Retiring to Kingsport or Erwin (Johnson City, Greeneville: transplants, lease, car insurance)

[gordan4vr]

My wife and I are considering retiring to either Kingsport or Erwin. Although we liked Kingsport when we visited there, we are leaning more towards Erwin as it is smaller and, coming from Tampa, FL, seems like it will provide us with a quieter lifestyle. If anyone could give us an idea as to what we could expect as far as housing prices, property taxes, and whether it is a nice place to live, we'd appreciate it. Also, how are the winters? We're a little concerned about what the utility bills might run in winter months. Again, any info. would be helpful. Thanks!

[donsabi]

I am a senior who relocated to Kingsport three months ago. Housing prices, property taxes, utilities, and car insurance are low here compared to almost anywhere else. This is the lowest electric costs I have seen anywhere. Heating cost would be minimal with a heat pump. Weather is typical moderate four season weather. Spring here was beautiful. The best part of the area is the local people who are polite, friendly, and helpful.
That's the good part now for the rest. I have yet to find a MD who will accept me as a patient. I am on Medicare and have no rare diseases. Every MD has made me fill out an application like an employment app. and then I get a call that denies me treatment. I was finally able to make an appointment with a VA MD in Johnson City which is twenty miles away. I suggest you find a MD before moving here. Coming from FL I would expect you to enjoy seafood. You won't here, I have yet to find fresh seafood within a hundred miles of Kingsport. Kingsport generally has a chemical odor that varies from mild to pretty nasty. I am not bothered as much to the odor as to what the odor is as I have had a mild headache almost everyday since moving here. This is also a bad location for allergy sufferers. I suggest you find a short term lease and try it before you buy into it.
Don

[jabogitlu]

Erwin is very small and very local. You won't find many/any transplants there, which is not the case for Kingsport. To me that's a plus, and hopefully (since you're deciding to relocate to NETN) a plus for you, too. And it's closer to some beautiful mountain communities, Buladean, Marshall.

Our electric (heat pump) runs generally between $120 and $180 a month. Last month, it was $88. In January, it was $369. But most of the rest of months, it evens out.

[gordan4vr]

Thank you for your replies! All the information was very helpful to us. Am a little concerned hearing about the problems with finding a doctor...as suggested, I think it probably would be a good idea to see about having a doctor before we move.

Appreciate the information about the utility bills. Doesn't really sound too bad and is something we could handle.

Thanks again for responding!

[donsabi]

gordan4vr
Electric is as cheap as you will find anywhere else in the country. Last month, with my a/c going everyday and night all month and using the oven for baking my electric bill was only $45.
If you are on Medicare I suggest going to their website and getting a list of doctors in the area. You can then contact those MD's and see if they will take you.
Don

[jabogitlu]

$45??? Wow, where do you live? lol

[mbmouse]

Must be Kingsport.
That is one thing I will never understand between JC and Kingsport. JC has it's own power board and I pay over a hundred bucks a month no matter what time of year living in Washington County. However Kingsport uses Appalachian Power out of Ohio and they pay 1/4 of the electric costs.
Does anyone know of a reason for this??

[wwjdmom]

Just discovered this message board!! What a great resource. Wish I found it a year ago when we were planning to move here.

We just moved to the area (Johnson City) a few months back, and we are loving it. Although we would probably not have picked Johnson City again, but one of the other places in the Tri-Cities. We moved from Charlotte in search of a better place to raise our kids. Charlotte was a nice town 10 years ago, but has turned in to a God-less cesspool over the last several years. They will probably have their own gay parade soon! LOL! My husband could transfer here with his work, so the choice was easy to come here. We also looked at Asheville, but I hated that place. What a hell hole. New-age pagansim everywhere you look.

There are several seafood restaurants in the area, not sure what "donsabi" is talking about. Lots of other good restaurants also.

Our power bill is less here than in Charlotte, so I wouldn't be worried about that.

I don't know much about Erwin, but we drive through there some. Seems like a nice quiet place, and they even have their very own Wal-Mart!

The weather is nice most of the time. A little colder in the winter than Charlotte, but not as hot in the summer. Much colder than Tampa I would think, but I've never been.

Finding a church was pretty easy. A lot of good, righteous churches here.

We are very happy with our move so far!

[SarahSal]

Have you looked at Greeneville or Jonesborough (a few miles from Johnson City)? Both are charming and historic 'smallish' towns and either have good shopping, in-town, or very closeby.
If we had it to do over again, either of these would be our choice for retirement! (We moved from the Carolina coast to Mountain City some time ago and enjoyed the solitude of MC for many years before deciding we wanted more accessibility to shopping, restaurants, etc.
We're now in Limestone, between Jonesborough and Greeneville, and it's a really beautiful area but quite rural, plus (no, actually minus!) it has no real center to speak of. We have a restored brick colonial on five acres on a little river and pay around $700 in property taxes. (If you stay outside of the city limits, you'll only pay 'county' taxes) Our fuel bill (for a heat pump) in the winter when we're here is about $200 +/-. It's lower in the summer and because of the 12 inch thick brick walls, we rarely if ever use our AC!

As to the negatives of your current choices (the things my husband and I would consider), Erwin has the distinction of having a nuclear fuel rod business, which many interested in promoting tourism fought tooth and nail - although I personally have always liked that town. And it's close to the cultural offerings of Asheville!
In regards to Kingsport, the only drawback I'm aware of in that attractive city (with a progressive downtown) is the Eastman Kodak smokestacks and the questionable noxious fumes. Possibly the reason for one previous poster's headaches! Maybe living in the countryside would be less worrisome -and there are certainly many home choices available at excellent prices, especially when compared to Florida.

The best of luck to you in finding that perfect place!

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by wwjdmom

We moved from Charlotte in search of a better place to raise our kids. Charlotte was a nice town 10 years ago, but has turned in to a God-less cesspool over the last several years. They will probably have their own gay parade soon! LOL! My husband could transfer here with his work, so the choice was easy to come here. We also looked at Asheville, but I hated that place. What a hell hole. New-age pagansim everywhere you look.

We are very happy with our move so far!

Hi friend, just a nice reminder that some of us here might be gay, or pagan, or like Charlotte or Asheville. It's fine to have other opinions, but it sure would be nice (and very Tennessean of you) if you presented those in a more respectful fashion.

Just because you're living in Johnson City doesn't mean everyone is a Christian heterosexual traditionalist. If you've spent in any time in the city proper, I'm sure that you know that that's far from the case. This message board, representative of the entire population of the city, plus the rest of the metro AND people looking to move here, is the same.

BTW, it might amuse you (in some strange way) to know that Johnson City has had a "gay pride parade" before. Well, at least on ETSU's campus.