but it's part of the choice.
I guess commute times are relative, though.
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Old 04-26-2011, 08:37 PM
 
Location: Franklin, TN
6,662 posts, read 13,290,152 times
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I'll go ahead and respect all of the opinions already given by the previous posters...some seriously good advice from some very helpful people.

Here's my take on your issues:

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
Hi all -

I've been trolling over the past couple months while a decision to move to Nashville loomed. Now the decision has been made, and we're starting to move the ball forward. You all seem so helpful, so here goes…

We spent a whirlwind weekend in town a couple weeks ago and covered a lot of ground. Here's what we saw:

Franklin: Fieldstone Farms, Cottonwood area, had lunch downtown

Brentwood: McMansion sprawl east of I65 near Cool Springs exit, more cookie cutter homes further east of I65 out Concord road

Belmont / Hillsboro: Cottages on cross streets b/w Belmont & 12th south, streets b/w 21st and Belmont

West End: Richland ave, Cherokee Park

Green Hills: nice neighborhoods scattered northwest of Battery & Granny White

Reader's digest summary: loved downtown Franklin, didn't love Fieldstone farms and the rest of the McMansion cookie-cutter big box strip mall fast food suburb stuff we saw in WC. Conversely, we loved some of the more urban areas (West End, Green Hills). But the cost of desirable West End / Green Hills homes is pretty high, plus the longer term consideration of schools. Here are some follow-up questions from our weekend:
I'd say you got a pretty accurate feel for the general areas. There's not much that you missed if you're looking at the nicer areas of town. mlp has some good points on places to consider as far as East Nashville (wonderful historic neighborhood with a cool, artsy atmosphere and great community feel -- but closer to some of the higher crime areas), Sylvan Park (somewhat farther along than East Nashville, closer to West End, but not quite as hip as EN), and Hillsboro Village (cool district close to Vanderbilt University with a younger, but not exclusively college crowd).

I would also add some other neighborhoods that are on the up and up and close to town (and slightly better budget-wise than say Whitland, Cherokee Park, and Green Hills) -- If you liked Belmont, then also explore the Melrose area east of 12th South (Kirkwood Ave area) to 8th South. Melrose has had some crime problems in the past, but is being gentrified and would offer a lower cost option to the more expensive areas to the west.

In fact, I would take a good look at anything within the boundaries of 8th Ave So (on the east) south of Wedgewood Ave, and out West End and 21st Ave.

Schools are an issue to consider, as there is a stigma about Metro Nashville schools right now...but there are some good individual schools on that side of town, and despite what the naysayers think, Hillsboro High School is still a very good school. Metro also has a top notch magnet school system, but admission is based on a lottery, so it is not guaranteed (something to consider). Some of the other areas have good elementary schools, but middle schools can start to get more hit or miss, and even in some of the nicer parts, high schools are sub par. If you want absolute security when it comes to public schools, you should probably concentrate on Williamson County (Franklin/Brentwood) and also Hendersonville. Hendersonville will resemble Franklin to an extent (without the awesome downtown), but with slightly less cost housing-wise. Hendersonville is on Old Hickory Lake, so if you are into water recreation, that's definitely a spot to consider.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
1) I'll be working downtown and thought anywhere near downtown Franklin would be an awful commute. True?
True, but depending on your definition of awful. Traffic here is going to be remarkably light compared with the Bay Area. Still, a lot of the roads are narrow and 2 lane (as you probably noticed), so they can be prone to long backups. If you are commuting to downtown from Franklin or Brentwood, you definitely want to be close to I-65 if you want to keep your commute time down. I would guess your average commute time to Cummins Station would be 30-45 minutes most days...possibly up to an hour depending on where exactly you are looking (i.e. downtown Franklin itself). Brentwood would probably knock off 10-15 minutes on most of those times. Traffic is getting steadily worse in Williamson County, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
2) My wife has a feeling that she'll be more isolated in the burbs than in a more urban neighborhood like West End. We have a 2 y/o and another on the way, and she doesn't want to be stuck in the burbs with no community or a misfit community. Can anyone speak to this? I will admit we are yuppies…
When I think of Franklin and Brentwood, I don't think isolated. Same goes for Hendersonville. All are sizable communities with a good amount of things to do (you don't have to go to Nashville to have fun, dine, shop). Brentwood and Franklin are growing together, but at considerably less density as you find in the more urban inner city neighborhoods. Williamson County is pretty close to Nashville as far as the burbs go. So no...I don't think isolation will be an issue. Commute, maybe. But outside of peak traffic times, traveling to Nashville isn't all that difficult.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
3) Are there parts of Brentwood / Franklin that have more character and charm? Mature trees? Space between homes? Boutique restaurants, bars and shops? If so, what are the specific neighborhoods / streets we should explore?
Brentwood's established neighborhoods have plenty of mature trees (look along Wilson Pike), but to me most of the character is found in the handful of old plantation houses that dot the area, rather than the neighborhoods. The older developments are nothing special, but there are some pretty nice homes that don't have the McMansion feel.

Downtown Franklin is stocked with character, but is pretty expensive. Most of Franklin is relatively cookie-cutter, but there are some interesting developments such as Westhaven and McKay's Mill that have more of a dense feel to them with sidewalks and shops...but they are actually kind of isolated when it comes to connecting to the other neighborhoods in town. Not my cup of tea, but possibly something to check out. Both are new neighborhoods, so don't expect plenty of mature trees.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
4) We want to rent for a year before buying and choose an area we hope to be longer term. My concern is that living in DC for 5 years and then moving to WC is near tantamount to starting over with respect to local community and relationships, so I am nervous about the urban now, suburban later plan. We plan to have 3, maybe 4, kids, so schools and space will be of great importance eventually. Our rental budget is around $2k/mo and purchase budget will be up to $400k. Has anyone ever micro transplanted from Davidson to Williamson county and can speak to how hard of a transition that was with respect to establishing new community?
Renting first is a good call IMO. Visiting is one thing, but getting a feel for the areas and the driving times is important. Plus you can discover what your favorite eating and shopping spots are. A purchase budget of $400k will give you the choice of a lot of areas, but less to speak of in the Brentwood, Green Hills, and West End areas (it's still possible...but you won't get the bang for your buck).

Quote:
Originally Posted by hubbstar View Post
Hope these aren't too vague… we're trying to make a lot of these important decisions from CA, and it's not easy.

Thanks!
Not vague at all. You provided an ample amount of information. We get a lot of questions of "where are the nice areas?" and "where are the good schools" with no mention of budget as well as the odd "where are the nice areas in Nashville with good schools, historic houses, artsy, liberal-friendly, with no crime whatsoever for a budget of $200k" that simply don't exist.

I will ask a few more questions of you to maybe help you weigh your interests.

-For the same relative price, what is more important -- a larger yard or a more unique/older neighborhood? Also, do you prefer new construction or older?

-How important are sidewalks to your house choice? (as in, sidewalks that connect to city streets rather than subdivision sidewalks)

-How about proximity to parks and greenways?

-Do you primarily shop/eat in big box stores or chains, or do you prefer locally owned or mom and pop places?

-What sort of activities are you interested in?



Also, if you are comfortable with answering these (totally understandable if you don't wish to):

Are you Christian or any other religion, or non-religious?

Are you conservative or liberal?

Would you prefer to live in an area with like-minded or similar people, or does that not a concern?

To the questions above, I don't mean to pry, or to imply that you would be totally uncomfortable living in either the suburbs or in the city...but some people do have their preference based on that. Generally speaking, Williamson County (and many of the other suburbs) are less diverse and more conservative, and Davidson County is more diverse (in certain areas -- not as much the ones you are interested in) and more liberal (that would apply in the areas you are looking). That doesn't mean that liberals or minorities will have a lot of issues in Williamson County (I think it's a pretty accepting place overall) or that conservatives will have a hard time finding like-minded folks in Nashville.



P.S. - It should be noted that Williamson County is a popular place for Californian as well as other transplants...so you might find that area pretty easy and welcoming for a transition.

Feel free to ask more questions, and good luck with the upcoming move!
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