Igor Blevin's, "A Native Californian in Knoxville"

[TheShadow]

We don't get the buggy swarms much in our neighborhood. It's odd because we are on a golf course and a block from the lake. We often walk or take the golf cart out after sunset for a nice evening spring/summer/fall cruise on the cart path. We do get the odd mosquito or a few gnats, but not swarms of them. I carry a can of OFF in the cart just in case, but almost never needed it. It's a very local thing, I guess. You know that I'm from Sacramento, like you, and if bites are any indication, we had more mosquitos in CA.

[Lin19687]

Originally Posted by TheShadow

We don't get the buggy swarms much in our neighborhood. It's odd because we are on a golf course and a block from the lake. We often walk or take the golf cart out after sunset for a nice evening spring/summer/fall cruise on the cart path. We do get the odd mosquito or a few gnats, but not swarms of them. I carry a can of OFF in the cart just in case, but almost never needed it. It's a very local thing, I guess. You know that I'm from Sacramento, like you, and if bites are any indication, we had more mosquitos in CA.

Most likely there are less bugs by the golf course because they spray the crap out of them


Not sure if it is the same there as it is up north but if it is a bit breezy then there are less mosquitos.
If you want a nice evening on the deck just bring out a box fan and it will keep the bugs away

[Igor Blevin]

Originally Posted by TheShadow

We don't get the buggy swarms much in our neighborhood. It's odd because we are on a golf course and a block from the lake. We often walk or take the golf cart out after sunset for a nice evening spring/summer/fall cruise on the cart path. We do get the odd mosquito or a few gnats, but not swarms of them. I carry a can of OFF in the cart just in case, but almost never needed it. It's a very local thing, I guess. You know that I'm from Sacramento, like you, and if bites are any indication, we had more mosquitos in CA.

I have been caught in clouds of gnats on walks last summer in some subdivisions in West Knox. Ocassional mosquito bites, but not ubiquitous. At my age, I don't really hike on mountain trails, so I don't know how bugs are in the Great Smokey Mountains. Around my neighborhoods it is hit and miss. I will try to get in more walks this summer and see how the bugs do.

Wasps seem to like my apartment balcony, but a quick spray by maintenance staff is good for all summer and they don't come back.

In Sacramento, I used to sit out on the patio and listen to SF Giants baseball games. Lots of mosquitos. I learned to run a fan at fairly high speed which would both blow them away and blow my breath away too. Mosquitos target the CO2 in your breath. It helped tha the fan blew that away as I exhaled. It got chili sitting in front of a strong fan, but really solved the mosquito problem. It is shame that bug zappers don't kill mosquitos.

[Igor Blevin]

I mentioned "hassle free" living as one of my pros of Knoxville. Convience is not overrated.

I just renewed my car registration. No smog test required. Just pay your small fee and you are done. I love it. Very conventient.

I hated taking the time and spending the money for an annual Sacramento smog test that the car never failed. Of course, I would always put off taking my car into the shop for the inconvenient test and then have to pay a late registration fine.

It is just so nice not having to smog test my car in Knoxville. I don't want to pollute, but I am sure by now if your emissions are wrong, your car will throw a code and tell you a repair is needed, so why test it annually just "because"?

Every little convenience like "no smog test" really adds up in TN. People will ask, "what is wrong with living in California"? I forget that all of these Knoxville/Tennessee conveniences add up so quickly and are so nice. It makes a different in quality of life, especially when I feel like the CA rules are unnecessary.

How many ways do I like Tennessee? Just lots.

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by Igor Blevin

I mentioned "hassle free" living as one of my pros of Knoxville. Convience is not overrated.

I just renewed my car registration. No smog test required. Just pay your small fee and you are done. I love it. Very conventient.

I hated taking the time and spending the money for an annual Sacramento smog test that the car never failed. Of course, I would always put off taking my car into the shop for the inconvenient test and then have to pay a late registration fine.

It is just so nice not having to smog test my car in Knoxville. I don't want to pollute, but I am sure by now if your emissions are wrong, your car will throw a code and tell you a repair is needed, so why test it annually just "because"?

Every little convenience like "no smog test" really adds up in TN. People will ask, "what is wrong with living in California"? I forget that all of these Knoxville/Tennessee conveniences add up so quickly and are so nice. It makes a different in quality of life, especially when I feel like the CA rules are unnecessary.

How many ways do I like Tennessee? Just lots.

In no particular order……..

1. Revenue generation.

2. Busy work for public employees.

[Joaquin Van Damme]

It is just so nice not having to smog test my car in Knoxville. I don't want to pollute, but I am sure by now if your emissions are wrong, your car will throw a code and tell you a repair is needed, so why test it annually just ”because”?

-----------------------------------------------

Yep, because everyone whose twenty year-old beater ”throws a code” immediately runs into the repair shop to have it taken care of.

[Igor Blevin]

I am seeing a lot of multifamily apartments going up around town. This could be very good for rent relief in the next few years. Despite Knoxville's growth, I think they are building enough new multifamily housing to ease rents around town.

I can't find a house and inventory is down, so I just signed a new 12-month lease. $0 increase. My landlord did not increase my rent at all this year. This after a 10% increase last year.

Rent prices are stabilizing with all the new multifamily coming on line.

I can't speak to rental prices for SFH, but the option to rent an apartment may well be easing price pressure with homes too.

[Igor Blevin]

As far as the housing search, inventory is low. There is just not much listed for sale. Aren't we in the spring selling season?

It seems that everything in the $300,000s or under is selling like hotcakes still. This is not to say that homes over $600,000 are not selling. They are.

Builders are still building for the move-up buyer over $500,000 rather than entry level around $300,000. A 1200 SqFt home at $250 psi is $300,000. Really nothing being built to that price level. DR Horton has homes for $260k in Talbott, TN in the outskirs of Morristown. That is Timbuktu, 35 miles east of downtown in kind of an empty zone. The exurbs. Land must have been cheap.

Builders are being smart. If everything over $500k is selling, why would you build a small home rather than a large one with upgrades and get every dollar of profit you can?

I can't blame them.

Prices are still going up. I see sellers dropping asking prices, but the actual sold prices are still up from a year ago. You just have sellers initially asking too much and then still getting more than sellers got last year. Prices haven't stopped going up in Knoxville and may not flatten for years as inventory is low and growth is still strong. But who knows? Prices can't go up forever, right?

[creeksitter]

Horton is building family homes in South Knox county for the mid 300s.

The flooring guy I patronize says they are putting in the cheapest carpet so he gets lots of business from their buyers.

One builder just installs one color of carpet, take it or leave it. He rants about this but it's more business for him
I hate to consider the waste.

[Igor Blevin]

Speaking of rent, there will be almost 2,100 new apartment units added in 2023, a 4% increase over existing. This compares to 3,700 new units in Knoxville the previous 5 years. That is a lot of new rental relief.


Knoxville is Among the Nation’s Strongest Apartment Markets


Helping Knoxville maintain strong occupancy and rent growth levels, new supply has been modest, with a pace that trailed the national average over much of the past five years. That trend continued into 2022. Knoxville added just 673 units during the calendar year, growing its existing unit count 1.3%, below the national average growth pace of 1.8%.

While Knoxville saw the demand dip like the rest of the country in 2022, recording net move-outs from 168 units in 2022, the demand and supply relationship maintained a balance over the past five years, with a total of 3,811 units absorbed and 3,734 units delivered.

However, Knoxville is expecting supply to surge in the coming year, which could dampen market fundamentals. In 2023, roughly 2,090 units are scheduled to come online, which is slated to grow existing inventory 4%.

https://www.realpage.com/analytics/k...tment-markets/