Fla to Tenn (Knoxville, Jackson, Johnson City: transplants, for sale, real estate)

[barbarabak]

Hi, 2 more Fl transplants looking at Tenn. We've been looking at Kingsport and Knoxville area, enthused but friends/neighbors have been discourging us, (don't do it TN is expensive, has lots of hidden taxes, it snows, etc etc etc). Anyone from these areas what are they like? Our reasons for wanting to leave FL, hurricanes, wildfires, relentless humidity, the rising costs of everything except incoime, airport 75 miles away, 35 miles for all but basic shopping. Ours is supposed to be the fastest growing county in the state but seems what's growing is traffic, congestion, strip malls with fast food, beauty shops, real estate offices, gas stations etc, green areas, wildlife disappearing by day. Am doing a lot of research, hope to get it right this time. Thanks for any info.

[Magster]

Barb:
Two weeks ago, my husband and I drove to Tennessee from east central Florida to look at a house I stumbled across on the Internet and to see if we liked the area -- 30 miles northwest of Knoxville in Campbell County. The house was a horror but, call us compulsive, the one we bought is wonderful.
There are three towns -- make them widespots in the road -- Careyville, Jacksboro and La Follette -- that are cheek to jowl off I-75.
There are beautiful mountains all around and hundreds of miles of lakes, rivers and streams. We can fall down the hill from our house and be at the Indian River Marina.
Winters are perported to be mild: seven inches of snow a season is a lot. It rains buckets in the spring. July and August are warm and humid. But summers DO NOT last six months a year.
Tennessee, like Florida does not have state income tax. Sales taxes are high as a kite -- even on food. But the trade-off is houses are really inexpensive by Florida standards, property taxes are a fraction of what we have been paying and the homeowners' insurance is less than 25 percent of what we will be paying in 2007 (Thank you hurricanes). Utilities are far less expensive, too.
I figure working folks could live in Campbell County or the next one south and easily commute to Knoxville.
So, there you go...

[shadJ]

were from spring hill area in pasco/ hernando county area of floirda and want to get out of dodge, heat, and rude people, large withalachoocie electric bills.....etc.. i miss the snow....
Ive lived here since i was 14 an now im 46
workin towards movin up that was with in a year. more to the east side of state from what i have gathered my husbands recolections of where he liked best....
dont want to live in or to close to a city.. county settings are more our pace.


figure i better start croshaying sweaters for the dogs now

[jaime]

I live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. It is absolutely beautiful. We do get snow most winters, but the beauty is we may get two or three inches, but by the next day, it is gone. We have 4 distint seasons here. I work for a developer in Tennessee and would love the opportunity to speak with you to tell you about the property we have available.

[beachcomberT]

Friend and I, after 16 yrs in Daytona area, also considering NE Tenn as a new semi-retirement home. Hope to start scouting JC area within a month. Any recommendations of smaller towns within an hour of either Triple Cities or Asheville? Anyone know a Tenn. newcomers guide that would be useful and factual, not hype? Tnx.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by beachcomberT

Friend and I, after 16 yrs in Daytona area, also considering NE Tenn as a new semi-retirement home. Hope to start scouting JC area within a month. Any recommendations of smaller towns within an hour of either Triple Cities or Asheville? Anyone know a Tenn. newcomers guide that would be useful and factual, not hype? Tnx.

Johnson City has a lot of outskirts that make living ideal. You can be remotly located yet convenient to town. Elizabethton is also a nice area to live and only 15 minutes from downton JC.

Joe

[bankbuster]

Originally Posted by barbarabak

Hi, 2 more Fl transplants looking at Tenn. We've been looking at Kingsport and Knoxville area, enthused but friends/neighbors have been discourging us, (don't do it TN is expensive, has lots of hidden taxes, it snows, etc etc etc). Anyone from these areas what are they like? Our reasons for wanting to leave FL, hurricanes, wildfires, relentless humidity, the rising costs of everything except incoime, airport 75 miles away, 35 miles for all but basic shopping. Ours is supposed to be the fastest growing county in the state but seems what's growing is traffic, congestion, strip malls with fast food, beauty shops, real estate offices, gas stations etc, green areas, wildlife disappearing by day. Am doing a lot of research, hope to get it right this time. Thanks for any info.

I am a Florida Realtor/Broker. My clients have properties in Fairfield Glade, Lake Tansi, and Center Hill Lake, Tennessee. In addition to being creative 1031 exchange experts, they are builders and developers. I can also put you in touch with our Crossvlle, TN Associate. Let me know if I can be of service.

Darryl E. Watson

[sitevisitor]

Originally Posted by barbarabak

Hi, 2 more Fl transplants looking at Tenn. We've been looking at Kingsport and Knoxville area, enthused but friends/neighbors have been discourging us, (don't do it TN is expensive, has lots of hidden taxes, it snows, etc etc etc). Anyone from these areas what are they like? Our reasons for wanting to leave FL, hurricanes, wildfires, relentless humidity, the rising costs of everything except incoime, airport 75 miles away, 35 miles for all but basic shopping. Ours is supposed to be the fastest growing county in the state but seems what's growing is traffic, congestion, strip malls with fast food, beauty shops, real estate offices, gas stations etc, green areas, wildlife disappearing by day. Am doing a lot of research, hope to get it right this time. Thanks for any info.

We moved to Jacksboro from Cocoa, FL 2 years ago. We are miserable. The real estate agent never bothered to tell us that LaFollette is the Meth capital of TN. Our portion of I-75 is a major drug route. And the in-breeding so bad that if you call the police because your child was beaten and threatened with a tire iron by a 17 year old and his MOTHER, the perpetrator is inevitably a relative of someone on the force and nothing is done, except the law enforcement helps to re-victimize your child. Never even met a neighbor, tried but they do not speak to you unless you go to their church. They won't even wave. The schools are so far below the level of FL that my child actually had to revert to his previous years of education in order to even adapt. The locals believe so much in violence that there are no laws to protect children from abuse from other children. There is strict no bully policies in the schools that are only enforced against the "new" kids. Drugs are so prevalent in the schools you'd be hard pressed to find a friend for you child that doesn't do pot, or some form of tobacco product that the parents actually buy for them. The parents are so absent in their childrens lives that most of the girls from 11 on up proposition the boys to give them oral sex and even provide references of other boys in order to convince them to let them perform it. This is not punished by the school administration either. If you don't have relatives there, do NOT go! It has become so bad that we are moving and I am filing for bankruptcy in order to get my child out asap in order to protect him.

[Starwalker Fallen Angel]

We have 2 homes for sale in the Jackson County area. Main Hwy. Big houses and priced to sell. Quiet area, friendly neighbors. We need more land so we decided to buy a bigger farm not far from here. MLS 131722 First Realty Company. The house has been painted, new appliances etc since the realtor pics. She hasn't updated the site. MLS # 132036 is right next door. And the schools are no where like that.

[gailli]

I was born and raised in Miami and lived in Ocala for 25 yrs. We moved to Seymour TN a month ago and we love it. I love our location as we are only 15 min to Knoxville or Pigeon Forge and only minutes from most day trip locations. The mountains are beautiful. Although we are renting and paying almost the same as we paid in Fl we have a lot more apt for our money here. We think the move was the best thing we did(although leaving the kids was hard to do)but sometimes you have to go for it and we did with no regrets.