Moving out of my parents' Brentwood house...to where?! Help! (Franklin: real estate, 2009)

[BCA18]

OK, so here's the deal. I'm a nursing student at Belmont...I graduate in May of 2009. My boyfriend is a student there too...he'll be getting his Masters in Accounting at the end of the summer. We've been dating since high school and will probably be getting married in the next couple years, and my boyfriend is planning on buying a house around Christmastime this year. We both grew up in Brentwood and currently live with our parents here...who can say no to big houses, free rent, free food, etc? Anyway, we are now obsessed with looking at real estate, and obviously we are gonna have to get the heck out of Brentwood b/c we can't afford a cardboard box in this ZIP code.

We are looking to spend $175K or less...we could spend up to $200K if we had to (our combined income will be about $100K and we have no debt), but we're all about living below our means and saving money so we'd like to avoid going very far above $175K. I'll be working at Vanderbilt and he'll be working at PWC in Cool Springs, but he'll spend most of his time working from home or downtown auditing companies. So anything from within downtown to 20-25 minutes away (i.e. nothing further than Franklin to the south) would be good.

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of living within biking distance to Vandy. I'm concerned about re-sale value since we'll probably be selling whatever house we move into within 5-7 years, and re-sale value is a no-brainer downtown, especially anywhere close to Vandy. Plus my boyfriend would have a short commute if he had to audit a downtown business, and if he had to go to Cool Springs he could drive my car instead of his gas-guzzling truck and drive against rush-hour traffic. Also we are HUGE Preds fans sooo driving to the Sommet would be easy and we wouldn't have to commute downtown twice on gamedays.

I've lived in Brentwood all my life but am still fuzzy on which downtown neighborhoods cover which streets, so I need your help. Which are within biking distance to Vandy? 12 South? Waverly? What else? Are there any houses under $175K-200K in those areas?

We want a house that's in good condition...we don't want to be messing with a fixer-upper. I have a Lab so we'd need a decently-sized yard, preferably fenced, for him to run around in. I'm picky about kitchens too: no linoleum, no vinyl...preferably granite, tile, hardwood, stainless steel or black appliances. My boyfriend is weird about vinyl siding: he doesn't need an all-brick house, but wants as little vinyl siding as possible. The house would also need to be in a safe area...I want to be able to walk my dog by myself in the late afternoon without getting mugged (remember we grew up in Brentwood so we're used to feeling pretty dang safe). Other than those parameters we're flexible on everything else. It's just the two of us and maybe a baby eventually so we're not too concerned about size, but don't want it to be teeny-tiny. My dad suggests at least 1,500 square feet but I have no frame of reference for square footage so I don't know. Are we being too picky? Are these parameters realistic?

[bnewman]

I just searched the MLS and found about 30 homes within biking distance of Vandy for under $200,000. However, the average size is around 1,100 SF, many are under 1,000 SF; they ALL have vinyl on the outside in varying amounts; some need work; some don't; some with decent yards. If the location is important to you, you may have to trade off some of the amenities you desire.

[ben52284]

I'd say the only way you can get new or newer housing in biking/walking distance for that price is to look in north nashville--neighborhoods near pearl cohn and meharry are only a mile from Vandy. However, you would certainly sacrifice the trendy neighborhood factor. On the other hand, as bnewman said, houses in the neighborhoods and price range you mentioned will almost certainly not be as large as you wanted, nor will they have the amenities you want. It's really a question of how much you value neighborhood versus amenities in your house.

[jbmill3]

we could spend up to $200K if we had to (our combined income will be about $100K and we have no debt)

Living below your means is a great idea, and I'm loath to encourage anyone to buy more house than they want or need, but if your combined income is going to be about $100k you can definitely afford something over $200k.

[BCA18]

Thanks for the input guys. I know within biking distance to Vandy is pretty hard to find...Vandy employees also get to ride the bus for free, so I guess I could live virtually anywhere downtown and still get to Vandy without wasting gas. I'd still want something that has good re-sale value though.

If my boyfriend is looking to buy around Christmastime, is now too soon to be looking at specific houses? It's fun to do (and it's amazing how you can do it for hours and hours!), but I don't want to get all into a house that isn't gonna be there in six months. I'm wondering if I should be focusing my time more on familiarizing myself with the neighborhoods downtown...like which neighborhoods encompass which streets, what their reputations are, which ones might have real estate in my price range, etc.

I really don't know much of anything about the neighborhoods in Nashville, so I'm trying to educate myself on that. I'd love to hear about which neighborhoods you guys think would be best for a newly married nurse and accountant starting their "grown-up" lives!