Moving to Wilson County with upcoming 6th grader (Murfreesboro, Lebanon: mortgage, credit)

[T2341]

Trying to find out the best school for an upcoming 6th grader in Wilson County. My husband will be working in Lebannon starting in August but we haven't decided which area of Wilson County to live yet. Any information, suggestions, comments will be helpful. Thank you!!

[Vickie10essee]

Hi T2341,

I am helping a family find a home in Wilson county right now that already have their child in school there. They have specifically told me they want to stay in the Southside Elementary School. The schools' address is 1224 Murfreesboro Rd. Lebanon, TN 37087. It is K-8 and their phone number is 615-444-6330. I cannot personally vouch for the schools there, but I think that if you go to GreatSchools.net, and type in Wilson County, TN at the search in the top, you will find so much comprehensive information, comparisons, and ratings helpful. You can compare schools side-by-side, etc. If it were me, I would start on there, narrow down (considering that you can only take online ratings with a grain of salt due to negative people that sometimes make something worse than it is) a list, and schedule visits with the schools so you can see for yourself. There are many areas of Lebanon. If you haven't already, I would get your approval letter from your preferred loan officer at your bank, credit union, or mortgage company (make sure to provide them your proof of income even if they don't ask so you know for sure), have them run credit, etc. Once you have an amount you are approved for, have a realtor do a customized search based on the pricerange that puts you where you are comfortable monthly, and on school or schools you pick, within a max. mile radius of the school or place of work (if important to you), and tell them all of your needs and wants. This will enable you to start narrowing down your choices over the next couple of months before you get your final list to see. That realtor can organize everything for you, research each home to help narrow the list further, and set all of the route, appointments so that when you get here, you can have it all ready to go to save time while in town. You can also have your realtor give you a small tour of the different places you may grocery shop at, etc. near each area you look at. Just as a small word of advice, I wouldn't buy on a main road though, because that area is growing with widening and traffic. Homes (big enough for families that may have children) on main roads generally do not have good resale value (they are so hard to sell). This plan of action with shopping ahead online has always worked to save so much time and energy for me and my out of area clients anyway. Hope this helped.

Good luck!