Fieldstone Farms vs Courtside At Southern Woods: franklin vs brentwood (Green Hill: condo, houses)

[gwenrn]

Our whirlwind weekend is almost over. I want to thank everyone for all the helpful info. We are down to Fieldstone Farms (it is a home in a gated section - the reserve at _____ Creek? At the top of our budget but a huge home (5 beds, 3.5 ba). 2 minutes to Publix which made me feel like everything was a bit more convenient?

Courtside at Southern Woods was beautiful. I loved the house, but I felt like I'd be 10 minutes from anything - even to buy a gallon milk. Is that accurate? I also didn't get the same "neighborly" vibe but that may be an inaccurate assumption based on an outside perception. I *think* we would prefer Franklin.

Any thoughts would be so appreciated.
Once again,
thanks

[BirdieBelle]

FF would be more convenient than that particular location in Brentwood.

I have no real idea about the neighborly feel. I mean, I know lots of people who live in both, and they all love their neighborhoods. FF is a better commute for your school, while Southern Woods has a "back way" to Grassmere.

Go with your gut.

[gwenrn]

It felt like Southern Woods was more spread out between houses and a bit "quieter" but again, my perception may be way off.

I did love that FF I could get to the Publix in 2 minutes, pool in 5, downtown Franklin in 10? And just seemed very established and well maintained.

I wasn't able to really grasp where anything was near Southern woods but I have heard both are good.

Thanks

[CountryGirl2b=]

I don't know anything about Southern Woods . . . and I know when I moved here from CT I didn't like the fact that you had to buy into neighborhoods. HOWEVER, I really do love the location of Fieldstone Farms. There's a very convenient post office in the Grassland Market and a couple of vets up that way, all the employees at Publix are really nice (just read that Southern Living voted Publix #2 on their best fried chicken list), the Japanese place (Miso) has great sushi. The Franklin Trolley comes to Publix . . . not a lot of people use it BUT you can take it to downtown Franklin, the kids might like it!

There are a couple of ways to get to Cool Springs (Berry's Chapel, Mallory Station Road, and the newly renovated Mack Hatcher) which makes Christmas shopping easier! Also check out Spencer Creek Road, an easy way to get to Mack Hatcher from your place.

As soon as Hillsboro gets finished, getting to downtown Franklin will be a breeze. There's a fire station right across from Publix. I have had to call an ambulance twice for my Mom and they come VERY quickly.

Going north on Hillsboro will get you to Green Hills mall and Trader Joe's and one of the Whole Foods AND all the way into downtown Nashville if you want.

I also feel like the development is 'built out' . . surrounded by other homes. It's quiet. Feels safe. It's also somewhat diverse . . you can get a condo in Prescott Place for $170,000. I live in an area of smaller homes. We have a couple of police officers who live here. Now, I know that it's a bit of a 'loose' definition of diverse, but it would be more "diverse" than a higher end development in Brentwood where all the houses are over $400,000. There's families, empty nesters, single retired people.

I know you are going to try the Waldorf school, but the elementary school here is well thought of.

Don't want to make it sound like I am 'selling' Fieldstone Farms . . . but in terms of LOCATION, I think it's very well situated.

And for what it's worth, Carrie Underwood's first house was in Fieldstone Farms. Oh, and an ex drummer for the BeeGees lives around the corner from me. Gotta love musicians!

I'm glad you found two out of twenty!

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by gwenrn

It felt like Southern Woods was more spread out between houses and a bit "quieter" but again, my perception may be way off.


Thanks

Generally the lots are larger in Brentwood than in Franklin. Brentwood has a zoning density of one house per acre. Most of the FF lots are quarter-acre, which in a lot of cases is plenty, and some are smaller, so if you find one that abuts common space, it feels even larger.

The FF situation is probably more like what you are coming from also, in terms of proximity to conveniences.

[Vandy-bound]

We recently moved from Shadow Creek (right next to Southern Woods) out of state. While you aren't two minutes from a grocery store, you are definitely within 5-10 from multiple options (Kroger, Publix at 2 different locations each) plus a short ride (usually <20 min.) from almost anything else you'd go to. We also looked at Franklin when we moved to TN, but while we thought the location in FF to be nice, we preferred the more quiet setting and houses on larger lots of Brentwood. We had already lived in a place where everything was <5 min. away. While the convenience is nice, after a while, the downsides (more traffic, noise, etc) outweighed the benefits (for our family). Good luck with your decision!

[brentwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by gwenrn

Our whirlwind weekend is almost over. I want to thank everyone for all the helpful info. We are down to Fieldstone Farms (it is a home in a gated section - the reserve at _____ Creek? At the top of our budget but a huge home (5 beds, 3.5 ba). 2 minutes to Publix which made me feel like everything was a bit more convenient?

Courtside at Southern Woods was beautiful. I loved the house, but I felt like I'd be 10 minutes from anything - even to buy a gallon milk. Is that accurate? I also didn't get the same "neighborly" vibe but that may be an inaccurate assumption based on an outside perception. I *think* we would prefer Franklin.

Any thoughts would be so appreciated.
Once again,
thanks

The Publix and Kroger at Nolensville and Concord are about 2 miles from Courtside (I just mapped it to check) and you can go the back way on Bluff road to avoid the Concord Road construction. And a couple of miles to Lenox Village for restaurants, etc.

Nipper's Corner is 4 miles away, and it has 3 more grocery stores. The main thing with the Courtside location is that you won't pass anything from the Interstate to Courtside, or Crockett Park or Civitan to Courtside, so you can't just run by and pick up dinner on the way home from sports, etc. But your husband will pass restaurants and stores coming from Grasmere, so he could easily pick things up on the way home from his work.
It's 10 minutes or less to Crockett Park, the Y, the library, Civitan, River Park, and Owl Creek Park. My kids play a lot of sports, so some weeks we are at Crockett Park 4-5 days a week.

And it has a lot of neighborhood activities. The whole Southern Woods neighborhood does neighborhood activities, and then Courtside itself has a women's group, a Bunco group, etc. We have friends who live on Red Oak Lane in Courtside, and they play outside with neighbors every day and have lots of get togethers.

We see people walking and biking from Courtside to Edmondson on our way to school in the mornings.

It would be a very easy commute to Grasmere. Your husband could go Edmondson Pike to Nolensville Road and he would be right at Grasmere.

The biggest downside of living east of Edmondson Pike for us is how far it is from the middle and high school. I don't remember how old your children are, if they are younger, it's possible they may rezone to schools on this side of the interstate.
But we love BMS, so we are willing to do the drive. And my husband works on the east side of town, so we will probably stay over here unless we get rezoned.

[KWGregSpackman]

Did you look at Mckays Mill ?

The nice thing about your selections, is that you can't go wrong with either choice.

[gwenrn]

We looked at McKay's but just didn't find the right house. We think we are going with Fieldstone Farms. I actually wish the house in Southern Woods was IN Fieldstone. The home in Fieldstone is in a "gated' section called The Reserve at Spencer Creek or something like that. I loved that I could walk to Publix and there are sidewalks everywhere, but I didn't see any kids around in this particular gated section and my kids are young. So I wonder. I'm excited though.

Thanks all for the good thoughts!

[KWGregSpackman]

Best of luck! You will like Fieldstone Farms.