Relocating to East Tennessee (Knoxville, Johnson City: appointed, lease, condo)

[cherrobrob]

My family and I are planning to relocate to the tri-city area. We aren't sure which city exactly but we would love any suggestions. We would like to be outside of a city, but not too far where it is inconvenient to go to stores. My wife works for a bank, so we would like the area to have a number of banks, national banks preferred. I am in the construction, so we would also like there to be new homes and remodels in a 20 mile radius. My daughters are both in elementary schools, so we would like also to be in good school districts. Price range for a 3 bed/2 bath under $100k. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

[NorthernLights]

Cherrobrob,

I'd say you're in luck on what you're looking for regarding schools and a house big enough for your family in the price range you want. You being able to do work on a home yourself opens up even more possibilities for finding a fixer upper for around 100 grand.
Depending on where you are moving from though you may be real disappointed on bank job salaries and the availability of good paying construction work here these days. It depends, like in so many other fields what you are experienced/qualified to do in construction. Are you willing and able to do home improvement work and be self employed? Self-employment is a good way to go down here. Instead of knocking yourself out looking for a decent paying job you may want to start your own business. I mean, for example, why get paid 7.50 an hour pushing a mower or weedeater for someone else when you can buy your own equipment and make all the profit?
I think you and your wife need to look real hard at the job postings and websites before you make your mind up to come here. Good paying jobs are scarce all over the country these days and they're very scarce here now.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by cherrobrob

My family and I are planning to relocate to the tri-city area. We aren't sure which city exactly but we would love any suggestions. We would like to be outside of a city, but not too far where it is inconvenient to go to stores. My wife works for a bank, so we would like the area to have a number of banks, national banks preferred. I am in the construction, so we would also like there to be new homes and remodels in a 20 mile radius. My daughters are both in elementary schools, so we would like also to be in good school districts. Price range for a 3 bed/2 bath under $100k. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

If you could go up to 120K for housing you might be in luck. You might want to consider renting a while to decide on the area you like best. There are many good choices around here. There are a ton of banks, and like NL said, wages aren't great around here. Most things are relative though.

Try reading back at old posts on here. Also, check www.city-data.com for information about the towns in TN.

[NorthernLights]

SMG is right. 120K would open up a whole lot more in the way of housing. Still I have found stuff in the 109K range, small 3 br. ranchers on a little yard. I have even seen the occasional distressed handyman specials for as little 75-85K. [emphasis on "distressed"].

[cherrobrob]

We have been looking at Elizabethton, Church Hill and Grey/Boones Creek. Are there any areas to stay away from?

[NorthernLights]

Elizabethton is in Carter Co. and in my opinion has tremendous natural beauty in its mountains and lakes, etc. Many of the locals I have spoken with here, some of which have commented here on City-Data that it is a bit scuzzy in some ways. Church Hill is pretty and close enough to Kingsport to commute to decent jobs. I live in Boone's Creek. Great central location but unless you want to live in a townhouse condo nothing available for much under 110K.
I found a couple nice 1970s-80s ranchers in Piney Flats when I was looking down here in the 109-115K range and it is a pretty central location, especially for Bristol and JC.

[jabogitlu]

To stay as close to your budget as possible, you're going to need to look rural as possible. I agree with SMG that you should rent somewhere while you live here to see if you like and/or what areas you do like. Piney Flats/Bluff City is a great location and the prices there haven't exploded. The only problem is it's very boring! The upside to that is it's 10 minutes into Johnson City and 10-15 into Bristol.

You might also want to look into Erwin and/or rural parts of Unicoi County (Okolona, Unicoi [city], etc.). Unicoi in general is much more... authentically Appalachian... than much of the rest of NETN.

East Hawkins County is also a good choice and easily commutable into Kingsport. Church Hill, etc.

The only areas to stay away from here are a few urban plight areas in Johnson City (you'd not be looking there anyway) and some extremely rural rooooough areas, Bumpass Cove outside of Erwin, probably some places in Johnson County. In general, stay away from the foot of the mountains and you'll do fine.


As far as schools go, unfortunately the areas in your price range tend to be in "bad" school districts. Bad here doesn't mean dangerous, just that your kids probably won't get all from their public education that they could. Where I grew up, you could pay a city fee and send your kids to the city schools if you lived in the county. I'm not sure if it works that way in the Tri-Cities or not; you could give the school boards a call and inquire.

You do have one other option. There are some deals to be found in settings that are a bit more "urban" than you might desire. Three bedrooms could be tough to find, but it's worth a look, especially since you'd be able to fix-up anything wrong with a house you might find. I would take a look at South Johnson City: Lamont Avenue on south, and down South Roan Street as it runs into Okolona, and Greenwood and Cherokee out of the city boundaries, and areas past Keystone - giving Keystone a very wide berth - towards Carter County.


Is there a possibility that your wife could be transferred? I have some friends who graduated a year or so ago in finance, business and econ that are having major trouble finding just teller jobs. Construction has slowed down a lot here especially with the condo bust. If your skills are diversified and applicable in other settings, then you should do okay. I would not recommend moving here without one of you having secured employment, as employment here is notoriously fickle. As for job postings, check out Craigslist, http://bettertcjobs.com/ and timesnews.net, Kingsport's daily's website which aggregates listings from all over the tri-cities in a better format than the Johnson City Press site.

[NorthernLights]

I would have to agree with jabogitlu on moving here without having work already lined up. When I moved here two years ago in June there was not very much to choose from and starting to get harder to find work and it has gotten increasingly and steadily more difficult to find work ever since then. The only jobs listed these days are RN, OT, PT, COTA, PTA and other assorted certified medical positions, the occasional admin. assistant job, possibly HVAC tech, and entry level laborers/lawn care/warehouse at 7.50 an hour or the occasional 3rd shift job extruding plastic parts on an assembly line somewhere. Other than that if you don't mind getting dosed with a few RADS a year then there's nuclear fuel recycling shift work up in Erwin that pays well I understand. Oh yeah, the ubiquitous call center jobs in the area are pretty much always looking for warm bodies to do CSR work. Plus, job postings that for lack of a better word, are just simply false like most anything you see listed for ETSU and on the state jobsites. They're just going through the EEO motions and they will hire from within, if they haven't got someone picked out and doing the job already.
Here's two more sites to look on for work locally. If you still have your heart set on moving here without work you may wish to look much closer to Knoxville in my opinion.

The Tri-Cities Internet Employment Database - Updated Daily by Times News Online!

Johnson City, TN 37601 Jobs | Indeed.com

[cherrobrob]

My wife works for a bank with many locations in the area. We will wait until a job opens in the area we decide on. We would love to find an area of historic homes that is also a good neighborhood. Any suggestions?

[NorthernLights]

There are a few little pockets of historic homes scattered around the old original settlements, Jonesborough, and Rogersville, and Abingdon VA kind of pop into my mind first. Old historic little towns have homes with heftier price tags. I looked at one in Jonesborough this spring that was well over 500,000. Maybe an old farm house further out of the towns may be a more affordable way to get that kind of home.
You may wish to line up your wife's potential transfer locations first and come for a vacation to check it out or move near where she gets transferred and get a 6 month lease or something while you find some work and drive all over N/E TN to get a first hand feel for it.