Tennessee/Middle TN

[DarkSubRosa]

I've lived on every side of the city so feel free to just make it a public topic here. I think Nick's questions are a good place to start.

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[03ramit1]

To answer nicks question. Yes schools matter, I have three daughters (one middle school the other two are in elementary) I would really like to live outside of the city. Preferably something with some land and some sort of large garage/shop. I doubt I'll find anything like what I have now, ( I currently have a 30x30 garage and a 45x65 shop) but some sort of place to work on cars will be required. The job will be at stthomas midtown, so it's gotta be within an hour of there at most. I'm looking to keep rent at or below $1500 a month. But could do more if needed. The problem is the lower the rent the better off I'll be for car mods.

 

[03ramit1]

Oh and to make it more complicated the place has to accept my German Shepard.

 

[Dizzle58]

I am up north with nick and I am not sure you will be finding anything like you are listing in that price range. I am not much help but you will for sure not find anything in Williamson county for that price.


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[ManBearPig]

I've only been in the area for a couple years, so while I'm not a "local", I did look at lots of different parts of town before deciding where we wanted to buy a house. South of town (Franklin, Murfreesboro) is a traffic nightmare. Thompsons station/spring hill is very pretty, though. I'm in Ashland city (really more pleasant view) and love it here. Land is cheap, it's a scenic part of town, and the traffic going northwest is much more manageable. Cheatham county schools aren't very good, though. East of town Lebanon and mount Juliet is very nice. Looked at a couple places out there I really liked, but it's not quite rural enough for what we wanted, though. To the northeast hendersonville/Gallatin is nice, too. Lots to do there and sumner county has some good schools, but not much in the way of cheap land.

 

[icarumba]

Welcome 03ramit1!

Will you be working a regular M-F 8-5, or 2nd or 3rd shift? The reason I ask is that traffic will be a major consideration if you commute during normal hours. I live in Mount Juliet and commute to midtown, and it typically takes me an hour with traffic. I have lived in Mount Juliet since I moved to TN from SoCal in 1994, and I absolutely LOVE it! I've owned 3 homes here in that time; I never considered moving anywhere else. If you have to commute during rush hour, avoid living south of the city; the traffic is a nightmare on the 65 and the 24. I also have coworkers that commute from Hendersonville and Gallatin, and they hate the traffic from there too.

 

[DarkSubRosa]

Now that Nashville is apparently the "it" town, rental prices have soared in good school areas. For $1500 a month, you're looking at about a 14-1600 sq ft house and a 2 car garage that's within an hour of St. Thomas. Williamson County, Wilson County are probably the top two places for schools. I would avoid Cheatham, Robertson, Davidson. Spring Hill schools are good and even in Maury County, if you live in the Spring Hill part of Maury you'll be in good schools. The problem is that Maury County is going to be pushing the hour drive to get to St. Thomas. You're looking at like an hour at the least, closer to hour and a half if it's during rush hour.

You might consider the Northwest region of Rutherford, which is Smyrna and partially Nolensville. Mount Juliet has good schools, anywhere in Williamson would be good. It sucks for just moving here with how high the housing prices are going again. It's good for sellers and if you have rental property though.

 

[dh3605]

I have lived here in Nashville for over 60 years and sadly what the others have posted about our traffic issues, housing costs, and schools, is spot on. The best public schools in the area are in Williamson and Sumner counties. Good luck with your search.

 

[03ramit1]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm not looking for a large place, or a large shop. I have been able to do plenty in a small 2 car garage. So a large shop is not a requirement. But a 2 car garage is at the minimum.

I'll look at the places you guys suggest. Unfortunately I will be dealing with rush hour. So that's a drag. But that's life. It's been years since I have had to deal with traffic. My drive to work currently is 7 miles. And a traffic jam consists of waiting on deer to cross the road. I have been spoiled here. But I moved here from Phoenix, and drove in the crappy traffic there for years. It's not a deal breaker to deal with traffic if I have a place to relax when I get home.

I have been modding the hemi since it came out in 03, and I need something new. The hemi is boring me now, and way too expensive to make fast. I had a V6 convertible S550 as a rental a couple months ago and fell in love with the car. Now it's time for a S550 GT and a pair of twins. Can't wait to make the move and finally be able to buy one for myself, and actually tear into it.

I'll keep everyone posted on when I make the move. And again thanks for all the info. It helps.

 

[Nick]

I live in Hendersonville (Sumner County). I live here for three primary reasons. First, my sister and nieces are here, second the schools are probably the highest rated next to Williamson County (Franklin/Brentwood), third the housing prices are maybe 10% less than Williamson County. If you don't like traffic though, the commute to Sumner County is probably the worst in the area because of highway 386. It's a natural two lane bottleneck with exits almost every mile. A couple years ago I rented a 3 bedroom house in the Station Camp Elementary school district for $1,350 a month on 1/3 acre lot. I think you can still find them for around $1,500 but it's pretty hard. The real estate market went really crazy around here the last few months.

If you want land and acreage with good schools and a smaller commute north of town, you probably want Mt. Juliet (although I hear 40 is also crazy), Goodlettsville or Hendersonville in the Beech Elementary or Madison Creek Elementary area.

 

[ManBearPig]

A priority for me when we bought a house was a full unfinished basement. I grew up in Texas and had never heard of such a thing but they are all over out here. Basement is great though....I have what amounts to a 1500 sq ft shop underneath the house that is always a comfortable temperature, and an unfinished basement doesn't really make a house much (if any) more expensive.

 

[DarkSubRosa]

Our house has a basement but it consists of the garage under the house and the rest is finished. I have a 3 car but it's not super deep under there and a small man cave with a bathroom and stuff. We really wanted a basement finished or unfinished on this last house we bought.

 

[Nick]

I actually have found it much harder to find a house with a basement in Tennessee, but I'm originally from Central Illinois (Tornado Alley) where every single house has a basement.

 

[ManBearPig]

Coming from Texas, My only knowledge of basements was what the home alone movies showed. Until moving here I thought all basements could only be accessed by a staircase outside the house. Maybe the correct term for what we have here is a "drive-out" basement. Mine comes in from the side of the house so while I've only got the width of a standard 2-car garage, it is about 3x as deep as a standard garage.

It certainly is not the ultimate answer for a shop ( my biggest issue is that it isn't tall enough for a lift) but a house with a basement will probably be easier to find than one with a detached shop.

 

[Nick]

It would be nice if someone has a big detached with a lift.....................that we could all use. ;)

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