Interesting conversation concerning Fairfield Glade (Crossville: real estate, apartment, rental)

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

Well, I can see how people would have a hard time accepting what I say when I am talking about the pro's of areas because just about everyone here knows I am a mortgage broker. I can accept that perception. But as most of you know, I call it like I see it and it has nothing to do with my job. There are several Realtors on here who post the same. Then again there are some who are all about "the job" so yea, I can see how it would be hard for some to believe what is being posted from some. I am just glad that through it all, Tek-feek found out for himself the truth BEFORE he built, that in the end is the important part. Now lets just hope he can break even on the lot.

I have all the time in the world to wait for the sale so it will happen when it happens...

You have to admit it's funny, sort of. I fell head over heels for the area, the water behind the lot, the quiet, trees, weather and knew, I KNEW, about the shortcomings, but chose to ignore them. It took a chance phone call and a conversation with someone that had been there, seen the same things I did, and lived with it to pull my head out of the sand.

Yeah, I got lucky.

Another thing she mentioned: modular homes (I assume, but didn't verify that she meant trailers) are being built in an area where they are supposedly restricted. That one really ticked her off.

Apparently someone bought up 28 (?) lots at an auction and started building two of them. All hell broke loose and meetings were held. The last she heard they were going to let the two starters finish and work with the builder on the rest. As she put it, "I didn't buy here, put up with all the restrictions, and jump through all their hoops just to end up with a modular house next door."


{sigh} Starting over...

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I have all the time in the world to wait for the sale so it will happen when it happens...

You have to admit it's funny, sort of. I fell head over heels for the area, the water behind the lot, the quiet, trees, weather and knew, I KNEW, about the shortcomings, but chose to ignore them. It took a chance phone call and a conversation with someone that had been there, seen the same things I did, and lived with it to pull my head out of the sand.

Yeah, I got lucky.

Another thing she mentioned: modular homes (I assume, but didn't verify that she meant trailers) are being built in an area where they are supposedly restricted. That one really ticked her off.

Apparently someone bought up 28 (?) lots at an auction and started building two of them. All hell broke loose and meetings were held. The last she heard they were going to let the two starters finish and work with the builder on the rest. As she put it, "I didn't buy here, put up with all the restrictions, and jump through all their hoops just to end up with a modular house next door."

{sigh} Starting over...

Another reason I dislike Fairfield Glade and places of that ilk. They have this irrational fear of modular homes. A modular home is NOT a trailer. A trailer is built and assembled in a factory and rolled to its site. A modular home is also built in a factory, but it's assembled on site. That means modular homes are generally of much higher quality than the typical trailer and typically have things like real porcelaine sinks instead of plastic sinks, higher quality cabinetry, etc. I had a neighbor in East Knox County who lived in a modular home, but I had no idea it was a modular home until he told me. It looked just like all the other homes in the area with aluminum siding.

You can have two-story modular homes and modular homes with basements. I've seen some beautiful modular home developments around Knoxville which are lovely. The Fairfield Glade attitude against modular homes smacks of elitism.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by JMT

Another reason I dislike Fairfield Glade and places of that ilk. They have this irrational fear of modular homes. A modular home is NOT a trailer. A trailer is built and assembled in a factory and rolled to its site. A modular home is also built in a factory, but it's assembled on site. That means modular homes are generally of much higher quality than the typical trailer and typically have things like real porcelaine sinks instead of plastic sinks, higher quality cabinetry, etc. I had a neighbor in East Knox County who lived in a modular home, but I had no idea it was a modular home until he told me. It looked just like all the other homes in the area with aluminum siding.

You can have two-story modular homes and modular homes with basements. I've seen some beautiful modular home developments around Knoxville which are lovely. The Fairfield Glade attitude against modular homes smacks of elitism.

As I noted in my post I did not, and should have, asked her if she really meant trailer homes.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

As I noted in my post I did not, and should have, asked her if she really meant trailer homes.

Oh sorry, I should've mentioned that I know of the development she's referring to. It is a modular home development, not a trailer park.

[mbmouse]

Modular= regular house built in a different manner than standard construction but still a constructed house that appreciates in value per the market.
Mobile= trailer that has wheels (or at one time had) and depreciates like a car no matter how good it looks.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by JMT

Oh sorry, I should've mentioned that I know of the development she's referring to. It is a modular home development, not a trailer park.

Thank you. I have no problem with modular construction. In some ways it is superior to stick built.

So do you know what the big flap was all about? Was it just that they were modular, or was there more to it?

[knoxgarden]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I have all the time in the world to wait for the sale so it will happen when it happens...

You have to admit it's funny, sort of. I fell head over heels for the area, the water behind the lot, the quiet, trees, weather and knew, I KNEW, about the shortcomings, but chose to ignore them. It took a chance phone call and a conversation with someone that had been there, seen the same things I did, and lived with it to pull my head out of the sand.

I'd blame the movies, TV and books for painting very unrealistic portraits of small town life. These lovely places whever everyone is friendly, the only place they shop is the local grocery owned by good ol' Sam who stocks everything, there are people to have intelligent conversations with and everyone isn't white and look vaguely alike because they're all related.
You see an area or a town that looks like something from a movie or TV set and subconsiously expect life to be like the one on TV or in the book. It isn't. Not even close.
I moved for a job from Washington, D.C. to a small town in South Georgia and got smacked over the head with the reality of small town life. I had to drive 90 miles to Atlanta to get decent bread or to eat at a restaurant that didn't put BBQ sauce or Velveta on everything. We did have Walmart and everyone got excited when a Ruby Tuesday opened.
Yet the natives thought the town was the best place in the world to live and were always raving about their "world famous" something or other.
And people are so set in their ways that it becomes hopeless to change them. I'll use the Great Club Sandwich Battle as an example.
I do not like American cheese on a club sandwich. I had never had a club sandwich with cheese until I moved to Georgia. They would always put it next to the toasted bread so that it melted into it and couldn't be easily removed.
A couple of times a year I would try to order a club sandwich without cheese. I never got it. Never. Not in 8 years and several restaurants. No matter what I said or how emphatic I was, they always put on the cheese! When I complained, they would tell me that's the way they do it.
That's the reality of life in many small towns, not the version you see in Hollywood. There are some small towns that are better than others and the ones I've visited in Tennessee aren't even close to that, but none of them are Mayberry.
There are things you need to be willing to give up to live in a small town. It depends on how important they are to you. When my parents retired, they moved from Los Angeles to a small town out by Palm Springs. They loved it. It was a long drive to a Walmart or even church, but it never bothered them. They were happy with the little stores in the small town.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by knoxgarden

I'd blame the movies, TV and books for painting very unrealistic portraits of small town life. These lovely places whever everyone is friendly, the only place they shop is the local grocery owned by good ol' Sam who stocks everything, there are people to have intelligent conversations with and everyone isn't white and look vaguely alike because they're all related.

Then there are the movies where the small town sheriff is grabbing motorists who break down on the highway so the kindly town doctor can do experiments on them and use their body parts on the mutant people in the town who got that way because of either a nuclear test or some bad stuff they came across when mining. Or, they sacrifice you to their pagan god in the cornfield while they dance around the scarecrow in their pilgrim-looking outfits or they plant you in the ground, head up with a bag over your head so the crows don't pluck out your eyes and so at night they can feed you to fatten you up (helps the crops grow - you're the fertilizer). Then there are the wiseass teenagers who come to the small town with its one gas station in the middle of nowhere and who get taken out one by one by some guy with a chainsaw (or a killer alligator/snake if it's Louisiana) and no teeth... All of these people have really big barns with a lot of scary hooks and chains and one of them is usually musically inclined (banjo, fiddle, harmonica).

And then there's the boy who isn't quite right... (It's never a girl)

I guess we watch different small town movies.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by LauraC

Then there are the movies where the small town sheriff is grabbing motorists who break down on the highway so the kindly town doctor can do experiments on them and use their body parts on the mutant people in the town who got that way because of either a nuclear test or some bad stuff they came across when mining. Or, they sacrifice you to their pagan god in the cornfield while they dance around the scarecrow in their pilgrim-looking outfits or they plant you in the ground, head up with a bag over your head so the crows don't pluck out your eyes and so at night they can feed you to fatten you up (helps the crops grow - you're the fertilizer). Then there are the wiseass teenagers who come to the small town with its one gas station in the middle of nowhere and who get taken out one by one by some guy with a chainsaw (or a killer alligator/snake if it's Louisiana) and no teeth... All of these people have really big barns with a lot of scary hooks and chains and one of them is usually musically inclined (banjo, fiddle, harmonica).

And then there's the boy who isn't quite right... (It's never a girl)

I guess we watch different small town movies.

Dag nabit Laura, you've let out my secrets.......

[Bones]

Tek_Freek, sometime ago you had posted about wanting a bigger library, more restaurants, more shopping,etc....to which I replied something on the order of; don't look for too much progress here !!!!!! I'm glad to see that one phone call has opened your eyes to see the forest....

Note; The responses to the Cumberland County schools need to be addressed in the political forums for sure.....