Nashville Neighborhood Advice needed

[lonegirl]

Hello all.
My husband is considering a job move to Nashville. We have 3 children, so schools are very important, and I am a teacher. I have discovered in numerous places online that Williamson County schools come in highly regarded.

Our home would need to be under $350,000. My husband likes bigger lots. Hills would be a nice change from our flat Texas scene. Also 10-15 miles from decent stores would be nice (target is decent in my book

I don't know if this is pie-in-sky dreaming but here goes: our current neighborhood is lovely, full of kids, lots of parks/sports/recreation. Problem: the parents here are nuts! They pick their kids' friends, push them incessantly in sports, pick them up from school and drop them right at after-school tutoring (which I know is a necessary thing for some kids, but not ALL of them), buy their kids EVERYTHING--the 2nd grade boy down the street is Under Armoured HEAD TO TOE. We like nice things, we like our kids to be happy and experience some success, but we just don't feel our values fit in here (our kids are the only ones that have to mow/weed the yard and clean their own bathrooms) We would like to avoid another pretentious neighborhood if possible.

thank you for your time

 

[Gr8t Fan]

No advice for you, but I'm interested in hearing what others have to say. We've considered moving to Nashville ourselves, and your values sound a lot like ours, so I'm going to be watching this thread and hoping for some helpful replies.

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

I think that your family would like Franklin, TN in Williamson County. Look at homes in the McKay's Mill subdivision. Good schools, good for commuting, about 20 minutes to Nashville. Plenty of shopping within 10 minute drive. Cool Springs is close by for shopping. Nice family orientated neighborhood. Big pool, lots of parks and hiking trails.

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

The zip code for that part of Franklin, is 37067.

 

[pyrxtc]

where in Texas are you coming from ? We are maybe moving to Dallas and our kids would be a lot like yours in doing chores and no tutoring needed I hope.

 

[junebugTN]

Williamson County Schools are great, but the homes are pretty pricey. It is rated as TN's most expensive county to live in. I think you could get a decent older home in that price range, but you could definitely buy a lot more house if you looked at other outlying areas.

Hendersonville/Sumner County is on the northern side of the city. Their schools are nice, but not quite as good as Williamson County. The nice thing about this area is you can get a great neighborhood, good shopping and restaurants plus a much bigger house for the $300k range. That will leave you enough left over for private school or more Disney trips...ha!

Sadly, I have to recommend that you definitely avoid Metro Nashville public schools. Tennessee schools overall are rated pretty poorly compared to the rest of the nation, and Davidson County/Nashville schools are definitely struggling. Although I have found that even the places where parents think the schools are good here are still pretty bad compared to other states.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like any help or opinions from one local gal. I've lived in the Nashville area for 25+ years. Right now, I live in Sumner County but work in Williamson. And I spent a ton of time researching the schools for our daughter. I would definitely recommend that you check out the schools in an area before settling on one community. There are quite a few places in Nashville with beautiful homes but abysmal schools. Hope that helps a bit!

June (I'm in Goodlettsville, TN)

 

[MeMom]

Williamson County Schools are great, but the homes are pretty pricey. It is rated as TN's most expensive county to live in. I think you could get a decent older home in that price range, but you could definitely buy a lot more house if you looked at other outlying areas.

Hendersonville/Sumner County is on the northern side of the city. Their schools are nice, but not quite as good as Williamson County. The nice thing about this area is you can get a great neighborhood, good shopping and restaurants plus a much bigger house for the $300k range. That will leave you enough left over for private school or more Disney trips...ha!

Sadly, I have to recommend that you definitely avoid Metro Nashville public schools. Tennessee schools overall are rated pretty poorly compared to the rest of the nation, and Davidson County/Nashville schools are definitely struggling. Although I have found that even the places where parents think the schools are good here are still pretty bad compared to other states.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like any help or opinions from one local gal. I've lived in the Nashville area for 25+ years. Right now, I live in Sumner County but work in Williamson. And I spent a ton of time researching the schools for our daughter. I would definitely recommend that you check out the schools in an area before settling on one community. There are quite a few places in Nashville with beautiful homes but abysmal schools. Hope that helps a bit!

June (I'm in Goodlettsville, TN)

It seems that June and I are neighbors, sort of. I suppose we might have passed each other at Opry Mills Mall without ever knowing it. Who'da thunk there would be anyone from Goodlettsville here? I would agree with her on the Hendersonville/Sumner County area being good for schools w/o being overpriced in the housing aspect. Williamson Co. - good schools, but pricier homes.

I am a teacher, as well. I would be willing to try to answer questions in a PM.

 

[suedaisy]

Welcome to Tennessee! There are many nice homes in Franklin that would be in your price point. Williamson County schools are excellent. Although I am not a parent, many friends move to Williamson and save their money rather than spending it on private school. Nashville (metro Davidson) has some outstanding magnet schools, but it is a lottery. Franklin has some "fancy" folks, but a lot of people are pretty regular. There will be kids with everything, but Dave Ramsey is local and so there are those families too. I am a Yankee transplant and think all of these southerners are fancy!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Hi there! We relocated to TN last Oct. We are currently renting in Franklin (37067 zip) and are building a house 10 mins away, also in Franklin. We are actually zoned for a Brentwood middle school (neighboring town). My DD13 is surrounded by many of the kids from those families you speak of and it is definitely a problem. We do not spend like most do around here. For that reason we picked a neighborhood to build in that is in a different part of Franklin. The schools for our new house will pull from farms and white collar families alike, which I am thrilled about! It should be a much better mix. If only 50% of the kids own 4 pairs of uggs instead of 98% of them, my life is going to improve! LOL!
It depends what you expect from $350k. We couldn't have had our expectations met at that price point so our budget did increase. Overall, it's a great town and once we are in a different neighborhood I think we will fit in wonderfully. You sound like just the type neighbor we were looking for when we were on the house hunt.

 

[lonegirl]

thank you so much!

 

[AmericangirlinFrance]

I also used to live in Sumner County - lived in Hendersonville, worked in Gallatin. I didn't have kids so I can't help you there, but parts of Hendersonville seemed nice for families.