Highland Park?

[u4icmusic]

Originally Posted by LeslieDTG

Little dated now, but there are still some houses on the market in Ferger Place in the Southside. Beautiful neighborhood and beautiful homes. I liked St Elmo a lot, too. N. Chattanooga is more expensive, but more consistant than downtown neighborhoods.

Ferger Place is nice, but it is completely surrounded by slums AND it is NOT in the Southside area.

[uu&me]

I can't believe how hard this forum was to locate! I am looking at the possibility of purchasing a house in Highland Park, and would like to know what people that live in that area think of it NOW...not three or two or even one year ago. I currently live in the EB area, and everyone turns their nose up, but facts are facts...I can't afford to live on this side of town!

[Blue502]

I drive thru Highland Park almost everyday. It has the most diverse mix of incomes and people than any other part of town. I know people who own absolutely beautiful old homes there, surrounded by people who are on the poverty scale. As far as I know, the only regret they have is the amount of money they have put into their homes to have the housing market bust. The home were in deplorable conditions when they purchased them and wanted to historically rehab them. That takes alot of money. But, I never hear of any issues from it being so diverse. Heck, I even think the mayors right hand man "rents" a home there.
I don't understand why you would think it would be cheaper to live there. There are no stores close by, ie, grocery stores,clothing stores, department stores, etc. So you would be using alot of gas to go do the basics. Also, these are old homes, they aren't very tight, so I would assume the utilities bills are outrageous. ALot of them do not have central heat and air. Some even still have boilers.
If you are looking to live cheaper, I don't think Highland Park is going to be want you need.

[uu&me]

It has more to do with proximity to work. That cuts out a huge amount of driving every day, grocery shop for more than a week at a time, and not being close to a department store might save more money than you think. However, you raise good points. Thank you.

[An Einnseanair]

Originally Posted by uu&me

It has more to do with proximity to work. That cuts out a huge amount of driving every day, grocery shop for more than a week at a time, and not being close to a department store might save more money than you think. However, you raise good points. Thank you.

If I worked downtown and lived in Highland Park I'd take a bus (or ride my bike) and not buy any gas, saving over $120/mo. But that's just me. The grocery and drug stores on the other side of the McCallie Tunnels really aren't that far away; it's a very short drive except between the hours of 4:00-6:00pm. The nearest Walmart is about 5 miles away. I currently live in East Brainerd so I just checked, and the Walmart on Gunbarrel is exactly 5 miles away from my house.

But Blue is right about the other expense... if you find a cheap house, it's cheap because either it has not been renovated, it's in a bad area, or both. You'll have to deal with fairly high utilities, plus higher than normal maintenance costs (broken pipes, etc.).

[uu&me]

I will keep all of that in mind! Thank you.