Possible relocation to Williamson Co; ranch home desired (Franklin, Brentwood: rent, houses)

[annebach]

Hi collective wisdom,

My husband, I, and toddler will most likely be moving from Houston to Nashville in June 2016 (yes, I've read the very helpful threads that deal with this exact move!). We are planning a "scouting trip" to the Nashville area in late September to get a general sense for Williamson County, which is most likely where we would plan to buy next spring. (We've both spent significant time in Nashville for work, but centered around downtown.)

Can anyone recommend neighborhoods/areas of Franklin, Brentwood, or other parts of Williamson Co. that we could drive through and visit? Here's what we're dealing with in terms of budget & our desires:

~budget of $350 to $600K (varies depending on if we'd have to pay for private schools)
~older, renovated ranch home, 2000-3000 SF
~good public schools strongly desired
~a sizeable, shaded yard/lot--up to 1 acre

In terms of proximity to Things, here's the scoop:

~my husband's office is located not far from the airport, but he works remotely quite often; I mostly freelance from home, so we're not looking at a daily commute to any specific place
~we'd love to be a 20 minute drive from the arts activities that occur downtown/in the Vandy and Belmont area...also because I adjunct as a professor occasionally... it's tough to tell if this is realistic or not based on online traffic pattern research
~15 minutes from a good grocery store (other than this, we're not really shoppers)

I think what I'm really asking, given our interest in a ranch home on a sizeable lot, is whether homes like those exist in groups--a whole neighborhood or pocket full of them--or whether they are just randomly scattered through Williamson Co. as one-offs? I've found lots of listings on Zillow that appear to meet the above criteria, but can't tell whether they are part of larger neighborhoods/areas that we could drive through to get a sense for where we could target our home search next June. The cookie-cutter subdivisions do not crank our tractors, as my mom would say.

Thank you in advance for any intel!

[titanspreds_04]

Would you consider Wilson Co.? Its 10 min to airport from the MtJ exit. Excellent schools. Lots of housing options in that price range.

[BirdieBelle]

There are tons of neighborhoods with ranch homes like that. In Brentwood, most renovated options would be bumping the top of your price range.

I would search Realtracs.com with these neighborhoods in the appropriate search field:

Brenthaven
River Oaks
Meadowlake
Wildwood
Laurelwood
Murray Estates
Carondelet
Hallbrook


In Franklin, there are also plenty of options. I'll let some Franklin folks handle that. Realtracs won't let you search by number of stories, but Realtor.com will. However, Realtor.com doesn't separate the real Brentwood, which is in Williamson County, from Nashville homes with a Brentwood zip code that are located in Davidson County.

[brentwoodgirl]

There are quite a few ranches around here. For Brentwood, some ranch neighborhoods are Brenthaven, Meadow Lake, Carondolet, Wildwood, and River Oaks- although some of those will push your budget.

The Grassland area of Franklin also has some ranch house neighborhoods.

If you decide to go to private school, there are ranch houses all over Nashville. Crieve Hall would be one of your best fits for location and budget.

I recommend realtracs.com for your search.
Choose your county and then you can enter a city.

If you are looking at Crieve Hall and something seems to be too cheap to be true, it probably is. Realtors seem to sneak some non-Crieve Hall houses into the search. Anything above $350k should be in Crieve Hall.

Edit: wsmn is clearly a faster typer! I blame my phone.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by brentwoodgirl

Edit: wsmn is clearly a faster typer! I blame my phone.

Great minds think alike.

One thing I forgot: The market in Brentwood and much of Franklin is insane right now, ESPECIALLY for one-story homes. Not only are you competing with relos, but also with investors. There is very much a shadow market going on in which many homes do not even hit the market and are sold by word of mouth.

Your best bet is to research an aggressive Realtor who has lived her a long time and has lots of contacts they can mine for options.

[CountryGirl2b=]

Realtracs.com DOES let you search by number of stories BUT sometimes you get a few 2 stories houses because the number of stories was not in the original listing I guess.

[annebach]

Thanks all. This is exactly the info I was looking for. Really appreciate the help!

[Siamese Kitty]

Agree with some of the others, and I really like Brenthaven.

[STL2006]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

There is very much a shadow market going on in which many homes do not even hit the market and are sold by word of mouth.

Your best bet is to research an aggressive Realtor who has lived her a long time and has lots of contacts they can mine for options.

THIS. We're considering relocating from STL and this seems to be the name of the game in a lot of markets. Here in St. Louis, Nashville, and Orlando area (all under consideration by us), the good homes are gone before they're listed. Get a good realtor.

[annebach]

Hi all,

We just returned from our Nashville scouting trip. The specific information you all provided was very, very helpful. Just wanted to return to the thread to let you know that I appreciated your time in responding to my initial post. We came away interested in Franklin & Brentwood as good fits for our lifestyle, budget, etc. Turns out his office is closer to our areas of interest than we initially realized (his company doesn't rent space near the airport anymore; now they are located at the same exit the zoo is located at off I-65--can't recall exact name of road). We stayed in the 12South area, which is loads of fun, but realistically since we'd like a bit more yard and good public schools all the way through high school, Williamson Co. is calling our name. We'd both spent lots of time in Nashville before but primarily in Davidson Co., and were blown away by the natural beauty of Williamson Co. Good lord--coming back to Houston was like returning to a dystopian wasteland! At any rate--thanks so much to all. I may pop back with more specific questions in future months. We'd be moving in late spring 2016.