Moving to Tennessee/ what made you move to the area you moved to? (Knoxville: real estate, buying a home)

[southernfried]

For the ones that have moved to Tennessee,from another state,what made you move to the area you moved to? Was it the people,jobs,atmosphere?

[Tinman313]

As I said the "People".... from my very short and brief trips to middle TN the last two years I would say the people !!! Straight and to the point, not snotty just "real" down home salt of the earth... I'm not trying to blow wind up your pants leg either, just friendly not noisy, Something from the heart, respect ! guilty of life....... back to when some one would shake your hand and you just knew no BS from this person man / women ...... very hard to explain .......
I have not moved yet..... stuck in Florida

[PaulaC]

Tinman has a great point. People here are generally more laid back and friendly. However, to be more specific, we researched East TN last year and visited Knoxville, Maryville and looked at real estate at that time. Looked at homes in the price range we were willing to pay, and East TN was higher priced than we wanted. I did have a job offer, but turned it down because we hadn't sold our house in FL.

Fast forward- we have friends in Columbia (met them when they lived in FL for a short while) and through those contacts, my boyfriend was able to get a job in the Spring Hill area. He came up to Columbia in December of '07. I stayed in FL until my job there started to go sour. I got here in late July of this year. I have recently accepted a job that will help us cover all expenses, including our house in FL (now rented).

So, jobs and friends really drove us to this area. Also, we both like the policies of the sheriff of this county. The real estate prices here (even as of last year) are (were) more in line with want our ultimate plan is - small mortgage, if any.

So far, things have gone pretty well. I'm glad we made the move, even if it has been a rough road to get here!

[BarbG]

The Smokies with people a close second, then the more moderate temps (we come from the gulf coast, can anyone say 'summer for 8 months'?).

[46Barb]

Cost of living, friendly people, beautiful state, shorter winters and longer summers.

[mbmouse]

Well, I moved here in 97', didn't have sites like CD to get info from real people hahahaha.
Left FL primarily to get away from those schools for my boys, I can't stand the heat and way to many people, especially the nasty/rude ones. I was looking for the opposite!
Moved to first town in TN for the ex's job which was in Knoxville. Didn't care for the schools in that town, moved a bit east, loved the schools, stayed for 5 years then the boys kind of grew out of the school and I had a hard time finding a good job. Moved even further east, now very happy with both schools and jobs.
So...took me 3 moves in 8 years to find just the right place for us, but don't regret any of it!

[mrs1885]

The housing boom and incoming criminals to the area of SW FL we were in was the start. We first looked in north and central FL, as I've never lived anywhere else. We wanted to stay close to my in-laws who live winters in FL and the rest of the year in VT. When FL didn't pan out we looked near them in VT. Soooooo glad that didn't work.

Then we decided to try near my family. I wanted to be close enough to my parents so I could see my father and my kids could see my mom when they wanted, but far enough away that my mother couldn't just pop in. And my grandfather is in TN too, so it kind of made eastern / middle TN a logical choice.

I just started looking at towns within a 2 hour driving radius of larger cities as I still had to work. We'd actually thought about the tri-cities area but found out my ex was planning a move there, so we scrapped that and moved to middle TN areas. Just from looking at realtor.com and then going here to research the cities / towns each house was in I pretty much knew the area I wanted to be in.

We came for a visit and I told the realtor I had a listing of a home I wanted to see. We looked at a dozen or so homes that weekend, but the one I found I fell in love with and we bought it.

[akm4]

While looking in the Nashville area, I drove to Franklin. I parked on the square and knew this was it. Everyone we met was SO down-to-earth and welcoming, there was no going back. This is home.

[Kim918]

We came here last year from South FL. We had vacationed here the year before and fell in love with TN. We were shocked at how clean it was. The gorgeous scenery this state has. How nice the people were and just how comfortable it felt right from the beginning. It wasn't like being in a strange new place at all. We could just visualize living here. It felt like home. So after our vacation, we set our sights on moving here. Selling our home was tough, but we finally made it. We moved to the area we are in because our jobs brought us here. We rented at first to get a feel of our new town and loved it. We ended up buying a home and settling in. It was the best move we could have made! The weather is awesome. 4 real seasons, but without the killer winters of the northeast. Everything just felt so right for us from the start. Lower cost of living was a bonus. It is so much less stressful to live here. The vibe you get here is so much different than FL. It just feels good!

[Live~Oak]

The absolutely beautiful Cumberland Rim hills and scenery. DEFINITELY NOT the people, jobs, or atmosphere unless you like living under domestic terrorist as a sheriff and a xenophobic racist, good ol'e boy system who hates "outsiders". We enjoy a few good friends and God's country and stay to ourselves for the most part.