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I'm considering a relocation to the Nashville area. I would appreciate anyone who can answer these types of questions.

How is the cost of living in Nashville?
How is the traffic?
How are home prices? ($/sq. foot)
Is there any part of town I should avoid, or any part of town I should look for to purchase a home?
How is the crime?

Any comments appreciated.

The cost of living varies greatly depending on what area you live in. Crime isnt too bad as long as you dont go roaming into the bad parts. I would go for greenhills or the bellmont area. Certain parts of nashville fit different types of nashville. Hippies live around bellmont (ben folds lives on bellmont), bellemead is for yuppies, brentwood is for people that wish they had more money but want to look like they have all the money in the world live in brentwood (sorry to offend anyone). Nashville is a great place, but its boring as hell sometimes. I hope some of that helped

brentwood is for people that wish they had more money but want to look like they have all the money in the world

$900,000 houses ain't exactly play money.

Originally Posted by Scorch $900,000 houses ain't exactly play money.

Alot of the people in brentwood live off credit. Alot dont actually have the money. Its all about having the nicest stuff, not living comfortably without debt.

Can you guys tell me on average how much house $200k will buy?

Just don't do something really dumb and come live here in Memphis... I lived in Nashville for a few years and recently wound up here in Memphis, and Nashville is *way* better...

Bellemeade is for REALLY rich yuppies. There's lots of old money there. West Meade is nice, but land prices are going up (runs about $300k+ for a house now, I think). The Belmont area is also pretty nice, and I think $200k would get you a decent house there. It's probably the place I would want to live if I move back after grad school. Traffic and crime aren't too bad in most areas of the city. Rush hour isn't great, but aside from that it doesn't get too backed up. I really liked living there, but I grew up in Nashville so I'm partial.

-d

Look into Spring Hill. It is about 20 miles south of Nashville. It's the 12th fastest growing city in the US. Buy a house now and in 10 years it will be worth 3 times as much.

This is all very good information. Thanks guys.

Originally Posted by wfay Just don't do something really dumb and come live here in Memphis... I lived in Nashville for a few years and recently wound up here in Memphis, and Nashville is *way* better...

Second that. Memphis is terrible.

You can come live in Clarksville and commute 45 minutes to Nashville Seriously though, when I get to Nashville I really like the Brentwood and Madison areas.

Brentwood and Franklin are the yuppie areas - they're nice, but the people there drive me nuts. Housing is also incredibly expensive down there, the place is booming right now.

If you move here, I'd just rent for six months to a year while you look for something else. That way you can get a feel for the city and make an informed decision about where you want to be.

Originally Posted by neudog You can come live in Clarksville and commute 45 minutes to Nashville Seriously though, when I get to Nashville I really like the Brentwood and Madison areas.

Clarksville? No, I live there, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. In fact, I'm moving out in a few months.



Honestly..if there's ever a definition of a hick town, it's Clarksville. If he wants any sort of good job, he'll be doing 50 minute drives everyday. And it's truly frustrating that in Clarksville everything is truly within walking distance, yet because of the way the "city" is set up, you HAVE to drive.

And besides, the life is horrible: one mall, two..three maybe good restaurants, little to no stores other than Wal-Mart, WAY TOO MANY ARMY PEOPLE, and the only nightlife is line dancing and white trash dive bars.

Top that, the people are either dead stupid or way too judgemental, there's too much rape, too much robbery, quite a bit of racism, and if he plans on living as a "CAG", he won't be able to do it here..one Target with no clearances, a horrible Best Buy, a really small Circuit City, and Wal-Marts that only marks down electronics when they have to [every 2 years..] Other than that, there's Gamestop/EB, Rhino [OVER EXPENSIVE] and CD Warehouse [yay, 10 copies of NBA 2K3 and bootleg anime!]

Nashville, would be a much better choice...much nicer than Clarksville, much more options in pretty much everything, three HUGE universities, tons of jobs, tons of restaurants, lots of arts/events, and good shipping. But still, real estate just isn't worth it in TN...overinflated.

Originally Posted by sarausagi Clarksville? No, I live there, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. In fact, I'm moving out in a few months. Honestly..if there's ever a definition of a hick town, it's Clarksville. If he wants any sort of good job, he'll be doing 50 minute drives everyday. And it's truly frustrating that in Clarksville everything is truly within walking distance, yet because of the way the "city" is set up, you HAVE to drive. And besides, the life is horrible: one mall, two..three maybe good restaurants, little to no stores other than Wal-Mart, WAY TOO MANY ARMY PEOPLE, and the only nightlife is line dancing and white trash dive bars. Top that, the people are either dead stupid or way too judgemental, there's too much rape, too much robbery, quite a bit of racism, and if he plans on living as a "CAG", he won't be able to do it here..one Target with no clearances, a horrible Best Buy, a really small Circuit City, and Wal-Marts that only marks down electronics when they have to [every 2 years..] Other than that, there's Gamestop/EB, Rhino [OVER EXPENSIVE] and CD Warehouse [yay, 10 copies of NBA 2K3 and bootleg anime!] Nashville, would be a much better choice...much nicer than Clarksville, much more options in pretty much everything, three HUGE universities, tons of jobs, tons of restaurants, lots of arts/events, and good shipping. But still, real estate just isn't worth it in TN...overinflated.

Note to self: Don't move to Clarksville.

I've always felt that Nashville is just about at that critical mass where a decent public transportation system would be extrememly beneficial, but not altogether necessary.

Maybe it's just my proximity to West End, but the traffic always feels atrocious. Don't bother trying to go anywhere from 4-6 pm on a weekday, man. I'm in Tokyo currently, and due to the train system, I honestly feel like it's far more convenient getting around here.

I lived in Nashville for 8 years, and my parents still live there. My opinions...

Areas of Town:

Brentwood/Franklin are overrated bland pseudo-yuppie suburbs. Overpriced for the general metro market. If you really love having every chain restaurant nearby, Franklin might be for you. Note that this doesn't apply to "old Franklin", which still has a very old-South vibe to it.

East Nashville is a pretty good value, and isn't far from anything. The Hermitage area has a lot of nice houses, is far enough away to be less of a headache than the city, and still close enough that you don't feel too stranded in suburbia.

The SE side is getting quite nice these days, check out areas like Antioch. Look on a map and follow I-24 SE of downtown 5-20 miles for what will likely be the new hot area. Big bonus - home prices are still affordable now, but will likely gain more value than in the rest of the city. Same thing that happened with Franklin in the mid-90s is going on in the SE now.

For the downtown area... the west side is fun, near Vanderbilt and 21st Ave are great locations. Trouble is that houses aren't as available there, but there's plenty of good apartments and lots to do.

Belle Meade is the exclusive/rich part of town. I personally wouldn't live there even if I had the money, as the area is full of snobby I'm-a-better-Christian-than-you types.

Depending on where you live/work, there are some decent places up North too. The Goodlettsville and Hendersonville areas aren't bad at all.

Prices:
Roughly $200k will get you a nice house indeed in most of the close outlying areas. A yard, 3 bedrooms, nice neighborhood. Expect to pay a premium for the snobby areas like Brentwood, Green Hills, Belle Meade. But in general, $200-$250k = quite a nice place. You might find a nice place for even high 100s, you might find what you want for 250... but you shouldn't have to spend $300k for a good place. Very nice compared to the ultra-inflated SoCal prices I deal with now. Nashville is truly one of the best bargains for housing in the country, and that's one of the best positives about the city.

Traffic:
It's f'ing terrible. I live in a much larger city now (San Diego) and I think Nashville has much worse traffic. For it's size, Nashville is phenomenally bad for traffic. Constant construction, the I-65/440 and I-40/440 switches have been terrible forever. I-65 is particularly irritating to me. If Nashville was a little bigger, it would be worse than L.A. As it is, I'm usually as frustrated driving in Nashville as I am in L.A. (I go there quite a bit) during high traffic times. Seattle and Atlanta are known for bad traffic - I think Nashville is worse than both.

Firenze is completely on point. I live off westend and its great. I rent an apartment... its not the greatest price around but its managable. Antioch is a good place to be. Its pretty cheap and getting better all the time.

I live in Hendersonville which is in the middle of a boom in population and business and so far it is coming along nicely. I also have a place in Murfreesboro for my college, but it's a little more "busy" and congested so I kinda hate it (love the college though). Would definately recommend Hendersonville or Gallatin, as they are both growing cities. Nashvilles a great area. Hope to see you here.

I like the Nasvhille area. I commute from Murfreesboro to Brentwood everyday and the traffic on I-24 gets bad right after Smryna. We should have a CAG trade/meet up one day. As for people saying that Antioch is nice it's only certain parts (ie the parts that don't have a thousand liquor stores and pawn shops in a 2 mile radius). Other than that it's gonna have your typical crime rate of any big city but if you mind your own business and stay away from certain areas you will be okay

Antioch is horrible. There might be one or two good parts, but over the past few years, it's gone extremely down hill. Anitoch's crime rate is probably higher than anywhere else, I always hear about a shooting or something in that area.

Speaking of Smyrna, there's a city near it called LaVergne.. kind of a quiet little town, it's a 15 minute drive to it from Murfreesboro (on one road, too) and it's so 'quiet' there that people often leave their doors unlocked at night. LaVergne is pretty much right in the middle between Murfreesboro and downtown Nashville.