Relocating to Knoxville area

[Colin's Mommy]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

No.

I think we are speaking two different languages.

You don't need an enormous amount of taxes in order to highly maintain an area.

I guess you'll have to come see for yourself. We spend our money very, very wisely.

I noticed in your town that you have a lot of separate government entities to run different services. Yeesh. Yet, the roads look like they desperately need to be fixed.

Please understand that I'm a left-leaning moderate Yankee with lots of experience dealing with municipalities and I am here to tell you that things can be done very well on much less taxes.

Obviously things can always be done differently. Do different cities/states/towns/ households spend money differently than each other... yes. However, I think it goes without saying that if you have a low income area you will not have a great/thriving/alive downtown area, parks, possibly tennis courts community pool, bike trails etc. You need some sort of a solid tax base right? In an area where 50% of the homeowners are in foreclosure or even 25% is that city/town going to be able to maintain all of those amenities. It doesn't matter how wise you are with your money, the bottom line is if you don't have it you can't spend it.

Roads? Yes a lot of roads in Michigan are not the best but please tell me how much salt per mile your area uses on roads in any given winter? How many inches of frost during the worst week/month? How many times a plow truck with 2 plows loaded with a few tons of salt passes by your home? Actually, the roads in "my" county are thankfully in pretty good shape

[hiknapster]

I'm from New England. I understand bad roads. If we had that situation here we would accordingly budget.

But we don't have a lot of foreclosures so I don't understand what that has to do with our area.

And during the housing bust - in areas severely affected such as Florida, where I lived - foreclosures hit every socio-economic area. In fact, in most cases the higher-end and newer areas were the ones with the largest percentage of foreclosures.

Once again, I don't see what this has to do with Knoxville, but that's okay. Moving on...

[calvinbama]

You will love downtown Knoxville. I would reccomend that you check out the Fountain City or Bearden areas. They are close to hospitals, downtown, and amenities, and I hear the schools are good.

[srwilkinson2002]

Hi Colin's Mommy,
I couldn't help commenting! I am from Michigan (but live in NY). We are currently in the process of looking in Knoxville as well, and I am a nurse! I understand what you are saying about the taxes. From what I have learned so far. Powell is great if you want a little more land and privacy. Downtown is great if you want close access. West Knoxville is closer to the malls and mainstream stores and is filled with subdivisions. My sister lives in fountain city and it seems to be a combination of everything. The great thing about knoxville is that nothing is too far away.
Have you started looking at any particular hospitals yet. Covenant, from what I heard, is the best to work for but pay a bit less. I have been applying all over like a crazy woman with out much response.
I hope your search is going well!!!!