Moving to Murefreesboro (Murfreesboro, Franklin, Smyrna: hardwood floors, appointed, sales)

[KimS.]

I can't seem to get a response from anyone. Does anyone know about the quality of life in Murfreesboro. My family and I are going to visit in April. We think we want to move there. Any imput?

[maggiekate]

Originally Posted by KimS.

I can't seem to get a response from anyone. Does anyone know about the quality of life in Murfreesboro. My family and I are going to visit in April. We think we want to move there. Any imput?

Hi, i just got money magazine and this place was rated as a great place to live. Check out city profiles, or best rated places for more info. You also could contact the chamber of commerce for more info.

judy

[ddlove01]

Hi Kim,

My family and I took a trip from FL to TN in May. We are from a pretty decent sized city of about 150,000 people and we found the traffic pretty hard to deal with...I believe Murfreesboro is only around 75,000. There's only one mall and it doesn't even have a food court. The schools I guess are okay, we have two kids, a 3 year old and a 4 month old. The town itself it too "touristy" for us. The main arteries are way too close to the interstate ramps (you never know who will be coming in...)

As for the quality of life, we were actually pretty disappointed. All people do is shop. We got the impression that the whole town was like the movie "The Truman Show"..kind of fake and overrated. Even the houses in some subdivisions didn't look real. It didn't have the small town feel that we were looking for. It is one of the fastest growing towns in the US...so keep that in mind if you are looking for a quaint place to raise a family...in 5 years they expect the population to double per our realtor.

The only good thing we experienced was a really cool Children's museum...worth the trip if you are visiting.

The jobs....hmmm....the only place people seem to work (this is also coming from our real estate agent) is the Nissan plant, which is in Smyrna, one city away. There are about 5-10 thousand employed at this site alone. Other than that, there are plenty of service jobs (hotels, motels, food chains). The newspaper was only 5 pages long, which seemed quite strange to us.

I hate to bash anyplace...we were really heartbroken when we decided not to move. The houses are nice, but not as desirable as we thought. No basements, not much land, and not much individuality. The entire housing area of Murfreesboro is based on subdivisions, where your neighbor's house looks just like yours. The area also got hit pretty hard by several hailstorms and most if not all the houses with siding looked pretty beat up. There were baseball sized holes through the sides and the roofs. The realtor told me to expect this kind of weather every 3 years. Stick with all brick houses if you can.

The kicker...Tennessee has no state tax, BUT....

What gets you is the SALES TAX! They tax everything in TN, even bread and water. Florida has no sales tax on perishibles...I would rather pay state tax than the 9.75% sales tax on a gallon of milk! I hope this helps, not really sure if you have much choice.

Don't get me wrong, the state itself is beautiful (mountains and streams), but I'm not really sure where you are coming from...

If you want any more information, reply and I can try to help you out. We stayed there for 5 days and felt like we "discovered" the whole town in 1 day.

Good luck! -ddlove

[KimS.]

Thanks for the info. We are living in north San Diego county right now where every house looks the same and I can't go anywhere on the freeways during any daytime hour so a double from75,000 to 150,000 might not even make a difference to me. I was wondering if you saw any other towns in the area you liked?

[AKA FLEX]

Kim,

Don't expect to get anywhere in Murfreesboro during rush hour either. Murfreesboro traffic is worse than Atlanta in the 80s. When a city's road system is built to accomodate a population of 25,000, and that population quadruples, problems are inevitable.

Flex

[KimS.]

Is it as bad as San Diego?

[wellkids]

Hi Kim,

I beg to differ with the uncomplimentary posts from a few others about Murfreesboro! I am a native middle Tennessean, and mother of four, currently living in Murfreesboro. My husband was transferred here from neighboring Williamson County and Brentwood, TN about ten years ago. Granted, Murfreesboro does not have the "highend" look of Cool Springs, Franklin, Brentwood area...but that is changing. Our stricter zoning regulations and booming growth has fueled an amazing transformation in this town.

True, we only have "one mall" as someone posted....but that mall is expanding and remodeling currently to be much larger and more up scale. The Avenue is also currently under construction on Medical Center Parkway and is set to open by the fall of 2007 with over 110 retailers. This mall will contain stores such as Ann Taylor, Talbots, OshKosh, Limited Too, and many more.

Embassy Suites has also approved building a brand new state of the art 10 story hotel/convention center that should be open to the public by Spring 2008. Already open are Carabas, Bonefish Grills, The Chop House, Jason's Deli, and multiple Starbucks. Yes, we do like to enjoy dining and eating in Murfreesboro!

However, besides shopping and eating, there are UNLIMITED things for families here. We have an AMAZING brand new soccer complex that I would put up against any major city's facilities anywhere! We have the Children's Discovery Center, our own Symphony, The Center for the Arts as well as MTSU which provides excellent live plays, musicals, and other performances. There is the MTSU equestrian facility for horse shows throughout the year, movie complex, NASCAR racing, Jazz festival, Greenway walking/biking/running trail that goes along the Stones River through the city, and so much more! Sports, bike clubs,social clubs, etc. It would take me forever to tell you everything that Murfreesboro has to offer to families and individuals.

Our schools here are excellent. Compare our ratings for public school performance to any other system nationwide. Murfreesboro City Schools are fantastic!! Housing prices here are extremely affordable and this is a very family oriented community. I just worked with a family moving here from San Diego. They had a small home, approximately 1400 sq. ft. and 25 years or so old that they sold in San Diego for approximately $530,000. They were ecstatic to purchase a brand NEW home here, on almost an acre lot, 2700 square feet with hardwood floors, custom cabinets, extensive trim, etc for around $270,000.

This is a college town so traffic can get congested at certain times of the day and year. However, it is NOT as bad as everyone says. Believe me, we are NOT an Atlanta. My brother lived in Atlanta and I cannot believe anyone would make that comparison. I like to say we are a 20 minute town. If you are south of town, it might take you 20 minutes to get north of town. East to West, West to North, whatever we are within 20 minutes. We live North of Town and my husband works East. He has approximately a 10 minute commute to work.

Murfreesboro is also not a town for meaningless employment. We have a large number of white collar workers employed here. Also, we are getting more and more people who choose to live in Murfreesboro and work in NAshville. The quality of life here is head and shoulders above living in the big city of Nashville and the commute is not bad.

Residents of Murfreesboro were not surprized that we were selected as one of Money Magazines BEST places to live. I work with a lot of relocation clients and my experience has been that they are always pleased, and truly love living here.

I'm sorry that some people did not seem to enjoy their visit to Murfreesboro. I would encourage you to visit and check it out for yourself. You can visit my website at removed for more information on the real estate market and Murfreesboro in general. Hope that helps!

[AnotherBravesFan]

I guess great minds think alike! I've been researching retirement spots for a couple years now, and our 2 finalists are Rutherford County area and Huntsville, AL area. Coming from North County in San Diego (PQ), I want space from my neighbors, a lot less traffic/noise, green hills, and affordability. My husband wants a college town (going back to school), and we are both big sports nuts. Nashville has a lot to offer and seems to be going in the right direction; I lived there 20 years ago (went to Vandy), and downtown looks better now. I guess my biggest worry is that it's growing so fast that in 5-10 years, we'll be facing the same issues that are pushing us out from San Diego. Wellkids: we'll be visiting in mid-October; I'll try to contact you, as we're looking at housing in N & E Rutherford and maybe Christiana area. Thanks for all of your posts on Murf. area - great "insider info". I've got a 3" binder on Nashville, but more info. can't hurt!

[insanesmooch]

I have to say I agree with wellkids on this one. There are lots of things to do, but that may depend on what you like to do. There is a greenway that is nice to walk or ride a bike on. Eventually it is supposed to connect all the way to Nashville. There are parks, like Barfield-Cresent that has frisbee golf, a nature walk, ball fields, and a play ground. They even do camping and have special things for kids to learn about nature. As mentioned, there are at least two places to see plays. They have festivals downtown. One is like a Jazz fest or something and the other is the International Festival where people from various countries do like dances or music from their native land. MTSU used to have concerts in their auditorium, but not much now. I saw Rod Stewart there a few years ago.
I'm not sure why the town would seem touristy. The only out of staters I saw, except for MTSU students were people at Stones River Battlefield. It is a historical battlefield from the Civil War and it is a nice place to walk. Maybe Cannonsboro would be a tourist spot, but Murfreesboro is by no means a place most people would put a top their vacation list.
The mall has went downward, but climbed back. And like Wellkids said, there will be a new mall.
I did not have personal experience with the schools, but I have heard most are good schools.
Traffic can be a handle depending on when you are out and where you are. If you are near MTSU and it is class time, it can be bad. Rush hour can get a little hairy mostly because there are so many red lights you have to sit at.
There are several good jobs in Murfreesboro, but a lot of people commute to Nashville or Franklin. Now that I-24 is four lanes most of the way it is a breeze unless there are wrecks.
A lot of the new houses are kind of 'cookie cutter' and look a like. Some places that are a little away from town are more of a variety and have some land to them.
Murfreesboro has about 66,000 on the last report I saw. They have grown a lot in the last 10 years. People have been moving in so fast that the shopping and all that is just catching up.
Maybe living in TN all my life I am just used to the sales tax and much prefer it to the income tax. I do know that Alabama has an income tax and on a visit to Huntsville I bought chocolate milk that cost something like 6% and I know when buying regular non-grocery items tax is that high. Those people are getting taxed to death at that rate.

[chester's]

Noone has mentioned crime there (Murfreesboro).Any particular reason? Do I need to worry about my daughter or myself walking around town?