re: New job opportunity - Memphis

I lived in Memphis for awhile and it grew on me a lot. I'm thankful for my time there. There are places farther out that many have included but you can be a bit closer and live in East Memphis near Walnut Hill or stay in Midtown or Cooper Young. Depends the life stage and what you want from a neighborhood (and how far you want to drive).

Memphis is one of the cheapest cities in the country so $140k goes a long, long way. My roommate and I lived in a nice place for under $1000 a month. It was amazing not even recognizing when rent came out of my account

Memphis has gotten better than when I moved a few years ago too. The area near Boscos in Midtown has gotten super popular and has some local places taking hold. It's great to see each time I make it back.

All I can contribute is that St Francis Bartlett is the shittiest hospital I've ever been to.

Raleigh >>>>>>>>>>>> Memphis. Cost of living is lower for a reason.

That said, a $40K raise early in one's career might well flip it from ">>>>>>>>>>>>" to "<<", especially if you want to retire early, pay for kids' educations, etc.

My only advice is NEVER accept a new job based solely on getting more money.

I'm not implying that's what you would be doing.

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Collierville Tn

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I will second that recommendation.

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wife is 27.

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Would have to see a picture of said wife in order make a recommendation. Memphis can be rough

Memphis isn't bad. There's a lot of poverty and self-segregation there. We lived in the Memphis area for 4 years before we moved to Pittsburgh. I'd move back if I had the chance.

Collierville is a really nice area with excellent municipal public schools and fairly low taxes. FedEx World Tech, Thomas and Betts, and Helena Chem are all based out in that direction. Germantown is between Collierville and Memphis. It's basically an older version of Collierville in many ways, and it by all accounts a very nice area. Arlington is kind of far out but is growing rapidly, and seems to be a very small version of Olive Branch, MS. Bartlett is comparable to Denham Springs. Millington is a more rural feeling suburb that is home to a lot of military families, and seems to get nailed by tornadoes every time a storm front comes through for whatever reason.

Tennessee has no state income tax, and although Olive Branch is a nice area, it's still not as nice as Collierville or Germantown and IMO isn't worth the Mississippi state income tax. Cordova and Memphis are zoned to Shelby County schools, which kind of suck. I'm not sure I'd buy in Cordova, Southaven, or or any part of Memphis that isn't very well established.

When we moved to Memphis, the Overton Park area was dead. 2-3 years later, it actually turned out to be a pretty nice area. That section of mid town is a nice choice if you work downtown, but be mindful of the higher city property taxes in Memphis.

$140,000 in income would go a longer way in Memphis than in Atlanta or Dallas.

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he laws of Tennessee allow Memphis to annex all unincorporated areas of Shelby County whenever Memphis wants to. Cordova is such an unincorporated area, and Memphis has been annexing Cordova in bits and pieces since the 1990's. The decline of Cordova is well under way with the schools being the first to suffer.

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This is true, and there are plenty of annexation maps available that anyone considering buying property in Shelby County should familiarize themselves with before they buy. A good realtor will show them and explain the map in detail. There are "reserve areas" for each municipality that they have the right to annex without a vote of the residents who live there.

Before the Memphis city schools surrendered their charter, the Shelby County schools were actually decent. The basis of the appeal of Hickory Hill or Cordova when they were developed were that they were outside Memphis city limits and thus had very low taxes and good schools. Middle class and working class people flocked there. When those areas were annexed, their taxes doubled overnight and their school zone changed from the old county system to that of very poor performing city schools. Their land value dropped like a stone and there was a rapid shift in demographics. People who stuck it out lost a lot of money. In the case of Hickory Hill, there are now serious crime problems in what was once a pretty nice area.

As a response to Memphis surrendering their school district charter (which can be seen as a de-facto takeover of public schools), each of the suburban municipalities created their own school district. Collierville High and Houston High actually ended up being incredible schools because of this, given the demographics of those districts. I actually did really well when we sold our house in Collierville in part because the school system was organized very well and turned out very good.

Here's a map to the Shelby County Annexation areas:

LINK

It's my opinion that each of the suburban municipalities and even the Shelby County government is better run than the city of Memphis. I also think that the area along Poplar and Walnut Grove/Wolf River between east Memphis through Germantown and Collierville are the nicest parts of the entire region and represent a safe real estate investment.

To be clear, there are very nice, very desirable areas in the city limits of Memphis that are well established and have been very desirable places for a long time, but someone not familiar with the area may want to get advice from locals before they buy property. Remember....in addition to the poor performing public schools, Memphis has a serious crime problem and higher tax rates than the suburban municipalities. Someone moving to the region needs to be mindful of that. There's also a big network of private schools and some great neighborhoods in the city if you are interested.

Take job and live in Jonesboro... 1 hour drive ...all interstate. Dont underestimate Jonesboro. Its great. I grew up in Memphis metro...it sucks and is getting worse. Btw...whoever said Memphis had rolling hills is confused. Its the delta....