Nice towns within 1 hour of Blair School of Music (Knoxville: house, neighborhood)

[lavender_blue]

Hello we are currently in CT and are looking to relocate to TN. Starting to scope out suitable areas of TN.

One very important criteria for us is a music conservatory for my daughter who is 11. She is a pretty serious/advanced musician and we are really lucky that there is a fantastic music school about 45min from where we are now (Neighborhood Music School) that she attends. We would really like her to continue at a school that is of the same caliber. From what I can tell, Blair School of Music is about the same in terms of what they offer to pre-college students.

Looking for recommendations for towns that are commutable from the school. I realize for now that lessons are probably all done via Zoom (as they are here) but at some point, I'm sure things will normalize.

We enjoy outdoors and parks, etc and more 'rural' living so living in Nashville proper is probably not a good fit for us. We were looking at Knoxville but are realizing it's much too far away. Is there anything similar to Knoxville that is closer to Nashville?

Thank you for your help

[Nashvilleherewecome2020]

Originally Posted by lavender_blue

Hello we are currently in CT and are looking to relocate to TN. Starting to scope out suitable areas of TN.

One very important criteria for us is a music conservatory for my daughter who is 11. She is a pretty serious/advanced musician and we are really lucky that there is a fantastic music school about 45min from where we are now (Neighborhood Music School) that she attends. We would really like her to continue at a school that is of the same caliber. From what I can tell, Blair School of Music is about the same in terms of what they offer to pre-college students.

Looking for recommendations for towns that are commutable from the school. I realize for now that lessons are probably all done via Zoom (as they are here) but at some point, I'm sure things will normalize.

We enjoy outdoors and parks, etc and more 'rural' living so living in Nashville proper is probably not a good fit for us. We were looking at Knoxville but are realizing it's much too far away. Is there anything similar to Knoxville that is closer to Nashville?

Thank you for your help

Nashville and Davidson County have many nice areas of the city and even rural areas in some pockets. Other nice areas in suburbs would include, but not limited to: Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Hendersonville, Mt. Juliet and the Bellevue area, which I think is in Davidson County.

[lavender_blue]

Thank you. Just found Franklin area and also Columbia. We want an older home (1910-1930), hoping to find one of those about 1 hour out from the school.

[N.Cal]

Housing budget? Job considerations?

[lavender_blue]

We work remotely, so the job is not an issue.

For housing, we were hoping to stay in $400K range, not sure if we'll be able to find that. We are looking for the following:

Older home, 1910-1930, character but in good shape, no fixers/reno projects
3-5 bedroom or less bedroom + finished attic (need office and music studio spaces)
.5-3 acres, might consider more if really ideal house
Nice community, not too urban but not too rural
Access to major thoroughfares, within 15-20min max from house
No tree issues; homes here in CT often have terrible tree issues where you have to cut them down or remove before or after storms > extremely expensive

[lavender_blue]

Inventory for what we're looking for seems really low for the areas that are within an hour or so of the school. Is it the time of year or the crazy RE market down there? I am hearing it's almost as bad (or good, depending how you see it) as up here in CT?

[shinestx]

Try the Fairview or Dickson areas. Ashland City may have something like what you're looking for. You can expect anything to the south and immediate southwest will be out of your price range. If you go any further north of Ashland City, it's going to take more than an hour to get to Blair.

[lavender_blue]

Thank you, will take a look there. We could go into the 500s (and even higher), we just don't want to... where you recommend if we can do 500s?

[shinestx]

I think you could find a nice newer house in Fairview for around that, and that's only 22 miles from Vandy.

But going up to 500K will be something you'll have to determine as you see what's available. It's nice that you have that wide a range, so your choices will be good. If you really want up to 3 acres, I'd expect you'll find that that eats up a lot of the difference between 400k and 500k in places like Fairview and Dickson, just because land has gotten so expensive there. Nolensville (only 20 miles from Vandy but I-65 is one of the heaviest trafficked expressways) has gotten quite expensive, especially for a 1930s style property (so much of the town is new). I ruled out points east from there only because I think that would take you outside of an hour to Blair. Traffic on I-24/I-40 is really bad, but you may take a look at Mt. Juliet if you don't think you'll be driving into town every day.

[lavender_blue]

We really do not want a newer house. The house we will be leaving in CT is a gorgeous 1932 home in immaculate condition. It was our dream house, never intended to sell it. We are leaving because CT has taken a serious turn for the worst and looks to be a sinking ship.

So... I am picky about where we will buy next. It needs to be comparable to what we have now. We can go down in square footage or acreage, but the quality/character of the home needs to be there.

I just found one in Centerville that might fit the bill, with some cosmetic cleanup. Can anyone tell me about that town?