Nashville Tennessee Living

Summer in Nashville Tennessee - Fun things to do in Nashville Cheap! Part 3

With temperatures up to 10 degrees above normal this post will be dedicated to indoor activities to BEAT THE HEAT!

Regal Cinemas Family Film Festival. Several locations around the city are offering  FREE movies on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am. All of the movies are G and PG rated. Participating theaters are at Providence in Mt Juliet, Green Hills, and the Streets of Indian Lake in Hendersonville. Here is the schedule of movies.

Tall Tale Circus, presented by the Children's Theater at the Main Library on Church Street in downtown. Every Friday and Saturday at 10:30 and 11:30, July 9th through July 31st. Enjoy this musical extravaganza with your kids. It lasts less than an hour and is sure to keep them entertained.

While you're at the library, or don't wait, go now, sign up for one of the Summer Reading programs. Every library in middle TN has a program. Metro offers perks and prizes for getting the kids to real a lot this summer.

Fort Negley, located on Chestnut Street, next to the Sounds Stadium, has a great video that talks a lot about the fort and the Civil War and how it was fought here in Nashville. There is a self-guided tour of the hill with great views, but you'll have to get back out in the heat. That might be more fun in a couple of weeks when it's not so hot.

Frist Center is free for persons 18 and younger. The Golden Age of Couture exhibit just opened. Great for those aspiring young starlets you have at home. You can sign up your young artists for the Summer Art Camp. This is Swifty up above.

Go Bowling! I just discovered the coolest website. It's call Kids Bowl Free. It's a summer program where the kids, up to age 15, can bowl 2 free games per day through August 15. Shoe rentals are just $1.50. Now you just can't beat that.

Summer in Nashville Tennessee - Fun things to do in Nashville, Part 1

Summer in Nashville Tennessee - Fun things to do in Nashville, Part 2

CMA Music Festival - Nashville TN - Thursday to Sunday June 10-13, 2010

The CMA Music Festival brings Country Music lovers to Downtown Nashville from near and far. There are 4 days of free concerts and activities. The evening concerts are just $30/night or you can buy the package for $110-$155. Buying the package gives visitors access to the Greased Lighting Fan Fair Hall, at the Nashville Convention Center, where fans can meet their favorite performers and get autographs.

Years ago most people knew this as Fan Fair. It started in 1972 with just 5000 people attending. Last year, 2009, there were over 56,000 people each day! This is one of the few venues where Stars actually rub elbows with their fans in mass. Visitors can follow the schedule of events on-line or can get the latest updates on their mobile phones by texting the word SCHEDULE to 66937.

Watch this clip by Laura Bell Bundy. It's a little long but full of all the information you'll need and a good bit of humor!

Some Highlights include:

THE JUDDS kick off the party at 10am on Thursday at Riverfront Park. Not performing as a duo since 1991 this is an event not to be missed!

Taylor Swift will host a free 13 meet and greet at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Josh Turner will have a dance contest from 2-3pm also on Thursday in the Family Zone.

Celebrity Bull Riding at Noon on Sunday at the 5th Avenue Plaza Stage.

And you can see: Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Kellie Pickler, Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, the list just keeps going.

This year 50% of the proceeds will go to Flood Relief.

Summer in Nashville Tennessee - Fun things to do in Nashville that won't bust your budget!

With Memorial Day weekend behind us, summer has officially started here in Nashville, like most places around the country. The pools are open, the kids are out of school and the weather is balmy!

Summer in Nashville doesn't have to bust your budget either. One just has to look around to keep themselves busy. There is truly something for everyone. I'm kind of a park person so I'll start this series here. If you're more into Cultural events or sports, we'll cover that too! Just check back.

The following are some popular outdoor things to do:

Nashville Farmers Market on Eighth Avenue North in Downtown Nashville is open everyday of the week. Shop for fresh produce or flowers. Unfortunately only the shed is open at this time but while you're there, walk over to Bicentennial Mall. Parts of it are still closed due to the flood, but you can still visit the walkway.

Franklin Farmers Market located at the back of the Factory on the corner of Franklin Road and Liberty Pike. Open every Saturday from 8am to 1pm. You can expect to find Organic vegetables, flowers, meats, cheeses and LIVE Music each week!

Nashville Parks and Recreation offers several areas of the city to participate in great outdoor, and some indoor, activities.

Starting in the east one finds Stone River Greenway. It has a trail head at the Kohls on Lebanon Road and at the Percy Priest Dam just off Stewart's Ferry Pike. One can bike, walk or run on the paved walkway that runs along the Stone River. It mostly shady and very enjoyable on a hot day.

Two Rivers Park has a skate park. It also connects to the greenway where you can cross over the Cumberland on the pedestrian bridge to Shelby Bottoms. Located off Briley Parkway near Opry Mills.

Try Warner Parks if you just want a good hike. Located at Hwy 100 and Old Hickory Blvd in the south west part of Nashville. You can access Percy Warner there or at the end of Belle Meade Blvd. Edwin Warner Park is on the southern side of Old Hickory. The Nature Center is visible and accessible from Hwy 100. Picnic shelters and play areas are accessed from Vaugns Gap. They have a full calender of events.

Head to the Beach. No I don't mean drive to the Gulf. For a small entry fee most of the lakes have beach accesses. The best way to find one near you is to check out their websites. Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest.

Then if you want more excitement, you can head to Nashville Shores over on Percy Priest Lake. They have water slides, a new wave pool, and all kinds of water toys.

If sand isn't your thing, you can try Metro Park Community Pools. There are 10 different pools run by the park service. Some are indoor, open all year round, others outdoor only. Some offer swim lessons and most are free entrance.

Well that's a good start. ENJOY!

Nashville TN Flood of 2010 - Special Report on NBC New tonight!

Whether you're a Nashvillian, Tennessean or just curious about the Great Flood of 2010 in Nashville Tennessee, tonight you need to tune into NBC for the evening news. Brian Williams logged off both Thursday and Friday of last week reminding viewers to tune in on the "Latest News on the Flood in Nashville Tennessee".

Many of you may not know a lot about Nashville. It's a great place to live and a beautiful place to retire.

Just this afternoon the Tennessee Association of Realtors sent out their newsletter stating that Chief Executive magazine reported that Tennessee was in the top 5 best states for Business to find conditions to prosper. These conditions included quality of life, transportation, income taxes and tax policies. The order itself ranked Texas first, North Carolina second then Tennessee with Virginia and Nevada following.

Come to Nashville Tennessee. I love it here! Watch tonight and let me know what you think!

Nashville TN Flood of 2010 -Distruction Everywhere

This morning I finally ventured over to Bellevue to check on a vacant listing. There had been talk that condos in River Plantation had flooded. I was not prepared for what I saw. There was street after street with trucks lining them. The yards were full of debris pulled from the condominiums. Everything west of Sawyer Brown Road had been under water. When I turned onto the road I knew disaster was waiting for me.

Every unit on this street got 4 to 5 feet of river water.These properties did not have flood insurance because they were not "in the flood zone".

The Widow in the unit next door had to be evacuated by boat. Her car was totally covered by the water. She lost EVERYTHING.

There is no phone service in most of Bellevue. Many roads are still closed and under water. Power is off throughout the area and Cell phone service is kind of hit and miss. You can see the water lines here in the carport. Floor is solid mud.

There is no telling when these lives will get back to normal.If you didn't see NBC's report, here it is on youtube.

Nashville TN Under Water - Mayor Karl Dean asks for help!

I don't usually like to copy and paste information but this is so important that any place it can be seen will be helpful.

Many of you know that Nashville received over 13 inches of rain between Friday night and Sunday evening. The news was full of cars floating away, and houses being submerged on TV Saturday and Sunday evenings. The Cumberland River had not yet overflowed.

Patten Fuqua wrote a blog "We are here" because he felt that the National media was ignoring the issue.

Now, downtown is flooded and it looks like our last water source may be down. Please read the latest press release from our mayor:

Office of the Mayor

This is a time that we all need to reach out to each other and do what we can. Our thoughts and Prayers are with these families who have lost so much.

Team Rio participates in the Country Music Half Marathon - Nashville TN - Saturday April 24, 2010

The time is here. We've trained, we've worked out, we've watched our diets and finally we've loaded carbs for 2 days in preparation for Country Music Marathon. Tomorrow, rain or shine, over 35,000 will show up to start the race at 7am.

All week we have watched the weather as station after station has projected the most sever weather we have had for 2010. This is after all, tornado season. As tomorrow nears, the forecast shows the worst weather coming in near Noon or later. Just now an email was sent:

"After consultation with all the involved city authorities, due to the weather forecast in the Nashville area which is projecting severe afternoon storms, the Marathon will most likely be subject to an abbreviated timeline.

At this time, there is a contingency plan to limit the Marathon to 4:30 and under. Any runner who is behind this pace - 10:20 per mile - at mile 11.2 will be directed to complete the Half Marathon course. This timeline may change based on what actual race day weather pattern."

What do you do when you've worked so hard for 12 to 18 weeks to prepare for this event? People have flown into Nashville from around the country for this event. A very good friend of mine is running the full. She has worked incredibly hard. She was hoping for 5 hours. Just 30 minutes and she might be out completely. I can't imagine the disappointment.

Team Rio, will be no different. This team was put together by the Dove Award winning group of Diamond Rio. They support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nashville. Each team member raises money to help support BBBS. This is my third year to have the privledge to work with this great group of people. It's not too late to donate.

What is that house worth in Nashville TN? Let's ask Zillow.

Zillow, I owe you an apology.

For a couple of years I have resisted Zillow. When Buyers tried to tell me what a house was worth because they saw it on Zillow, My first response was to tell them that it was wrong.

Usually, I did my own Market Analysis through our local MLS and argued that Zillow just plucked numbers from the air. Last week I broke down and actually to a class on Zillow and learned that I wasn't exactly right in my thinking. There's a lot more to their website than I was aware.

When asking What's that house Worth in Nashville TN?, Zillow pulls their information from several sources including the Tax Assessors office and from the local MLS. They have a page that they call Zestimates Values and Accuracy that lets you see how close they usually come to the actual values. If you look here, you'll see Davidson County in Nashville, Tennessee:

The 2 Stars mean that it's a Fair Zestimate overall. The chart also shows that 99% of the homes for sale are listed on their site. 30% of the Zestimates are with 5% of the actual Sales Price, 52% are with 10% and 73% are within 20%. Sounds pretty good. And it actually is, UNLESS...

So, what's that house worth in Nashville TN? If the house is Yours and you have it for sale at say $200,000. If Zillow is 5% off, it would be worth between $190,000 and $210,000. Close enough. If on the other had they were 10-20% off, the value would then range between $180,000 to $220,000 OR $160,000 to $240,000 accordingly.

Now we're talking about more than pocket change.

Depending on what part of the country you live in, they have varying degrees of accuracy. In Philadelphia, PA, they come within 5% of the sales price 30% of the time and within 10% over 50% of the time. Those are pretty good numbers.

If you're looking to price your home or purchase a home, look at the numbers on Zillow. Then call your Realtor. Let them do an accurate Market Analysis based on current sales in that area. They are the experts and can save you time and money.