Midtown vs 12 south (Franklin, Green Hill, Berry Hill: apartment, lease, house)

[Sigequinox]

Howdy all,

Doing some research on PhD programs and Vanderbilt is extremely high on the list as the wife and I were ultimately hoping to relocate to Nashville area anyway. Our end game is to move to Franklin, but for the first year or two we will likely live near the medical center.

We would also be having kids around this time (we are only getting older. Will be 30 @ that point!). So, the nonnegotiable qualities are:

1) Safe
2) walking/short biking distance to medical center
3) 2br rent options in the 1,500-2k range

The plan is to live there for only a year (2 tops) while we continue to explore neighborhoods in the suburbs, thus it doesn't need to be perfect so long as above 3 criteria are met.

Thanks!

[N.Cal]

Very few apts in 12 South. For $2,000 you'll be in a 1-bd in the urban core unless you can find an older apt near Vandy or Belmont. For 2-bd you'll need to go to $2,300 at least.

[nashvols]

You might look a little bit to the east. There are two large apartment developments U/C on 8th in the Berry Hill/Melrose area and two that were recently completed.

[Hey_Hey]

1027 Villa Place is a 3BR house that is for rent (I do not own it, but it is on my street). Safe neighborhood, walkable to Vanderbilt. There are several Vandy professors, physicians, staff who own on the street and walk to work everyday. It is currently on the market for $2100/month. I have been in it. Nothing fancy, but it has been updated some in the last 6 months and is clean. It is on Hotpads and zillow. 1027 Villa Pl, Nashville, TN 37212 | Zillow

It is also a one minute walk to Edgehill Village, which has restaurants, coffee, gelato, Warby parker, J Crew under construction, etc, and it is a 15 minute walk to both the Broadway/Division split in Midtown and the Gulch.

[Sigequinox]

Thanks for the responses.

I suppose we could stretch the rent budget a bit more, but then it starts making way less financial sense to us as the monthly expenses of owning a home become much more economical--mostly because of TN's unusually reasonable property taxes.

We have visited TN a few times now, but spent most of our time scouting nashville suburbs. As far as the core city, we've only been downtown, which is why I'm not yet familiar with midtown or 12 south. I'm mostly interested in which of the two current residents find more habitable.

[Sigequinox]

The Village @ Vanderbilt seems to have pretty competitive rates for the area, particularly for 2br, 2bath. That would be AWESOME if there is availability when the time comes.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

Howdy all,

Doing some research on PhD programs and Vanderbilt is extremely high on the list as the wife and I were ultimately hoping to relocate to Nashville area anyway. Our end game is to move to Franklin, but for the first year or two we will likely live near the medical center.

We would also be having kids around this time (we are only getting older. Will be 30 @ that point!). So, the nonnegotiable qualities are:

1) Safe
2) walking/short biking distance to medical center
3) 2br rent options in the 1,500-2k range

The plan is to live there for only a year (2 tops) while we continue to explore neighborhoods in the suburbs, thus it doesn't need to be perfect so long as above 3 criteria are met.

Thanks!

1 & 3 could take you to Bellevue. Many Vandy medical use the bus then walk from West End over to the Hospital. Students ride a bit longer. 2 could move to the area ending at White Bridge road.

Midtown is the area on West End between downtown, I-40 & Vandyland. A lot of new construction is in the area. It would seem to be safe, at least in daylight. biking is tough in high traffic volume. Easier to stow the bike on any MTA bus. They have a rack on the front of most bus to put 2 bikes at a time.

[Siamese Kitty]

I'd honestly buy your Franklin home now and commute. I did a PhD at Vandy and it was kind of nice to be away from campus life to get work done. Housing prices truly are on the upswing and you may find yourself with more options now than you would have in two years.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by Siamese Kitty

I'd honestly buy your Franklin home now and commute. I did a PhD at Vandy and it was kind of nice to be away from campus life to get work done. Housing prices truly are on the upswing and you may find yourself with more options now than you would have in two years.

Moving from out of state, we will need to rent initially either way. I figured if we are renting I might as well be walking distance from campus so I'm not wasting so much time commuting. I currently work full time and getting masters and commute to both. The dead time adds up to 10 hours a week. When i'm this busy, 10 hours means A LOT.

Definitely not worried about campus life distractions. I'm married and therefore boring and planning to have kids. The housing price issue worries me though. I've had my eye on Franklin now for about 2 years and in that time the amount of housing stock within our budget has gone down for sure. I imagine this will continue over next few years.

I don't fear losing the "deal" as much as I fear buying before a bubble bursts. Definitely don't want to spend 450k on a house and the next year or 2 it's back down to 350k. Errr, so much to think about...

[brentwoodgirl]

Interest rates should increase over the next two years, and that should stabilize home prices. So the good news is that prices should stop skyrocketing, the bad news is that you would be able to afford less house and more of your payment will go to interest. In the last recession, Nashville didn't experience the big bust that many other places did. And prices have recovered and continued to go up. So I don't think you would lose a huge amount of equity in your house, I think it would likely just be some flat-lining and then slow growth as the rates creep back up.

If I were you, I might consider a 6 month lease, so you could move at the end of 6 months if interest rates are significantly increasing (or stay for another 6 months if they are not).

We lived in Green Hills when we first moved to Nashville and really enjoyed living in the heart of the city.