Cookeville, TN housing market???? (Crossville: sales, real estate, home sales)

[somewheresouth]

HI, I am a Realtor looking to relocate closer to my family in the South. I am originally from FL, moved to Montana and now am looking to get within a long days drive of FL. I do not like FL at all, but will need to be able to visit family, and be close enough for them to visit us. We are struggling to make decision about where to move. We are considering Cookeville, TN or Bowling Green, KY, or any other city that is not too big, but can still provide enough home sales to let me earn a living. My criteria are as follows:

1. Good place to serve God and many options for church.
2. Growing city with a decent housing market, with enough movement to provide decent turnover of housing inventory.
3. Good schools for my young kids. (doesn't have to be TOP in the NATION) just good.
4. It is also very important to have great hunting and fishing nearby.
5. Lastly, I need 4 good seasons, and would love to have at least a couple snows each year. ( I realize I won't get near what I get in Montana, but would still like at least a few inches each year)

ANY input would be great. BTW we are moving before spring 08 no matter what.

[firepower]

Originally Posted by somewheresouth

HI, I am a Realtor looking to relocate closer to my family in the South. I am originally from FL, moved to Montana and now am looking to get within a long days drive of FL. I do not like FL at all, but will need to be able to visit family, and be close enough for them to visit us. We are struggling to make decision about where to move. We are considering Cookeville, TN or Bowling Green, KY, or any other city that is not too big, but can still provide enough home sales to let me earn a living. My criteria are as follows:

1. Good place to serve God and many options for church.
2. Growing city with a decent housing market, with enough movement to provide decent turnover of housing inventory.
3. Good schools for my young kids. (doesn't have to be TOP in the NATION) just good.
4. It is also very important to have great hunting and fishing nearby.
5. Lastly, I need 4 good seasons, and would love to have at least a couple snows each year. ( I realize I won't get near what I get in Montana, but would still like at least a few inches each year)

ANY input would be great. BTW we are moving before spring 08 no matter what.

In Cookeville you will not have only good schools but GREAT schools!

You MIGHT have a couple of snows each year.Don't know how good they will be...But yes, you'll probably get a few inches.

Many,many church options in Cookeville! You wouldn't believe it!

Try Cookeville.


firepower

[JMT]

In addition to what firepower said, I remember reading an article in a local Cookeville paper, I can't remember if it was the Herald-Citizen or the Cumberland Business Journal. Anyway, essentially the article said that the housing slump across the country hasn't seemed to hit Cookeville yet. I have a couple of friends who are realtors in Cookeville, and they tell me that they haven't seen any drop in real estate sales. Homes may stay on the market a little longer than in the past, but it real estate there seems to be going at about the same healthy pace as before. The paper prints weekly real estate transactions, and it looks to be about the same as it has been the last few years.

Bowling Green is also a nice town and is similar to Cookeville although a bit larger. Cookeville is closer to the Nashville airport and benefits from Tennessee's more favorable tax structure.

Do a search in this forum for pictures I posted of churches in Cookeville, Cookeville neighborhoods, and other pictures of Cookeville. It really is a choice place to live.

[somewheresouth]

Thanks. Could anyone elaborate on the tax structure differences? Or point me to another thread that discussed it?

WHAT ABOUT THE WEATHER? SNOW EACH YEAR? EVEN A FEW INCHES?

[Tinman313]

Originally Posted by somewhere south

HI, I am a Realtor looking to relocate closer to my family in the South. I am originally from FL, moved to Montana and now am looking to get within a long days drive of FL. I do not like FL at all, but will need to be able to visit family, and be close enough for them to visit us. We are struggling to make decision about where to move. We are considering Cookeville, TN or Bowling Green, KY, or any other city that is not too big, but can still provide enough home sales to let me earn a living. My criteria are as follows:

1. Good place to serve God and many options for church.
2. Growing city with a decent housing market, with enough movement to provide decent turnover of housing inventory.
3. Good schools for my young kids. (doesn't have to be TOP in the NATION) just good.
4. It is also very important to have great hunting and fishing nearby.
5. Lastly, I need 4 good seasons, and would love to have at least a couple snows each year. ( I realize I won't get near what I get in Montana, but would still like at least a few inches each year)

ANY input would be great. BTW we are moving before spring 08 no matter what.

Cookeville too Orlando is a hard 12-14 hours drive depending how you drive.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Tinman313

Cookeville too Orlando is a hard 12-14 hours drive depending how you drive.

It's about 650 miles from Cookeville to Orlando. I guess if you drive sloooowly and make a bunch of stops it could take as long as 14 hours. It's never taken me more than 10-11.

As far as tax benefits to living in Tennessee instead of Kentucky, Tennessee has no state income tax. There is a rather high sales tax (9.75% on everything except food, which is 8.25% or so) but I prefer a sales tax over an income tax.

There's also the advantage of essentially free college tuition in Tennessee. Any Tennessee student who maintains at least a B average gets pretty much free tuition at state universities. I have students here at U.T. who are actually making money while in college because of the free tuition and academic scholarships they receive.

[Sparkman]

Originally Posted by JMT

It's about 650 miles from Cookeville to Orlando. I guess if you drive sloooowly and make a bunch of stops it could take as long as 14 hours. It's never taken me more than 10-11.

As far as tax benefits to living in Tennessee instead of Kentucky, Tennessee has no state income tax. There is a rather high sales tax (9.75% on everything except food, which is 8.25% or so) but I prefer a sales tax over an income tax.

There's also the advantage of essentially free college tuition in Tennessee. Any Tennessee student who maintains at least a B average gets pretty much free tuition at state universities. I have students here at U.T. who are actually making money while in college because of the free tuition and academic scholarships they receive.

Yea, I'd have to agree. I made it from Naples to Crossville, 830 miles, in 12 hours. I'd say Cookeville to Orlando would be 9-10 hours.

[Tinman313]

OK...... I also got stuck in Atlanta for about 2 hours I stand corrected.....

[somewheresouth]

We were just there for Thanksgiving, and my folks drove up from cetral FL in about 13-14 hrs. They are by no means fast drivers, and they stop for a sit down meals. SO it is a reasonable drive.

What about the snow, anybody have any comments on what is normal for a winter. I understand that the last few have been wierd winters for the whole country. What can I expect a s snowfall in a normal winter? Does the snow usually stick for at least a few days?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by somewheresouth

We were just there for Thanksgiving, and my folks drove up from cetral FL in about 13-14 hrs. They are by no means fast drivers, and they stop for a sit down meals. SO it is a reasonable drive.

What about the snow, anybody have any comments on what is normal for a winter. I understand that the last few have been wierd winters for the whole country. What can I expect a s snowfall in a normal winter? Does the snow usually stick for at least a few days?

I think the average annual snowfall for Cookeville is something like 8" a year. Some years it gets more, some years it gets hardly any. It rarely sticks for more than a couple of days, although I remember a few snowfalls that have stuck for more than a week at a time. The average high in January is 45 with an average low of 25.