Where should we live? (Franklin, Hendersonville: condo, crime rate, how much)

[tibbs]

We are moving to Nashville this summer from Orlando and we are very excited about it. However, we are trying to decied where to locate and I am completely overwhelemed! My husband will be working downtown and we have two kids who will be in 2nd and 4th grades. Schools are very important to us and my husband would like his commute time to be as short as possible (no Cool Springs or Murphesbourogh). Everyone says the best place to move is either Franklin or Brentwood, but it seems like our housing dollar will go farther elsewhere. Can anyone give us insight (schools, crime rate, quality of life...) into Mt Juliet (Wilson County) and Hendersonville and Goodletsville (Sumner County). Are there any other areas that we should consider?

Also, are there any areas of Davidson County that has excellent schools (at all levels) and if so, what areas are these? Does anyone know anything about Donelson Christian School? Any other relatively afforadable private schools?

Thanks!

[alleycat]

You might also look at the Bellevue area of Nashville (I live there), or Kingston Spring in neighboring Cheatham County (the drive in to downtown is better from the west than north or south of downtown).

The elementary and middle schools in Nashville would probably be acceptable to you. You would need to be more careful about which high school your children might attend if there were that age (there are some good high schools, and some poor ones).

Green Hills, Forest Hills, and Oak Hills are all nice areas; but like Brentwood, they are pricey.

There are all sort of private schools in the Nashville area. I posted a link one time to a website with information on the private schools in the area. I'll get the address for you when I get a chance (I have it on my home computer and I'm currently on my office computer).

[alicenevada]

Here's my advice:

I currently live in Carthage so I'm a pretty good way from the city. Some people make the commute but I wouldnt attempt it personally. It's a gorgeous small town. I wanted to give you some info on the closer areas because we've kinda lived 'all over'.

Most recently, we lived in Lebanon and loved it there but the commute to Nashville is very daunting. About 45 minutes w/ traffic. I'd consider my options in the Green Hills area. The metro area is very nice (albeit congested) and houses are nice w/ lots of mature trees etc. Franklin is fabulous also but might be more of a drive than he'd want to make. Green hills and Brentwood are actually extensions of Nashville so pretty easy to navigate to the city. I prefer Green Hills to Brentwood though.

If you want a little more land for your dollar, Mt Juliet is a beautiful place to live. It's a little farther than the other two areas fromthe city but makes up for it by being nice and open. There is a huge shopping complex forming off the interstate there but fromwhat I can tell, the older section is largely the same. There are some good doctors and schools in Mt Juliet and like I said, big lots for you dollar. The land is expensive compared to Lebanon but not bad when compared w/ nicer metro areas. Crime rate is low there, I'd say a bit lower than the Green Hills area since its farther from the city.

Avoid Madison, Inglewood, Hermitage, and Goodlettsville. Hendersonville is nicer but still a little close to Madison for my tastes. The shopping district of 'RIvergate' is popular but HORRIBLY congested which means your husband would be battling lots of traffic. Madison and Inglewood are older areas that have lots of different cultures and ages in them. Crime in that area is pretty high due to the fact that the bad neighborhoods and good are so close to one another. Hermitage is more spread out but has some of those same problems. Plus, the lake STINKS sometimes.

[wellkids]

Cool Sprins is actualy just an area between Brentwood and Franklin. If you have ruled it out because it is too far from Nasvhille then you would also want to take out Franklin since it is actually farther out than the Cool Springs area.

Mt. Juliet is a wonderful place to consider and has excellent schools and some great housing values. Home prices in Mt. Juliet will be significantly lower than in Brentwood. Hendersonville is also a nice area with good schools but will be a longer commute into Nashville than Mt. Juliet.

Davidson County has some excellent magnet schools if your children can get into those schools. There are some very expensive areas of Davidson County and some very inexpensive areas. Nashville is a very diverse city with a huge range of housing options.

You can check out how all the public schools perform on the TN Report Card that is reported each year. This site is great because you can check schools individually as well as the system as a whole. Keep in mind that you can have a great school system overall but also have an individual school that does poorly; or a school system that might perform below average but have an individual school within that system that really performs well. Look at data for both. The link for the current TN Report Card is:

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/rptcrd06/ (broken link)

If you are interested in private schools, here is the link for a list of all the private schools in the Middle TN area along with their tuition rates.

http://www.parentworld.com/photos/psd_chart.pdf (http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/rptcrd06/ - broken link)

Standard and Poor also keeps a great website on school performance and proficiency. Again, you can compare individual schools and the school system. Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be city school systems and county school system. For instance, there is a Franklin Special School System aside from the Williamson County School System. Confusing I know!

The link for Standard and Poors School Matters is:

http://www.schoolmatters.com/ (broken link)

I lived in Hermitage many years ago and knew lots of people back then who sent their children to Donelson Christian School. At the time I lived in Hermitage it was a great option for families who did not want to use the zoned Davidson County schools that lived in the Hermitage and Donelson area. I'm sure things have changed over the years but they used to have a very good reputation.

You actually have lots of great options in the Nashville area. Try to pick a community before you start house hunting. It will make your relocation much easier.

[tibbs]

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. This is really helping!!!

[Pimpy]

I commute from Hendersonville to MetroCenter (just north of downtown) and it is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Apparently the drive to and from Hendersonville was torture in the 90s before I-65 was widened and the Vietnam Veterans Bypass was completed, and that reputation just kind of stuck.

If you're driving in between 7:15-8:00, traffic will be slow on I-65 from just past Briley/Dickerson until Trinity Lane, due to a merge with I-24. It's not fun, and all traffic issues suck balls, but I've lived in Antioch and Hermitage and those commutes were worse. Not to mention the crime...

Another point to consider is that Hendersonville is located in Sumner County, which ranks just behind Williamson County (Franklin/Brentwood) on the list of top school systems in Middle Tennessee. You will get much more house for your buck in Hendersonville than anywhere in Williamson County, with the exception of maybe Fairview. Davidson County (Metro Nashville) schools are abysmally bad, especially at the high school level. If you send your kids to school there, don't be surprised if they come home in gang colors packing heat. West siiiiiiiide!!!!!!

Mt. Juliet is another nice up-and-coming area in Wilson County. Nice new homes being built every day, and the commute is probably comparable to Hendersonville. It's worth checking out.

[Big TR]

Originally Posted by Pimpy

I commute from Hendersonville to MetroCenter (just north of downtown) and it is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be.

Pimpy, can you please tell us how many minutes the commute is during rush hour?

[Pimpy]

Originally Posted by Big TR

Pimpy, can you please tell us how many minutes the commute is during rush hour?

I live on the Indian Lake peninsula (closer to Gallatin than Nashville and over 7 miles from I-65) and if I leave at the WORST possible time, it's about 30-35 minutes to MetroCenter, assuming there isn't an accident on Vietnam Vets or I-65. If there's a wreck then all bets are off, but that's the way it is with any commute.

If you plan smart and make sure you don't hit Briley/Dickerson (where the interstate narrows to 3 lanes then merges with 24) between 7:20-7:50, you can make it to MetroCenter or even downtown in under 30 minutes, especially if you live on the southwest side of Hendersonville.

[alleycat]

I work in MetroCenter and have a coworker who lives in Hendersonville. I asked him how long it takes him to get in. He said it generally takes 45 minutes to an hour during rush hour (I'm not sure how much looping around he has to do to get onto a main street from his house, or what part of Henersonville he lives). On Saturdays, or when the traffic is less, he said he can make it in about 30 minutes.

[TNNative]

Not Madison.

Sis just called and said all four tires got slashed last night in her condo parking lot. They did most of the cars in the parking lot AGAIN.....this is the third time in less than a year. What punks that keep doing something like this.