Need Rural...but w/in 30 min of Knoxville (Dandridge: mortgage, real estate)

[gemkeeper]

Best of everything with the new home, bbkaren. New Jersey is certainly sucking a lot of $$ out of you. I am sure that you'll find you have a bit left over at the end of the month after you make your move. Plus, you get to live in one of the loveliest spots in the country!

It has gotten so expensive to live in the NE. I see my relatives up there making do with less and less every year. I don't know how people manage. I miss the weather, but certainly not the poor economy or congestion.

Enjoy this new chapter in your lives.

[chesneygirl1180]

I used to live in NJ... moved to Chattanooga, TN when I was 18 in order to attend UTC. I totally fell in love with the area. I moved back to NJ after finishing school, but learned to hate it all over again, and came back South after 2 years (I moved to Charlotte, NC). Nice idea to move BUT I will tell you that the TN public schools are some of the worst EVER. After getting to know some of my classmates at UTC, and hearing about the schools they went to (and observing the quality of their work, honestly), I felt privileged to have attended excellent NJ public schools. If you have a child, either stay in NJ and wait it out (18 years is a while, I realize) or make sure you can afford private school because the schools are terrible in TN. Plus, I was in east TN over the extended weekend for a visit and am starting to notice that it's changing there, just like it has in Charlotte... lots more Yankees are moving into the area, and it seems to be becoming much more congested and "busy," so I fear it will eventually become just like NY/NJ (which is how Charlotte has basically become ).

[Catsndogs]

Maryville has a pretty good school system and people go out of their way to get their kids in it. There are some other decent schools in the county as well...Carpenter Middle is excellent and Wm. Blount HS from personal experience. I know two different people from NJ who live in Maryville who said the schools their young kids attended in NJ were not good. So rekon it depends on a lot of factors. Yes, Yankees can really make things crowded but seems that people are coming from all over. I thought it was the financial climate that brought people to Charlotte just as technology brought people to the Triangle area. Good Luck.

[bree86]

Hi Karen,

I think you should give Knoxville a try. There are many great clubs and attractions. I have lived in seclusion in East Knox Area and loved every minute of it. The schools are great and there is so many places close by. I have to move to FL due to a death, but I can tell you there is no place like Knoxville or Tennessee for that matter. As for crime, we never had a problem and all our friends have had no problems thru out Knox County/StrawPlains/Knoxville/Corryton, but that is not to say that there is crime everywhere, but I feel blessed that we live in a very low key crime area and we have 1 son who really enjoyed the schools. Good Luck!

[Cookey mith]

Dandridge is a beautiful place. Great views of the Smoky Mountains and Douglas Lake in a lot of the sub-divisions. Very rural. It doesn't have a single red light and the town is the second oldest in Tennessee. Main street is an historical area. Homes are really reasonable too.

[bbkaren]

If the soil testing comes up okay and we have room for a septic of some sort, we close on Friday on our little half acre in Kingston/Loudon!

[kimnrandy2007]

we live in seymour tn,its right on outskirts of knoxville and we r selling our home so if interested let us know

[kimnrandy2007]

we live in seymour,blount county,we came from mi. 3 yrs ago an i cant wait to get out of here.we r putting our home for sale this weekend.no such thing as southern hospitality trust me we r yankees and people down here dont let ya forget it,they will call ya dam yankees cuz thats a yankee that wont leave..well also alot of men are lazy here and only work when rent is due and they dont have anything else to pawn.I have 2 children still at home and ill be dammed if I am keeping them in this type of enviroment..

[mapegp]

My father will be moving in a few days to Maryville, he said it's beautiful up there
and only a 30 minute drive from Knoxville. He found nice and helpful persons in Maryville, asked for help, he's from Spain, has very strong accent and had no problem communicating with local residents and finding an apartment. Good luck!!!

[bbkaren]

I'm happy to report that, with some creative house placement and septic design, we're going to be able to put a house on our little sliver of pie near Watts Bar Lake.

We thought it would be simpler, but we just couldn't determine whether or not the lot is buildable until now.

We've had extensive involvement with the zoning gal, the dirt guy, the groundwater guy, and now the septic contractor, to determine if in fact a septic can go on that land and finally we have the right combination to make it work! We're only going to be able to put in a 2 bedroom septic but that'll work for us by the time we move down.

I've also heard that banks won't finance a home with less than 3 bedrooms but Lord willing, we'll be selling this place in NJ once the market improves and hopefully we won't be mortgaging.

I have to say, what a bunch of really nice people I've been exposed to during this transaction--from the Zoning Officer, the Tax Assessor's Office, Groundwater Department, the TVA people, not to mention the surveyor and soil consultant...everyone has been just terrific! I have yet to meet or speak with anyone who sounds or seems suspicious of me, or isn't just as friendly and helpful as can be.

The septic contractor made a special trip all the way out to the site then spent an hour and a half with me on the cell phone discussing how to make the septic work today. When I asked him to let me know what I owed him for his time, he said, "Ma'am, you don't owe me a dime. It's been nice talking to you and I hope you'll consider using my company when the time comes". This after giving me step-by-step instructions on what to do after we acquire the property.

We'll be closing in a couple days and will at that point (and for the next couple years until we're ready to build), have a terrific new place to pitch a tent on our upcoming vacations!!

We're so excited to be (almost) Tennessee landowners! hooray! What a journey this has been...and we're not even there yet--