Recent Military Retiree, moving to Johnson City TN (Franklin: houses, campgrounds)

[Storen77]

My husband and I are excited about the possibilities of moving to Eastern TN. We have been researching the area for months and anticipate a trip late October to actually visit.
Any advice from other retiree's or locals on access to health care (tricare)? Also, input on where we should focus our search for homes with at least 1-2 acres, under $200k in the Tri Cities? We are hopeful to secure jobs at the VA, but any suggestions of other large employers in the area? We are also living in our RV until we are confident of where we will set our roots. Any suggestions of family friendly RV campgrounds?

[Tony1790]

Welcome,

As to tricare, I'd recommend going on the tricare website, it'll tell you who is accepting new patients and who isn't, State of Franklin Healthcare is a good place to get your primary care.

As to houses with 1-2 acres under $200,000, they exist, just depends what you want, how old of a house, etc. Just get with a realtor and look around, I've been looking for a place with a view, hard to find. Lots of houses over $200,000 up to $300,000 houses here really aren't cheap unless you are ok with older stock or double wides. Realtor.com is a good place to get an idea on prices as well.

Good luck with jobs at the VA, they well for the area, but not as well as some other parts of the country. Best way to look for openings is at www.usajobs.gov, hard to get on, but not impossible, I work there :-)

Good luck with the move, I moved here with an RV but I didn't have it set up. There is a place near the Tricities Flea market that has lots of RV hook ups, don't know if they are open year round, RV when it's cold is a pain, I lived in one for a year as I moved from Seattle to here years ago.

Welcome to TN,

Tony
US Coast Guard (retired)

[queenladybug817]

My husband is active duty military right now, so we also did the Tricare search here. There were quite a few doctors that accept Tricare and accepting new patients. So far, we haven't found any problem with using Tricare here.

There is a fairly large group of retirees, Active Duty, Reserves and National Guard in the area. Tri-Cities Military Affairs Council would be a good group to become associated with. Tri-Cities Military Affairs Council » They protect us, We protect them

If you weren't looking for land, there are tons of homes in JC around the $200,000 or less range. However, the larger lots are going to push the price up. We looked at a few places last year with an acre or so, but most were a little further out that we wanted to be.

[Storen77]

Thanks for your input!