We want to move to Tn- But where is best? (Knoxville: crime, how much)

[Andrea323]

Hi, We are needing some help! My family and I are looking to move to TN in a couple of years when we sell our house and we are a little bit scared because we've only lived in Tampa, FL. all our lives. We would like to move to a place that we can raise our kids and find an affordable home, and we've heard TN is wonderful. The price of houses here in Tampa are astronomical and the taxes we're getting where we can't afford them. We own a home repair business and we would like to find a large home that we can fix up, in a neighborhood that I can let my kids outside and not worry. We've seen some homes on Realtor.com around Mc Minnville and Paris, Tn, that are beautiful, but my husband worries about finding a job. We would like to continue our business there, but again we're not sure how things would go. Can anyone recomend a nice city that needs a good home repair business?

[JMT]

I would avoid McMinnville like the plague. The economy there is lousy, thanks in large part to Carrier's decision to close their plant there and put 1,200 people out of work. The school system in Warren County is pretty lousy, too.

Paris is beautiful, and it's been a popular retirement area for quite some time so its housing market is more active than McMinnville's. It also doesn't have the problems with Hispanic gangs that McMinnville has. Housing in McMinnville is cheap for a reason.

I'm originally from Tampa, too (Brandon), and there is not enough money in the world to get me to move back there. Life here in Tennessee is great! I live in Knoxville, by the way.

[brcomm0]

Cookville is also really nice. Alot going on in that area. You can look at Sparta or Spencer if you dont want to live in a busy area. Home improvement business would do very well, but will start out slow till people felt good about the work. I bought in Hawks Bluff in Spencer, and building a log home right now. I also can't wait to move up there. Don't care what I do.

[JMT]

yeah Cookeville is a great place. I have several friends who have moved there and love it. Great schools, lots to do for the kids, lots of job opportunities. I plan on moving there myself as soon as I can.

[Trevorelucas]

Okay, I would check out Tullahoma/WInchester/Estill Springs. Lots of restaurants, great Southern Atmosphere. Oly thing is it is 45 mins to Huntsville, 1 hr to Chatt and 1.5 hrs to Nashville. That area has one of the U.S.'s biggest Nissan Plants, so finding a job shouldn't be that hard.

[klosk]

I think you will need to do research on the different areas of Tennessee and what is offered. You will need to consider such things as: Schools, Religion, shopping, hospitals, climate etc. My husband and I have researched many areas and we find Kingsport and surrounding area and Oak Ridge and surrounding area are better suited to our needs. We like the green of east Tennessee and we are not religious people, can't remember when I went to church last. OR and KP seem to work for us as well as they have good hospitals and close by shopping. Just do some research and you will find an area you like. Most housing is cheap at least compared to New Mexico. Hope this helps.

[JMT]

Oak Ridge really is a nice area, it's just that there's not a whole lot of available housing there since the government owns 50% of the land. And even though Oak Ridge has strict building codes, that means it's surrounded by trailer parks and tar paper shacks. But you're right that Oak Ridge is more open to non-religious people.

The person who mentioned McMinnville--I wouldn't move there if my life depended on it. But nearby is Manchester. Manchester is a little smaller than McMinnville but has more restaurants, more jobs, better schools, and it's closer to Nashville and Chattanooga.

But I still say that if you want a nice, small town atmosphere but more job opportunities, good schools, health care, restaurants, night life, etc., you should head for a college town like Cookeville, Johnson City, Martin, or even Murfreesboro (although Murfreesboro has grown so fast so quickly it's become more expensive and crowded).

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Andrea323

Hi, We are needing some help! My family and I are looking to move to TN in a couple of years when we sell our house and we are a little bit scared because we've only lived in Tampa, FL. all our lives. We would like to move to a place that we can raise our kids and find an affordable home, and we've heard TN is wonderful. The price of houses here in Tampa are astronomical and the taxes we're getting where we can't afford them. We own a home repair business and we would like to find a large home that we can fix up, in a neighborhood that I can let my kids outside and not worry. We've seen some homes on Realtor.com around Mc Minnville and Paris, Tn, that are beautiful, but my husband worries about finding a job. We would like to continue our business there, but again we're not sure how things would go. Can anyone recomend a nice city that needs a good home repair business?

If you aren't planning on leaving Tampa for a couple of years, maybe you should wait awhile to see if any of the TN places change drastically before you make a decision. Pick out a few towns and read the local newspaper (the local news pages and community news pages) online on a regular basis. Just go to Google search page and enter the name of the town and "newspaper" to find out the name of the local newspaper. Some make you subscribe online to read it but 99% of the time, it's free, even if you subscribe. Besides getting a feel for the town's activities, crime and town issues and development, you'll be able to read the classifieds as it relates to home repair and for how much people are selling their homes.

Also, go to the online Yellow Pages and see how many Home Repair businesses already exist in these towns and the surrounding towns. If they have their own websites you can check them out, too.