where to buy first house?

[tomterr]

The recommendation by SIMCITY on another thread (rent or buy for one year) would warrant a look.
65 W. Lafayette Ci. Is in a good neighborhood, very close to the U of M, and not too far from Poplar and Ridgeway, and it would be opposite of rush hour traffic.
A 5 year time line seems long enough to break even, or even show a profit.
It soulds like a bargain in a good neighborhood, with a long enough timeline.

[lovememphis]

I live in the 38117 area (Colonial Acres) and love it. We recently moved last August and looked at a lot of houses but really liked the ones in this subdivision. We concentrated in the "square" of Poplar, Perkins, Flamingo and Mt. Moriah. There are a lot of young couples and young families here. Many like us have taken a fixer on and are renovating the neighborhood which in turn ups the value of the homes. And there are homes that have already been "fixed" ready to move in. I have only seen a few for sale signs around here since we moved. We tried to get three other houses before this but were just shy of signing before the person before us made already had the contract...so in other words, this has become a desireable area. Close to everything. I tell people yeah we can go there, "its up the road". They probably think I am a broken record when I say that but it is true. Everything in reach: Movie Theatre, Resturants, Parks...Good luck!

[tigergal]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

The 38119 zip has gone substantially bad pretty quick recently (near Hickory Hill). It's not all bad, but some is definitely not good. Definitely stay as close to Poplar as you can, and not more southern past Park.

Not in between, but you can also get a fairly inexpensive house just west of UM, on either side of Central. Again, stay as close to Central as you can. But there are some cheaper homes directly west (although the closer to UM, the more rentals you'll be around) and there are some small but nice neighborhoods between Poplar and Central just east of the Pink Palace.

Edit: I think I mean stay north of Quince if you are down there in SE Memphis. Quince is more southern than Park. I think. (it's already been a long day, sorry.....)

38119 goes well north of Walnut Grove, so it is possible (and likely) to find a nice home in a nice area in that zip code. I'd stay as close to Walnut Grove as possible, though, rather than as close to Poplar as possible. Less traffic and noise, more residential. The Belz home is in the 38119 zip code so that's a pretty good indicator it's not a bad neighborhood.

[lovememphis]

I meant the square of Park, Perkins, Flamingo and Mt. Moriah....not Poplar (good call tigergal). That is a busy road but Park is great for getting around. Especially going to where you work. It is not busy and goes all the way to germantown and as the name indicates has a lot of parks on it. It is good from Audubon Park area down to where it turns into Poplar Pike.

We just got a lot of snow here and had a ball playing outside but I think I am ready for that 60 and above degree weather to come.

[Bonkey]

Check out Colonial Acres...near Park and Whitestation. It is nice and the neighborhood is established. You might also check out Walnut Grove/Barfield area.

[Deck]

A surrounding county.

Seriously.

Less taxes. Less chances of it getting broken into.

And the way Willie likes to annex nowhere in the county is safe.