Need Feedback on Nashville Area

The wife and I have been looking to get out of California for a while now.My wife works healthcare for the VA, so that limits us a little if she is to stay with them to keep the retirement benefits going. We have mostly been looking at areas outside Austin Texas. After talking to a past customer of mine recently who moved to Tennessee a couple years ago, we expanded our search to include Tennessee. Well, yesterday my wife was offered a position in Nashville. We have never been, but everyone we talk to that has been there loved it. But those were people just there to visit, not live. I'm sure that could be different.

Is anyone on the beeb in that area or has lived in that area? We're looking for feedback on overall feel, cost of living/affordability, taxes, weather, traffic, congestion/overcrowding, housing, construction, outdoor activities (mtb'ing), distance to race tracks, or anything else pertinent.

They would like her to give them an answer this week. She told them we would like to get out there in the next 2 weeks to check out the hospital and the area. I suppose she can always back out, but we are generally not the type to give a commitment and then back out. There is another position she's in the running for in Temple Texas, but that job does not close for another couple weeks. I think just because we have been to the Austin area this year, we feel more comfortable with the idea of going to Texas. We've been dreaming about getting out of here and now the dream has become reality and it is time to make a decision.

Thanks for any input.

 

TN has no state income tax, but sales tax is 9.x% and they tax everything. I lived in E TN, so no help on Nashville, sorry.

 

never lived there but had several customers in the area, so spent quit a bit of time there over the years.

I think its a pretty great place. You can live in the city for that lifestyle or in the burbs for a typical burbs life (HOA housing development, strip malls, etc) or you can go straight country and live on 20 acres. All within an easy commute. Well unless you have to take the messed up freeways thru downtown...ugh its like the East LA interchange thru there. And traffic is no where near Socal levels. You can go East on 40 and actually live in a small town if thats what you want and still be 30-40-50 min into Nashville proper. Lots of variety in living.

Weather wise...you will get 4 seasons and much colder in the winter than LA, OC, IE, SD area. Maybe some snow every once in a while.

Good luck and enjoy getting out of PRK.....they really messed that place up.....

 

Yes there are lots of us who live here in Nashville. I've liked it for many years but it is changing fast. Change isn't necessarily a bad thing but it can be a painful one.

I don't know what the rate is right now but last time I checked an average of 100 people per day were moving to Nashville. Old houses with generous lots are being bulldozed faster than prom dresses hitting the floor after the dance. Only a rare few are replaced with a single house and when that happens the house is a McMansion. One house about 1/2 mile from where I live was replaced with 8 (count 'em 8) 3 bedroom single family dwellings on a single lot. I couldn't believe the construction workers could get between the units to work and I pity what happens if one of them catches fire.

Right now road construction in Nashville is at an all time high, and that's saying something.

Gentrification is happening everywhere, which is nice in a way I guess. There are areas not far from where I live that I would not walk through even a few years back but now they're about as safe as most anywhere else. There are still some seedy areas for sure.

It's going to take a lot of heap big wampum to pry me and my wife away from our nest here.

 

That area is booming. As such, property values have become ignorant. Get on Realtor.com to get an idea.

East of town (La Vergne, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Lebanon, Hendersonville, Gallatin, etc) is where I’d suggest. Percy Priest Reservoir and Center Hill Lake (beautiful lake) are both out that way, if you’re into water activities. Ken Hall, of Superbike Suspension, just moved out there. You may reach out to him.

I’d suggest not looking anywhere up I-24, toward Clarksville. That is still a 4-lane and a brutal commute. I lived up that way, years ago, and it has only gotten worse.

To the south (I-65) can be pretty expensive, but, a really nice area. You’d have to get down around Spring Hill for more affordability. However, it would be advantageous for her commute (avoiding downtown is crucial during commute).

I don’t know much about west (Dixon area).

Plenty of racetracks, fairly close, with Barber being the best.

Just plan for congestion. It’s not LA/SF congestion, but, it can still be pretty bad on the main arteries in/out. If there are activities at the stadium, it can be gridlock.

Definitely a better quality of life, compared to CA, IMO.

 

Well, that's a new one.

 

Nashville traffic is becoming a clusterfuck that might rival Atlanta's in a couple years. That's saying something.

 

I don’t know much about it but was in the sportsbook all day Sunday last weekend with a guy from Nashville. Lots of good fishing, hunting writhing a few hours, shooting and all sorts of stuff. He was commenting on property values going up but nothing I didn’t already know.

he’s been in the area his whole life and loves it. Got a pro football team, hockey team, college ball, etc.

 

Yeah, the value of our property has skyrocketed since we bought it circa 1998. Problem is if you want to move the property value you're moving to has skyrocketed as well.

 

Paging @XFBO

IIRC he moved there, or at least somewhere in the TeeEnn.

 

ignint https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ignint

 

The VA clinic is in murfreesburow unless they moved it. That is a decent area or a bit south is even better from what I know. You’ll get all four seasons there and it isn’t a bad drive into Nashville when you want entertainment.
I like Tennessee, not many other places I would live...

 

This is what my search pulled up for Nashville.

 

The surrounding Cities are nice... you can still get alot of house/land for your money just depends on what you need to be close to.

 

Yeah, that is a smaller one I guess. The big facility they send most to is in Murfreesboro. Dad went there regularly and Joe Richey still does fairly often. Didn’t think about it maybe being a job at the local clinic though.

 

Well, it sounds like y'all have your hearts set on Tx....

If not, I'd def give middle Tn some more research time and maybe a w/e trip. Once we vacationed here a few times we kinda knew this was going to be our future home.

Are kids and schooling a priority or nah? If so, the best public schools off the top of my head were in Franklin (highly desirable suburb/rural area and the home prices show it) Spring Hill, Murfreesboro, Mt. Juliet, all have decent to above average school districts..... but school ratings change year to year so they could have gone in either direction.

Ducnut did a good job describing the various areas, west of the City is def more rural so housing might get more affordable but you might take a hit with schooling, eateries or there lack of, etc...

We're in Murfreesboro, not far from the VA, in fact, and we love it here. HMU, if you're looking to rent, we'll be renting our first home (3br/2bth) here shortly..

If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to PM me......

If you guys lean hard left, politically, Austin, Tx area I hear is pretty awesome.

 

I just about spit my beer out. Know wsmc42 like I do I don’t think this’ll be an issue.

 

Any more, Nashville fits that bill as well

 

Thank you for the info. The wife and I had to make an unexpected trip out of town this weekend so we had lots of time in the car to talk about all this. We're thinking we just feel more inclined towards Texas solely because we have been there. We are heading out to Nashville in 2 weeks or so to see it in person so we can see it for ourselves. . We both have heard so many good things about the area that we have to give it a fair shake. While I drove, she spent lots of time looking up property tax info, sales tax, weather, city data, Zillow listings, etc.

Awesome that you mentioned a possible rental. We may talk to you more about this if it looks like it is a go. For our long term, I would like to find land if possible and build our house since I am a general contractor out here and that could be a way to get up and going. One step at a time though. Once I know when we are heading out, I may hit you up.

FWIW, I laughed out loud when you said if we lean hard left... Definitely not me.