Considering the move to Knoxville--Advice Please (Chattanooga, Murfreesboro: renting, car insurance, crime)

[globe9]

My GF and I currently live in New Orleans and have all of our lives. We're in our early 30's now and have become fed up with the corrupt politicians, the crime, the general filthiness of the place, and the HEAT! I've visited the East TN area MANY times over the years and LOVE the Smokies. I love the outdoors and want to mtn. bike on trails, hike, camp, kayak, etc. and I think East TN may be the place for us. My GF is an officer with the NOPD and I work at a laboratory company. We aren't wealthy and have been looking at homes online in the $100K to $145K range in Knoxville, but I don't know the areas well. An older, smaller home is great for us. We don't have kids and don't want any. I like established neighborhoods with trees, but don't want to live in the inner city as crime is an issue for us. I want to be near a biking/walking trail or greenbelt as well. Do any neighborhoods fit this description?
I'm assuming we'd get jobs in downtown Knoxville and wouldn't want to commute more than 30mins each way either. How easy is it to find a decent paying job in Knoxville? I have a BA in English and currently make about $26,000 while my GF makes about $45,000. I'd want to earn at least $25k.

We'll be in Nashville in Dec. to visit my brother and my GF's sister who both live in the area(Hendersonville and Murfreesboro), then heading to Gatlinburg and thought we might spend some time in Knoxville as well.

We had considered Asheville first, but after looking for affordable homes that WEREN'T double wides we gave up, b/c there doesn't seem to be any. Didn't even start looking for jobs there, but I hear there aren't any.

What other others would ya'll suggest? I like the mtns. and want to be close, but a job in a metropolitan area is also a necessity, so the burbs of a city like Knoxville, Nashville, Chatanooga, is where I'm looking.

Please help as this seems very overwhelming and difficult to find the perfect home.

[LilCabinGirl]

Hi Globe,

I think the Knoxville area has exactly the kind of neighborhood you're looking for, I'm just not sure of the jobs. Do you think maybe you'd be able to find work in Oak Ridge with your lab experience? If that's the case then maybe you can find something in between Oak Ridge and Knoxville leaving you both with a commute of about 30 minutes. You should look at the job posting websites to see what the job market is like in each of your respective fields and take it from there.

LCG

[BarbG]

Hi, from the MS Gulf Coast, about 50 minutes from N.O.

First off, a warning -- July and August can be killers here too. The difference is that it cools down to the 70ish at night, and the occasional cool front makes it through and cools things down to highs of 80ish for a couple of days. Sure beats the 90s ALL the time and lows at about 80 at night.

Knoxville is a huge sprawl. When we moved here, we rented in Powell for a year, and have never regretted renting first. We drove all over the area, back and forth, checking out neighborhoods, and finally settled in Maryville, a bit further out than you want, but mountain views to die for! I can really recommend living here for a bit before deciding where you are going to live permanently.

If you can find a job in your field, I think that your salary requirement is reasonable. Not too sure about your girlfriend. Check both the city of Knoxville and Knox County, maybe even THP for jobs for her. I'm sure the amounts vary whether it's city, county or state.

The ONLY thing we miss the most is the food. Can't beat food from N.O. and the MS Gulf Coast (I come from a big Cajun family). We've found a couple of Cajun restaurants that we frequent when we just have to have Cajun food. AND we've developed a taste for BBQ.

Oh, dm me if you want a link for the local MLS listings.

[knoxmomma]

I think you would love Old North Knoxville. Older homes. Young couples. Relatively affordable. Check out www.oldnorthknoxville.org.

[ookla]

I'm originally from central MS (Jackson) and spent lots of time in NOLA. My wife(xtine) and I were recently married there. We both love the city and would love to live there except for precisely the reasons you mentioned. We moved to Chattanooga a few months ago and things are not working out as well as we had liked. I found a decent job for what I do in about 15 minutes (seriously). She, on the other hand has had slightly less success in the job market here. There are A LOT of excellent jobs in Chattanooga, if you have a college degree(particularly in engineering) and as far as law enforcement for your g/f the state is always hiring troopers. I understand the police dept here has some problems. But of course most towns do. Being from NOLA, you may have to get used to the lack of nightlife and concerts (depending on what you are into I guess). We are currently looking into Knoxville ourselves for the future. Don't get me wrong, I think Chattanooga has much to offer, and may be excellent for some people. This city has much to offer someone into the outdoors, check out outdoorchattanooga.com. Good luck

[oldmanbob]

North Knoxville, and many places, will have the housing you want, and several places have biking trails. Plenty of areas within short drives, to mtn bike, and blessed with all our state parks, and the 4 lakes for fishing and boating activities.

[globe9]

North Knoxville sounds right up our alley and interesting enough, when I was on the realty site and saved some homes I liked and were in our price range, out of 11 homes, 9 of them were located in North Knoxville. Does anyone know the zip code for N. Knoxville so I can start doing a more specialized search for that particular area?

What streets should I be looking at? Any particularly "bad" areas of N. Knoxville we should avoid? Not looking for neighborhoods with cars perpetually up on blocks, or parked on the lawns, with fast food wrappers blowing up on the lawn, and guys drinking 40's out of paper bags on the corner. LOL, maybe I've been in New Orleans too long.

Our price range right now ranges up to $150,000 for a house. It will depend on how much we can get for the house we have down here, but I'm optimistic. Unlike the rest of the country, New Orleans' economy is actually doing quite well.

Ok, someone mentioned that my price range of approx. $25K a year is reasonable for a salary, but that my GF's of $40K may be unrealistic. I'm assuming the cost of living is a lot cheaper in Knoxville if $40K is an unrealistic salary for most people. She's in law enforcement now, but has experience as a executive assistant for the chairman of a major financial institution, experience running her own enviormental clean-up company across the globe and she's a licensed massage therapist. She has many skills, so could almost do anything. She's not limited to law enforcement. We'll have to keep an eye on Monster for the Knox area. Just a little worried about the salaries there. I have a B.A. and a Associates in Paralegal Studies. and SHOULD be making more than $25K IMO LOL I read another thread where a mechanic was offered $6/hr. The employees at Burger King down here make $10/hr., so I'm a little hesitant about that, but if the cost of living is cheaper and Knoxville has more to offer for me and my GF in terms of outdoor activities, climate, scenery, I'm definitely there!

Thanks for the help everyone and keep the suggestions coming. Still have never been to Knoxville, but will be driving around in Dec. to check out different neighborhoods, downtown area, etc. I can't wait.

[hiknapster]

I'm the lady whose husband was offered the $6 an hour auto tech job. He has 20 years experience and is one of the best.

Take that offer with a grain of salt. It was meant to illustrate that many shops don't value auto techs. I wanted to elaborate more, but got a little disgusted with the thread and refused to further contribute. I get very ticked off when someone wants to know how the auto tech industry is going and I see responses like "The place I bring my car to is always busy."

Call me sensitive, and I am, but those comments really ticked me off. Even so, the comments were made by very nice forum members.

Anyway, I want to add two things...

The shop that offered my husband the crazy low pay was owned by someone from New York City. The offer came right out of his mouth. I am from the northeast and my dad is from the Bronx.

The shop that almost didn't pay my husband, and did NOT pay the other two techs, is owned by someone from Chicago, where my husband is from. I know that shop has a local name, (y'all know which one) but the owner is not from here.

The point is, it is not always Southerners that treat techs this way. It may be Yankees that think they can underpay the people here. Something to think about.

Second, my husband, who is kind of sort of freelancing, is clearing about $650 to $780 a week.

Okay, now that I have clarified that.

Please also look in Fountain City. It is part of North Knoxville and we love it here. Take a look at some of JMT's pictures and tell me if you do not fall in love.

We did from the first time we laid eyes on it. I told JMT that I first saw it in October of 2005, and although it took us three years to buy, we bought here.

Would you like a link to the local MLS?

This should help a lot of folks. I am just to the north of I-640, and then to the north of Cedar Lane.

It is area 111.

JMT is in area 104.

Search Details

[BarbG]

And I'm the one who mentioned that $40k could be more than your gf could make here in law enforcement.

As I said, I don't know. That's why I advised research. I do make a great salary, but have friends doing the same thing for considerably less right here in the same area. When I asked the wage scale for what I do, a wise friend told me that it ranged from $30,000 to $50,000. And she was right on the money. I was offered jobs from one end of that scale to the other when I got my resume out.

You have to be prepared for this if you move here. But, we have found the cost of living to be less, mostly in auto insurance, home insurance and utilities. Gas is a bit cheaper than the coast, but food is about the same.

Here's a link to a cop job posted with the county:

Police Jobs in Knox County, TN (http://www.policejobsinfo.com/jobs/tn/knox/ - broken link)

and one with the city:

http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/employment/jobs/9046.pdf

It's good that she has other skills. Police officers are notoriously underpaid for what they do.

[ookla]

Tennesse State Trooper pay minimum annual is $32,676
Tennessee Department of Human Resources

also an option

And others are right about so many aspects of the cost of living being less here. I don't think from what I've seen that there is a drastic difference between Chatt. and Knoxville. I spent 3 years living in Tampa and we could barely get by. Car insurance is way lower here, and electricity due to the TVA. We are currently getting by on my salary alone at 13.50 an hour. We aren't starving either.

Hopefully we can come up to Knoxville soon and check out the area. May be trying to move up there ourselves soon.