The place for us? (Greeneville, Mountain City: house, buy, high school)

[daveasanders]

We are thinking about moving down your way and we would be looking for a small farm. We have alpacas and would want to find land or an existing farm. I'd like a minimum of 10 acres, but more would be better. My wife will be graduating from her mid-life college courses in the medical field. I'm hoping to tele-commute to my job in Mass. Our youngest son will be graduating from high school in 2012 so I could be interested in land now. One of the reasons that I think we want to move to NETN is because of a more moderate temperature range. Mass can get pretty cold and having just turned 60 makes me feel the cold more than I used to. But, I really don't like extreme hot and humid weather, either. Farm suggestions, location suggestions, etc? Thanks

[mbmouse]

Hi Dave,
I know you posted this in another thread, but it might get buried over there so I thought you should have your very own thread.
Well, thus far, yea the Tri-Cities or on any of the out skirts of them sounds like it fits what you are looking for. But how about some more info to help us give you better suggestions of areas to look at? You said your son graduates in 2012, are you planing on waiting until that happens to move? Or are you looking for a good high school here?
What kind of price range are you hoping for as far as the 10 or more acres with a house on it?
The weather should fit your needs as we are lucky to get 4 inches of snow at a time. It does get cold, but it doesn't last for months and months on end like where you are at now. We do have some humid days in July and August...well usually, been cool and in the 70's this week hahahah. But August isn't here yet so humid days might still show up, but again, don't last for long, long periods.

[NorthernLights]

I believe there may be a farm over on a road off of Cherokee Rd. That has Llamas, alpacas, etc. [pardon me for not being certain, I was raised in farming country but it was all dairy cows, grain and beef cattle...I'm afraid I only got a brief look at the animals so I am ignorant as to whether they may have been alpaca there or not.] I have seen that type of animal in this area though. Have you done any internet searches to see if there are other farmers doing what you are hoping to do or have you contacted the UT extension offices in this area?

[daveasanders]

Thanks for your responses.

I don't want to move until our son graduates from high school. Once he's in college, it won't matter that much where we live. If we can find land before he graduates that really fits us, we might buy the land and build later.

Around here, 10 acres of farmland that isn't being marketed to developers, can go for $300K. If there are developers interested in it,, it could easily go for far more (at least it could when the economy was good).

We are hoping to come down there around Christmas and looke around and then maybe drive down to Nashville for awhile to do tourist things.

[SarahSal]

There are a bunch of us here on this forum that migrated from the 'north country' - CT and NY, among other states.
And YES! You will be happily pleased with the climate.. There are four, lovely distinct seasons but winter is nothing like what it is in northern Connecticut (where I'm from). Depending on where you settle in NE TN you can also add another month or two onto summer. Spring is magnificent and surprisingly you'll find fall foliage similiar to the northeast (maybe not quite the vivid colors of New England but close!)

For what you seem prepared to spend, you will surely find some wonderful spots in this neck of the woods for far less than Mass; probably at least half the price you quoted. When you visit, you'll find many optional locations from Greeneville to Mountain City - all dependant on what your other criteria might be.

BTW - You can also do some of the "tourist" thing right here in this area - plus also venture across the TN/NC border to Asheville, a very popular city often called the 'San Francisco of the South'.

Keep us posted on your upcoming visit!

[Little Winged One]

You should have no problem finding what you want around this area, at probably less than you would expect to spend. We came here in 2004 looking for at least 10 acres and ended up with 80 acres at less than we would pay anywhere else for 10. Land prices have gone up a bit since then but I think they are still low compared to other places. We migrated from Maryland but are originally from Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The weather suits us except there is not enough snow in the wintertime for our tastes!
Good luck!