Why are Homes so Expensive?? (Knoxville, Hendersonville: transplants, apartments, mover)

[newmover99]

Hello,Why are homes so expensive in Nashville/Williamson??Salaries are not that great. How can people afford >375,000 for a nice place to live?Thankyou for any help

[denawilliams]

You are correct that areas in Williamson County are more pricey than many other areas. There are probably several factors, but one of them is that Williamson County schools usually receive the highest scores in the state and the demand for that area is reflected in the prices. However, there are other counties that many people are pleased with school systems (Wilson, Rutherford, etc.) that are more affordable. And if you do not have school aged children, you might have even more affordable options.

[middletnjoe]

Probably has something to do with the fact that Williamson County is predominantly white collar and has a median household income of around $78,000 dollars.

[newmover99]

Originally Posted by middletnjoe

Probably has something to do with the fact that Williamson County is predominantly white collar and has a median household income of around $78,000 dollars.

That's my point! $78,000.00 is NOT enough to afford a >$375,000 home--not unless you spend 75% of your take-home income on housing

[middletnjoe]

Actually, it would be around 40%. Most people do spend a good portion of their income on housing. I spend 35% of my net income on housing, make far less than $78,000 per year, and do just fine.

[septimus]

it is all relative. We found it to be a lot more for our money. We bought a house in Williamson for $200k less than what we sold our old house for when relocated and it is twice as large.

As for the salary, we moved from a town where the average cost of all housing was $600k (that included basement studio apartments through single family houses). Our neighbors lived in a house valued at approximately $700k and probably made about $40k/yr as a cab driver but had owned the house since 1960 so he wasn't paying a big mortgage. i'm sure there are a lot of "old timers" who are now house rich as the area has developed and there are plenty of retirees with lots of assets but not a "high" income which scew the salary satistics.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by septimus

it is all relative. We found it to be a lot more for our money. We bought a house in Williamson for $200k less than what we sold our old house for when relocated and it is twice as large.

As for the salary, we moved from a town where the average cost of all housing was $600k (that included basement studio apartments through single family houses). Our neighbors lived in a house valued at approximately $700k and probably made about $40k/yr as a cab driver but had owned the house since 1960 so he wasn't paying a big mortgage. i'm sure there are a lot of "old timers" who are now house rich as the area has developed and there are plenty of retirees with lots of assets but not a "high" income which scew the salary satistics.

I think you hit on something. A lot of people who live in Williamson County moved from somewhere else even more expensive (California, the Northeast, etc.). There are a lot of Fortune 500 companies with large operations in Williamson County who bring in executives from more expensive parts of the country. Williamson County is also a very popular place for people in the country music industry and professional athletes (even some who don't play for Nashville teams), and that tends to skew the averages upward.

And let's not forget that, out of thousands of counties in the country, Williamson County is the 27th wealthiest in terms of per capita income in the entire USA. In fact, in terms of per capita income Williamson County is the wealthiest county in the entire Southeastern US outside of Virginia.

[goodbyehollywood]

JMT and septimus are right on the money!

TN's in-migration has brought a lot of new residents used to paying much, much more for housing. I have always lived in large, urban areas, like L.A., D.C. and Boston, where people routinely pay 50% or more for housing. In L.A., people often stretch into paying 70% of their take-home and scrimp elsewhere. That's the price of living there. Moving here enables them to lower their housing outlay dramatically, while still paying an amount locals consider astronomical.

And, of course, many of the newcomers bring equity with them. A large down payment-- or in some cases, no mortgage at all-- makes high-ticket homes affordable.

[CMartel2]

Originally Posted by newmover99

Hello,Why are homes so expensive in Nashville/Williamson??Salaries are not that great. How can people afford >375,000 for a nice place to live?Thankyou for any help

It depends. You can find nice homes much cheaper than 375K in Williamson County--even in Brentwood. That said, an area the size of Nashville has plenty of opportunities to support the population of Williamson County.

In Knoxville you have a similar effect with Farragut. A big difference, however, is that Knoxville tends to have better schools than does Nashville, so there's less flight out to the suburbs. Plus there's even less income there.

You see similar counties surrounding most metropolitan areas of the country. When I was looking at Denver, for instance, you found very similar home prices in Douglas and Jefferson Counties to what you see in Nashville, where you had much better schools than Denver County or Adams County. And they were even further out than are homes in Williamson County.

Still, you can find similar schools and better prices in Hendersonville, though you're going to end up with a usually less attractive and smaller lot.

You have to look at taxes in all of this, as well. Tennessee has some of the lowest property taxes in the nation.

You're really paying for your spot on the rock. That's one of the reasons developers can get away putting all these homes on such crappy little lots. No one in their right mind wants to live on a postage stamp with no amenities immediately nearby, but they can market it to people willing to scrimp into the Williamson County schools.



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[Coach_B]

I'd say half are rich executives or transplants and the other half are just not financially savvy and spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

The fam looked into the area a few years ago and we felt too poor to live there (making a little over $100k). Then again, we are big savers and only spend 20% on housing. I bet most people nowadays spend 40%+ and live by the "well I can make the payment" philosophy.