Not all of ‘Brentwood’ in Brentwood, the city

‘Brentwood’ offers wonderful range of homes, but not WCS schools

By NANCY MUELLER

For Brentwood Home Page

It would be the easiest thing in the world for a newcomer who is house shopping in Brentwood to stray into the part of Davidson County that calls itself Brentwood. The problem is that the address of the house might say Brentwood 37027, but the house – if it is in Davidson County — isn’t within the Brentwood city limits at all.

What is in Brentwood is the post office serving that house.

As long as a homebuyer knows where she is – and is not – this area is a great place to shop for a house,

‘Brentwood’ offers wonderful range of homes, but not WCS schools

By NANCY MUELLER

For Brentwood Home Page

It would be the easiest thing in the world for a newcomer who is house shopping in Brentwood to stray into the part of Davidson County that calls itself Brentwood. The problem is that the address of the house might say Brentwood 37027, but the house – if it is in Davidson County — isn’t within the Brentwood city limits at all.

What is in Brentwood is the post office serving that house.

As long as a homebuyer knows where she is – and is not – this area is a great place to shop for a house,

But it does cause more than its share of confusion for people trying to buy a home here, especially for those who want to send their kids to Williamson County schools.

What is in Brentwood is the post office serving that house.

“The U.S. Postal Service picks its ZIP codes and its service areas without regard to our city limits and county lines, that’s what I tell people,” said Linda Lynch, communications director for the city.

She cannot count how many phone calls she has received on this subject from homeowners in Davidson County who insist that they live in Brentwood.

It is part of Lynch’s job to tell them that they do not.  Brentwood’s city limits do not cross the Davidson County line.

“It really is hard,” she sighed. “The best answer is that if you were in Brentwood, you would pay Brentwood and Williamson County taxes.”

Figuring out where you are can be tricky since the county line and Brentwood city limits don’t exactly follow Old Hickory Boulevard. The Brentwood O-Charley’s is in Davidson County; the Brentwood Chili’s is in Brentwood, Lynch pointed out.

The geographical area of the area in Davidson with a Brentwood address is fairly vast, stretching almost as far north and west as Radnor Lake.

And there are Davidson County neighborhoods east of Nolensville Road that are also in the 37027 ZIP code.

For openers, the price range is bigger than in Brentwood, the city, with homes starting at $164,900 in Autumn Oaks, a Fox Ridge Homes community located off Nolensville Road at Lenox Village. For that price, you can get a 2,293-square foot home with four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms built in 2005.

There simply isn’t anything comparable to that in Brentwood proper. The only thing listed for sale on Realtracs.com this week in 37027/Williamson County for less than $200,000 is a 30-year old fixer upper with 1,408 square feet, priced at $113,900. (It does come with almost 1.5 acres of land.)

The house in Autumn Oaks is one of 132 listings in Davidson County-Brentwood this week. They are scattered among such neighborhoods as Fredericksburg, Copperfield, Sterling Oaks, Banbury Crossing, Hearthstone, and Brentwood Chase, to name just a few.

“The prices, I think, tend to be a little more reasonable on the Davidson County side,” said Mike York, a Crye Leike agent with a listing in Brentwood Chase, a gated community established a few years ago just off Old Hickory Boulevard with nice brick homes and townhomes priced from the mid-$200,000s to the $600,000s.

Located at 6123 Brentwood Chase Drive, York’s listing, built in 2002, has 2,622 square feet and is priced at $315,000. Like other homes in the neighborhood, it is situated on a small, .14-acre lot, and it has a two-car garage.

And like so many neighborhoods here, Brentwood Chase has an especially convenient location near the interstate and close to Brentwood restaurants and stores.

While many people do want Williamson County schools, the Davidson County schools that Brentwood Chase is zoned for are well regarded: Granbery Elementary, Oliver Middle and Overton High.

For those seeking a brand-new house, there are several new neighborhoods coming up in Un-Brentwood despite the economy, including a charming Craftsman-styled neighborhood called Jackson Valley near Lenox Village, and Indian Creek, located off Old Hickory Boulevard near Pettus Road.

“It’s very hard to find any new construction in Brentwood/Davidson County under $200,000, and we have it and we have good quality,” said agent Patty Latham of Exit Realty of the South.

At Indian Creek you can get a brand new, three-bedroom house with 1,916 square feet on a .2-acre lot for $199,900.

Latham, who lives in Franklin, said she always refers to the location as “Brentwood Davidson County” to keep confusion at a minimum. But it doesn’t help her out any that only a portion of Indian Creek is in the 37027 zip code.

There are also some split neighborhoods that are partly in Brentwood proper and partly in Davidson County. These include Annandale, Williams Grove and Cottonport.  Brentwood city limits signs help homebuyers know where they are.

Davidson County-Brentwood includes some high-end neighborhoods with multi-million dollar homes west of I-65. These include Cambridge Downs, Woodward Hills, Taggartwood and Richland Woods.