Nashville Bits and Pieces

[Licec]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:02 AM, smeagolsfree said:

I really don't want to get into this can of worms, but Metro is responsible for a lot of the problems here as areas are flooding that never flooded before because of developments allowed by Metro and the fact that Metro is not doing due diligence with the impact of hydrology studies. They are giving developers, especially SFH developers everything they want. 

SFH development typically have a lot more run off than a multi-unit development because of the number of streets involved which contribute so much more to rainwater runoff and flooding. There are some places in the US that are outright banning SFH construction in favor of multi- family homes. With this, you can require LEED certification, thus rainwater collection, rain gardens, cistrons, retention ponds, recycling of rainwater, pervious pavement and any number of things to cut down on runoff.

I would be in favor of Metro requiring any new SFH subdivisions to be Gold LEED certified or they must do Gold LEED Multihousing in its place. This should have been part of the plan of Nashville.

I am sure I will get some feedback on this, but it is common sense and maybe some smart person at Metro will see it. I am pro development but some of these developers need to be put in their place as well.

Yep we need to ban Single Family Homes and make everyone live in apartments because 1,000 new homeowners have a 1% chance of getting flooded. I wonder who would be excluded from this ban and would be allowed to live in their own home. No need to guess because we know who will be Left out of such a crazy policy.

Edited February 11 by Licec

[Licec]

The Polk building ain't bland. Quite an office building. Too bad they didn't build it with a full base.

Edited February 12 by Licec

[colemangaines]

Here's a list of over 100 photos of Nashville from the '30s and '40s:

https://www.bygonely.com/nashville-1940s/

And here's some of my favorites from the list:

 

This last one is a picture of a Navy submarine chaser built and launched in Nashville:

[PaulChinetti]

Interesting video.

[MidTenn1]

21 hours ago, colemangaines said:

Here's a list of over 100 photos of Nashville from the '30s and '40s:

https://www.bygonely.com/nashville-1940s/

And here's some of my favorites from the list:
....

This last one is a picture of a Navy submarine chaser built and launched in Nashville:

This would be nice anchored to the revitalized East Bank if one could be found. (I doubt it).

[Mr_Bond]

48 minutes ago, MidTenn1 said:

This would be nice anchored to the revitalized East Bank if one could be found. (I doubt it).

I found this website giving information about these ships.  Unfortunately, it looks like all of these have been "disposed of."

http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/01idx.htm

With the exception of the mothballed PC-1590 (ex-Constant, AM-86), which was recommissioned in May 1950 as a Naval Reserve training craft and served in that capacity until October 1954, the survivors were decommissioned quickly postwar and disposed of.

 

[Thrill]

On 2/11/2022 at 2:43 PM, Licec said:

Yep we need to ban Single Family Homes and make everyone live in apartments because 1,000 new homeowners have a 1% chance of getting flooded. I wonder who would be excluded from this ban and would be allowed to live in their own home. No need to guess because we know who will be Left out of such a crazy policy.

No one said anything about banning SFH's. We should however, ban future SFH's in many areas of the city for the sake of density and future transit projects (though property taxes are making this essentially guaranteed) . We also should removed any mandatory single family zoning requirements (similar to what Minneapolis did) and allow townhomes, fourplexes, and small apartments just about anywhere. 

Edited February 15 by Thrill

[PaulChinetti]

8 minutes ago, Licec said:

Let's put it on a public referendum that a person should not have a house for the sake of deennnnnnnsiteeeeeee. Let us know how that works out.

Yep. Nashville should certainly try to emulate the policies of that hole. We should defund the police just like those imbeciles.

First, try answering with alternative ideas backed up with links and good arguments not just attacks and insults, that's what everyone expects around here and it's more fun for everyone.

Second, the only way to make housing more affordable for EVERYONE is to build more housing. As @Thrill said banning SFHs in many areas of the city makes sense. In my opinion basically anything inside of 440 should be fair game for anything multi-family. With incentives to build denser on main arteries and around other amenities. There are a few spots here and there that could be saved for historical purposes as they have genuine historic value. People just being NIMBY's though is not a valid reason in my mind. 

A personal anecdote, we are about to get a 4 plex right next door in what's been an empty lot since I moved in. And I welcome it, more neighbors, more possibilities to meet new people and make new friends. As well as increase the tax base in my neighborhood which has been neglected for many many decades before I moved in.

[Luvemtall]

Paul, you basically took the words I was about to write. Thanks, exactly what’s needed. And if someone wants a SFH there’s plenty of areas outside the central city for them. 

[BnaBreaker]

Well said Paul.  That's my mentality as well.  The more neighbors the merrier.  Part of the appeal of living in an urban area to me is be able to live in a real neighborhood pulsing with life and activity.  I've never understood the people that move to the city and bring with them an insular mindset.  

[Baronakim]

2 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

Well said Paul.  That's my mentality as well.  The more neighbors the merrier.  Part of the appeal of living in an urban area to me is be able to live in a real neighborhood pulsing with life and activity.  I've never understood the people that move to the city and bring with them an insular mindset.  

I never could handle city urban noises when trying to get to sleep.  I moved out to Spring Hill 40 yaers ago and again to rural Maury when Spring Hill became a crowded hellhole.  I am quite happy in the back forty of my 50+ acres even if the 55 mile commute to work in the Gulch was a daily torture.  But, retired now, buying the farm was best bargain I ever made.

 

 

[Flatrock]

Nashville shows the biggest disparity in buying power between locals and out-of-towners for the 49 cities studied. Sobering reality.

From the 'Mansion Global' article: "In the migration hot spot Nashville, the average out-of-towner moving to the Tennessee city last year had $736,900 to spend on a home, 28.5% higher than the $573,400 average budget for local buyers, and the largest disparity of the 49 cities analyzed in a report Tuesday from Redfin."

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/out-of-towners-are-pricing-out-locals-by-a-long-shot-in-these-u-s-metros-01644959558

[BnaBreaker]

1 hour ago, Baronakim said:

I never could handle city urban noises when trying to get to sleep.  I moved out to Spring Hill 40 yaers ago and again to rural Maury when Spring Hill became a crowded hellhole.  I am quite happy in the back forty of my 50+ acres even if the 55 mile commute to work in the Gulch was a daily torture.  But, retired now, buying the farm was best bargain I ever made.

 

 

I absolutely completely understand that.  Urban living isn't for everyone, and that's okay!  Different strokes for different folks.  Honestly, if I didn't live in an urban area, I'd want to live in a small town.  Upstate Michigan perhaps.  The single family home in the suburbs thing isn't for me, but I totally understand the appeal of that as well.  It just bothers me when people move to an environment they aren't used to by choice and then try to change it into something they're comfortable with instead of spreading their wings and adapting to new experiences.  

[Bos2Nash]

9 hours ago, Flatrock said:

Nashville shows the biggest disparity in buying power between locals and out-of-towners for the 49 cities studied. Sobering reality.

From the 'Mansion Global' article: "In the migration hot spot Nashville, the average out-of-towner moving to the Tennessee city last year had $736,900 to spend on a home, 28.5% higher than the $573,400 average budget for local buyers, and the largest disparity of the 49 cities analyzed in a report Tuesday from Redfin."

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/out-of-towners-are-pricing-out-locals-by-a-long-shot-in-these-u-s-metros-01644959558

There must be some seriously high paying folks moving here to pull that average out-of-town price tag so high. Hell I bought my home 4 years ago and would never dream of having a budget even close to the local buying power budget. Just seems a bit odd in terms of where they got these figures.

On a different note, it shows how much of a double edged sword we have in our city at the moment. We are attractive, developing, moving some of the right pieces and that is good for attracting folks. The downside is we are attracting folks from more expensive parts of the country (or out of the country) and it pushes prices higher. It's like they go hand in hand and with the current equation housing supply will never keep up with the demand.

[Nash_12South]

9 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

There must be some seriously high paying folks moving here to pull that average out-of-town price tag so high. Hell I bought my home 4 years ago and would never dream of having a budget even close to the local buying power budget. Just seems a bit odd in terms of where they got these figures.

On a different note, it shows how much of a double edged sword we have in our city at the moment. We are attractive, developing, moving some of the right pieces and that is good for attracting folks. The downside is we are attracting folks from more expensive parts of the country (or out of the country) and it pushes prices higher. It's like they go hand in hand and with the current equation housing supply will never keep up with the demand.

For what it's worth, the folks (from Indiana) who paid over a million for the house next to mine, bought it for their daughter and son in law to live in while attending Vandy, as grad students. Just one block down a similar story, folks (from Florida) bought the house for their daughter, also attending Vandy. 

[Bos2Nash]

1 minute ago, Nash_12South said:

For what it's worth, the folks (from Indiana) who paid over a million for the house next to mine, bought it for their daughter and son in law to live in while attending Vandy, as grad students. Just one block down a similar story, folks (from Florida) bought the house for their daughter, also attending Vandy. 

Must be nice to have mom and dad do that for you haha

[samsonh]

4 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

Must be nice to have mom and dad do that for you haha

Yeah there seems to be a lot of parents or grandparents buying relatively expensive homes for adult kids. At the same time there are a lot of people that make a lot of money here.

[Pdt2f]

6 minutes ago, samsonh said:

Yeah there seems to be a lot of parents or grandparents buying relatively expensive homes for adult kids. At the same time there are a lot of people that make a lot of money here.

Many of my friends and colleagues received massive financial support from their parents while buying homes in recent years. I think it’s a declining middle class purchasing power thing, but it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow when you’re trying to buy a house and you keep getting outbidded by twentysomethings using daddy’s money. 

[GregH]

I guess if you were a merely-affluent (not stinking rich) person approaching retirement with a comfortable investment portfolio, you've probably had astoundingly-good returns in the last 4 years or so that would have increased your worth by quite a bit so there are probably relatively a lot of people feeling flush and willing to splash out for their kids.

[MLBrumby]

Here's a report that the average house sold in Willco is now over $1 million.  https://fox17.com/news/local/middle-tennessee-county-sees-average-home-price-rise-over-1-million-per-report-real-estate-economy-busniess-home-ownership  

A friend has a child going through the UTK Arch program and who interned last year at a firm in Williamson County. They design custom houses, and the number of CA (and a handful of other state) transplants is growing. With no income tax here among other reasons, the trend seems to be just starting.  They sell their houses in CA for well over $1M and have that money to put into their new suburban mansions. New construction is a big factor in those statistics, and that drives up prices for existing houses.

I understand the Californians moving to Mid TN have certain neighborhoods they prefer to build. Word gets back to their friends/family still in CA, and those folks come with big ideas for their new houses. They don't leave out any luxury or technological trick. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone on this forum that they're putting in opulent offices. One in particular put over a million in landscaping alone.

Housing inflation is everywhere.  Even in my ordinary suburban neighborhood, houses sell for twice what they went for 5 years ago. We're getting a lot of folks from Illinois/Midwest, Georgia & Alabama. 

[GregH]

Inventory is incredibly, historically low right now https://twitter.com/mikesimonsen/status/1493301452726575107 according to this research company there were only around 250k houses available in the whole country which is ~1/3 or less the amount of "normal" seasonal lows.

I think / hope that the current price trajectory can't last long and now is just an exceptionally bad time to be buying a house.

 

[colemangaines]

According to the most recent data from the Census Bureau (2019), just under 200k Americans moved to TN in that year. California was the sixth biggest source at just under 12k (around 6% of transplants). The top 5 were Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. I do think Californian transplants are more visible for a few reasons, mainly being more affluent on average and concentrating in Tennessee's urban areas. I think a lot of it is cultural/political as well. I've worked with a guy for several months and just recently learned he moved here from NC less than a year ago, but he blends right in.

If you're interested in looking at the data yourself, you can download it here: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/geographic-mobility/state-to-state-migration.html

[grilled_cheese]

2 hours ago, Nash_12South said:

For what it's worth, the folks (from Indiana) who paid over a million for the house next to mine, bought it for their daughter and son in law to live in while attending Vandy, as grad students. Just one block down a similar story, folks (from Florida) bought the house for their daughter, also attending Vandy. 

And to think I was embarrassed to tell a friend that both sets of grandparents kicked down some cash to help ease the sting of the 3% FHA down payment. 

 

A whopping $500 each!

[PaulChinetti]

48 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

A friend has a child going through the UTK Arch program and who interned last year at a firm in Williamson County. They design custom houses, and the number of CA (and a handful of other state) transplants is growing. With no income tax here among other reasons, the trend seems to be just starting.  They sell their houses in CA for well over $1M and have that money to put into their new suburban mansions. New construction is a big factor in those statistics, and that drives up prices for existing houses.

I understand the Californians moving to Mid TN have certain neighborhoods they prefer to build. Word gets back to their friends/family still in CA, and those folks come with big ideas for their new houses. They don't leave out any luxury or technological trick. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone on this forum that they're putting in opulent offices. One in particular put over a million in landscaping alone.

We've started working with a builder recently and the the solid majority of their houses are over 15k square feet. 

[titanhog]

5 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

There must be some seriously high paying folks moving here to pull that average out-of-town price tag so high. Hell I bought my home 4 years ago and would never dream of having a budget even close to the local buying power budget. Just seems a bit odd in terms of where they got these figures.

On a different note, it shows how much of a double edged sword we have in our city at the moment. We are attractive, developing, moving some of the right pieces and that is good for attracting folks. The downside is we are attracting folks from more expensive parts of the country (or out of the country) and it pushes prices higher. It's like they go hand in hand and with the current equation housing supply will never keep up with the demand.

Easy to see how the suburbs keep growing and growing and pushing further and further out.  Hard for many to afford buying close to downtown.