Advice on where to live in Collierville? (Memphis: sale, HOA)

[hawkster]

Originally Posted by Lizasya

I also wondered about the lack of basements and what you do since you do experience some tornadoes.

Basements up North when I lived there were good for smelling damp and leaks, LOL. That said, Tornado's are a fact of life here, in my home we have an emergency plan and we have a specific room we go to when we hear the Tornado Warnings. It's not as bad as it sounds

[3southerners]

One thing that may be a factor with no basements is that the Memphis area is close to sea level, so I would think that might be part of it. Anyone looking to buy in Germantown, my home is for sale. Walking distance (3 blocks) from Houston Middle School. No pool, but you could get real friendly with the neighbors

[Wings]

I moved to Collierville last year and my family is very happy with it. Schools are excellent and there are many subdivisions that meet your needs. I will add Whisperwoods to the others previously mentioned. It is on the SE part of Collierville about a mile from the Avenue shopping center which is a very nice open air mall with plenty of restaurants. We have a homeowners association which sponsors occasional family events. There are some informal groups such as a book club in the neighboorhood. We haven't joined any of these so I don't have much info. I know that the ladies get together for some socials around the holidays as well. There are several houses for sale currently and some vacant lots as well. I live here but am not a realtor or builder or have any other financial ties other than my own home. I looked at some of the other subdivisions mentioned and they are nice and have their own benefits too.

[ColliervilleMom]

I drive by Whisperwoods all the time, it looks really nice, and great house prices in there! Glad to hear it's a fun, active community.

[NC_Man27006]

Thanks for all of your insight! I am still in limbo on relocation, plans haven't been finalized as of yet for my new role, but if/when it does happen your information will be valuable.

This is probably worthy of another thread, but why is there such a huge price difference between Collierville and Olive Branch homes. OB seems to be much more rural, I can't comment on Collierville since I haven't been there yet although on the surface it appears to be much more developed and populated.

[ColliervilleMom]

I suspect that may be the very reason! Colliverville is more developed, OB is more rural...you will get more home for your money in Olive Branch! It's a lovely place, but you are farther away from a large variety of restaurants, stores, activities for kids, etc.. that would be difficult for some people. Others don't mind an extra few minutes of driving to live in a larger home, and have a larger yard in a community like OB.

You originally posted a need for a community with a pool, soccer fields, and a "bucket of social activities". I know we have this in Collierville, I'm not sure about OB, maybe someone who lives there can comment.

You also might want to look at the school statistics, I know there are great K-5 schools in both places, but when you get to middle and high, Shelby county schools score much better. (greatschools rating, Olive Branch High school is 7 out of 10, Collierville and Houston High are 10 out of 10, based on a comparison of test results for all schools in the state.)

[JoeCartpath]

Originally Posted by 3southerners

One thing that may be a factor with no basements is that the Memphis area is close to sea level, so I would think that might be part of it.

Nope...that's not it. We're 400+ feet above sea level.

The reason basements are so rare here is due to the topography of the land and the mild winters.

Since most building lots here are pretty flat, newer homes here are usually built on slabs. The footing only has to be a couple of feet deep to get past the frost line. Even on the older homes (and some new ones) on conventional foundations, the same thing applies.

In the North, the frost line is much deeper. Since the foundations have to go deeper the excavation cost to include a basement doesn't add that much to the cost. Here, you'd pay dearly for that.

In hilly areas (like Atlanta), basements are pretty common. If you're building on the side of a hill, bringing the foundation up to level the house also creates space for a basement at little additional cost.

[phlox0812]

We just moved to Wellington Farms and are VERY happy here. Crosswinds Elm. is a great school. Our realtor told us to look north of Poplar Ave. and west of Byhalia for the side of town that holds its resale value the most.

[kingchef]

Originally Posted by phlox0812

We just moved to Wellington Farms and are VERY happy here. Crosswinds Elm. is a great school. Our realtor told us to look north of Poplar Ave. and west of Byhalia for the side of town that holds its resale value the most.

several years ago, my sister and her family purchased a home in collierville, it is not far from the now wellington farms development. at the time of purchase, we laughed at my fear that she would be too close to metro memphis. she assured me that i was concerned for no reason. according to her, "...this is all horse farm country...", she said. my sister recently built a house about 110 miles from the home where she reared two daughters. it was a tender departure from an area she loved so much and thought would always be in the country. i recently told her, with the distance she has put between her and the property in collierville, that i felt she was now safe from metro memphis. we laughed and suddenly began to calculate. is it possible collierville could attain a resident population of 100,000+ in 5 to 7 years. several of us believe it to be a real possibility. is this a good thing for shelby county and collierville? perhaps. could this be the new memphis? who knows. why did it take shelby county politicians and leaders so long to recognize the importance of tennessee boundaries for tax basis, pride, and economy. wharton, herenton, and past city and county mayors are partly responsible for the current lost tennessee income. those now running for office should be called to account for their shortsightedness. realtors don't always make for good community leaders.

[Tigertate]

I doubt Collierville will ever get to a population of 100,000. The development in many of Collierville’s reserve areas is very spacious with 1 acre+ lots. It is hard to build a small city like Collierville up to that large a population point without having more dense residential development, but in turn having that dense residential development will take away Collierville’s suburban feel.