Moving to Eastern TN from CA Looking for information (Memphis: crime, house)

[M&T]

Hi -

I'm going to be moving to Eastern TN next summer and I'm looking for some information on the area.

1. Looking to live outside of the city, mountain views.

2. I will be moving with my Father so need good medical facilities,(oncologist).

3. Need good cell phone coverage as well as internet (work from home).

4. Weather: rain/snow averages, tornadoes (coming from CA, I have earthquakes).

5. I've lived all over the world being a military wife and am looking for a quiet place to retire and call my forever home.

Thank you for any information you can give me.

[Serious Conversation]

Your limiting factors are going to be access to healthcare and internet/cell coverage.

Is your father currently receiving treatment, and needs an oncologist immediately? If he's in remission and just needs access for check-ups, that opens more areas. If I needed an oncologist immediately, there's no way I'd live anywhere but metro Knoxville. If I needed access to one on a very occasional basis, that would open up Johnson City. What kind of health needs do you have?

Maryville has good mountain views, reasonable property prices, and a small town feel with enough day to day amenities for most people. Maryville is about thirty minutes or less from most of the larger shopping/medicla areas in Knoxville.

I'd also recommend Johnson City and Jonesborough. Johnson City is a pretty lively city of about 65,000 with good mountain views in most of town. You can be outside the city limits and be back into the city in 5-10 minutes in many areas. City property taxes are higher, but that includes things like subsidized trash and recycling services that you'd either pay full price for from a private provider or have to do yourself. I have recycling pickup in Johnson City. My parents have to haul their recyclables to a dumpster in the county. There are conveniences like that to living in the city. Medical care is not as broad, deep, or high quality as Knoxville IMO. Send me a private message if you have a specific question.

Cell and internet service, outside the city limits, can be dicey. You'll want to check with the local internet service provider that they service a specific address - not necessarily assuming that since they serve the general area, that they'll serve your address. I grew up in Kingsport in the 90s/early 2000s. We had cable internet in 1999 or 2000. The cable provider did not service the street behind our house. Satellite internet is inadequate for working from home.

What is your budget? What are you looking for in the community in terms of dining, shopping, specific medical needs, etc.?

[M&T]

Hi - thanks for all the information. Let me give you some more information. My Father is legally blind and does not need any medical care. My bf and I are both cancer survivors (5 yrs him) ( 7 yrs me). My bf is the one who needs the oncologist because he has to have his medicine refilled monthly so a drive into town once a month is not a problem. So me, Dad, bf and 3 cats. Lol. What a family I know.
My main concern is to be out of the city. I want at least 5 acres or more, wrap around porch, 3 car garage plus a work shed/barn. Bf is a contractor by trade but works as a Handyman now plus he likes to work on cars which is why I need the shed/barn. I really want a ranch style house. I’ve been looking from Chattanooga all the way to Bristol, I know that’s a very large area. But I want this to be my forever home so I want to make the right decision.
I figured the cell and internet would be a problem being too far in the country so I plan on coming out in April to check the areas.
My budget is no more then $250,000.

[Serious Conversation]

OK, you're going to have to compromise on some things. Chattanooga to Bristol is over three hours. I know a lot about north and east of Knoxville, and a decent amount about Knoxville.

You're not going to find a ranch house with a wrap-around porch. I've never seen that at all. Most of the ranches will have carports, patios, or maybe a deck if it's on a hill. Wraparound porches are just not common in upper east TN.

$250,000 will involve some compromises. Five acres, a house that doesn't need a lot of updating, and a detached shed/garage, in addition to a three car garage, is probably not going to happen. If a house has a three car garage built-in (unlikely - most are just two), you're likely going to have to build a separate shed if you want one. You'll likely need to raise the budget to get all of that. You might be able to find in a very rural area, but there are problems with those places. I'll explain below.

You can probably do the land and a house with the budget, but it's likely to need to some work. My first bet would be to compromise on the land, and get a nicer home on an acre or two.

This is the closest thing I saw to what you might be wanting. It's well above your $250,000 top and is in a rural area.

Here's a bit of rub with upper east TN most people not from the area don't know.

Many rural areas have very high levels of drug abuse, and domestic/property crime, largely related to people on drugs, or looking for drugs/money to buy drugs. In general, I'd completely avoid Hawkins and Cocke counties - they're kind of notorious for crime. Jefferson County also has crime and drug problems, but does have some nice areas. I'd also avoid Grainger and Claiborne counties - they're way too isolated and don't have interstate access. I'd also avoid the side of Greene County closest to Cocke County.

Also, very rural areas are pretty closed off in terms of social circles. Many of these places have been populated with the same families for generations. I would never recommend a Californian up and moving to a rural area here without first having visited quite a bit.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by M&T

Hi -

I'm going to be moving to Eastern TN next summer and I'm looking for some information on the area.

1. Looking to live outside of the city, mountain views.

2. I will be moving with my Father so need good medical facilities,(oncologist).

3. Need good cell phone coverage as well as internet (work from home).

4. Weather: rain/snow averages, tornadoes (coming from CA, I have earthquakes).

5. I've lived all over the world being a military wife and am looking for a quiet place to retire and call my forever home.

Thank you for any information you can give me.

If you don't mind looking a little further to the west, you can get pretty much what you're looking for, including high-speed (gigabit) internet connections in very rural areas with beautiful views in the Cookeville area about an hour east of Nashville. Cookeville has a large regional hospital as well as gigabit internet, even in the rural areas well outside of town. Here are samples of homes that have sold recently that I think fit your criteria to show you what's available in the area.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...?fullpage=true
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...?fullpage=true
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...?fullpage=true
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...?fullpage=true
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...?fullpage=true
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...?fullpage=true

[DubbleT]

I agree you will probably have to compromise on some things, and your timing will need to be good. I think what you want is mostly doable If you aren't expecting perfection and willing to deal with cosmetic updates for that price. A few quick examples
887 Bullock Hollow Rd, Bristol, TN 37620 - Apple Realty (applesold.com)
402 Midway Drive, Bristol, TN 37620 - Apple Realty (applesold.com)
105&115 Hob Knob Hollow Rd, Bristol, TN 37620 - Apple Realty (applesold.com) -two properties for the price of one, I am highly amused by the door that leads to nowhere

[M&T]

Thanks everyone for all the information. I have been researching like crazy and can't wait to make the trip out there in April. I have been looking in the cookeville area also. My main concern is to be safe, friendly area, beautiful views ( mountains would be the best), minor TLC on a good home is not a problem. My SO is a carpenter/handyman by trade.

[DoubleDee]

Is there a specific reason you want at least 5 acres? If it’s peace and quiet you’re looking for, that’s definitely doable on less.

And if it’s views of the bigger mountains, as in Great Smoky Mountain National Park-sized mountains, you should look further east. We’re in Crossville (and love it!) and can see the mountains in the distance but not from our front porch. There’s lots of hills, though!

[NY Annie]

Just be careful that whatever area you are looking at, do not count on the local hospital if it's owned by Turnover (Tennova). The hospital closings are pretty fast leaving the need to travel to the nearest large (by TN standards) city and it's taking most of the doctors with it. Most of the local hospitals in west TN were taken over by Turnover and shut down, including the one in our county seat. There were 2 more closings announced in middle TN just this past week. The quality of medical care in the bigger cities, Johnson City, Kville, Chatt is good so, if your heart is set on NW or W TN, then stick with those areas.












When I first started looking for our retirement home, we were looking for 4 acres, flat land and I began looking in NW TN because that's where I attended college. I love the area but we were looking with a much smaller budget and I kept moving west. We did check on the availability of internet and were assured that our particular location had cell coverage - it did, so long as we stood in the middle of the street posed like the Statue of Liberty but on one foot only. So do make sure you can get cell coverage not just for the area but for any particular house.


I was actually surprised by several house-building practices here: 1. No basements (extremely rare), 2. outside of the cities, municipal water/sewer is rare - it's better in the east/ne parts of the state, 3. gas for heating/cooking is not the norm - electric is the most prevalent-- and most of the gas is propane. This last is important when you're looking to replace a stove, hot water heater, or dryer. The selection of gas vs electric is very poor.


And even more important is to check out the "local" VA hospital and outreach clinic. We have to travel an hour to the clinic in Jackson and 2 hours to the hospital in Memphis when he needs more than bloodwork. It makes for a full day, half of it driving for what may be a 10 minute visit - and there's no such thing as scheduling 2 appts on the same day.


But welcome to TN and thank you for your service.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by NY Annie

Just be careful that whatever area you are looking at, do not count on the local hospital if it's owned by Turnover (Tennova). The hospital closings are pretty fast leaving the need to travel to the nearest large (by TN standards) city and it's taking most of the doctors with it. Most of the local hospitals in west TN were taken over by Turnover and shut down, including the one in our county seat. There were 2 more closings announced in middle TN just this past week. The quality of medical care in the bigger cities, Johnson City, Kville, Chatt is good so, if your heart is set on NW or W TN, then stick with those areas.

The closing of small, rural hospitals is going to be an issue throughout the state. Some will fold. Others will change from acute care to other services. Medical resources in rural areas are probably going to get even thinner as time goes on.