The Knoxville Area Chat Thread (Maryville, Loudon: real estate, houses, travel)

[hiknapster]

What hype? Do you mean the promise of over-development?

[gemkeeper]

That was my first fear, also, Hik. Not another mountain crusher!!

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by gemkeeper

That was my first fear, also, Hik. Not another mountain crusher!!

Exactly!

[gemkeeper]

Great minds, Hik!!

Suzanne1945 is of the same mind too, I think. Right, Suzanne?

[Suzanne1945]

Absolutely. And, when 'green' is touted that really makes me wonder. We arrived at our house late this afternoon.
Gem, do the GA road crews ever stop with the road construction? I guess not! Seems like it's almost non-stop the entire length of 75.

[gemkeeper]

It is always an on-going project on I-75 especially within a 75 mile radius of Atlanta. The road takes such a heavy beating from all of the truck traffic. (You probably noticed the 18 wheelers that own the road!)

Plus, add all of the commuters in and out of Atlanta proper everyday, as well as, folks from up north in the midwest traveling south, and you have a super-highway that is pounded to a pulp.

The constant road work makes the highway hazardous in itself, I think. They really should do more night work, like they are forced to do by the short warm season up north, when the traffic is a little bit lighter, IMO.

They are the civil engineers, though, so I have to assume they know what they are doing. I might give them a call, however, just to offer a couple of tips.

I'm glad you made it okay, Suzanne1945. If you go take a peek let us know if it looks like they are doing any "des-truction" yet over by the Parkway. I hope not.

[gailli]

Welcome to Tenn finally. I know what you mean about Atlanta, I am going 441 straight down to Macon when I go to Fl for a visit, I cant stand going any where near Atlanta.

I met a nice lady and gave her the link to come join us so hopefully she will, her name is Diane and she lives here in Seymour also.

Hope everyone is doing well, going to Smith Family show tonight and to Country Tonite Thurs night so that should be fun, Diane and her hubby are joining us.

Are you guys still planning on trying to get together and meet up someday in Knoxville?

[SmokyMtnGal]

Linda, very nice of you to invite a friend here. I hope you all have fun this evening.

Two things I wanted to share with you all. First of all, have you all been to the Google page today? They always have very cute holiday designs on special days and today was so cute. In honor of Earth Day they "turned out the lights" on their site and said that they had done their part and now it was our turn. Their site was black with white lettering. I love a big internet site that still has a playful side!

Secondly, I have to tell you all that I am excited that Subway has footlong subs for $5 and I am so happy to have our lunch planned today!

I'm off to sort through the coat rack/wooden shelf by the back door and send coats to the cleaners, put gloves and mittens up and put other items away. Then we off to make our nursery wish list. Yay, I love Spring!

[J&Em]

Hi Suzanne glad you made it... will send a DM soon!!

I've been busy with other things and haven't had a chance to peek in and read up on what everyone is up to. I am hoping to be down permanently soon, since I am missing my little corner of Maryville!

On one of our visits to our new home we took a ride from Walland to the other end (rte 129) of the Foothills Parkway and then decided to take the parallel road (Happy Valley Road) through Happy Valley and go under the parkway and down on Happy Valley Road until it becomes Montvale. I saw that street being cut in right under the Foothills Parkway (not far from the Look Rock scenic overlook parking lot) and was curious about it. There are already a few big homes you can see from my house on the ridge just a little more southwest, also off of Happy Valley. The cut looks even more horrendous from Look Rock tower. For someone who has been long involved with environmental concerns and conservation it was a truly ugly site/sight.

I asked around and it seems that it is not being marketed to or for local people, the price tag is too high and the expected buyers are out of staters who are looking for big luxury and second homes with views. I don't want to quote prices because I am not sure they are even close to being right but it sure sounded like the million dollar price tag was a sure minimum. Most of the property seemed to be in the $ range 400-500,000, if I heard correctly, so it would make sense to double that after the cost of constructing a house. Looking up from the valley I am sure that will ruin a once beautiful vista for many of the valley's people.. Wonder if they'll have to change the name from Happy Valley?? It sure will cut into the vista from the parkway as well. the common green space and hiking trails sound so nice...wonder what the reality is?

Gem I sure hope you find the right place soon. We kept seeing land in small developments for sale when we first looked but haven't noticed as much recently. Seems like Maryville has become more and more attractive to others in a way I wish it wasn't. I am worried that before I get a chance to settle in, that my neighborhood cows and farm land will be a thing of the past! WE have both loved walking past "our" cows every day that we are home in Maryville. We purposely looked at existing homes just to avoid contributing to the profits that make "The Overlook" possible, even though I really wanted a house to my specifications - just once. Every house we have had has been someone else's and with it comes someone else's tastes and mistakes that we had to fix, if we could. That was a hard choice and I don't blame you trying to find land and build... just hope it isn't in one of "those" places!!

[gemkeeper]

Originally Posted by goodbyehollywood

Hey Gem-- I don't know anything about that (over)development, but are you back to looking at land? Or are you still planning on buying your new place?

And how's your hubby doing? Has he fully recuperated?

I just saw this, goodbyehollywood, as I was trying to catch up. We are unsure at this point. I think we are going to look at existing and build only if we don't find a good fit for us. Life is too short!

DH is doing wonderfully. Thanks for asking. His recovery is going better than we expected with few of the foretold after effects of the surgery. You can imagine how that has lifted his spirits - which leads to more recovery!!

I have been busy on the Book forum lately and really missed everyone! I will have to make Knoxville my first priority every day - at least, for a couple of "hellos"!

I am sorry to hear about the big homes over near the Parkway. Seems so unfair, doesn't it? I wish the county planners or whoever would take more into consideration than a developer's promise of "conservation". It rarely works that way.