@hoffse And any other Nashville knowers

brij2006 · December 2016

@hoffse Can I rack your brain?

We're heading down to Nashville for the interview the 11-13th. We want to try and check out a few rentals while we're there so we have an idea of neighborhood and hopefully won't have to get one sight unseen.
However, the office will be in Brentwood but very close to Franklin. There are a couple apartments I found on apartments.com in that area, but we're also looking in Spring Hill area as well and it looks like we could rent a house for just a little bit more. According to Google maps the commute would be about 25 minutes for me. That's not bad for that area, right? It would be at 7-7:30am.
The other area we were thinking about was LaVergne because it looks like we can get a lot more bang for our buck, yet it appears that area may not be as good. I know the school disctricts there are terrible but we won't have to worry about that yet and this will just be a rental.

Any thoughts or suggestions on an area I'm not looking at? Or any recommendations on rental websites or companies that are specific to Nashville? Is it a thing to use a realtor to find a rental?

Think that's it for now. ;-)

hoffse · December 2016

25 min is not a bad commute for Nashville, but that might be a little optimistic on certain days. There is a bottleneck on 65 right south of Franklin where the interstate goes from 4 to 2 lanes, and that can back up traffic.

If it comes down to Spring Hill vs. La Vergne pick Spring Hill. Regardless of school district, La Vergne is on the wrong interstate. You might be able to cut over via back roads, but that could be a cluster too.

In looking at a map, I do think Spring Hill is south of that bottleneck, so you will most likely have to drive through it each direction. Look at google maps with traffic during rush hour for the next couple days to see. There is an HOV lane that runs 7-9 and 4-6 on weekdays.

Franklin and Brentwood are both really nice/affluent, so I would look for something in that area if possible, given how quickly you need to find housing. You could do a short-term or month-to-month lease and then plan to move if you find an area you like better with a tolerable traffic situation. Honestly, Nashville has totally exploded from a housing perspective, so I'm not current on specific apartments anymore. The last time I visited Vandy law school a huge condo unit had gone up right across the street. They literally must have built it over the course of a few months because it did not exist on the trip before that.

There is an army of apartment complexes in/around Cool Springs. I would try to stay within a 3-5 mile radius of your job to start so that you can get a feel for traffic. Cool Springs has everything you might need. It's commercial but nice.

Re: realtors - I never used one, nor did I need to. You can call ahead and get spec sheets from the leasing offices and maybe set up tours of your top 5 or so. I would guess that most are going to look similar to one another and be within a similar price point.

short+sassy · December 2016

I did a quick check on realtor.com. There are 659 rental postings for Nashville and 244 of them are, supposedly, single family homes. Though I saw a few apartments were snuck in there also.

For my own selfishness, I noticed a link that said something about landlords could post for free. I always assumed I would have to put my rental through an agent to put it up on the MLS. Glad I took a look, I'll have to check that out.

Edited to add, I'm sure you could also refine your search to focus on specific areas of Nashville.

brij2006 · December 2016

Okay that's definitely good to know. Reason we were leaning toward Spring Hill is because we could get a house for the same price as an apartment in Franklin, and we have a decent sized dog. So trying to find apartment complexes that will accept a 65lb collie is seeming to be limited. :-(
We also have 3 vehicles that will be going down with us right away. 2 if we go the apartment route, but then that will most definitely be a short term thing.

I also did find a couple that are in the lower end of our price range that are on the south eastern side of Nashville. Sort of near Antioch, but halfway between interstate 65 and 24. It looks like it would be a 22 minute commute and I'd be going the opposite direction of traffic in the morning and evenings. Would that be a smart direction? One of them is called The Vistas Apartment and it's considered a Nashville address.

hoffse · December 2016

Yeah I think that direction is better, but that complex looks kind of run down.

When H and I lived there a lot of apartments in Nashville allow large dogs, though that may have changed. There is usually a pet fee, but that would be expected regardless. What is your budget?

brij2006 · December 2016

We would really like to stay under $1,300/month for a 2 bedroom, and would prefer washer/dryer hookup in unit since I cloth diaper.
The house in Spring Hill is $1,325/month but that includes a fenced in backyard and a 2 car attached garage, as well as 3 bedrooms. That's why we really lean in that direction. We could tolerate for renting longer than 6 months if it's a house. A 2 bedroom apartment is going to get a bit tight once #2 is here. Even though it will sleep in our room for the first 3 months anyways.

@hoffse And any other Nashville knowers

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