Chattanooga or Nashville? (Hendersonville, Gallatin, Signal Mountain: homes, private schools, property tax rates)

[lesclar]

How does Chattanooga compare with Nasvhille for property taxes etc...and I guess I should clarify that I mean the outlying areas. How does Gallatin/ Hendersonville compare with say Soddy Daisy? If you were living in Chattanooga area, what is the best place for children, nice and safe? Ooltewah? Soddy? Signal Mountain? I'd like the taxes to be a bit lower, but I need to be close to good music programs etc for my children. I also homeschool
les

[BlueCuzco]

You can find out about average property taxes by using this very site. Just type in the given location, pull up the page, and find (ctrl+f) "property". That'll take you right to the averages.

Where to find home in Chattanooga depends on a lot. Are you morally comfortable with urban sprawl, or do you prefer to be in a more mixed-use or developmentally compact district? Rural or suburban? Soddy, Signal, and Ooltewah are all "out there", a good fifteen to forty minutes from downtown. Given that your kids are home schooled, the #1 problem with families living downtown is that the public school systems zoned for downtown suck (though the private schools are regionally acclaimed, though also rather expensive) is no problem at all. Safety downtown depends a lot on the specific location, but there are many new developments that are quite safe and good for families. I'm not an expert on them, however, (I've just taken a few downtown home tours) so I can't offer any more specific help with that.

The advantage of downtown and the reason I would love to be able to live there is that it isn't urban sprawl and is quickly becoming one of the most rennovative and innovative central urban areas in the southeast. The riverfront is constantly improving and the growing system of public spaces and green ways offers a great way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. What's more, the city center is very convenient to nature preserves in the ten mile wide and more than fifty mile long swath of comparatively undeveloped mountainous area northwest, west, and southwest of town.

[lesclar]

thanks BlueCuzco...that's a help...still don't know how to find the taxes. Where on this site do I find this?
les

[JMT]

Originally Posted by lesclar

thanks BlueCuzco...that's a help...still don't know how to find the taxes. Where on this site do I find this?
les

Here's where you can find the property tax rates for every community and every county in Tennessee:

TN Comptroller of the Treasury - Division of Property Assessments - 2008 Property Tax Rates

Take the market value of your home, divide it by 25%. Divide it again by 100. Multiply that by the rate in the table above, and that'll give you the annual property tax for your property.

Good luck!