Ranking of Nashville's nicest suburbs (at least a try) (Knoxville: transplants, houses)

[somewhereoutthere15]

Originally Posted by brentwoodgirl

It’s funny to read this thread years later. In 2017, I had no idea we would one day move to Nolensville from Brentwood. It has changed considerably in the last 5 years and we absolutely love it. We are one of several families who moved from Brentwood to Nolensville this year. It seems like getting its own high school has really solidified its small town identity. Nolensville went from seeming somewhat isolated with few amenities to now having a bunch of locally owned restaurants, a brewery, a distillery, a rec center, a trail system, etc.

House prices are skyrocketing, we were shocked when we first started looking here a year ago by how much more expensive it was than we expected. Years ago we had friends buy a house here for $650,000, and we thought they were crazy to spend that much in Nolo. Now there are several new neighborhoods here with million dollar houses.


We bought in a nicer neighborhood where people could afford Brentwood and Franklin, but chose Nolensville. Many said they liked the small town feel and how compact it is.
We love it here.

I drove through Nolensville a couple months ago for the first time in years and I was surprised and amazed at what I saw. It's also really interesting what you said about people moving from Brentwood to Nolensville as I had no idea that was even a trend.

[Canadian2021]

Nollenville prices seems really good as compared to franklin.
How is the high school ?

[somewhereoutthere15]

Considering the high school is in such a nice area, I'm sure it would be a perfectly fine place to send your kids, like most of the suburban high schools in the region.

[Canadian2021]

Thanks somewhereoutthere15,

Does online ranking really important to determine good or average high school?

[somewhereoutthere15]

Originally Posted by Canadian2021

Thanks somewhereoutthere15,

Does online ranking really important to determine good or average high school?

It depends on the source of whichever ranking you're looking at.

[Canadian2021]

Thanks

[shinestx]

If you like Nolensville, I think your housing investment will see a lot of appreciation in the next 5-10 years. It's surprisingly close to Brentwood and the direction where Nashville is growing. It still has a rural effect, but it's quickly suburbanizing.

[Canadian2021]

Originally Posted by shinestx

If you like Nolensville, I think your housing investment will see a lot of appreciation in the next 5-10 years. It's surprisingly close to Brentwood and the direction where Nashville is growing. It still has a rural effect, but it's quickly suburbanizing.

Thanks Shinetx,
Yeah because to me brentwood already seems pretty expensive and I can see lots of newly built in Nolensville

[bus man]

I hope you all don't mind me dredging up this thread. The Nashville area is on our retirement short list, and my wife and I (and our teenage daughter) came out for a very brief visit a couple of weeks ago. Our purpose was simply to take a look around and gain some first impressions to help us decide if we wanted to further consider the area at all (it turned out that, yes, we do), and where we'd want to focus our search.

What we are looking for is the standard-issue suburb, with a cute downtown being a bonus. We based our search on where the different Target stores were located and what the areas around them looked like. We also checked out several new-home developments. We want chain stores and restaurants and newer single-family houses. Ease of access to interstate highways and other expressways is important to us. However, we don't want a place that feels too crowded and congested. We want affluent, but not overly wealthy, if that makes sense. Parks and walking trails would be desirable. We have zero interest in bars and nightclubs. To us, "boring" is a point in a town's favor.

So, with all that, here's my list of the places that gave us the best first impressions:

1. Spring Hill -- It almost seemed too good to be true. It has all the chain stores we like (including a Super Target!) but it didn't feel crowded, and we liked the rolling hills in the area. The forthcoming June Lake development looks very promising to us.

2. Franklin -- Gotta love a place with TWO Targets! And the downtown was really cute too.

3. Hendersonville -- The whole stretch along Indian Lake Blvd. looked very pleasant and well laid-out.

4. Mount Juliet -- I liked it, though the area around the shopping center did seem kind of congested. My wife liked it at first (this was the first town we hit in our whirlwind tour) but it dropped in her estimation once we started seeing other places. For some reason, my daughter just didn't like it much at all, which is kind of surprising, because otherwise her preferences lined up with ours.

5. Brentwood -- All we saw was the area around the Target, which looked decent enough. Obviously there's a lot more to the place than that, but since that's all we had time to see, this is where I would rank the town, relative to the other places we saw.

We came away feeling that we'd be happy living in any of the top three towns. We'd be willing to look more at Brentwood as well. Though I think I could make Mount Juliet work, the ladies of the family weren't as thrilled, so we'd probably drop that one.

6. Lebanon -- This one is our only "maybe." It's not much now, but it certainly looks poised for development. How that'll shake out, we don't know. It might move up in our rankings in another 5 or 10 years, depending on how things go.

The other towns on the list just didn't make the cut, for one reason or another. I don't see us choosing to live in any of them. Here's the order I'd put them in.

7. Goodlettsville

8. Smyrna

9. La Vergne

10. Murfreesboro

11. Gallatin

[Shakeesha]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

1. Franklin
2. Brentwood
3. Murfreesboro
4. Hendersonville
5. Mt. Juliet
6. Gallatin
7. Spring Hill
8. Smyrna
9. Lebanon
10. Lavergne

My list stands...mostly.

1. Franklin has really started to develop more residential options. There are now low rise condo towers, apartments, and townhomes being built. The area has added more jobs and new shopping options. The new premium outlets is supposed to be either Brentwood or Franklin, so that will also boost its reputation. Downtown Franklin has also improved.

2. Brentwood has improved, but still lacks a downtown. The city has become more congested than ever. It would really help both Franklin and Brentwood if Clovercroft and McEwen Drive were improved, possibly connected to Sam Ridley Parkway.

3. Murfreesboro is booming with new development. Infrastructure improvements are underway. Several new mixed use developments will help the city attract more jobs. The Fountains, Clari Park, One East College, The Bottoms etc. have a more urban focus. These are the developments the city needs to keep residents from leaving to live/shop elsewhere. Hopefully, Murfreesboro continues its focus on urban development and shopping options to remain attractive. I need the city to clean up Broad Street, Old Fort Parkway, and Church Street yesterday....no excuse for those corridors to still look like that.

4. Mt. Juliet has moved up due to its focus on local business. Several developments have added new greenways, parks, shopping, and upscale residential elements. Mt. Juliet has also invested in new roads, schools, and necessary infrastructure to keep up with demand. The area between Providence and West Lebanon has grown significantly in the past eight years. I expect Mt. Juliet to be the burb to watch for new relocations and job growth due to its proximity to BNA.

5. Hendersonville is snagging businesses from Nashville who can no longer afford the high rents. Hendersonville continues to grow and develop. Indian Lake continues to thrive and reminds me of Farragut a lot near Knoxville.

6. Gallatin has really grown due to the expansion of Highway 109 and job growth. Gallatin is a nice balance between rural and suburban living.

7. Spring Hill would be higher if it had better infrastructure. I-65 needs to be widened along with more interchanges. June Lake will be a game changer, and if all goes well, the region will rise in prominence. The traffic right now is outrageous.

8. Smyrna

9. Lebanon




10. Lavergne ranks at the bottom due to crime and lack of amenities.