Yet Another "Relocating to Nashville" Thread... (Franklin, Cookeville: appointed, real estate market)

[jbmill3]

Sorry, folks, I realize there have been a million of these (which I have read and which have been very helpful!), but I am new here and was hoping to get a few of your thoughts.

My wife and I and our 2 young kids are planning to relocate to Nashville from Boston either late this year or perhaps early 2009. We are trying to figure out where we should live. We are looking for a single-family house that is reasonably good-sized (2000+ sq. ft. or so). We would prefer it to be relatively close to downtown (I don't want a long commute every day) and if possible in a nice "walkable" area where there are some restaurants and shops around (a nice park would be great too, but I don't want to be greedy). I realize Nashville is mostly a "driving city" but we'd really like to live in an area with a real "neighborhood" feel to it, rather than just a sprawling suburb.

We visited the city a few weeks ago to get a better sense of the neighborhoods and the real estate market. We were hoping to find a place in the $300-400K range, and to be brutally honest we were quite disappointed in what was available in that range. We expected to have a lot of very good options, and instead saw only a few "okay" options. Most of what we liked was in the Hillsboro area and in East Nashville. We also looked in Sylvan Park and a few other places, but didn't like those areas as much.

The Hillsboro area (hope I've got that right--I'm talking about the area roughly all around Vanderbilt/Belmont) seemed best but was very pricey--almost outside our range unless we bought a place that needs quite a bit of work. The East Nashville area had more options, but that is obviously a bit more of a "controversial" neighborhood. Please understand that I'm not trying to knock that neighborhood--the places we saw there all seemed perfectly fine, and not unsafe, and I think we could be happy living there. But it's just stunning to me that it seems like we may have to buy a house in the "up and coming" part of town, which many people still view as a bad/dangerous area, when I thought we were operating with a fairly generous budget. We aren't looking for a mansion!

So here are my questions: is our budget unrealistic? We could probably stretch a bit and go over $400k. The realtor we were with kept insisting on showing us houses costing $500k+, which were admittedly much nicer but that is very pricey for our budget. I find this incomprehensible. Average salaries in Nashville are not *that* high (I'll be taking a substantial pay cut)--how could housing be so expensive? Or do we just need to find a different realtor? Are there any other areas we should consider looking? We looked a bit in downtown Franklin, which seems great (and where the housing seemed much less expensive--there were plenty of GREAT houses--nicer than we need, really--between $300 and $350K), but I really don't want to commute that far on a daily basis. (I didn't see it but I also like the idea of someplace like Lenox Village, but that also seems pretty far out from the city.)

Any thoughts will be very much appreciated. We were shocked enough by the housing that we are currently reconsidering our move altogether. Thanks!

[denawilliams]

Hi there! Sorry to hear you had a disappointing trip. I am shocked that you were shown homes so far outside of your expressed price range. Hillsboro Village is pretty pricey, but you are correct that you'd probably need to do some updating in that range if you're looking for today's amenities, etc. We don't have very many walkable neighborhoods in Nashville, so the prices are definitely up there for those that exist. The areas that are walkable that come to mind are: Hillsboro Village, Belmont, 12 South, and West End. Cherokee Park is off West End and is not really that walkable, but you can probably walk to a few things depending on how far you consider acceptable. What you should have been told is that there either weren't any that met your criteria (if that was true...I don't know your specific criteria) in that area or they should have shown you those that were in your range to see for yourself what was available in that range. I would have then helped set your expectations on the areas that you could expect to find a house in your range that met as much of your criteria as possible. Other than walkable areas to parts of the city, there might be a few options for you in the Green Hills, Woodmont, Lipscomb or Oak Hill areas. These areas are still very close to the city and a short drive to many of the things you'll seek. Again, still expensive areas, but you'll run across a handful of options in those areas. West Meade is a relatively quick drive and is comprised of mostly ranch homes from the 50s and 60s on large treed lots. You'll find more available there. Crieve Hall is an area you could definitely find something in your price range. It is like West Meade in that it is older homes, generally on larger lots, but it is in a completely different direction. Crieve Hall is within a 15 minute drive to downtown and Vanderbilt areas, maybe 10. Like you mentioned, Lockeland Springs in East Nashville is another area where you can walk to more of a town center. And as you probably know, these are almost as expensive as the west side's walkable areas.

I know you do not want to go to a suburb, but you will find tons of options for larger surburban type homes in the Bellevue area and in the area where Brentwood is in Davidson County. Bellevue is about 20 minutes away, maybe 15 depending on the day. Brentwood is a 15-20 minute drive from the Old Hickory exit where I'm referring.

We have just started building some walkable, new urbanism communities in the suburbs. You are correct that Lenox Village is one of them. It's worth checking out because you could definitely find a home of size there. It will probably be about 20 minutes or a few more to get downtown from there. Also over that way is one close to Nolensville in Carothers Crossing. It is about 20 minutes from Downtown. It has 3400 home sites planned with 230,000 sf of commercial also planned around the 4 villages. There will also be several green spaces and ponds.
The only other neighborhood that is already established that is like this even goes several steps further. However, it is considerably further south and makes your drive to downtown Nashville at at least 30-45 minutes. That neighborhood is Westhaven in Franklin. It has trails, commercial space, an enormous clubhouse with a movie theater and spaces for parties, an outdoor concert area, several fishing ponds, a golf course and much much more. Since it's the only neighborhood in that area of its kind, it has become quite popular so there are only 7 houses currently under $400,000 on the market there.
I know it's disappointing to not find everything you want in the exact area you want. I have worked with several people from New England who had the same problems you are having in the difference in real estate and neighborhoods here. Everybody drives here and we're primarily a suburb area. However, if you're just a little bit open to a different model here and flexible on some of your criteria either on square footage, condition or location, you will be able to find a very nice house for your family. Hopefully, that is helpful! Good luck.

[jbmill3]

Thanks very much Dena--that's helpful. I didn't know about a few of those areas.

Is our price range unrealistic? We really don't have any other "requirements" than what I mentioned. As I said, we found things that would work, but it seemd to be very hit or miss--as I said I was expecting to find lots of different options that met our search criteria, and instead found they were few and far between.

We're flexible on the "walkable neighborhood" thing--it would be nice but is not required. I don't think we're flexible on the "short commute to downtown" thing, so location will be pretty important. And I really would like to live somewhere I'd feel safe letting the kids play out in the neighborhood.

Does anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions?

[septimus]

We relocated from Boston last year. We had been living in a single family in Cambridge and really wanted an urban feeling, but we found that houses were pricey and basically the neighborhoods we wanted to be in cost just as much as they did in Boston (albeit a bit more sq.ft) We too wanted to be "walkable" but walkable is a joke around here. We looked in the West End and Green Hills but Green Hills doesn't have side walks and basically I felt like I would have to drive to visit a neighbor. We ended up in Franklin because at least Franklin requires its new subdivisions to have sidewalks. The other thing that was slightly shocking for us was house segregated the housing was. Not by race but by income. Our realtor would take us to look at various subdivisions and all the houses cost basically the same amount. No big houses next to little houses, condos, etc. We ended up buying in a new urbanist subdivision that has various price points (although none exactly cheap) and it will have restaurants by next summer that we can walk to, as well as boutiques and such.

I know you say you want to be in Nashville proper but another thing that sent us to the 'burbs are the schools. I will say I'm not impressed with the Williamson County schools compared to the options, facilities, etc we had in Cambridge, but they are a lot better than Davidson County schools. We have a fairly large family and have always planned to pay for private middle/high school but the thought of having to pay for private elementary was another deterent to living in Davidson county (not to mention there are very few secular private schools down here)

[jbmill3]

Thanks septimus. That's interesting, and the schools obviously do matter. But--based on a visit to Franklin while we were there--I literally think I would go crazy driving in from Franklin every day. My commute now is about 40 minutes, but it's by train which is of course nothing at all like commuting by car. If I had to drive more than 20 minutes door to door twice a day I think it would really get to me over time.

That said, the various "new urbanist" subdivisions I've looked into (mostly the ones named in the earlier posts on this thread) do look very intriguing. I just wish they were closer in to the city! I am guessing most are so far out for the very reason you mention--to get outside the Davidson county line and into better schools districts.

How have you liked living in Nashville vs. Boston?

ps--I thought Cambridge public schools had a very bad reputation (and that everyone there who could sent their kids to private schools)? Am I mistaken?

[groovamos]

I haven't lived in Nashville since the 70's but I really liked the 12 S. and Belmont districts. I lived in the area on Brightwood as my last Nashville address. Only a few businesses accessible on foot from there but it may have changed, especially closer to Belmont U. I believe more commercial has gone in. The Belmont neighborhood will be somewhat in focus in a few months when the presidential candidates go at it at Belmont U. on national TV.

I miss good ole Nashville. Seems to have retained character in spite of fast growth. It was half its current population when I left.

Read my Nashville history related article on wikipedia:
Johnny Jones And The King Casuals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[septimus]

The biggest adjustment has been the driving. I'm not a very good driver (although an excellent parallel parker--a skill not needed anymore) and don't really like to drive and I seem to drive every day now. I could go weeks without driving in Boston.

I guess I miss the diversity of Cambridge schools. There were kids from single mothers on welfare, college professors kids, doctor & lawyers' kids, kids from ethiopia, korea, etc all in the same classroom and there was a lot of enrichment activities and very good teachers. I think Cambridge's bad school rep comes from the fact that there is a large poor population and tests scores generally correlate to parents' income. However we had a very good experience there and I was really looking forward to enrolling my younger kids in CPS partly for the foreign language options in elementary school and they wont' have that option now. Our only school aged child is in private school and it is a great school with lots of diversity.

Williamson is considered the best school district in the state because they do the best on the state test, but it is also the wealthiest county in the state.

[Mike in TN]

You'd find schools just as good as Williamson County schools is Cookeville and other parts of E. TN.

[irreplaceable]

I'm not sure how far dowtown is from here but the Providence area of Mt. Juliet is very nice, new and has beautiful houses starting at around $250k. There is a big "mall" like area I can walk to! It has movies, resturants, shopping, a grocery store, pretty much everything! And if a realtor isn't showing you what you are asking for then Yes find a new one. Good Luck!

[Big TR]

Originally Posted by jbmill3

Thanks very much Dena--that's helpful. I didn't know about a few of those areas.

Is our price range unrealistic? We really don't have any other "requirements" than what I mentioned. As I said, we found things that would work, but it seemd to be very hit or miss--as I said I was expecting to find lots of different options that met our search criteria, and instead found they were few and far between.

We're flexible on the "walkable neighborhood" thing--it would be nice but is not required. I don't think we're flexible on the "short commute to downtown" thing, so location will be pretty important. And I really would like to live somewhere I'd feel safe letting the kids play out in the neighborhood.

Does anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions?

With complete seriousness, get a new realtor. Any realtor who wastes a relocation client's precious visiting time by showing them houses outside of their budget needs to be shown the door. It's unconscionable and shows that the realtor is just in it to make a buck, not truly help their client.