Opinions on Memphis and Nashville, please!

[Flaxbee]

For those of you familiar with Tennessee, what are the pros/cons about Memphis and Nashville? I've been surfing the web for nice homes with land (5 acres, give or take an acre) and repeatedly find lovely homes with land at very very good prices (under $200K; you can't touch a crappy shack on a teeny lot in the DC area for under $250K...) in the Memphis/Nashville area and was wondering if either place were worth a trip to explore more.

I'm self-employed, so I'm pretty mobile. But what about culture, politics, food, climate, access to good airports, other neat or not-so-neat stuff like pollution and crime? I like water/rivers, independent bookstores and obviously, liberal/progressive thinkers, but I'm in rural Virginia now and have learned to deal with freepers. My husband actually has made a pasttime of goading freepers, so he might be bored if there weren't a few people whose buttons he could push ;-) I'm looking for 'quality of life' stuff like a home that won't take me a gazillion years to pay off, land, non-chain restaurants, etc.

Any takers?

Thanks!

[TNDemo]

1. I'm from Nashville.

I'm originally from Knoxville. I like Nashville much better. I know nothing about Memphis but every person I have ever known who lived there hated it. I don't exactly know why. Even my aunt who was a Navy wife and lived all over the place liked everywhere they were stationed except Memphis and Lakehurst, NJ. She said she hated Lakehurst because of their crummy Navy housing but she hated Memphis just for itself. That said - I have no personal experience and I am sure there are lovely things about Memphis. Maybe there are some Memphis people here who can fill you in on the good side of it.

As far as Nashville, for that price you won't be getting near the city. Those prices would be pretty far out in the county but there are still some affordable places. Nashville is really about half and half as far as liberal and conservative. There is plenty of both.

[bigendian]

2. Tennessee is great!

One big difference is economic. Better in Nashville. Metro gov.
Memphis doesn't have home rule. The county and city are always at odds and little progess is made.

The two cities are about 200 miles apart so visiting is not hard.

Nashville is my home and no matter where I go ( and I've been around ) I'm always happy to return.

Memphis does have better BBQ but now that the Neely's family has opened up shop here we have that too.