Any thoughts on lebanon? (Cookeville: real estate, houses, find a job)

[comingtotn]

Hi all me and my wife are looking to move just outside of the Nashville area. We are very interested in lebanon seeing as that is where she will be working, we have found some beautiful houses at reasonable prices too, anything i should worry about there or any other suggestions for cities around that area??

[shadowwalker]

Yeah, I lived there for four years. I was vandalized,burgleriszed,had stuff stole right out of my yard. I had a good puppy stole from our poarch, the took him, his dish, his chain, and his blanket. Had people poach my property for wild game, was treated like a Alien from space by people in businesses that I delt with almost on a weekly basis and some that I was in weekly.Had drunks walk my property at night looking for stuff to steal. I feared leaving my house even just to go get groceries, I didn't know what I'd have left when I got back.
Forget about the police, they're about as dependent as leaky boat. Oh, unless your related to someone. Then they'll do everything to help you out even if you broke the law.
And watch ANYTHING the local building enforcement people tell you-GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING FROM THEM!!!
And that was the GOOD points.

[Griz83]

My wife and I lived in Lebanon for a year. The 50 mile round trip commute to Nashville about killed me. Don't even get me started about the local drivers...I'm sorry but just because the speed limit is 40 doesn't mean you can drive 30 and wonder why people behind you are pissed and riding your tail!!! Some of us actually have places to go.

After growing up in Hermitage, and then living in the stunningly beautiful Cookeville area for 6 years, my opinion of Lebanon is not a good one. It has its nicer areas, but as a generalization, the town is dirty, crime-ridden, and offers very limited options for almost everything. My advice to you is look at some of the neighborhoods closer to Hwy 109. Or just skip Lebanon all together, and try Mt. Juliet. Depending on where you are in Mt. Juliet, and where your wife will be working, the commute can be as little as 10 mins. Even if it is longer than that, she'll be going against traffic. Lebanon does have its good points, but IMO, not enough to outweigh the bad.

[Pimpy]

Definitely look in Mt. Juliet instead of Lebanon if you want to be on that side of Nashville. The first time I drove through Lebanon I was SHOCKED at the number of projects and questionable areas around town. I guess I had just always pictured it as a quiet, peaceful country town but that is not the case. There are many parts of town that don't look much better than North Nashville or Dickerson Road.

[PSerge]

I live just outside of the Lebanon city limits and I love it.

Are you wanting city living or country living?

There are plenty of new construction houses just outside of Lebanon that are in nice areas..
I wouldn't recommend living inside the city limits as it's overgrown but if you want to live outside of Lebanon, I would highly recommend it. If you are looking for city living, then Mt. Juliet would be a good place to look..

[comingtotn]

wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone, i think we are definetly going to look more towards cookeville now, those were the two areas we thought would be great , what do you all think of cookeville?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by comingtotn

wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone, i think we are definetly going to look more towards cookeville now, those were the two areas we thought would be great , what do you all think of cookeville?

I assume you know that Cookeville is quite a bit farther from Nashville than is Lebanon. But Cookeville is a great place--IF you can find a job. Putnam County's unemployment rate is over 9% whereas Nashville's is under 8%. Cookeville is a college town (not a party school by any stretch) so its economy is faring better than other non-metropolitan towns in Tennessee. But it's still pretty tough these days, and all of the counties surrounding Cookeville have double-digit unemployment.

On the other hand, because it's a college town it enjoys outstanding public schools and has a lot more shopping and dining options than other towns its size. Real estate there is cheaper than in metro Nashville. The countryside around Cookeville is gorgeous: lakes, waterfalls, gorges, small mountains. But I'm afraid it's very difficult to find a job there these days.

There are several pictures of Cookeville at its city-data page:
http://www.city-data.com/album/album...Tennessee.html

[Griz83]

Originally Posted by JMT

I assume you know that Cookeville is quite a bit farther from Nashville than is Lebanon. But Cookeville is a great place--IF you can find a job. Putnam County's unemployment rate is over 9% whereas Nashville's is under 8%. Cookeville is a college town (not a party school by any stretch) so its economy is faring better than other non-metropolitan towns in Tennessee. But it's still pretty tough these days, and all of the counties surrounding Cookeville have double-digit unemployment.

If I had a job up in that area, I would move back to Cookeville in a heartbeat. It is so beautiful up there, with almost limitless outdoor recreation opportunities. But as JMT stated, finding a job up there could be difficult. You stated your wife will be working in Lebanon. The drive from Cookeville to Lebanon is around 40-45 mins of interstate. Getting from the interstate to anywhere in Lebanon can take much longer than it should, as I stated in my previous post. That commute will get old rather quickly.
As much as I love Cookeville, I would not recommend living there and commuting to work in Lebanon. Of course if she doesn't mind spending 2 hours a day commuting, and burning through 100 miles or so of gas round trip every day, then Cookeville is great.

[airborn102]

To Shadowalker:
Sounds to me like your puppy needed a better home than being chained on the front porch! Maybe that is why they took it.