Rural but progressive living in TN? (Knoxville, Oak Ridge: real estate, condos, low crime)

[pixiewytch]

Hi everybody, my family is hoping to move from our native Florida to TN or the Carolinas. Despite living here our entire life we are being pushed out by condos, townhomes, and urban sprawl which also includes skyrocketing costs of living. We have a four year old and a baby on the way soon. Ideally I would like to raise my family in a slower paced lifestyle with more emphasis on nature and simple living than corporate greed.

We visited the Gatlinburg area and the Blue Ridge mountain area and have fallen in love with it so we have been working toward the goal of moving to TN or NC for several years now. I just have no idea where to start or what would be an ideal city for us. We don't have a lot of money to travel extensively and research this.

We are trying to narrow down some specifics but this is tough with children involved. My husband and I fantasize about living off grid with solar power and building our own small cabin but I also don't want to isolate my children from society. I would love to live in a small country town with one school but I also want to be able to get to a town that has some sort of community or cultural activities for the children. Plus, my husband is in engineering and would probably need to commute (he already does now) but of course we would like to keep that to a minimum.

Last of all we are very liberal minded progressive thinkers (many would call us hippies I guess). I am used to being surrounded by conservatives in my family and even here in Fl but I don't want to move somewhere if my family feels shut out or unwelcome by our crazy ideas of building a simple ecofriendly dwelling and raising our kids to make their own choices about spirituality, politics, etc.

I guess I'm looking for the best of both worlds which may be hard to find....good old fashioned country folk whom we would have a lot in common with combined with an open minded community that cares about social issues and the environment. An area without a lot of building code restrictions and rebates for solar/renewable energy is definitely a plus.

[Tyler Lund]

Might you consider Tullahoma? We are a city of just over 20,000. We have been a designated Tree City USA for several years. Tullahoma is a progressivly developing town with stores and restraunts only found in big cities but we are beautiful with millions of trees. We have 7 city parks, 2 Community Centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a variety recreational programs for all. We also are know throughout the state for our excellent city school system which all students graduate with high honors. We a have 2 institues of higher education: Motlow State Community College and The University of Tennessee Space Institute. Tullahoma is home to Arnold Angineering and Development Center (USAF) Which is the worlds largest wind tunnel test facillity. We are only located 11 miles Southwest of I-24 with 2 access highways to the intersate. So Tullahoma has something for all!!

[GrannyLois]

Sounds like Oak Ridge would be perfect for you. Check it out when you get a chance.

[pixiewytch]

Thanks for the suggestions. I looked up both of these areas online. It sounds like they have great culture and small town feel. What are land prices like? I didn't see much listed in real estate. We are on a tight budget and need to move somewhere with cheap rural land prices. We don't want to live in suburbs and want to go as mortgage free as possible.

[Ed Partin]

Tyler is giving you good advice.....I live in warren county, adjoining Tullahoma's county (coffee), and this whole area would be great for you, especially the fact that your husband is an engineer, and the fed's are moving a gazillion engineering jobs from N. va. to Huntsville in a base closing move. if you don't mind a little commute, you can live almost anywhere in our area quite inexpensively.

[Ed Partin]

Follow=up...look into the Sewanee cowan Alto area as well...college atmosphere, lots of free thinkers

[ThePhoenix]

Good Job Ed we need more people like you to bring people like me back to Warren Co. I grew up there and moved to M'boro after college because lack of jobs. Looking to come back to work in McMinnville but not many jobs.

[KewGee]

Are you concerned about crime? Oak Ridge doesn't have a very low crime rate, rating 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 for violent crime. Check out Moderator cut: link cut for lots of really good information and hopefully, the information given is accurate.

[dgibsonrn]

Hi,
You can also research through the Govt census bureau, it tells you all sorts of demographics. This site is quick facts, but it tells you alot about a county or city, median income, how many people have graduated high school, how many have bachelors degrees, etc.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

We used sites like this to determine where we wanted to live, we went first for climate, because that was our biggest factor, then honed it down by using demographics. We found an area, the Cumberland Plateau, and went from there. We purchased property in Morgan County and purchased outside of Sunbright. Their school is k-12, situated on a beautiful piece of land. I know they have active high school football teams in the area, but I don't know much else in that area. Our children are grown, we were looking to move rural and found it.
Good Luck

[anika]

Hi, I feel the same as you do! Knoxville I hear is a good place for what you are looking for.

Anika