Moving to Memphis?

[crossroad]

Per CA of Oct 31 2006 , only 3 Fortune 500's moved to the entire south between 1975 and 2002. And Memphis landed 2 in one year. Adding growing of existing businesses, we may see more relocation to Memphis going on.

Please ask your general Memphis questions here. I hope this thread can serve as a gesture of welcome and hospitality towards newcomers. Moderator: could you make this sticky (on top)? Thanks.

[crossroad]

I know that in Memphis or the Metropolitan area, you pay 9.25% sales tax. Do we pay this on grocery?

Thanks.

[Rardy]

I know that in Memphis or the Metropolitan area, you pay 9.25% sales tax. Do we pay this on grocery?

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure that groceries are 8.25%. But across the border in MS it's 6.25% I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

But don't forget -- NO STATE INCOME TAX!!!

[crossroad]

For a young single, considering safety and life quality, where is the better place to live, if work location is south of Germantown? Mud island is said to be nice but how bad would the commute work be to like?

Is midtown diverse? Liberal-thinking? Heard that there are pockets of areas that are safe and others are not. What's the advice on this in apartment search?

Could someone please post the website where you can search crime by zip code or cross street? Thanks.

[hgupta]

For a young single, considering safety and life quality, where is the better place to live, if work location is south of Germantown? Mud island is said to be nice but how bad would the commute work be to like?

Is midtown diverse? Liberal-thinking? Heard that there are pockets of areas that are safe and others are not. What's the advice on this in apartment search?

Could someone please post the website where you can search crime by zip code or cross street? Thanks.

For young and single, you can't beat midtown or downtown. Their both safe, but like any city, you've got to pay attention to your surroundings. Midtown covers a large area, and most of it is very safe, but there are pockets that aren't. But it is easy to avoid the parts that are unsafe. You couldn't pay me to live anywhere else in Memphis, but downtown would be my second bet. Midtown is definitely the most liberal thinking part of town. I think it is also the most diverse...but it looks like hickory hill is catching up. I've noticed a lot more ethnic restaurants and grocery stores in the hickory hill area recently. Definitely the best thai, korean, and indian restaurants are over there.

This is the website for police crime mapping:

https://crimemapper.memphispolice.org/

[crossroad]

This is the website for police crime mapping:

https://crimemapper.memphispolice.org/

Thank you. I entered "Hickory Hill Road" and "Winchester Road", together with city name "Memphis" and it didn't yield anything. I used full names. Am I missing something? It it even Case Sensitive??

[hgupta]

Thank you. I entered "Hickory Hill Road" and "Winchester Road", together with city name "Memphis" and it didn't yield anything. I used full names. Am I missing something? It it even Case Sensitive??

leave off "road" in the street names

[kiya97]

Remove the 'Road' part. Just enter the street name.

[idlewild]

I definitely agree, Midtown is the best part of town to live in if you are looking for diversity followed by Downtown and maybe East Memphis.

[Rardy]

For a young single, considering safety and life quality, where is the better place to live, if work location is south of Germantown? Mud island is said to be nice but how bad would the commute work be to like?

Is midtown diverse? Liberal-thinking? Heard that there are pockets of areas that are safe and others are not. What's the advice on this in apartment search?

Could someone please post the website where you can search crime by zip code or cross street? Thanks.

If you're working south of Germantown I'd say East Memphis is your best bet. There's a ton of young people in East Memphis south of Poplar and around the University of Memphis. It's an urban area with a lot of young professionals. It's all "red" though.

Midtown is great, but it's not exactly an easy commute to south of Germantown. Mud Island would be a 45-50 minute commute at least.

[hgupta]

Midtown is great, but it's not exactly an easy commute to south of Germantown. Mud Island would be a 45-50 minute commute at least.

I think its closer to 20 minutes from either part. I live in midtown and work downtown, and to go out to hickory hill is relatively quick and painless

Sam cooper blvd will get you on the interstate quickly for most of midtown,

and I-55 S --> 240 -->385 will take you from downtown in minutes

[idlewild]

agreed, i don't think it would take more than 25-30 minutes from midtown to germantown road/385.

[Rardy]

agreed, i don't think it would take more than 25-30 minutes from midtown to germantown road/385.

i don't know...at rush hour, it takes me 30 minutes on a good day to get from downtown to 240/385. my fiance lives in g'town and it easily takes me 50 minutes to get from downtown to her house... 240 backs up at Lamar everyday, and 385 can back up for no reason at all.

sam cooper's great, it's just getting to it that can take 10-15 mins.

[idlewild]

u might be right, i know that 240 does back up heading east during rush hour and sam cooper has also been known to back up as well in rush hour, so i guess you would know more than me. i work downtown and live in midtown so i rarely go out that way.

[hgupta]

i don't know...at rush hour, it takes me 30 minutes on a good day to get from downtown to 240/385. my fiance lives in g'town and it easily takes me 50 minutes to get from downtown to her house... 240 backs up at Lamar everyday, and 385 can back up for no reason at all.

sam cooper's great, it's just getting to it that can take 10-15 mins.

I'll eat my words.... I never even tried doing that during rush hour.

[Rardy]

I'll eat my words.... I never even tried doing that during rush hour.

lol...IMO Memphis really doesn't have that bad of traffic problems. But I moved here from Baton Rouge, so my viewpoint could be skewed.

[crossroad]

Trying to decide between renting and owning. Where should I START my research? For Buying, location wise, looking at downtown, collierville, and DeSoto, what are the average price ranges for these neighborhoods? I know there is ad restrictions here, but can someone give a few general pointers? Thanks a lot.

[memphismike]

It would really depend on the price range you have. That could help in giving you an idea of the best place to look for your money. But, I'd recommend you look in Lakeland or Arlington--2 up-and-coming suburbs in the Northeast part of the county. I just moved to Arlington and love it! Prices are still pretty reasonable, but with the development standards they have in place, the property values will do nothing but sky-rocket over the next few years.

By the way, one of the advantages of Arlington is that it will be the only place in Shelby County where I-40 and the new I-269 will intersect. Not only will that make that area even hotter, but it will be very easy to get anywhere in the Metro area in a reasonable amount of time.

Trying to decide between renting and owning. Where should I START my research? For Buying, location wise, looking at downtown, collierville, and DeSoto, what are the average price ranges for these neighborhoods? I know there is ad restrictions here, but can someone give a few general pointers? Thanks a lot.

[hgupta]

It would really depend on the price range you have. That could help in giving you an idea of the best place to look for your money. But, I'd recommend you look in Lakeland or Arlington--2 up-and-coming suburbs in the Northeast part of the county. I just moved to Arlington and love it! Prices are still pretty reasonable, but with the development standards they have in place, the property values will do nothing but sky-rocket over the next few years.

By the way, one of the advantages of Arlington is that it will be the only place in Shelby County where I-40 and the new I-269 will intersect. Not only will that make that area even hotter, but it will be very easy to get anywhere in the Metro area in a reasonable amount of time.

I guess it also depends on the kind of lifestyle you want. You mentioned earlier that you're young and single. If you like bars, clubs, restaurants and an active social atmosphere, you won't find much to choose from in Lakeland, Desoto, or Collierville. Those are all family/residential areas. And finding a designated driver willing to haul you back to the suburbs will be tough. If you're going to buy a house, think about midtown: home prices have been on a fast upward trend, or downtown if you're interested in a condo. From both of these locations. you can walk to a lot of bars and restaurants, or easily find a ride.

I would highly recommend that you rent for a while first so that you have a chance to explore the different sides of Memphis. A lot of landlords offer short term leases.

[Rardy]

Trying to decide between renting and owning. Where should I START my research? For Buying, location wise, looking at downtown, collierville, and DeSoto, what are the average price ranges for these neighborhoods? I know there is ad restrictions here, but can someone give a few general pointers? Thanks a lot.

In the downtown core it's mostly condo's, which I think average around 200-250k - Mud Island homes are higher.

East Memphis is a great place to start too. Highland Terrace is north of Walnut Grove between Highland and Perkins and you can get something great for around 150k. Colonial Acres is south of Poplar between Estate and Perkins and will run you around 125k.

Collierville averages 375-425k. DeSoto is a good bit lower, but it depends on which part of DeSoto you're looking at.

[fearlessvk]

Crossroad, I was in exactly your position recently. I just moved to Memphis in August (from San Francisco). I posted on this board asking the exact same questions as you - and I'm also young and single, moved here by myself.

I would not suggest buying right away for the same reasons as hgupta - you'll probably want time to get a sense of the different parts of the city and where you would be happiest before you commit to buying. I started out by renting and I'm really glad I did.

Most people suggested midtown to me too, and I actually ended up downtown instead of midtown. (I would not even consider living anywhere else). It's true that midtown is a bit funkier and more diverse than the rest of memphis. But when I came here to look for apartments, I felt really depressed driving through midtown because it felt like a suburb to me (with the exception of cooper-young - but cooper-young is TINY, more of an intersection than a neighborhood) Not as bad as East Memphis, but still - stuff is spread out, lots of parking separates businesses from roads, there's not a lot of people walking around. So I ended up renting a place downtown because downtown is the ONLY part of Memphis that feels at all like a city to me (and of course, if that's not a major issue for you, then you can discount this post entirely...) It's the most walkable part of Memphis, there are actually people around, it's denser, businesses and residences are right up on the street. I never had a car before I moved to Memphis and it was important to me to preserve as much as possible a pedestrian lifestyle - it's clearly not possible to live without a car in Memphis unless you are truly heroic, but at least when I'm not driving to work or the grocery store, I can get to all kinds of places on foot, and I really appreciate that. I often never get in my car at all on weekends.

But downtown doesn't seem as diverse or open-minded as midtown - so it's a tradeoff. I wish there was some perfect combination of both....

I'm not sure where you're moving from but I'll also mention that I was really apprehensive before I moved here, and while I miss SF, Memphis isn't nearly as bad as its detractors would have you believe.

S

[crossroad]

Thanks so much everyone for your nice reply.

I plan to start with the new company at the end of Feb 2007. When should I fly into MEM to look for apartment? How bout 30 days ahead, or more?

I'll be working on Winchester/Hacks Cross. Is the commute bad enough if I live downtwon/Mud? Some apartment around work cost >800$ a month for a one Bedroom. I think it's overpriced but they seem to have a 'ready' market.

Midtown will be closer to work as well as activities. I checked the memphis crime site, the crime statistics around Midtown is MUCH worse than Mud or Hack Cross/Winchester. I know statistics can be misleading but exactly how is Midtown? Let's put it this way, is walking around Midtwon at night strongly discouraged?

I will be moving to Memphis regardless . But I need to make informed decisions beyond that.

[hgupta]

Thanks so much everyone for your nice reply.

I plan to start with the new company at the end of Feb 2007. When should I fly into MEM to look for apartment? How bout 30 days ahead, or more?

I'll be working on Winchester/Hacks Cross. Is the commute bad enough if I live downtwon/Mud? Some apartment around work cost >800$ a month for a one Bedroom. I think it's overpriced but they seem to have a 'ready' market.

Midtown will be closer to work as well as activities. I checked the memphis crime site, the crime statistics around Midtown is MUCH worse than Mud or Hack Cross/Winchester. I know statistics can be misleading but exactly how is Midtown? Let's put it this way, is walking around Midtwon at night strongly discouraged?

I will be moving to Memphis regardless . But I need to make informed decisions beyond that.

Midtown is very large area. There are bad pockets, but if you stay away from them (which is easy to do), then you can walk around all night. I regularly walk home from bars, and have never had any concerns.

[kln575]

First of all I must say that this forum is much more helpful than other websites I have visited. Thanks for the recommendation, crossroad!

My husband has been offered a job with Fedex IT services and I was wondering if anyone had some helpful information on surrounding areas. Our main concern is living in a safe area since we hope to have kids someday. We are both from southwest Missouri and haven't lived near a large city before. I have heard that Collierville is a good area; is that true?? I have also heard that it is best to live in an incorporated town, but is this a real concern if one moves farther out? Also, does anyone have any suggestions for good places to live outside of Memphis? We would like to eventually have a house with some land. Also, does anyone have any advice about the school districts in this area? I'm an elementary ed. major and was wanting more information about the schools, if possible. Thank you for your help!!!

[idlewild]

Shelby County schools are good if you are in one of the suburbs.

I would say that Germantown, Collierville, Arlington, Lakeland, and Olive Branch are all safe bets. If you are wanting to live more rural I would look into Piperton or Eads, both of which are in Fayette County.

Collierville and Germantown are probably the two nicest areas you can live in and still have the amenities of the city near to you. If you live in Fayette County you are looking at about a fifteen to thirty minute drive just to the closest suburb.