TN Transplants…Your Story Please (Knoxville, Chattanooga: fit in, real estate, apartment complex)

[Pocketplayer]

Am planning to be a transplant myself…been reading as many threads I can titled, ‘moving to…’

I’d like to hear from transplants to TN. What was your process?

A few questions I have are…

• What type of road trip did you do? Pick a location and just start driving?
• How did you explore a city/town to get a true feel of the place?
• How did you narrow your search to a particular county/city?
• How long did you visit each area?
• If you visited, how did you go about your search?
• Did you use a local Realtor?
• If you used a source like Realtor.com, what was useful and what was not?
• If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?
• Was there one thing that made the difference?
• Anything else you want to share?

I think what I'd really like to grab hold of is how to explore a particular city.
I've thought about where I live now and what I'd share if someone asked me how to know the area. However, here in CA (not sure how this relates to other cities) people barley know the names of the neighbor living a hundred feet away. It is an isolated existence with a wave here or there, happen to see someone walking your dog. The truth is, someone could move in down the street and nobody would lift an eyebrow. One's social circle comes down to their inner circle. I'd imagine TN in this sense is no different than CA.

What I would tell someone...(supposing you liked the area, the feel of the place, all the "extras" that would make up some place called 'home')
1. Visit a local library, supermarket, shopping mall to get a feel of the type of people living in the area.

2. Visit a local school (elementary) and ask them about the area. Something about caring for kids that opens people up to the pros & cons of an area.

3. Get a police report of the crime stats for the area.

4. Scope the real estate highs and lows--what is high end of town, what is low end

I'd like to put together a realistic 'exploring checklist' before I visit based on what was helpful from others' stories and experiences.


A wise man seeks the counsel of many…

Thanks

[irreplaceable]

Originally Posted by Pocketplayer

Am planning to be a transplant myself…been reading as many threads I can titled, ‘moving to…’

I’d like to hear from transplants to TN. What was your process?

A few questions I have are…

• What type of road trip did you do? Pick a location and just start driving?
• How did you explore a city/town to get a true feel of the place?
• How did you narrow your search to a particular county/city?
• How long did you visit each area?
• If you visited, how did you go about your search?
• Did you use a local Realtor?
• If you used a source like Realtor.com, what was useful and what was not?
• If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?
• Was there one thing that made the difference?
• Anything else you want to share?

I think what I'd really like to grab hold of is how to explore a particular city.
I've thought about where I live now and what I'd share if someone asked me how to know the area. However, here in CA (not sure how this relates to other cities) people barley know the names of the neighbor living a hundred feet away. It is an isolated existence with a wave here or there, happen to see someone walking your dog. The truth is, someone could move in down the street and nobody would lift an eyebrow. One's social circle comes down to their inner circle. I'd imagine TN in this sense is no different than CA.

What I would tell someone...(supposing you liked the area, the feel of the place, all the "extras" that would make up some place called 'home')
1. Visit a local library, supermarket, shopping mall to get a feel of the type of people living in the area.

2. Visit a local school (elementary) and ask them about the area. Something about caring for kids that opens people up to the pros & cons of an area.

3. Get a police report of the crime stats for the area.

4. Scope the real estate highs and lows--what is high end of town, what is low end

I'd like to put together a realistic 'exploring checklist' before I visit based on what was helpful from others' stories and experiences.


A wise man seeks the counsel of many…

Thanks

HI Pocketplayer!,
I just moved to Mt. Juliet 3 weeks ago. About 2 months ago we drove down from Upstate NY about 1000 into Nashville. I did alot of research on the internet and decided on Hendersonville and Mt. Juliet as the two places I wanted to explore. I wasn't going to pack up and move 1000 miles away from everyone and everything I knew without visiting. I also decided to rent for the 1st year incase it ended up not being for me I didnt want to get stuck in a house that wouldn't sell. Why these areas?.. I lived in Clarksville when I was younger and my husband went to school in Nashville. We both like Nashville so I wanted to be close to it. I have 2 small kids in elementary school so I first looked at surrounding area schools. The I searched for apartments I could afford. Both Hendersonville and Mt. Juliet have great schools and they had a couple apartments in my price range that were not income restricted. Other areas seemed to be really nice like I think it was Franklin maybe but I live on a budget so the other two were my top picks. Oh and we also knew my husband would transfer to Antioch with his job so the that pretty much also picked the areas for me.
We visited for a week. 1st looking at the different apartments and found one in Mt. Juliet we loved and it was closer to Antioch then Hendersonville so after deciding on that we visited the school. I can say the school made my decion. This was a trip to see things and think about it but in the same breath a transfer came up and it was a now or never kind of deal. Talk about stress and presure but the school was so great it made the hardest decion I ever had to make a breeze.
We also went to resturants, the grocery store and did some shopping in the area to see things and get a feel for the people. I never walked in to a store and had people say hello to me as they were walking out. Talk about friendly. One thing I did notice was things really did not cost less. Here and there I'd notice something cheaper but for the most part it wasnt that much different . So if you are moving here to save hunderds of dollars with the cheap cost of living....you not.
I guess the best exploring advice I can give is for you to think about what you really want. Do you have kids? If so start with area schools. What do you do for a living? Look for places that have jobs in your field. The internet can be very helpful but I wouldnt go on it alone. Visit and do all the things you would tell someone else to do if they were wanting to move to Cali. Good Luck! And keep us informed on where you have decided and such.

[marmac]

Pocketplayer--Although I have not moved yet (loose ends up here) I will share some of my experiences about my searches. I think you already havea good handle on the searching.

Do as much researching as you can on the internet to broaden your search,then to narrow it as to what you can accomodate in one "sweep" on your trip.

Yes, go into the stores you would normally shop at if you lived there. Get the "feel" of the different roads and streets you would be traveling on. If you are a church goer--attend a Sunday service in a church of your choice.(or do a drive by during the week)

Pick out houses on the internet you are interested in. Get the address and directions off the listing and do drive by's. Ask yourself if this area could feel like home to you.

For me, weather is a big concern. IF it is for you, also, check out the weather during the worst time of the year. We all will fall in love with any state if we visit when the weather is at its best.

If checking 2 or 3 areas (cities or towns) out, be sure you are comparing them under the same circumstances. (I made that mistake myself) Comparing one place that you are at on a sunny day,with another you visit the next day when it is cloudy and raining, can change your perspective without you even realizing it.

I would recommend a minimum 2 day visit at any place you are truly interested in. There may be some places that after a half day you decide---"this isn't for me"----thus have several places on your trip so it doesn't end up being a "bust".

Be sure to take a drive by (minimum) of the hospital and medical facility in the town/area. In some smaller towns, the hospital has the nicest residental area near the hospital and that gives you a new perspective of the town.

I will leave schools and jobs to other posters.

Hope I was of some help. My 5 years of researching is finally coming to a conclusion.

[marmac]

One other thing--------ask yourself what the new area does not have that you had where you came from.

Consider how important that would be in your day to day life.

It might prevent an oversight from haunting you in the future.

[Pocketplayer]

Excellent info...thanks

Three things I learned;
1. Weather. Great stuff here. I agree...a visit during June before the heat kicks in on a beautiful Sunday afternoon might be a very different experience in September or November.

2. Rent the first year. great advice. I rarely see rentals on Realtor.com so I will have to look into local REA's...and info here would be nice or sources you used.

3. What can I NOT do without... Good stuff x2. Yes...easy to get caught in the romance of the move only to see things clearer after a few months.

Also, because I am seeking a more rural setting, larger lot (3-10 acres)...saw a home with 22 acres the others day...Wow...affordable as well. Don't want to bite too much off at once...I have a lot of research to do about this as well.

I know a lot of locals must get tired of these threads. Yet I hope in my case they see this as respect for the land.

I use to be involved with dog rescue here in LA...very sad thing to be involved with. So many people get a dog because it's so cute...only to reject the responsibility...get tired of it and send it to a shelter.

Moving could be a little like this for myself...all the pictures from the sticky thread; Tennessee Pictures!...the romance of moving, all the bliss w/o the blisters. So in this sense, my questionnaire is a reality check...like talking to your parents before you get married!

Marmac...best to you after 5 years of planning, thinking, contemplating...let us know how things are progressing.

[srinne3]

We planned our trip for about a year. Did a ton of research on the net, also requesting lots of different relocation pkts from various cities and counties. We picked out the city (Sweetwater) just for the name (we thought it was a really cool name, home-townish!) Checked out various stores & restraurants that are in the local area via internet. Planned out the house-hunting trip, was able to get senior rates at the Econolodge in Sweetwater as the min age is 50 at that hotel. Went down there with no jobs, just a chunk of money and found a house within 4 days on a rent to own basis. We are bringing down our 4 huskies, purebred miniature dachsund, and our beagle/jack russell mix. The house we found has over an acre of land with trees (which we needed for our babies....). I worked for Officeteam in MI which is a division of Robert Half Int'l, and found out they have 2 offices down there, one in Knoxville, the other in Chattanooga. We were Very fortunate having so many people trying to help us down there. We will be moving to Madisonville in 8 days (single digit midget - yeehah......). I was happy to find a Sav A Lot store down there, as I shop there up here. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. Signed, Can't wait to get down there....

[LauraC]

I’d like to hear from transplants to TN. What was your process?

Relocation and retirement went together. I attended a retirement seminar in a town in another state, I thought I might want to move to (so I stayed an extra few days), and found it was a total mismatch. It was a good experience though because it made me realize that some things were important to me that I hadn't considered before. I found the town to be a little pretentious, have too many people (population density) on not enough land, have way too many transplants from major northeastern cities, have a retiree school that was a lot of show and not a lot of substance in its classes, have too many tourists and snowbirds, have too much traffic and not a lot of parking, have too many chi-chi restaurants that open and close, have non-traditional celebrations. But I considered it to be a very worthwhile trip in helping to crystallize what I did want and especially what I didn't want in a town. I decided to go home and research the other side of the Smokies to see if the people and activities were a better match for me.

Because of that experience, I did much better online research before I found the town I eventually visited for a week and then moved to. A very big help was the local town newspapers. I read the daily online and subscribed to the weekly for several months before I visited and eventually moved here.

What type of road trip did you do? Pick a location and just start driving?

It was a drive down (9.5 hours) and spending a week here after much online research and making the aforementioned "town/LauraC mismatch" trip. I knew exactly where I was going. It was more a matter of whether I would live in that town or a nearby town.


How did you explore a city/town to get a true feel of the place?

I primarily chose my location because of the offerings at the retiree school so I visited the school and talked to people running the program. I also chose my town because it's a nerdy town (lot of workers and retirees here in or formerly in science/math/research/medicine/technical fields) and a lot of feds or fed contractors live and work here. I'm a retired fed. I was in a research office (but not science-related). I feel good about living in a town with these types of people. Even though I don't have kids, I liked that the newspapers bragged about kid academic accomplishment. A lot of activities were geared around learning, adults and kids alike. My town celebrates traditional holidays. My town has a place in American history. My town has a work environment that attracts nerdy people to live in the area which makes my retiree class offerings very interesting and not like other retiree schools. Although I am not religious, I like the idea that my town has a lot of places of worship.

Since I was staying for a week, I went in the supermarket, visited the post office and library, drove to the lake, checked out the fishing pier, drove around the town, went to the Museum of Appalachia, went to the town park, went to the town museum, took a look at a new apartment complex that was just being built, visited another, eyeballed and ruled out a third and then went to adjacent Knoxville to look at another. Checked out a furniture store. Took a lot of photos. Looked at the people in public places like the post office and supermarket and stores - decided a lot of them looked like me (meaning they were plain ordinary looking people who didn't wear makeup and jewelry or designer clothes and drove functional vehicles). I watched the local news in my hotel room and I read the local paper to see what the people liked to do and what they looked like doing it. I read about the issues of the town and what was going on during the town meetings.


How did you narrow your search to a particular county/city?

That last apartment-looksee made me realize I wanted to live and play in the same town. While the apartment complex in West Knoxville was nice, if the school was going to be the focus of my retiree activities, I wasn't interested in living 15 miles or more away. My town is very big landwise/area-wise (80 something square miles big). It's spread out. I discarded the idea to even look at Farragut which was originally in my plans because I wasn't interested in "commuting" in retirement. But, the online research I did eliminated a lot of places. I was never just looking to move to Tennessee. I found the school I liked and a town match with activities I enjoyed. The place just happened to be in Tennessee.

How long did you visit each area?

one week.


If you visited, how did you go about your search?

see above.

Did you use a local Realtor?

no, I already knew I was renting in an apartment complex. I just visited or eyeballed the ones I didn't already eliminate with online research.


If you used a source like Realtor.com, what was useful and what was not?

I did use some publications and some online websites to eliminate some apartment complexes before I visited to make my actual visit more productive.

If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?

Nothing. It worked for me.

Was there one thing that made the difference?

Yes, the visit to the mismatch town in another state and the best source of info in finding out a lot about the town, in my opinion - the weeky newspaper (which I subscribed to) and the daily newspaper (which I read online). As far as knowing it was right, the layout of the town, the location of the new apartment complex (in a nice area and close to just about everything I do regularly), the activities in the town that are numerous for a town this size population-wise and a look at the people, many who look a lot like me - plain/casual/nerdy.


Anything else you want to share?

no.

I think what I'd really like to grab hold of is how to explore a particular city.

Think about your regular activities. Go in the supermarkets. If you do a lot of shopping, visit the mall. Eat in a different restaurant each day. Mail something in the post office and then look around at the people in line. If you have an opportunity to attend a local event like a town fair, concert, play, fishing tournament, football game, etc., go and look and interact with the people. If you are still in the workforce, think about the roads you travel on. What will they be like in January? If you attend religious services, do that during your visit. What hobbies do you and your wife/family have or what do you like to do? Definitely visit places related to those things. You know, if you bowl, go inside the bowling alley. If you like to read, go into the library/bookstore. If you have a boat, don't just check out the lake, visit the marina(s). If you like needlework, go inside the craft store. If you like puttering in the garden, visit the nurseries.

[SPLIT]

P.P.: You sure can type a long letter, got LONG replies too, but will give a much shorter view. With the internet, now one can really zero into a region by about 50 or 60 miles.
1) Eastern part of state has mountains, and that appealed to us. Lakes or rivers for boating was our hobby. We took at least one week car trip, set up real estate people, each day about 20 -25 miles apart. Listing have all the info, but not the FLAT or STEEP slope of the lot, what next door neighbor.
2) Big factor at end of week, whas the church / parish one would join, during visit everyone very welcome to help you Fit In or give recommendations.
3) With the certain town real estate agent, can pick out New construction, which will be about 5 or 6 months lead time.
.

[mrs1885]

What type of road trip did you do?
Pick a location and just start driving?
How did you explore a city/town to get a true feel of the place?
How did you narrow your search to a particular county/city?
How long did you visit each area?
If you visited, how did you go about your search?
Did you use a local Realtor?
If you used a source like Realtor.com, what was useful and what was not?
If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?
Was there one thing that made the difference?
Anything else you want to share?

We were in Florida and looked in quite a few places there and nothing panend out. Then we looked in Vermont, same deal. Then NC, same deal. Then TN and things started coming together. Then I found out my ex-husband was planning on moving to the same town we were looking at. Scrap that, start over.

So we moved more to the center of the state to put a good 4 hours between us. I figured it I knew the drive was too far for me to get away with it, he'd be safe.

I used Realtor.com and looked at homes and then I'd come back to C-D.com to check the town info. I have a sickness for organization, so I put together a big binder. I had a map of the 3 areas of TN. Then I had smaller maps of places that were more detailed, bigger. Then I had the different homes and their town info in order of how interested I was in them.

We still had kids in school, so schools were important to us. We were retiring from law enforcement from a pretty big department in Florida, so we weren't too concerned with the crime stats. We've got rottweilers and guns and excellent aim - we're pretty safe.

We knew we wanted to be in a very tiny, extremely rural area. We knew we needed a bigger home since we have 5 kids and tons of pets. We knew we would want horses eventually, so acreage was a must. As for the house we knew we could do a lot of renovation work ourselves, so something outdated or that needed work was fine with us. Then we made lists of the things we'd like to have.

Each of the homes we looked at was scored based on that criteria. Then we'd pull the C-D page from here on that town and check all the info there. All the C-D info was compiled and we scored the town based on that, and then averaged the house score and the town score. Then put them in order according to which we liked best.

Then we started looking at jobs. Hubby retired from road patrol from a big sheriff's office and we knew that because of his health he couldn't go back to it. He decided to go to EMS, which he'd done years ago and ran a huge department in the most dangerous city in the US at the time. I was planning on staying in the hospitality industry, which I'd moved to after we got married. So we just looked at jobs and pay scale for that type of work in the area.

Once we had all this info, we knew the general area we liked, Warren County / McMinnville, in the rural areas. So we came up for 3 or 4 days.

Turns out the EMS department an hour away was needing someone and hubby was way over-qualified, so they gave him an on the spot interview. We planned on moving in the summer when the kids would be out of school so I was planning on staying home with them that summer and going to work when school started up again.

We met a realtor and started looking at homes. She insisted we see one that she had listed before we see the ones we had in the book. She walked us through a home that was too small and double what we told her we wanted to pay. So I broke out my handy little book and told her we wanted to see the first several houses.

We got lucky. The very first house we saw - the one that I'd decided was the best for us - actually was, and we wound up buying it. We're in a town of about 200 people. C-D doesn't even have the town listed because it's so little. We share a zip code with the town across the street that's actually in another county, but it's the closest post office we have here!

Things didn't work out exactly as we'd planned. Hubby's medical condition was so bad that the insurance company for the EMS department he worked for said he wasn't a candidate for employment there. Then we were stuck up here with no income, no jobs. I was lucky to find one that was actually beyond anything I'd been doing in Florida, but when I interviewed the guy thought he could train me and gave me a shot. I make double here what I did in Florida and I'm now being trained to take my bosses position, which will again double my pay.

Hubby's health continuned to get worse when we moved. The first winter here he had both a stroke and a week later a heart attack. He's been forced to retire and file for disability which has been a bear.

But all things considered, this has been wonderful for us. We watch the sun come up in the morning from our front porch and watch it set each night from the back deck. We've got amazing neighbors that are very patriotic, deeply religious, and wonderful, incredible and out going helpful people. I drive 4 hours a day to and from work, but I have a car I've always dreamed of having that I love to drive and a gorgeous view the whole way of mountains and farms. We really couldn't have asked for anything better. We're really, truly blessed!

Long winded, but that's my story!!!

[irreplaceable]

I found rent.com to be very helpful in finding apartments. Or you can google apartments in ....... and it will pull up apartment sites to look for rentals.