Potentially moving from Sacramento, CA to Nashville area (Murfreesboro, Franklin: crime, house)

[0'Farrell]

Originally Posted by N.Cal

What I have found:

Rent - expensive! I'm paying more and getting half the square footage. At least it is brand new.

You said you were from SF. I can't fathom this. Impossible.

[BlueyedCat]

When we first moved to Tn; we rented an apartment at Canyon Ridge in Hermitage. The square foot was 983. 2 bedroom 2 bath on second floor. Our rent was $1100.00 a month. Crime started getting bad there so we found a condo that was 900 sq ft 2 bedrooms 1 bath with one partial bath. A sink and commode. We were paying $875 for that. Our electric bill for the apartment averaged around $ 225.00 a month. The condo electric was around $ 200.00 a month and gas averaged around $ 75.00 to $100.00 a month. Our water at both places ran us around $60.00 a month. No outside sprinklers. That is just what my husband and I used. I saw where you were looking at Hermitage. It's alright. It's hit and miss but there are some nice areas. Again; please do your homework. Hope this helps. Also our sales tax there was 9.25% and the food tax was 7.75%.

[BirdieBelle]

Things to consider when comparing cost of living:


if you have kids and how many.

if they attend public or private school.

if you have multiple car notes.

if you have multiple drivers to insure.

if your job is not in the same county as the house you buy/apartment you rent.

if you max out your rent/mortgage potential.

what you like to do for recreation.

if you cook or if you eat out.

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by 0'Farrell

You said you were from SF. I can't fathom this. Impossible.

I could show you my cancelled checks.

SF: $850/month
NV: $1,210/month

I've gotten rid of about 40% of my stuff and still can't fit everything into the apt. I went from (? not sure of sq. feet) but 6 rooms + storage room to less than 800 sq. feet and basically 3 rooms + balcony.

Sure, if I wanted to buy, it would be cheaper. Or if I wanted to live in the burbs (but then driving costs would go up). Even the relo woman I worked with highly cautioned against buying the first 6 months, if not 12 months, unless you know the area and were sure of where you wanted to live for the next x years. That's not me.

[septimus]

We moved here from Boston.

We got twice as much house for less $$$ and more upscale address.
Private school was $17k/yr cheaper than what we were paying for a similar school in Boston.
We had to buy another car, but our car insurance dropped significantly even after we added the 2nd car.
Eating out is cheaper. Instead of $33/entrees more like $27/entrees here.
Property taxes are the same.
Income tax--we save about $20k/yr on state income taxes and definitely don't spend that on sales tax.

More expensive things include healthcare (but that's more a function of having our employer in Boston pay 100% of our premiums for family coverage and $2/$5 co-pays vs having a more traditional type plan with employees paying a portion and $20 co-pays). Flights out to Europe are no longer direct and are significantly more expensive.

Some things are the same. Our housekeeper costs about the same. Clothes, cost the same, etc.

[mrsmiscellanea]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

Things to consider when comparing cost of living:


if you have kids and how many.

if they attend public or private school.

if you have multiple car notes.

if you have multiple drivers to insure.

if your job is not in the same county as the house you buy/apartment you rent.

if you max out your rent/mortgage potential.

what you like to do for recreation.

if you cook or if you eat out.

We have 4 kids
Public school
Cars paid off
2 drivers
We have always been very thrifty
We love to cook but might eat out occasionaly.

[mrsmiscellanea]

Sorry, my phone is inserting weird autocorrects!

[septimus]

We moved here from Boston.

We got twice as much house for less $$$ and more upscale address.
Private school was $17k/yr cheaper than what we were paying for a similar school in Boston.
We had to buy another car, but our car insurance dropped significantly even after we added the 2nd car.
Eating out is cheaper. Instead of $33/entrees more like $27/entrees here.
Property taxes are the same.
Income tax--we save about $20k/yr on state income taxes and definitely don't spend that on sales tax.

More expensive things include healthcare (but that's more a function of having our employer in Boston pay 100% of our premiums for family coverage and $2/$5 co-pays vs having a more traditional type plan with employees paying a portion and $20 co-pays). Flights out

[El Passeaux]

Originally Posted by N.Cal

I could show you my cancelled checks.

SF: $850/month
NV: $1,210/month

I've gotten rid of about 40% of my stuff and still can't fit everything into the apt. I went from (? not sure of sq. feet) but 6 rooms + storage room to less than 800 sq. feet and basically 3 rooms + balcony.

Sure, if I wanted to buy, it would be cheaper. Or if I wanted to live in the burbs (but then driving costs would go up). Even the relo woman I worked with highly cautioned against buying the first 6 months, if not 12 months, unless you know the area and were sure of where you wanted to live for the next x years. That's not me.

I think you are forgetting to add the point of rent control in SF if you have lived in that place for a long time.

[El Passeaux]

Originally Posted by mrsmiscellanea

Unfortunately, not really. He plays bass and used to wrestle but I can't get him to pin anything down.


I have looked at houses (online) in the following areas:
Hermitage, Chapel Hill, Mt Juliet & Hendersonville.
With my main concerns being schools & crime- what would you folks say about those areas?

Thanks again for all this help!

I can recommend Hendersonville and others will give Mt Juliet the thumbs up. Hermitage is ok but is in the Nashville school system