Best places to live around Nashville (Nashville-Davidson, Franklin: section 8, apartment complexes, high crime)

[rossc]

Originally Posted by epelton

Not surprisingly, based on the votes in this poll, East Nashville just posted the highest number of home sales since August, 2006. Anyone else seeing this in other parts of the city? I know things are still bad in other parts of the country, but apparently not here.

We looked at many houses in East Nashville and I don't see the appeal. Tiny lots and old musty smelling cottage style homes in the $200k price range. Even the ones that had been remodeled smelled of mold and mildew. We looked at some in the +-$150k range that needed a total rehab or a bulldozer. We were looking in the better areas.

[Mike in TN]

I think it's a niche market there. Either you really like it or you hate it.

[artemis]

** If we had kids, we would have bought in Goodlettsville or Hendersonville...Maybe Old Hickory. Everyone says schools there are better than metro schools.**

Old Hickory children go to Metro schools.

[rossc]

Didn't know that...That would have narrowed it down to G'Ville or H'Ville.

We went to a yard sale today in Inglewood. The house was sold by owner. It is 1300 sq/ft needing a total renovation, no garage, on .15 acre or so. It sold for $194,000. I would have guessed $130's and that was giving it quite a bit if credit for being in what appeared to be a decent neighborhood. The comps over there must be very high.

[epelton]

Its a difficult area to understand, but it holds the top spot for the number one factor: location. Aside from that, you'd have to know what's happened over what period of time. There are 5 multi-million dollar mixed-use developments that have gone up in the past year, which is hugely different than young couples moving in and renovating their own house. Along those lines, there are more professional renovations and complete tear downs now. In other words, proffesional devlopments. Again, hugely different than small investors. Having seen much of the change over time, along with 12 South, German Town, Hillsboro Village, etc, its striking how fast things have changed. There were no fine dining establishments 5 years ago, now its one of the highest concentrations in Nashville. There were no high-end condos 5 years ago, no, again, one of the highest concentrations. So coming into w/o knowing the past, its hard to see the appeal, especially if you work outside of town or don't go downtown for dining, nightlife, or events. For everyone else, the appeal is obvious. There is no better investment, no more central location, and no area of Nashville with a higher concentration of affluent, YOUNG (20-30), well educated yuppies. Not to mention there seems to be a lot more older people driving their over-the-top luxury cars. HOWEVER, for those looking for a quick flip or crazy good deal on a house, that chance is gone. Most people finding homes over there now are moving into a renovated, long term home, rather than a cheap investment house.

[skyblueNashville]

Originally Posted by artemis

** If we had kids, we would have bought in Goodlettsville or Hendersonville...Maybe Old Hickory. Everyone says schools there are better than metro schools.**

Old Hickory children go to Metro schools.

I was wondering about this because I'd heard someone I *thought* say they lived in Old Hickory, but were in Wilson County. So, I looked on realtracs.com in Wilson County and put Old Hickory as the city. It would seem there are some areas that are zoned for Wilson County. Do you think that's the same as in my area--where we are zoned for Nashville Metro because we live inside Davidson County, but our zipcode is a Brentwood one? I guess I'm just wondering out loud and wanting to clarify for future readers. Thanks.

[poppimds777]

Is OLD Hickory part of Hermitage? And if not it should have been listed.

[poppimds777]

Originally Posted by artemis

** If we had kids, we would have bought in Goodlettsville or Hendersonville...Maybe Old Hickory. Everyone says schools there are better than metro schools.**

Old Hickory children go to Metro schools.

K-4 Go to Dupont Elementary.Which is a fine Metro School.Its at 1311 9th st 37138 Principle Hoskins. I have a grand daughter who's attending and she loves it.She tested at 12 grade reading while in the 3rd grade!

[oimanurse]

I live in Hillsboro Village and while I'd like to move out toward a lake, I can't give up the convenience of being so close to everything. 10 minutes from work, from Green Hills (great mall, Whole Foods, etc.), 15 from the airport, great place to jog safely---even at night, lots of medical care right in the neighborhood (Vanderbilt), decent places to eat, two minutes from I440.... All very important when gas is over $4/gallon and hard to find at that. Our home values haven't gone down like a lot of others have; probably because it's always going to be a desirable area to buy into. Not much in the way of starter homes here, though.

[2martins]

this has come a LONG way since i grew up here, but it still varies somewhat. in the younger hipper areas of town it would probably be less of an issue than in rural areas, say. i have good friends who are an interacial couple and i have not heard them complain about it, and they live in bellevue in the suburbs with their two kids which is NOT the hip area of town (see my above post!). people do NOTICE them a lot, but then my male friend is almost 7 feet tall, so people would notice him ANYWAY. i refer to him as my tall friend rather than my black friend because what stands out MOST about him is that he is TALL rather than that he is black.

i know that when i dated a black young man very briefly in my teens in Nashville, back when it was VERY WHITE BREAD, i got a LOT of looks and you could tell people were talking about us. No one ever came right out and said anything TO US or did anything rude, though, and that was over 20 years ago. then again, i only went out with him a few times, and not anywhere rural. Nashville is SO much more cosmopolitan than it used to be that i can't imagine it isn't much better now. it's still probably easier around vanderbilt, say, where there are so many international people anyway. but overall you just see so many more mixed relationships in general (with hispanic, black, white, and whatever else we have in nashville) that it's just not than unusual.

alternatively, choose a place where there are a lot of military people. there is no group of people on earth that is more mixed racially than military families!

however, you will still find religious life to be VERY segregated. if you want to find a very mixed church for you both to attend, well, good luck. There are some primarily white churches with a few black people, but overall churches are the last part of social/community life to de-segregate. they may exist, but i am not aware of them.

i hope this helps.