where to find home with basement? (Memphis, Midtown: townhouse, neighborhood, to buy)

[alisa517]

guys i am moving to memphis, and looking for home or townhouse with basement..ive been searching all over but cant find any..does anybody know where can i find please point me to the direction..thanks

[ColliervilleMom]

You won't find them here, homes are not made with basements in Memphis. What do you need one for? I always had one until I moved here, and thought I'd miss it, but I really don't. You may want to search the board, there was a great explanation a while back on why we don't have them.

[alisa517]

it doesnt have to be in memphis maybe a lil outside like cordova..i need it because i am afraid of tornadoes!

[Robert_J]

They do have houses with tornado shelters (aka 'fraidy holes) built into them. They are a steel bunker sunk under the house that is large enough for the average sized family to take temporary shelter.

Remember that a tornado's destruction is limited in size when you compare it to a hurricane or earthquake. During the storms I, like most, are glued to the TV instead of hiding. WMC channel 5 has a great radar system that will track rotation and can predict when a tornado is touching down. In the last few storms I've watched more than a dozen rotating air masses pass near or over my house. During the last storm when I lost power, I just went outside and stood on the front porch with a camera. In my 40 years of living in the south I've never seen a tornado with my own eyes.

-Robert

[lovebing]

I live just east of Midtown and I have a basement, as do about half of my neighbors...

[Pearlbob]

Some very old homes in midtown will have them. But typically no, you will not find a house with a basement in the midsouth.

Don't worry about the tornado thing. The fear of tornados is blown out of proportion. You may get some strong winds that can damage houses (or damage trees that can fall on houses), but the liklihood of an actual tornado hitting your house is slim to practically none around here. It's not like the movies

[alisa517]

Robert J i understand the tornadoes dont bother you..you ve lived here all your life..i am new to this area and they terrefie me!!!!

can somebody give me the link where i can find anything with the basement or shelters like robert said tornado shelters?

[Pearlbob]

I think he means that you'd have to build that on yourself. I can't imagine any houses are built with tornado holes built-in. If you have a realtor, tell your realtor about this and he/she can search for homes with basements for you. That's going to be your best resource. Keep in mind, if you want something with a basement, it's going to be a very old home, most likely in midtown. Do you want to live there? And if you want one of those add-on shelters, it will probably have to be something you do yourself.

Your best bet for moving when you have this very specific requirement, is to find a house in a neighborhood in a city that suits you, and then remodel the house to fit your needs. Instead it will be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

[alisa517]

i am soo upset to hear that there are no good houses with basements in Memphis! i would think they would have a lot of them considering that Memphis is in the tornado alley..i live in Nashville right now and everytime there are tornado warnings on tv it freaks me out!!!
we not gonna be living in Memphis permanent.. so we are not looking to buy a house and remodel or anything like that.

[JoeCartpath]

Tornado shelters can be retrofitted to any house. There was a company at the Vesta home show a couple of years ago showing them off. They'll cut out part of your garage slab, dig the hole and insert the shelter. When not in use, you just park the car over it. You would access it by a trap door in the garage floor. Of course, you'd have to have your car outside to do this.

Personally, they look too much like a grave to me I can imagine being in one and having part of the house crash down on it...trapping me inside...and my cell phone not working.

You need to realize that the number of fatalities - and even injuries - from tornadoes in this area are very, very, very small. It's not like Kansas and Oklahoma. I've lived here 60 years and never known a single person whose home was hit by a tornado. You're at a LOT more risk every day when you get behind the wheel of your car. I don't have a shelter and don't intend to spend $5000+ to get one. For the infinitesimal chance that a tornado might hit my house, I'll make do with hiding in the bathroom or the closet under the stairs. There are areas like that in every house that are strong enough to provide you with a safe haven for all but the most severe tornadoes.