Retiring in Kingsport? (Bristol, Bloomingdale, Colonial Heights: fit in, crime, house)

[emerral]

Can anyone tell us about some of the nicer areas/subdivisions of Kingsport. My wife and I have a few years to go before retiring but after a quick visit last spring we concluded that we really liked that locale (especially the weather). We'll be returning again in May for a closer look.
We've been able to find a lot of information about the whole area itself but not a lot about the neighborhoods. We'd like to find some decent middle class areas to look into. Places where crime is low and where people work and care about their environment. We're quite active and are simply not interested in retirement communities. But we also like our privacy. So a 1/2 + acre could do as well.
It's been hard to find info on places on the maps such as Colonial heights, Cooks Valley, Fairacres, Preston wds, Fall creek, Greenfields, etc. (to name a few,eh?) We'd like to start in about a 150k price range but we really don't know where to begin looking, or even what that would get us. So any help/advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks

[mbmouse]

Hi Emmeral, welcome to the forum!
I work in Kingsport and live fairly close so I will try to help you out as many others on here will as well. Have you checked out the two new Kingsport sites? (I will allow the links as they are informative specific to this question)
http://movetokingsport.com/
Aww shoot........it is late, kpt can you please post the second one here also? I can't remember the site address! hehehehehehe
As for the "nice" areas of Kingsport, it will be easier to tell you the few places that won't fit into your criteria. hehehehehe I would say anywhere right downtown wouldn't fit for a bit more land with your house, and Lynn Garden and some parts of Bloomingdale for crime reasons.
As for the rest of the areas, you can find what type of house and neighborhood you are describing. There are really only a few "subdivisions" the rest are more just areas of homes grouped together. Lots of these are very nice, friendly, homey places.
The city of Kingsport along with several other entities are now getting together to start planning a revitalization of the river front, along Netherland Road. I was at a meeting earlier in the week and it is going to be FANTASTIC! so I would suggest you would look somewhere that would be an easy, short drive to the river front!
You can find a very nice home on 1/2 acre or so for 150k in the area, but can you be a bit more specific with what you are looking for in a house? That may help answer your question better. Kingsport has great medical facilities and civic organizations and great sense of community if you get involved and talk with folks, you can find lots of hidden treasures in all of the Tri-Cites area.

[Kpt.]

Hi emerral, glad to hear you are considering Kingsport, and you will find many others have discovered our little city and moved here for retirement, semi-retirement and employment. The sites mbmouse referred to are www.movetokingsport.com that has information specifically about Kingsport and another site www.movetonortheasttn.com that has more information about the county and the city of Bristol TN. There are many neighborhoods within the city limits and in the suburban areas surrounding the city that would fit well with what you described. I live on the east side of Kingsport, outside the city limits near the Cooks Valley, Fall Creek and Indian Springs neighborhoods, and would recommend you look at any of these. The Colonial Heights area is also a great neighborhood. Feel free to send me a private message if there are other questions you might have.

[emerral]

Thanks for the responses. I've already learned a lot.
Actually we aren't looking for anything special. 3-4 bedrooms (for visitors), modern kitchen, at least 2 baths, basement, ( but prefer 1st fl laundry) family room, and a nice view of perhaps some mountains, with a little bit of property, and of course, I have to have my garage. ( the room that my wife will me decorate ) Maybe that's asking a lot, I don't know.

[emerral]

I forgot to mention that distance to shopping might be somewhat important. We don't mind driving but I do like having the option of walking to buy those little items that you always need in a pinch. We love to hike. We also like restaurants and theaters.

[mbmouse]

Maybe you should look at the Colonial Heights area? That seems like it would fit your needs right off the top of my head. The best thing of course is to take a trip here and look around a bit, get a feel for it.