Need info on Elizabethton/surrounding areas... (Johnson City, Bristol: real estate, houses, rent)

[TNorBUST]

Hi everyone! My hubby and I are hoping to make the move from FL to TN in about 9 months. I am originally from a small town in CT so S. Florida has never grown on me. I have been longing for small town living ever since I moved here. We both want a small, quaint town that is close enough to a city so my hubby can find work, in or around the mountains. I have done lots of research and like what I have seen and read about Elizabethton. I would love if anyone could answer some questions for me about this area. Firstly, we are going to attempt to purchase a home with the equity we have on our existing home here in FL. This would put us at the $95 - $100k range (if possible, less then that!). I have seen homes on Realtor.com in that price range that seem nice but it's always hard to tell how it really is from photos. Are most homes in this price range in nice neighborhoods? Are there even any bad areas in Elizabethton? If anyone could recommend another town close by that would allow us more home and property for that price I would appreciate that as well. Also, my hubby is a software programmer, is that kind of job easy to come by in that area? I truly appreciate any input that anyone may have! Thanks a bunch!

[mbmouse]

Hi,
I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can. Others will help out as well. If I were you I would not purchase inside Elzabethton City limits, but just outside in Carter County or South Washington County. This also depends on if you have children who need good schools? Carter County has been having lots of school board issues over the past few years. Depending on what size house and land, yes, you can find nice homes in nice areas in that price range.
You hubby should not have an issue with jobs, but I would suggest getting with a few employment agencies, or recruiters BEFORE you get here, always better to have a job first.
I am also from a little town in CT...ever heard of Colchester?? hehehehehe
Hope that helps!

[TNorBUST]

Thanks! Yes, I have heard of Colchester, I have been to that area many times, small world! I used to live in Branford, nice little town, or at least it used to be. I've heard that it has changed so much there. I do not have children and we don't plan on it as we are big animal lovers and have chosen to take in stray cats instead of having kids hahah. So schools won't be a deciding factor. Would you say not to buy in Elizabethton only because of school issues or are there other issues? We are looking for a home with a basement and at least 1300 sq ft living space. I'm not sure if that will be above our spending limit or not though. I can always go smaller but with a house full of pets it can get kinda cramped lol. It's good to hear that the job situation should be ok. We have really buckled down the past year and have a small savings, will have more by the time we move, and were hoping to live off that until he got a job. I would try to get a job at Target or Walmart if need be also. We are really looking to get "the most bang for our buck" as far as a home goes, would you say there are cheaper places then Elizabethton? Since we have a lot of cats, and two dogs as well, we are very limited to the time we can spend up there looking around. I have no one down here that I can trust to care for them so we would have to take the dogs with us and leave a bunch of food/water for the cats. Still, we could only be gone about 4 days, doesn't leave much time for looking around (we would be driving up there straight through). So this is why I'm trying to narrow it down to a couple nice towns that are somewhat close to each other. What area do you live in? Thanks very much for your help, I really appreciate it and if you can't add anything more I understand! Thanks again!

[mbmouse]

I would say if you stay to any County property (for tax purposes as well as price) in either Carter, Washington, Sullivan, or Greene (western) Counties, you should be able to find something at least 1300 sq ft or up to about 1600 sq ft for your price range and you can see all of those areas in just a few days. They are all relatively close. I said County verses city as that is just my preference. You may like living in town. You also have city property tax as well as County if you live in live within city limits but even if you put them together they are still nothing compared to FL hahahahahahha Where in Fl are you coming from? I know we can get from North Johnson City (where we live) to Port St. Lucie FL in 11 hours. We take 95/26 route. (From FL). You should get with a Realtor and plan to spend 1 to 2 of your 4 days looking at houses. I am not one, but if you need a good referral, I will be happy to give you one.
Besides the animals, what are your interests and hobbies? That would give us here a good idea of things we can tell you about that you would be interested in around these parts.
You should also read threw these pages, go back several of them. There is a BUNCH of great information that lots of different folks have posted, it can be a great help in deciding which area you want to move to, well, at least a start hahahahaha

[TNorBUST]

Thanks so much again, great info! The counties you mentioned seem like a great focus point for us. I am hoping to see as many properties in those areas when we are ready to go up there, which won't be until Oct. or Nov. of this year. If you could recommend a realtor that would be great. We would be needing someone who could show us as many homes as possible, hopefully in a couple counties. If we can't find a home in those few days we would be open to going back up for a day or two to look at a couple specific homes. I didn't realize that there are city and county taxes, great to know. But yes, they would be nothing compared to here lol, we are paying $2300 tax on a home we purchased for $170,000 three years ago, not to mention the $2700 insurance premium. Most of the dilemma is to find a buyer for our home because of this. I am not sure if I would like living in town or not. I guess I would have to see it, I don't want to live near a "busy" area. But busy up there can't be nearly as bad as busy down here lol. We will be coming from Delray Beach, FL, which is about an hour from Port St. Lucie so the drive shouldn't be bad at all. As far as my other interests, I love nature (so does hubby), we don't have much of that left down here. I garden all year long here, I would have to get acquainted with plants of TN as they are probably much different then here. Thank you again for the info, it is really nice to talk to someone from the area who is so helpful!

[insanesmooch]

In case you didn't see it, thought I'd let you know I sent you a pm.

[BigDaddy4You]

Moderator cut: that link not allowed
I agree with insane...county taxes and city taxes are about equal...home owners Insurance is not that bad here...I have $1000 deductible with replacement costs on items...my house is insured for about $125,000, I am in the country and my taxes are less than $500 and I have 3.5 acres of land with my house 1800 sq feet upstairs with a full basement, not livable. We live in Gap Creek section...about 5 miles to downtown Elizabethton, 8 miles to downtown Johnson city...12 miles to the Mall and 15-17 miles to watauga lake...20 miles to Roan mountain or Bristol Speedway...so it is central location

[Safford18]

I have been looking for a nice small town in Eastern Tennessee, have looked into Seymour area (too Expensive), Sevierville (too much traffic), Maryville
(taxes are too high), so now I would like to know as much as possible of
Elizabethton. Any help will be very much appreciated/ We like a mild climate,
water for fishing and play, clean air and friendly people. Not too much to ask for, is it? Thanks.......

[shellter]

I have lived in Elizabethton for about 8 years...love the small town atmosphere with big city conveniences..we live just outside city limits, about half a mile, seems like we are out in the country. The area is just beautiful. Fall and winter have become my fave part of the year. I`m originally from So. Texas coast. Real estate is becoming more and more valuable in this area. If you are serious about moving to the area, do it now. You can find many properties in various price ranges, just depends on what you want. You can find lots of nice cottage like homes and some ranch like homes in the $65-115,000. range. {More expensive inside city limits}You can also find some "fixer-uppers" with acreage for about that price. Getting acreage with your property is a good investment in this area. Average price for a lot in this area is between $19,500-27,500. So finding acreage is your best best. You can find that investing in a home with land can be a lot less expensive than buying a home on a lot. We bought a cow pasture{LOL}and put a home on it..it had a barn already, now the land and home are worth over twice + what we have invested. And yes...we are going to sell...home is way to big for 2.

[MarandaStephenson]

If you are wanting to stay under $95K and between 1300-1600 sqft, there isn't much to look at. There were 38 homes that came up when I did and MLS search, but they don't look the greatest. Most were mobile homes. If you could possibly look into uping your price range to $120K, I'm guessing that you could find something alot more suitable.