Who would have thought that living on a street named Henpeck Lane would be such a good thing? 

As you drive down the country road, passing fields and farms along the way, you might be surprised by the housing developments that pop up here and there. 

Henpeck Lane stretches from Highway 31/Columbia Highway (just a few miles south of where Mack Hatcher Parkway intersects it) over to Highway 431/Lewisburg Pike (just north of Peytonsville Road). 

Lined with homes of varying sizes and ages, a few new (or newer) developments are mixed in among them.  Coming from Highway 31, Oakleaf Estates and Oakwood Estates – both established communities with homes on 1-acre lots – are first in sight. 

Just past those, you’ll come across open pastures with cows or horses, larger homes on 5-acre or larger tracts, apple trees and lots of wooden farm fencing.  Once again, sights such as these are why I love living in Franklin!

I took at walk down to The Brownstones at First and Church in historic downtown Franklin recently, and was inspired to take photographs and write about my experience. 

Located at the corner of 1st Avenue and Church Street, The Brownstones are perfectly suited to the style and era of downtown Franklin. 

 

They fit in with the architecture and design of the late 1800s and early 1900s, as most of the area was built during that period.

Just 3 miles west of historic Franklin's downtown square on Highway 96, Westhaven explodes with a 1,500-acre master-planned community, mixed-use town center and private golf club. 

The 15-year project began in 2003 and includes everything from townhomes, flats and single-family dwellings to retail space and an 18-hole golf course. 

Westhaven covers 1,543 acres and will house 2,596 residential units and over 500,000 square feet of commercial space. Source

Located just off I-65, along McEwen Road from Wilson Pike to Cool Springs Blvd., Avalon is one of Franklin’s newer residential developments. 

Its first home was completed in 2005 and now, in 2008, is nearly built out with only a handful of lots remaining.

Located across the street from the Factory in Franklin, Jamison Station is well underway in the first of 3 phases of construction. 

With a mixture of retail space, townhomes and condominium flats, Jamison Station will offer a unique urban/suburban lifestyle in Franklin, Tennessee. 

One of Franklin’s newest communities is located in the city limits but feels a world away. 

Tucked behind the Williamson County Agricultural Expo Center off of Peytonsville Road and surrounded by farm land and hillside, The Highlands at Ladd Park has the makings of a wonderful combination of spacious homes, beautiful views and opportunities to enjoy nature at its best.

There is a lot to look forward to with this new subdivision going in on the south side of Franklin.

Nashville ranks very high in a number of different areas, beating out lots of other areas of the country. So do Franklin, Tennessee and Williamson County.

Have a look at some of the unique designations for the area we live in...

Looking for a new home in Tennessee?

Or, maybe you're interested in finding land for sale instead of a house?

Either way, here are the best places to find homes and property for sale in Tennessee, particularly in the Franklin and Williamson County area (...but most also list surrounding towns and counties, if not the entire state).

I'm interested in hearing from those who live outside of the Franklin city limits and get high-speed Internet.

If that's you, please speak up.

You could be helping current and future Franklin residents who are thinking of moving to the area.

Here's my point:

We've been looking all over Williamson County for a place to build our "dream home".

We actually started this search a couple years ago, but we've been saving money and learning more about the type of home we might want to build, and the areas where we might want to build it.

I'd say, we've only been intently searching for land, lots, and property on which to build for the past 5 months or so. But trust me when I say it has been a complete and exhaustive search!!!

The biggest hang-up that is dictating where we build our home in Williamson County is this:

NO HIGHSPEED INTERNET!

We almost bought a new house!

Actually, we almost bought TWO new houses (...within days of each other).

Yep, we're on "the hunt" again.

It seems like every couple of years we get the itch to explore our housing options here in Williamson County, Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our house, and we LOVE our neighbors, and we LOVE the town of Franklin, and we LOVE Middle Tennessee in general... it's just that we're trying to be "smart" and enhance our odds of finding a good deal on a house with more land.

A handful of realtors in our area are going above and beyond to keep local residents informed about home sales in Franklin, Tennessee. I, for one, am thankful for their efforts.

Each month they enlighten us with some new and interesting facts about home buying and selling in general, as well as some up-to-date sales figures for our area.

Two of my favorites are Diane Mason and Gennifer Mallard.

...It appears that we live in the HOTTEST zip code in middle Tennessee!

After hearing something on the local news about the rising cost (and subsequent value) of housing in Tennessee, we checked out News Channel 4's website and found this:

37064 is the only Zip Code that all of the real estate experts agreed was THE hottest zip in Middle Tennessee.

Well, well. It appears that we are perched smack dab in the middle of something lucrative -- for a change.

Lil 'ol us... in the southwestern corner of Franklin, Tennessee.

This is just too, too cool!...

Virtually everything under the sun you could EVER want to know about the city of Nashville can be found in one location.

A sampler...

We moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2001 from Pensacola, Florida. We rented a big house on the Williamson/Davidson county line that was actually in the town of Brentwood. Lived there for a year until we finished building our new house.

Our new home is located in Franklin, Tennessee.

It was built by Ryan Homes in "record time" (only 72 days!), and we've been really happy with all aspects of our first home together. It's the "Harpeth" plan (... I know when I was looking at new houses, it always helped to know which floor plan I was looking at.)

Photos of our Home Building Process