West Meade - Home values persist despite school ratings? (Franklin: brokers, house)

[Angus1]

I am moving into town and am attracted to West Meade for the mid-century ranch homes and amply-sized lots with rolling hills and mature trees. Plus proximity to downtown where I'd work. In most cities, the poorly-rated schools would adversely affect property values, but they don't seem to in this area. Can any of you savvy Nashvillians tell me whether that's an accurate observation and, if so, why that might be true? So far, I've heard about proximity to synagogues for the Jewish population that resides there, and a great Catholic church and school nearby, for the Catholics.

[Wmsn4Life]

Many of them send their kids to private school.

[YallWantHam]

Belle Meade in general has lots of old money, and like Wmsn4Life said, they send their kids to private school

[brentwoodgirl]

St Matthew is a great school & church close to West Meade. We know lots of families who go there that live in West Meade, Bellevue, Pasquo.

[brentwoodgirl]

Here's a link, it's technically in Franklin, but it's really close to where Franklin & West Nashville meet:
Saint Matthew Parish - A Catholic Community

[EvelynTN]

The Catholic community nearby is Saint Henry's. It was built at the same time as West Meade. Saint Matthew's is pretty new and draws from Williamson County.

As to your question about West Meade, I'm not sure. I suspect there are a lot of retirees/older families still living in West Meade. I don't think it is an area full of young families. You are right about the schools though. I think it was Brookemeade Elementary that was closed due to lack of enrollment. I don't know if the lack of enrollment was due to poor performance or just not enough young kids in the cachement area.

Also, I think West Meade's ranchers are less expensive compared to the Julia Green/Percy Priest mid-century ranches. So, I'm not sure I'd say the home values have persisted despite school ratings. I agree that West Meade is an attractive, convienent area, and I don't think is will be going downhill. Once the economy picks up, the tear downs will begin again in that neighborhood.

[Angus1]

The resurgence of the tear downs makes me sad ... and nervous. I love mid-century ranches, and love that area for it. But don't want to buy in an area where I'll end up the only 1950s-sized house in neighborhood filled with 6000 sq. ft. homes. I guess it's the conundrum: the big lots are perfect for a bigger home to fill; whereas the ranches used to look fine on a 1 acre lot, compared to the McMansion, it looks tiny.

[EvelynTN]

I hear you on the tear downs. I prefer the ranchers, too!

One more thing about West Meade schools...back when Davidson county bussed students for racial balance, the West Meade schools received a critical mass of kids from North Nashville. Now, zones have changes and all kids go to their neighborhood schools. But, perhaps that legacy has kept the schools for acheiving the reputations that the schools in south Davidson county have? I really don't know.

[brentwoodgirl]

If you like ranches- why not look at Crieve Hall? Good elementary schools (Crieve Hall & Granbery) & people are doing a lot of cool mid century modern renos. The people we know who have moved into Crieve Hall in the past 5 years are doctors, architects, financial brokers, etc.
They actually do a tour of homes in the Spring. You can see some pics here:
Crieve Hall Tour of Homes

If you look at Crieve Hall, I would be careful about the borders. Lots of people advertise Crieve Hall homes that aren't in true Crieve Hall. This Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association gives you the borders:
default.aspx (http://crieve-hall-admin.com/default.aspx - broken link)