Fairview Schools? (Franklin, Brentwood, Spring Hill: apartment, houses, buying)

[fosters111]

We are relocating to the Nashville area soon and I will be working near the Vanderbilt Campus. We visited the area over the past week and like the Franklin area. We found some homes there that we could afford but due to our budget, the homes we found were older and in great need of repair and updating. We are looking for a newer home with some land. We have been looking at the Fairview area as a possibility but when we checked the school scores on the State of Tennessee web site, the schools were A rated on the standardized TCAP tests. We looked at the information on the schools own web site and liked what we saw also.

Can anyone who has kids attending Fairview Schools let us know your honest opinion of the schools there? We know that there are higher rated schools (based on the starndardized test results), in Franklin, Brentwood, etc. so there is no need to go there in the discussion. We are only asking at this time about Fairview.

Secondly, we know that Fairview is further out with limited shopping, etc., at this time. Can any of you ladies who love to shop but live in Fairview, give my wife any words of encouragement about shopping trips to Franklin/Cool Springs or any other locations within a reasonable drive from Fairview.

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to coming to Tennessee!

[alleycat]

Well, I'm not a lady, nor do I like to shop, but . . .

A lot of the people who live in Fairview drive on in to the west/southwestern part of Metro Nashville. There is a nice selection of the typical stores (Target, Wal-Mart, Sam's, Best Buys, Costco, Macy's, Sears, Publix, Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, etc.). A little further in is the Green Hills Mall area with more upscale shoppping.

[denawilliams]

Did you try looking at Thompsons Station or Spring Hill? Those areas are a little more accessible than Fairview and also closer to shopping within the Williamson County school district. The prices in either of those two areas are more affordable than Franklin.

[Big TR]

TS and SH are more accessible to Cool Springs and shopping than Fairview, but it's going to be a ton easier to get to work at Vandy from Fairview. It's easily 1 hour each way during rush hour from SH to Vandy.

[fosters111]

Thanks to all who have answered so far. We did look at Spring Hill and Thompson's Station but didn't really get a good feeling there. I had heard about the commute from a person that lives in the area. She specifically mentioned about the area where the I-65 lanes narrow down to two.

I am really not worried so much about a commute because I don't mind driving. The thing that interested me about Fairview is that it appears that I can get more house and land for the money and from what I read on a couple of developer's web sites, Fairview appears to be headed for some increased property values in the next 10 years. The schools seem to be pretty good, the commute seems right for me and with the prospect of buying land and a house that will most likely climb in value I was liking what I am reading about Fairview better. We just didn't get a chance to look at Fairview when we were there for two days house hunting. It seemed that SH and TS were flooded with tons of homes that were of the cookie cutter variety and with the problems the GM industry in SH may be facing, it doesn't look so good for property values in that area to increase very well. Some of the subdivisions we went into had absolutely no space between the hundreds of homes in them. It was hard to even see the ground around them. It was not very appealing. I am a novice at this whole thing anyway but it just seemed that Fairview may be a good pick for our circumstances. We want a wholesome atmosphere for our kids, a house with a couple of acres and good schools but my wife really does like to have a reasonable drive to shop. Looks like we are going to have to make another house hunting trip.

Thanks again and I will continue to monitor for more information from folks who live in Fairview.

[alleycat]

You definitely want to visit and get a real feel for the area before making any commitment. While many of the things you mentioned are true, there are also some negatives associated with the Fairview area. Many people live in Fairview and love it; for others, you couldn't pay them to live there. I'm afraid I'm in the latter category.

If you do make another house hunting trip, you might also want to look at Kingston Springs. KS would make for a slightly easier commute to either Vandy, or shopping. KS is in Cheatham County just west of the Nashville/Davidson County line.

And just to clarify, I don't live in Fairview.

[NOtransplant]

I have lived in Fairview for almost two years, love to shop and have a two children in elementary school here. Previously, we lived in Franklin for two years. We moved from Franklin because we wanted to cut back expenses and wanted more land. We looked at Spring Hill and Thompson Station, but again found the houses very cookie cutter and way too close together. However, if I had to do it over again, I'd stay in the Franklin area, even if that meant living in a one bedroom apartment with two kids and a 70 lb dog Do a search of Fairview under this forum and you'll find more info.

Good luck!