Can you tell us more about Tennessee?? (Memphis, Knoxville: low income, fit in)

[sandyart]

My husband and are semi-young retiring (50's) in about two years. I have to admitt that we never even thought of going to Tennesse until I saw posts on the Florida website extolling its virtues. We were all set to go to Sarasota, which we like, however the Florida posts are scaring us off. We are also looking into Austin, Texas and plan to visit in the fall to check it out.
We are from NJ and "blue state" people, who are organic (Whole Foods shoopers) down to earth people, with four dogs; like yoga- - I think everyone gets the picture! We also like warm weather in the winter.

Was wondering if there is a particular place we should look in Tennesse that we would "fit in" We were going to spend about $400K on a house in Florida and would not get very much in Sarasota and it looks like we can get something very nice in Tenn without spending that type of money.
Any replies would be much appreicated!

Regards,
SC

[JMT]

Originally Posted by sandyart

My husband and are semi-young retiring (50's) in about two years. I have to admitt that we never even thought of going to Tennesse until I saw posts on the Florida website extolling its virtues. We were all set to go to Sarasota, which we like, however the Florida posts are scaring us off. We are also looking into Austin, Texas and plan to visit in the fall to check it out.
We are from NJ and "blue state" people, who are organic (Whole Foods shoopers) down to earth people, with four dogs; like yoga- - I think everyone gets the picture! We also like warm weather in the winter.

Was wondering if there is a particular place we should look in Tennesse that we would "fit in" We were going to spend about $400K on a house in Florida and would not get very much in Sarasota and it looks like we can get something very nice in Tenn without spending that type of money.
Any replies would be much appreicated!

Regards,
SC

There are plenty of places in Tennessee where you could live with other bluestaters. But if you like warm weather in the winter, I'm afraid Tennessee might not be for you. Some winters are warmer than others, but it's been known to get below 0 here. Even Memphis, which is probably the warmest part of the state, has had ice storms in the past.

Memphis and Nashville are arguably the most liberal cities in the state. Both have organic grocery stores. Nashville has a great farmers market downtown. For $400,000 you can get quite a nice place in Nashville and rub shoulders with Al Gore and his crowd. But it does get cold in Nashville in the winters.

[SPLIT]

S.A. ; The S.E. part of the state seems to have good mix of city festivals, activities, receration or wilderness hiking / canoe scenery. Chattanooga / Cleveland region wide range of housing. Quite nice for $100k to $179K, Deep water river will be close to $350, No real ice this year, One snow dump of Two inches, melts by supper time..
So travel in winter to relatives to Fla, or take ship cruises over the Jan Feb range. Temp in 80's this week. Beautiful trees blooms, many flower gardens in every neighborhood. House insurance taxes reasonable here, not out of control like Sunshine state that we left last year.

[younglisa7]

Congrats on your young retirement. I don't know what you are looking for as far as weather but I think the Eastern Mountains of Tn are pretty ideal. The summers aren't as hot and humid as the plains of Tn. or Texas. Also in the winters they are tolerable- most snow melts pretty fast.

I would add 2 other places for you to check out. Boone, NC and Asheville, NC. These cities are both close to the border of Tn but they seem to be more of what you are looking for.

The cost of living in Tn is less than Nc and there is no state income tax in Tn. You might want to look at some towns in Tn just over the border of NC.

My husband and I sold everything off 2 years ago and hit the road in our RV.
It's a great way to see the whole country. Something you might find interesting except for the 4 dogs. We have one and that's hard enough.

We have a piece of property in Mountain City, Tn and we love going back each spring.

Lisa

[sandyart]

I guess even us "blue staters" could live in Tenn. Since we are only going to have one place in retirement I think we will look at Tenn, however, we are still concerned about the winters. We want temps in the 50"s in winter. Living in the NE for so long, we hate the cold!

BTW we checked out Ahseville and I think we are the only nuts who did not like Aheville at all!! Also, it snows a bit there in the winter. We will check out Austin as in the previous post- - high prop taxes, even for a NJ couple; but if anyone else has ideas we are open to anything. We really thought Sarasota would be our mecca, but we are straying father away since getting on the FLA website.
Sandy

[hiknapster]

I don't think Tennessee is the place. It gets in the 20s at night in Knoxville during the winter, sometimes it does not get out of the 30s during the day. If you are looking for a place due to this, well, this area won't fit the bill. Neither will Asheville. You need to look at the national weather service website if this is your prime concern.

[mfischer]

Are there any 55+ manufactured home parks near Murpheesboro? My wife and I are both veterans and would like to be near a VA hospital.

[Shenandoah]

My hubby and I had also checked out other areas before settling on TN. Our criteria

1. Low Income Taxes
2. Low property prices
3. Milder weather than PA

So, we checked out Nevada - too expensive, and the areas with lower property prices (Winnemucca area) are tooooooo remote.
We checked out Florida - too expensive and tooooo muggy.
We checked out Texas - primarily the Dallas/Fort Worth area. That was very tempting, expecially about 50+ miles out with good reasonable property prices. I totally fell in love with one property in Pilot Pointe TX (north of Ft Worth). What changed out minds? Well, I've travelled thru Texas, different areas. We're from Pennsylvania. We're used to green, and we're used to hills and hollers. Therefore, Tennessee came up on top!

God bless, Shen

[younglisa7]

Weather wise you might try South Carolina. I agree with Shen-we don't like brown, dry, arid, desert. We love the green terrain. You can also try Raleigh, NC and Winston-Salem, NC. Winters aren't as cold as in the mountains of Tn or NC.

To be in the 50's in the winter Florida is probaly your best bet. But you couldn't pay me to move there again.

Good luck. You will probably gave to make some compromises on your criteria.

Lisa

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by sandyart

I guess even us "blue staters" could live in Tenn. Since we are only going to have one place in retirement I think we will look at Tenn, however, we are still concerned about the winters. We want temps in the 50"s in winter. Living in the NE for so long, we hate the cold!

BTW we checked out Ahseville and I think we are the only nuts who did not like Aheville at all!! Also, it snows a bit there in the winter. We will check out Austin as in the previous post- - high prop taxes, even for a NJ couple; but if anyone else has ideas we are open to anything. We really thought Sarasota would be our mecca, but we are straying father away since getting on the FLA website.
Sandy

I Feel obligated to tell you: FL and TN are COMPLETELY different!
Sounds like you folks would be a perfect fit for FL...