Murfreesboro and MTSU (Smyrna, Spring Hill, Rutherford: new home, neighborhoods, magnet schools)

[poohki]

My son is seriously considering attending MTSU next year, so my hubby and I are thinking of moving there from Northern VA. My questions are: Which areas of Murfreesboro are near the university? Can anyone suggest an area that is both close to the University and safe/family oriented? My hubby would probably be commuting to Nashville, how long might that take in Rush hour? Are there any school systems there that stand out above the rest? Does anyone know anything about MTSU that can give us some input?

We are very excited about this prospect, as we visited Nashville this past summer and loved what we saw. We are also coming from a place where my husband's commute is 1 1/2 - 3 hours each way and he only works 50 miles away.

[wellkids]

Hi Poohki, We live in Murfreesboro and I have four children who have attended public school here. My my son is a junior at MTSU in their concrete management program. We all love Murfreesboro and he has done extremely well at MTSU. It is an excellent school and I think you will be very pleased with the university. The campus is located in the downtown east portion of Murfreesboro which is our historical district. There are lots of wonderful neighborhoods that would be close to campus. We live North of town which is the quickest commute into Nashville and about 10 minutes from campus. We have a lot of excellent schools and the school board is also considering a new magnet school for K - 12. We currently have two magnet schools but they run K-6.

Driving into Nashville is going to depend a lot on which part of Murfreesboro you live in, what part of Nashville you are driving to, and what time of day. We can easily make it to the airport in 30 minutes or less and downtown Nashville is about a 40 minute drive. Rush hour from our home is typically an hour drive but has been longer on tough days with wrecks.

Feel free to send me a PM or email if you need specifics on anything.

[poohki]

hi wellkids, thank you for the great info on murfreesboro. it sounds like the area you are in is the right place for us. just looking online i can't tell which areas are north of town. can you give me neighborhood or development names?

thanks again

[wellkids]

North of town is considered area 21, Blackman community will be area 24, and East Murfreesboro (which is where MTSU is located) is area 22. I have no idea what price range you are in, but some subdivisions found in the North Area 21 would be Breckenridge, Huntington, Brentmeade, Thompson Square, Regenwood, Regency Park, Jamsion Place, The Hamptons, Crowne Pointe, Celebration Cove, Oakleigh...many others!

[Tennmove]

My husband and I are also considering a move in May 2007 and have heard Spring Hill is the place to be for getting a new home for around 200K. I am planning on working at Vanderbilt and wondering about the 1 hour commute I'm hearing about. I don't know much about Nashville suburbs but I would require good schools and about a 45 min commute and a home that has enough yard that my neighbors aren't 3 feet away or aren't the expressway being in my backyard. Looking for a more upscale community setting as we're coming from Rochester NY where a little goes a long way and we're used to being spoiled in a wierd sort of way.

[wellkids]

Hi Tennmove,
The three communities that come to mind first would be Spring Hill, Mt. Juliet, Murfreesboro, and Smyrna. Spring Hill is in Williamson County which will be your most expensive area. Murfreesboro and Smyrna are in Rutherford County and Mt. Juliet is in Wilson County. You can find nice housing in the 200K range in all three communities. Traffic driving into Nashville can be tough from any of these locations during rush hour. There isn't going to be a huge difference in commute time from any of these locations going into the downtown area.