where not to live in nash (Murfreesboro, Franklin: crime rate, loan, new house)

[pawillia]

What about the Hermitage area?

[pixies]

Antioch is not a good area. AT ALL. A lot of crime.
Madison is a little better and the rent is cheaper there, along with some duplexes in Hermitage called Alan's estates or something like that. I believe a 2br runs for $600. Good schools too.

[TNNative]

Originally Posted by pawillia

What about the Hermitage area?

It's been a while since I've been to Hermitage but my son's fiance' lives there in a gated community and he says it seems safe. He'll be moving there after the wedding in few weeks so I certainly hope that it is. A gated community with cameras and passcodes makes me feels somewhat better about his move.

[Carol McCullough]

I moved from Chicago to Nashville in 2003. It sounds like rents there have remained static or maybe even gone down, because the price you give on your Logan Square flat is exactly the same price my friend in Logan Square paid in 2002 (for a very swank pad). I lived in Lincoln Square and paid even more back then. Rents here have steadily increased and from what I understand the rental market is a bit tight.

I find it difficult to tell people what neighborhoods to avoid because criminal activity here is in little pockets throughout most of the urban center. There are often streets or blocks to avoid, but very few neighborhoods are "bad" in general.

Coming from Chicago, the city of neighborhoods, I know you would like a little more specificity than East Nashville, West Nashville, etc. You may want to refer to a fairly extensive post I did a little while back on Nashville neighborhoods (it is on the first page of responses): http://www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...nashville.html.

As I mention in that post, I live in East Nashville and I love it. It is a gentrifying area but it is not as far along as many neighborhoods in Chicago. There are good parts and parts that aren't as good. I have seen several folks looking for a place (with parameters similar to yours) meet with success by posting on the local East Nashville listserv (East Nashville | Google Groups) that they are moving from out of state and would like to find a place. Landlords also post on that site. If you see something that sounds promising, then you can ask the locals about that specific street and get an honest appraisal of the safety of the area.

You may want to consider renting for a little while just to get to know the area a little better. Besides, I figure mortgage rates are only going to go down for the forseeable future, given the state of the economy, so you may get a better deal down the road. Of course, we found the perfect house on our second weekend visit from Chicago, so you may find yourself in that boat.

Good luck!

[Southerner1]

I have to disagree with the recommendation of Madison. Years ago, it used to be nice and safe, but not anymore. I heard that the highest car theft rate in Metro Nashville is at Rivergate Mall near Madison. Also, two video cameras were just installed on Gallatin Rd. in Madison in an attempt to deter crime in the area.

You might want to check out Hendersonville and Gallatin. They're considered safe areas and there is currently a lot of development in these cities. You can check the local paper in Hendersonville, The Star News, for townhomes and apartments for rent and houses for sale in Hendersonville and Gallatin. The Star News comes out on Wednesday and Friday.

[mad fiddler]

Madison is very large -- approximately 30,000 people over 20 square miles. Rivergate is on the border between Madison and Goodlettsville, and isn't representative of the area. There are some bad areas, but crime here isn't any worse than in Inglewood, but somehow Madison's picked up a bad reputation.

We've been happy here -- nice house at a good price, good sized yard, quiet neighborhood, a few minutes to Nashville or to the more distant burbs. We're in an established neighborhood, with most houses from the 1950s-1960s. Most of the crime in our part of town has been domestic violence, not random.

There are parts of town to avoid, but please don't write off the whole area.

[Southerner1]

Originally Posted by mad fiddler

Madison is very large -- approximately 30,000 people over 20 square miles. Rivergate is on the border between Madison and Goodlettsville, and isn't representative of the area. There are some bad areas, but crime here isn't any worse than in Inglewood, but somehow Madison's picked up a bad reputation.

We've been happy here -- nice house at a good price, good sized yard, quiet neighborhood, a few minutes to Nashville or to the more distant burbs. We're in an established neighborhood, with most houses from the 1950s-1960s. Most of the crime in our part of town has been domestic violence, not random.

There are parts of town to avoid, but please don't write off the whole area.

When I was growing up, my aunt, uncle and cousins lived in Madison on Graycroft Ave. I used to visit there often and it was a nice area. In the 50's and 60's, some country music stars lived in Madison before many of them decided to move further out into the Hendersonville area. There are lots of nice, well-built homes from the 50's and 60's in Madison. Also, it's much closer to Nashville than Hendersonville or Gallatin. I have good memories of Madison and I'm sorry that the crime level there has increased so much. I hope things get better there in the future, but right now, I just don't feel safe there.

I gave a couple of examples why I don't feel safe there in my previous post, but I have some more. A few years ago, I asked a friend to go walking with me at Cedar Hill Park in Madison. My friend informed me that the park is a gay hangout and that at all times of day there are men hooking up with each other in the wooded areas of the park. I was shocked to hear that. Later, the Metro police did a sting at that park and arrested a large number of men in the middle of the afternoon for lewd behavior. Also, a friend of mine and her husband rented an apartment off Old Hickory Blvd. in Madison near Cornerstone Church a few years ago. They were very happy to move out when their lease was up. My friends told me that they never felt safe in Madison.

When you say that there are good areas, I'm not sure what areas you're referring to. I'm not saying that they don't exist, I'm just saying that I don't know where they are. I could be wrong, but I'm just sharing my opinion of Madison.

[artemis]

The Graycroft area is still nice.

The camera installed at Old Hickory Blvd isn't necessarily a crime deterrent. it's there because that intersection at Gallatin Rd is one of the worst around, lots of wrecks, etc.

[KountryGirl]

Hermitage is safe and growing. For apartments in the 800ish range around Hermitage, I would suggest Cherry Creek (gated, well maintained, tennis courts). To rent a house for around 800, I would try driving through the subdivision like Jackson's Retreat, Camden Woods, Farmingham Woods or Roxbourough. These are all close to I-40 and close the Hermitage train station.

[mad fiddler]

Originally Posted by Southerner1

When I was growing up, my aunt, uncle and cousins lived in Madison on Graycroft Ave. I used to visit there often and it was a nice area. In the 50's and 60's, some country music stars lived in Madison before many of them decided to move further out into the Hendersonville area. There are lots of nice, well-built homes from the 50's and 60's in Madison. Also, it's much closer to Nashville than Hendersonville or Gallatin. I have good memories of Madison and I'm sorry that the crime level there has increased so much. I hope things get better there in the future, but right now, I just don't feel safe there.

I gave a couple of examples why I don't feel safe there in my previous post, but I have some more. A few years ago, I asked a friend to go walking with me at Cedar Hill Park in Madison. My friend informed me that the park is a gay hangout and that at all times of day there are men hooking up with each other in the wooded areas of the park. I was shocked to hear that. Later, the Metro police did a sting at that park and arrested a large number of men in the middle of the afternoon for lewd behavior. Also, a friend of mine and her husband rented an apartment off Old Hickory Blvd. in Madison near Cornerstone Church a few years ago. They were very happy to move out when their lease was up. My friends told me that they never felt safe in Madison.

When you say that there are good areas, I'm not sure what areas you're referring to. I'm not saying that they don't exist, I'm just saying that I don't know where they are. I could be wrong, but I'm just sharing my opinion of Madison.

I live near Cedar Hill Park, and walk my dog there a lot. Though it is/was a gay hangout, I've _never_ seen it myself, and besides, gay hookups don't put any of us in personal danger.

The park is nice, with lots of kids playing, a few people fishing at the pond, and older people doing their walks there instead of at a mall. I've never felt in danger there, and every time I've been there I've had pleasant conversations with others like me who are out engaging in non-criminal activities :)

I'd guess that a lot of people feel like they're in danger because they've heard that Madison is dangerous. Did your friend ever _see_ any criminal activity at Cedar Hill?

Graycroft is a nice area -- big homes on large lots. I'm near Cedar Hill, which is also safe. The only crime we've been victim to in the five years we've been here was having our truck broken into. We shop in Rivergate, and have never had any problems, and don't know anyone else who's had problems. Though we often head elsewhere to shop, its because the traffic at Rgate is horrendous -- apparently a whole lot of people feel like it's safe enough to shop there, too.

Crime is up here just like it's up everywhere else in Davidson county. I rarely hear people talk about the crime in Inglewood, even though Inglewood has some VERY rough sections. In some ways, it's a lot like Madison: Safe, working- and middle-class neighborhoods with some expensive homes scattered about, alongside an area where most of the crime happens. Inglewood, however, isn't seen as monolithically crime-ridden, unlike Madison. I'm guessing it's because the architecture there is more interesting :)