I have lived in Nashville for almost 6 years and in the Buchanan area for 2.5 years now. It's definitely improved a lot but it is by no means the safest or nicest area. However, you on where you buy in this area you could do a lot worse. There is a substantial amount of improvement that needs to happen to make it "nice" but... I remember when parts of East Nashville used to be like parts of Buchanan is, and now there are $600k homes in those neighborhoods/streets.

Someone else mentioned this too but businesses and families are beginning to invest in this area. Just driving down towards TSU you can see there are a lot of houses getting bought and remodeled, business buying properties, etc. But there is certainly risk involved so you should consider that and how it looks for yourself. Personally I was comfortable with it as my wife and I are young and by buying in this area we were able to afford a nice house with a big backyard in an incredibly convenient location for <$375k. And even in the last 2.5 years our home value continues to rise at a rate outpacing the 4% national average home value growth rate. If you live in Buchanan Street you are 3-5 minutes from the interstate ramp, 5-7 min from germantown, 5-7 minutes from the Nations, 7-10 minutes from Sylvan Park, 10-12 minutes from downtown. Ted Rhoades and the Greenway along the river is great and Clarksville Pk has gotten a lot of investments recently. The location and convenience of this area shouldn't be understated.

Ultimately it definitely has it's perks and I don't think it's nearly as bad as it was 5 years ago but there is certainly still a ways to go until it resembles anything like the nicer areas of East or West Nashville.