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I went to visit our neighbor three houses down yesterday to talk to his teenage daughter about doing some babysitting for us. The beautiful young mother is going through chemo for breast cancer and the dad lost his job, but is starting a landscaping business. Since my hubby does renovations, they talked to me about fixing up their house because they're thinking about moving to Tennessee.
Of course I told him we are too and are going on a trip here shortly to look around for property. The dad told me he went last year for week-long trip, just him. He searched all over Tennessee in various areas and decided on the Tri-City area, and described some of the area to me. He said it is so beautiful that he didn't want to come back--just wanted to park his truck by the side of the road and live in it. He said his whole family will be taking a trip there so he can show them what he found as soon as his wife starts feeling better.
Location: NJ no more IM now downhome Johnson City TN
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Its Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport. Its in the North East corner of TN. If you follow Hwy 81 through Va when you get to TN thats the Tri Cities area. It is an unbelievablely beautiful area, mountains and valleys all around you.The people are super nice its pretty economicly diverse and not that racialy diverse. Im not saying that in a positive or negative way.
Hi Carol, are you also thinking of moving to Tn? We have never been there personally, but the people that we know who have been there say it's beautiful.
Hi Jammie - I see you on the Florida forum, too. Lots of thrashing around there about housing market projections in Florida . Yes, we are considering a move. We went to Nashville last year and, while a grand, beautiful area, we didn't feel it was for us. We're coming up shortly to look at the Tri-City area if I can tear hubby away from work. We've already "met" some very nice people from there on this forum. We have a lot of family here, my 80 yo dad, my 27 yo married daughter who may give me a grandchild in a few years, my hubby's dad and "Ain't Dean" as he affectionately calls his Aunt. They will all just need to follow us up there. Hubby is looking for a small travel trailer we can use to take investigation excursions.
The wild card is our house. If this was 2005, we'd have it sold pronto. Not so now. I can see the market is picking up just from the closings taking place, but it's going to be a while, which is okay because we want to do some upgrades. I actually saw a sign in front of a house for sale in our area that the Seller would pay for 6 months of mortgage payments for the buyer. There was an article in the Orlando Business Journal that was encouraging about sales.
C U one day Jammie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jammie
Hi Carol, are you also thinking of moving to Tn? We have never been there personally, but the people that we know who have been there say it's beautiful.
I went to visit our neighbor three houses down yesterday to talk to his teenage daughter about doing some babysitting for us. The beautiful young mother is going through chemo for breast cancer and the dad lost his job, but is starting a landscaping business. Since my hubby does renovations, they talked to me about fixing up their house because they're thinking about moving to Tennessee.
Of course I told him we are too and are going on a trip here shortly to look around for property. The dad told me he went last year for week-long trip, just him. He searched all over Tennessee in various areas and decided on the Tri-City area, and described some of the area to me. He said it is so beautiful that he didn't want to come back--just wanted to park his truck by the side of the road and live in it. He said his whole family will be taking a trip there so he can show them what he found as soon as his wife starts feeling better.
Carol,
I live in Bristol TN- I would like to help you understand this area and the people better. I think the East Tn people are more conservative republican, devoted family people and love bluegrass and old country music. The Bristol area is where Country Music originated with Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family recordings made in downtown Bristol.
(well I could go on abouthe history but I will spare you now.)
Property is VERY CHEAP around Bristol TN side and I would look at all the foreclosures and start there first. You can get some really great deals, I almost bought a house 2 br and a basement with a great porch and about 1/2 acre for $40,000. But the rent is so cheap in the area I decide to try that for a year before purchasing. I got a 2br 1 bath (half of a duplex) with warm gas heat for ONLY $300 per month rent. That is fantastic!
Land is very reasonable and some lots are old farms that come with the old farm houses on them. The public drinking water is great right out of the tap, and the electric bills are incredibly low too, Mine was $60 in Feb (it was a cold month) thiat was my highest bill all year normally averages about $23 per month. TVA is the big Tennessee Valley Authority (electric service) - recall the movie "Old Brother where art thou?" and you will see a lot of East Tennessee. Yes they still drink moonshine, and there is a lot of bowling during the winter, great movie theaters (especially up the road in Abingdon VA (15 miles from Bristol) and the Barter Theater is like having New York theater productions without all the overpriced tickets.
There really is nothing to fear about the weather around here (too many mountains for Tornadoes) and the winters are very mild and summer is cool, lately the spring rains have not been very bad at all. The lake is down a few feet - we could use more rain this year).
I am a Native Nashvillian and have been up here in Bristol for 1 year today, and I can say the area is less stressful and the mountain air is very crisp and clean. (NO TRAFFIC WHATSOEVER)
The entertainment choices are getting better because there really are thee or four cities to choose from that are only about 30 to 45 mins from each other. It would be a great place to retire to and I think if you don't get in soon the prices of real Estate will go up, but man it is dirt cheap right now.
Follow me to tennessee.
(If this was helpful I'd appreciate a click on the + reputation clicker please)
Yes the people in Bristol TN are devoted family people, VERY conservative republican-but that's not necessarily a good thing. You can expect your neighbors to judge you if you're different than they are. This includes your race, beliefs, religion......you name it. It's not a very diverse area, very dull actually. Everybody goes to church on Sunday, and most everybody repeats this obligation on Wednesday. There is no 'spice' in the area! Your children aren't exposed to different cultures, isn't that important to you?
True, property is cheap here, but isn't that all due to supply/demand? There is no 'demand' for property here, so they can't charge high prices for real estate. Yes I suppose it's a great place for retirees, or those who just want to spend the rest of their lives golfing and visiting buffets. Not very exciting!
Shehag, sounds like you may want to consider moving to Orlando, FL. It seems to answer what you are looking for and is the reason we are looking for a home in the Tricities area. Orlando was the "City Beautiful" when we moved here in 1979 but now has become the City Ugly (which is my opinion). Linda
Yes the people in Bristol TN are devoted family people, VERY conservative republican-but that's not necessarily a good thing. You can expect your neighbors to judge you if you're different than they are. This includes your race, beliefs, religion......you name it. It's not a very diverse area, very dull actually. Everybody goes to church on Sunday, and most everybody repeats this obligation on Wednesday. There is no 'spice' in the area! Your children aren't exposed to different cultures, isn't that important to you?
True, property is cheap here, but isn't that all due to supply/demand? There is no 'demand' for property here, so they can't charge high prices for real estate. Yes I suppose it's a great place for retirees, or those who just want to spend the rest of their lives golfing and visiting buffets. Not very exciting!
Yep, that's true if you go to work, come home, sit on the couch and venture out to Walmart once in a while.
If you want diversity in most areas of the South, you have to find it. Try going to old downtown Johnson City, or getting involved with, example, ETSU's Summer Hispanic Outreach program.
LOL - I had to laugh in reading your message. Compared to what we're going through down here in Florida, judgmental neighbors would be the least of my worries. Anything can get to you after a while, though, so I understand what you're saying.
My hubby's a gear head and we do go to church on Sundays and on Wednesday nights. That can be a negative thing sometimes I guess, depending upon who's talking about it and what they're saying and, more importantly, what they're doing in their life. LOL - some Wednesday nights it's a mental health adjustment for me
We are looking for a place to live where it's not okay for the children to call each other or worse, call adults, "loser," or other worse names, where our cars won't be tested four nights a week to see if we accidently left the door open (and we live in a nice neighborhood), where if a tree falls on a neighbors house it's really appreciated when my hubby comes over with a chain saw, where men still shake hands, where I can allow my child to walk 50 feet away from my house without worrying he will be assaulted or kidnapped, and where posturing and agendas are not first in line.
We're looking for a place to live to raise our son where it's not okay to be rude, do drugs or drink, and bullying is not tolerated. Our local high school year book received several awards for high school publications. The handwriting was on the wall when I saw two full color pages devoted to students' experiences with Xanex and cocaine. I believe they were trying in some instances to be helpful, but what happened to zero tolerance???!!!??? I just don't think this should be applauded. Is there zero tolerance in the Tri-Cities area, realizing no place is perfect?
There's 41 identified gangs in the Orlando area, predominately Hispanic (sorry--factual information only--not a slam against anyone). They drive around in packs--seriously.
Spice in life--yes, I do want spice in my family's life. Spice to some is stumbling out of a bar at 2 AM. To others its going out to fine restaurants, shopping and theatres. Spice to others is real friendship among families and having fun together, with common interests and healthy activities together.
Diversity in citizenship is not a problem for us either. Unfortunately, so far, except for the people with whom I worked during my time in Miami, for the people we have met and dealt with from other countries, our experiences have not been positive. We treat every single person we meet with respect and dignity until they give us a reason to do otherwise.
Exposing my children to culture--yes, the arts, literature and music are important. Those would not cease, wherever we are. We've spent more money on music lessons than I care to mention. Books are very important, despite my son's impairment and difficulty in reading. We don't watch TV programs--we listen to music, watch selected videos or movies on TV. Classical music and learning is important in our home. So is learning to ride a motorcycle, a jet ski and quad runner, safely, and how to turn a wrench. My daughter is blind and autistic, so she is not learning skills a typical 14 year old is learning. We have to be very creative with her, but she loves to get out and walk and do things too--particularly roller coasters with daddy.
We're looking for a place where employees still want to do a good job, and quality is still important to people (my hubby does renovations, and you would not believe what we run across, but that's a whole 'nother story).
We've not decided where to land yet, and some days we're just so grateful for our home here and the life we have--it's scary to uproot and move. We've been to Nashville and Knoxville--we were aiming for the Tri-City area, but didn't get that far--next trip.
I still believe education for my children is my responsibility--even if they're in public school.
No place under the Heavens is Utopia, and Utopia to one can be a place of torture for another, but we'll know the area where we're supposed to be when we see it, even if it brings us back to our own back yard here.
Thanks for this very good discussion. I really appreciate everyone's comments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shehag
Yes the people in Bristol TN are devoted family people, VERY conservative republican-but that's not necessarily a good thing. You can expect your neighbors to judge you if you're different than they are. This includes your race, beliefs, religion......you name it. It's not a very diverse area, very dull actually. Everybody goes to church on Sunday, and most everybody repeats this obligation on Wednesday. There is no 'spice' in the area! Your children aren't exposed to different cultures, isn't that important to you?
True, property is cheap here, but isn't that all due to supply/demand? There is no 'demand' for property here, so they can't charge high prices for real estate. Yes I suppose it's a great place for retirees, or those who just want to spend the rest of their lives golfing and visiting buffets. Not very exciting!
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. Yes, we are considering a move. We went to Nashville last year and, while a grand, beautiful area, we didn't feel it was for us. We're coming up shortly to look at the Tri-City area if I can tear hubby away from work. We've already "met" some very nice people from there on this forum. We have a lot of family here, my 80 yo dad, my 27 yo married daughter who may give me a grandchild in a few years, my hubby's dad and "Ain't Dean" as he affectionately calls his Aunt. They will all just need to follow us up there. Hubby is looking for a small travel trailer we can use to take investigation excursions.
Not a good thing
I just don't think this should be applauded. Is there zero tolerance in the Tri-Cities area, realizing no place is perfect?
