Relocating! Opinions on where to live... (Franklin, Brentwood: apartment, rentals, condos)

[OurPerfectTrio]

Good day all! My wife and I are relocating to Nashville this winter - along with our 6 year old. We have been planning a move to Nashville for a long time now - and the time has finally come to do it! We are very excited and very ready to embrace the local culture/history/traditions and make them our own.

During our last visit - we narrowed our choices of schools to either St. Matthew or St. Henry - and now have to investigate where to live. In order to afford tuition - we would like to keep our housing budget in the $1,700 a month range and have the following on our wish-list:

1) no more than a 15 minute ride of either St. Matthew or St. Henry for drop-off/pick-up
2) safe family/child-friendly area
3) need 2 bedrooms - 3 would be ideal
4) need a 1 car garage (or equivalent) for storage
5) need driveway and/or on-street parking for 2 vehicles (as garage will be used for storage)
6) access to a pool would be nice

I'll work wherever I choose (self-employed) so commute does not really come into play. We love downtown Franklin, but think it might be too far from the schools. We fell IN love with Westhaven - but don't have the budget to move there initially. Brentwood is nice - but probably out of our price range too. FYI - We did see some condo rentals in Fieldstone Farms - they were not to our liking - ditto with Brentwood Point. Dwell at Mcewen looked sort of nice - but don't remember seeing any garages. We have hesitated to look at anything on the east side of 65 as we are thinking it would be just too far from the schools.

Any suggestions regarding specific areas/developments/complexes to look in would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much.

[Hey_Hey]

I would look at Bellevue. It is close to both schools and is a safe neighborhood. You could either rent a two bedroom apartment there you could rent a house, or you could probably buy something and keep you mortgage less than your budget.

[septimus]

There are new flats in Westhaven that might be within budget that people are renting.

I would focus on possibly renting in Fieldstone or Franklin Green (probably 20 minute to St. Matthews) or Grassland area

[OurPerfectTrio]

I do appreciate the replies - thank you!

Can anyone give me some guidance as to street boundaries to use when looking for listings in "Bellevue"? Is "Franklin Green" a subdivision or an area? Again - located specifically where?

Septimus: flats in Westhaven? We saw some condo's still under construction at the very edge of the community near the shopping center - is this what you are referring to?

[nashvols]

Bellevue is in the southwest corner of Davidson County. There aren't really any street boundaries to speak of, but it is generally the developed portion that lies SW of Belle Meade and West Meade along US 70S, State Rte 100, and Old Hickory Blvd, and generally south of I-40. You could say McCrory Lane is the western border, but there's not really anything beyond that road, anyways. The eastern "border" is more of a transition zone, where you cross some fairly big hills, not far from St. Henry. The southern border is the county line...which is close to St. Matthew.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by OurPerfectTrio

I do appreciate the replies - thank you!

Can anyone give me some guidance as to street boundaries to use when looking for listings in "Bellevue"? Is "Franklin Green" a subdivision or an area? Again - located specifically where?

Septimus: flats in Westhaven? We saw some condo's still under construction at the very edge of the community near the shopping center - is this what you are referring to?

Franklin green is the subdivision next to Westhaven, it is older/complete and is a well-maintained community with houses in the 200s.

The flats are the new condos under construction, 2 buildings are complete.

Bellevue is a good choice to look at too.