Considering moving to Western Kentucky (Owensboro, Bowling Green: for sale, real estate, rental)

[usn]

We are considering moving from Hampton Roads, Virginia to the Midwest, notably Southeast Missouri, Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee (I’ll explain). We are seeking input from any wannabe realtors, genuine realtors, gypsies, nomads, mountain people or anyone with knowledge of these areas
My wife and I are both retired military, hence the USN (go Navy), children grown and moved out, and we are sick of the traffic, high taxes, rude people and hurricanes. Originally we come from Iowa and Wisconsin, we still have family in both places and that is why we have chosen these areas (close but not too close if you know what we mean). Being retired sailors we are tired of the ocean and hurricanes but still love the water, we also love the big rolling hills in these areas. So with that said I will list some of our wants and don’t wants in order of precedence and let you experts convince us which area would be best suited for us. One last thing, we have retirements but will still need to work for spending $$$
Wants:
Lakefront property with or without a house, acreage (2 and up), moderate winter climate, friendly people, relatively close to civilization but not a big city, reasonable taxes/cost of living,
Don’ts:
Tornado alley, crime, traffic, not too far out in the boonies, not too cold in the winter (wife can’t handle the cold) We appreciate any advice or recommendation that you can give us and hope to see some of you some day

[censusdata]

Kentucky has lots of lakes. My picks would be Lake Cumberland, Rough River Lake, or the Land btw the Lakes area.

[timelesschild]

Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee are not "midwest" - just so you know. Very southern culture. They also experience significant tornado activity. There is some winter weather there as well - only you and your wife know how much of it you want. It does snow (sometimes) in Western Kentucky, and there are ice storms. These things are not present throughout the entire winter, however. Missouri experiences MUCH more severe winters than Kentucky does, for whatever reason.

However, the area around Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake will pretty well hit every other item on your list. The nearby cities are Nashville, TN, and Paducah, KY. There are smaller cities as well, of course.

[kygman]

Thanks for that support, timeless! lol usn, I've lived in western Kentucky all my life (so far! lol) I am presently living in Cadiz, about 10 miles from Lake Barkley. To check out homes and property go to Real Estate Listings, Homes for Sale and Rental Property Listings – REALTOR.com® and put in the town and price range you're looking for. You can check on houses or property either. We bought our house, 3 br, 2 bath, 1028 sq. ft. on an acre lot for $70,000. We're about a mile and a half or so from town. Looked at quite a few nice places.
It will get a little chilly every now and then. It was 21 when I got up around 6 this morning but 41 now. The joke about the weather here is if you don't like it stick around. It will change pretty quick.
Come on down! Be glad to have you in the area.

[EclecticEars]

I'll come back later and elaborate more on west Ky., my native region. Actually, with me, it's more like ramble. But I'm about to head out for New Year's Eve, and I'm not in an overly talkative mood at the moment, so this will be brief.

Decent towns worth considering: Cadiz, Murray (sans the unwarranted snootiness,) Owensboro, Calhoun, Lewisport/Hawesville, Princeton. These are all towns with nice, charming downtowns, low crime, and much civic pride. Owensboro, Calhoun, and Lewisport/Hawesville have the Daviess Co., McLean Co., and Hancock Co. school systems, respectively, which are three of the state's very best and blows almost anything in central and eastern Kentucky out of the water! (That is if you have children and grandchildren that might want to move later on, it's just something to think about.) Living around Cadiz, Murray, or Princeton will put you close to some prime lakefront property on Kentucky or Barkley Lakes.

Towns I'd personally avoid: Hopkinsville, Madisonville (even though I was born there,) Henderson, Paducah, Mayfield, Dawson Springs, Greenville/Central City. Henderson is very charming and clean, but it's civic and economic development mindset clamors stagnation, and that's sad b/c it wastes much of its potential. The other communities are run down with higher percentages of low class/proudly poor/trashy individuals that don't want to further themselves and have very little civic pride. Additionally, near Dawson Springs, there is a major office for the Ku Klux Klan; I don't know if it's a state or national office, but that and the lack of activity in town other than eating out at Dairy Queen are enough to keep me away from that place.

[kygman]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

I'll come back later and elaborate more on west Ky., my native region. Actually, with me, it's more like ramble. But I'm about to head out for New Year's Eve, and I'm not in an overly talkative mood at the moment, so this will be brief.

Decent towns worth considering: Cadiz, Murray (sans the unwarranted snootiness,) Owensboro, Calhoun, Lewisport/Hawesville, Princeton. These are all towns with nice, charming downtowns, low crime, and much civic pride. Owensboro, Calhoun, and Lewisport/Hawesville have the Daviess Co., McLean Co., and Hancock Co. school systems, respectively, which are three of the state's very best and blows almost anything in central and eastern Kentucky out of the water! (That is if you have children and grandchildren that might want to move later on, it's just something to think about.) Living around Cadiz, Murray, or Princeton will put you close to some prime lakefront property on Kentucky or Barkley Lakes.

Towns I'd personally avoid: Hopkinsville, Madisonville (even though I was born there,) Henderson, Paducah, Mayfield, Dawson Springs, Greenville/Central City. Henderson is very charming and clean, but it's civic and economic development mindset clamors stagnation, and that's sad b/c it wastes much of its potential. The other communities are run down with higher percentages of low class/proudly poor/trashy individuals that don't want to further themselves and have very little civic pride. Additionally, near Dawson Springs, there is a major office for the Ku Klux Klan; I don't know if it's a state or national office, but that and the lack of activity in town other than eating out at Dairy Queen are enough to keep me away from that place.

Once again there's nothing stagnant about Henderson. There are a couple of industries looking at the Henderson County area now. I was born and raised in Mayfield and still have family there. The Dept. of Veteran's Affairs is building a new office in Mayfield to open in February. There's quite a bit of construction going on around town. usn, you said you have family in Iowa and Wisconsin. I have driven I-24 from Eddyville to Cadiz more times than I could count for the past 6 years and see plenty of license plates on cars from Iowa and Wisconsin. If you wanted to drive, the 4 lane is right close by. These places jcm mentioned are in west Kentucky but I was thinking you wanted something closer to the lakes area. I lived in Murray both during and after my college time and had no problems with the town. Here is a little clip I copied off the Murray web site, Murray, Kentucky - MyMurray.com .

[SIZE=2]"Murray-Calloway County is the perfect place to relocate no matter where you are in your life's journey. America's Promise named us a Top 100 Community for America's Youth in 2008, the third consecutive year. Rand McNally named the Murray-Kentucky Lake area the No. 1 Retirement Community in America in 1987. And Murray State University, among many other national recognitions, was named Outstanding Public University of the South in 2006 by US News & World Report. MSU continues to be ranked by Kiplinger's and US News on an annual basis.[/SIZE]"

[city_data_poster]

Well, first of all, with regards to tornados.....thankfully, in recent years tornados have been few and far between in Kentucky. Can they happen just about anywhere in Kentucky? Sure! Absolutely! Especially in the western half of Kentucky.....but there really hasn't been any tornado activity to speak of in recent years...thank God!

I'd say that USN should investigate the Bowling Green area.

Is Bowling Green awesome? No...not really....but after reading all that the man is looking for/hoping to find....I'd say that the BG area just might come pretty close to what he wants.

Anyway, I wish you well, USN! And thank you (and your wife) for your service to our great country!

[kygman]

If you go to that realtor site, and want to check on around the lakes, check on houses and property around Murray, Benton, Cadiz, Eddyville. Before we bought our house, my wife went to that site at least once a day! lol

[usn]

Good Morning kygman,
Thank you for responding. We appreciate your insight and knowledge of the area. We have been searching the internet looking at the various lake properties in Cadiz, Murry, Eddyville area. There are some very nice properties out there. I wish we could quit our jobs and move today. Unfortunatley we cannot make that move quit yet.
Would you recommend any particular relator around the lake area? I have emailed a few and have received good responses. I did email Glenda Ritchie (1st Realty Group), her listings are great with multiple photos and indepth information on each property.
Could you tell me if you can view the city assessment on properties in Murry, Cadiz, Eddyville, etc. on line? Here in Virginia we can type in the city assessor where we live and get the purchase price of the homes, sq footage, Lot size, gas, air, ect on each property. Just wondering if they have a govenment/city website in the areas I listed above.
My husband and I wish to thank you again for taking the time to respond to us. We look forward to hearing from you again. Thanks so much..
Debbie and Brian (USN)

[kygman]

Hey, D & B! We had a great realtor help us out while we were looking. That was the only problem we had about buying this house on contract! lol We had some friends who bought through Service 1st Realty. Be very very careful if you buy from them!!! We went to Century 21 Lake Barkley Realty (Lake Barkley , Kentucky Lake, Waterfront Homes For Sale.). Brenda took us all over town looking at houses and a few out in the county. Wasn't able to check on that assessment today. Got to spend some time wtching my grandkids! Will see what I can find out for you! Brenda might be able to help you on that too!
Cadiz-Trigg County, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Commission, Tourism Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
Murray, Kentucky - MyMurray.com
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed