Thinking of Relocating - Now what should we be looking for? (Franklin: real estate, new home)

[corinnel]

So we are thinking about relocating, but having lived in the Seattle area ALL my life, I really don't know what to look for when thinking of relocating to find out about the "real" city.

I'm thinking about checking out the grocery store and the malls, but we are home-bodies and I really need some advice... I'm looking to find out about the people ... there is tons of data out there for schools, weather, home prices, etc. BUT not a lot on what the people are truly like. For example, we would never to to LA because the people are typically rude and pushy (we've been there many times and that's been our experience).

We want to find an area where people care about their neighbors - or for that matter, even KNOW their neighbors! :-) The area where we live now, I grew up in and used to be one of those places, but with large Tech companies come tons of people - many who could care less.

We want to relocated for warmer weather, more sun and more affordable housing costs.
Work - we have a working farm now and plan to bring it with us and actually add to our agri-tourism farm.
We would like to stay under $600K
Married with 3 kids, 8 horses, etc...

Thanks!
Corinne Logan
NORWEGIAN FJORD HORSES, WILLOWS EDGE FARM, BOTHELL, WA

[shinestx]

First, Corinne, I want to wish you and your family the best in your search for a new home. I grew up in Nashville and have lived all around the country. I made myself right at home in Michigan, California, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey. But when the opportunity arose, I didn't hesitate to return to Tennessee (not because much of my family is here... My wife, children and I relocated 200 miles away from them), but because I love the easygoing lifestyle with deep values you find in Tennessee. This is a beautiful state with beautiful people. We are not the stereotype of anything you've seen on TV or read about. What do I mean? Generally speaking, we are accepting and down-to-earth. We are industrious and ethical. We are faithful and loyal to America. We are "Volunteers". We help our neighbors in need, and we know how blessed we are to be in this wonderful state.

As for a possible area for you, that of course, depends on what you are seeking. So maybe you can fill us in on your requirements... and we can help. I know my fellow Tennesseans will.

[oakland2nashville]

below 600? You can buy Nashville with that. jk

You can buy in some of Nashville's most affluent neighborhoods with that. You can buy a large house and a lot of acres with 600.

I have an afghan friend who bought in Forrest Hills. With 530 he got a large mansion type 7000 square foot house with 2.5 acres in one of Nashville's richest areas.

[vivelafrance]

Originally Posted by oakland2nashville

below 600? You can buy Nashville with that. jk

You can buy in some of Nashville's most affluent neighborhoods with that. You can buy a large house and a lot of acres with 600.

I have an afghan friend who bought in Forrest Hills. With 530 he got a large mansion type 7000 square foot house with 2.5 acres in one of Nashville's richest areas.

Well 600K for a house and enough land for an agritourism farm will be a bit tough. Do you want to be really close to Nashville, 20-30 minutes or more like 45min-1hr. The latter will probably be where you can find a house and land in that price range.

Agri-tourism is really booming around here. A farm near Springfield, a city about 35 minutes from Nashville held a Fall Carnival/Pumpkin Patch this year. We waited in line for 45 minutes just to get in on the weekend before Halloween! It was worth it but with the amount of people there, you could tell Nashville could use some other agri-tourism attractions!


I also think 530 won't get you a mansion. There are whole subdivisons of 500K+ homes in Hendersonville/Franklin/Brentwood/etc. but the really huge and wow homes are all 1 mil +

[brentwoodgirl]

I completely agree with shinestx. Great post!

As far as buying Nashville for $600,000, don't let oakland get your hopes up too high. You will definitely get more house and land than you can get in Seattle. But Nashville is not as cheap as other parts of the south. For instance, the median house price in the area price house in the area he mentioned is $755,651, per the city-data info.
The median price in Belle Meade (the most exclusive part of Nashville) is $1,198,066.

In Brentwood right now, there are 212 houses listed for under $600K. There are 288 listed for over $600K, and 105 of them are over $1 mil.

Now there are parts of Nashville and the suburbs where $600,000 will buy you a ton of house and put you at the top of the area. It just depends on what you want and where you choose to live. If you want help narrowing down your search, give us so more info and we can help you with parts fo town.

[corinnel]

Originally Posted by shinestx

First, Corinne, I want to wish you and your family the best in your search for a new home. I grew up in Nashville and have lived all around the country. I made myself right at home in Michigan, California, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey. But when the opportunity arose, I didn't hesitate to return to Tennessee

This is why we love Tennessee - you people are amazing!! When we were down a couple years ago, my daughter and I were flabbergasted at how nice people were. Not that Seattlites aren't nice, but you folks are amazing.

As for distance, yes, we know we will need to be in the 45min - 1hour distance. BUT since we do still have young children at home - as well as a high schooler - we need to consider schools as a major player in our move. We're not looking for a mansion - gosh - when we find time to clean it!! We would like something nice, but obviously land is important.

vivelafrance - we totally understand! Our friends have a corn maze and that same weekend you talked about, it was not unheard of to wait for over an hour. People want to get out to the farms and feel the dirt and smell the animals. Our little farm here draws many people, but just too small and we really would like some of that southern flair for our farm.

We know that we need to be where people will go. Is one directions (N, S, E, W) better than any other?

Corinne L.

[oakland2nashville]

im just saying

thats what one of my friend's managed to do

[BirdieBelle]

If you're aiming for agritourism, you will want to be accessible by interstate to attract school groups as well as families. That rules out Hickman County. I would say Maury County near Spring Hill or western Rutherford County. You may be able to find something in Fairview in Williamson County. That way you could draw people from Bellevue and west Nashville as well as some Williamson Countians. It is fairly close to conveniences. But Fairview schools are not rated as highly. On the north side, there has been a ton of growth in the Hendersonville area. Robertson County is still more rural. For real estate search purposes, you should go to RealTracs Real Estate Mid-South Property Finder. It is specific to Middle Tennessee.