For newcomers.....how did you overcome the lower wages of TN? (Knoxville: transplants, real estate)

[Tony1790]

Howdy,

This is a question to any of the newcomers to TN that moved from a higher wage area to the lower wage area of TN, did this move put you in a financial bind and did you regret that move? How did you offset the lower wages and how are you able to cope.

My reason for asking is not to poke fun at TN, I'm in the process of moving (longer process than I thought). I'm moving from WA state with considerably higher wages, for example, my wife works as a grocery checker at Safeway and makes $17.50 per hour. I have to assume that she will be lucky to make half of that in TN and I myself have yet to line up a job, so needless to say our wages will be alot lower in TN than here in WA.

As for me, until recently I was making $65,000 per year, now $20,000 on my military retirement.

I'm looking for input on how others managed to overcome the lower wage situation.

Thanks in advance

Tony in WA
(retired military)

[sliverbox]

Tony,
I think a better question would be what are the comparable costs of living versus wage.Simply put, the cost of living is about 50% less than in WA.

I will say that due to the fact that TN has an enormous amount of urban sprawl fueled by service industry work, your wife will not be making anywhere close to $17 an hour. Maybe more like $7-$8.But maybe she would get more since she's been doing this for a long time.But check Craigslist.org in any number of TN areas to see what some of those jobs might pay. In some cases, some jobs actually pay more than those on the West Coast. This has been my experience. Either way, nobody should move here unless they have a job that will pay their living expenses secured. good luck.

[hiknapster]

Oh, boy, Tony, this is a tough one. I showed up on these boards about six months ago, whining my head off. My husband got a job up here as an auto mechanic. He was paid per job and sometimes the pay was great and sometimes it was pathetic. When I mean pathetic, I mean $400 a week, and I was not working. We had lived here a year.

He ended up walking off the job when a shop opened up the street and the guy he worked for started fixing things that were not broken on other people's cars. Then he wanted my husband to do the same. My husband has never done that. Believe me, my husband can be a major pain in my side, but he is an honest auto mechanic.

Then the REAL fun began. My husband has been an auto mechanic for about 18 years. He was the shop foreman in Florida for almost four years. He is very good at what he does.

He went to every shop he could find, he did not care where it was. He got a lot of, "You're not going to get that kind of pay here, boy."

Out of desperation, he took an auto mechanic's job for $10 an hour. Can you imagine? Finally someone called him, gave him no end of crap, and finally agreed to hire him for a very low rate, but would raise the pay by $100 a week in a month if he worked out. I firmly believe it was because he was not southern.

They made the mistake of calling the house and I leaned on them. I said, "Look, I'm not going to have him take this job unless you give me your WORD. Furthermore, you will pay for moving his tools."

They agreed, and ended up giving him the raise after three weeks.

In the meantime, I was desperately looking for a job.

I even slogged through the state labor sites. In Knoxville, a grocery checker with some experience is not going to get much more than minimum wage.

I was competing with natives that had a degree from UT, and believe me, there were a lot of them.

I eventually got a job. The pay is not great, but it is a national company so their philosophy is great and so are the benefits.

Bear in mind that I got a guy on this forum a job that was use to $27 an hour. He made $10 an hour at my company and recently quit.

Go back and look at my first posts. I was not a happy camper.

Things are much better. I firmly believe that a lot of people pulled for me on this forum and their prayers and positive thoughts were a large factor in us making it. I really believe that. What else to explain it?

That is why I always advise people to have a job lined up before you get here. Bear in mind, though, that you will have money in your pocket and we did not.

Also, you will be able to buy a house. Meanwhile, we are rapidly getting priced out of the market, seeing transplants moving in I am really wondering if this was all worth it. I wanted a country life next to a small city.

Also, imagine how hard it is to get a job now that more people are here?

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Tony,
I think a better question would be what are the comparable costs of living versus wage.Simply put, the cost of living is about 50% less than in WA.

I will say that due to the fact that TN has an enormous amount of urban sprawl fueled by service industry work, your wife will not be making anywhere close to $17 an hour. Maybe more like $7-$8.But maybe she would get more since she's been doing this for a long time.But check Craigslist.org in any number of TN areas to see what some of those jobs might pay. In some cases, some jobs actually pay more than those on the West Coast. This has been my experience. Either way, nobody should move here unless they have a job that will pay their living expenses secured. good luck.

Hi silverbox,

You're still in CA, correct? When I was stationed in CA, wife worked for VON's which is owned by Safeway. She made $14.00 in CA doing the same job.

I'll make $20,000 per year in retirement no matter where I live. I'm thinking that money will go further in TN than WA. I figured that the wife would only make $7 - $9 in TN, I was hoping to make $12 or up, but don't know if that's realistic. That's why I was asking how other people from high cost/high wage areas are coping.

When a person is used to making close to $100,000 per year (family income) and will go to maybe $45,000 total, what can be done to cope with the lower income. Is the cost of living enough to offset the lower wages or will it be a tremendous struggle to survive in TN

Tony

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

That is why I always advise people to have a job lined up before you get here.

Thanks for the reply, you said that your husband makes alot less money and that you had to get a job as well, I have 2 questions for you.

1. Is the cost of living really any lower than where you were at, and does that make enough of a difference at the end of the month?

2. If you had to do it over, would you? How much regret is there for moving to a lower wage area?

That's not saying that there's anything wrong with the area, just asking about the financial difference.


Tony

[hiknapster]

That is a really tough question. I lived in a very expensive area of Florida. I think some of the food is cheaper. The electricity is cheaper.

BUT, there are several factors involved here that would not relate to your situation.

First of all, I lived near ALL my in-laws. The second we hit the Tennessee border, we had more money in our pockets. It wasn't much, but it was still there. My husband would get paid on Fridays in Florida, and by Monday we were dead broke.

The other problem is, because we struggled for so long, we were not able to save up for a house. Now, it looks like it is too late. And the sup-prime market just went belly up, so we will need a huge down payment. With rents rising to Florida levels, how can we ever achieve this? We will remain renters or move on.

Then there is the factor that you will probably not be able to relate to. I wanted to live among southerners with their values. I am rapidly finding myself living amongst Floridians, Californians and, gasp, Midwesterners. Not my original plan.

If I wanted that I could have stayed in Florida, where real estate agents are willing to wheel and deal.

[sliverbox]

I can use comparisons between people I know back home and myself. I have friends who are my same age who make less than half off what I make in CA. Yet they own their home in Knoxville outright and have for years. My parents make less than a 3rd of what me and my wife make yet they also own their own home on a big plot of land.

That said, I think that working class wages are not that great no matter where you live. You just have to manage the money wisely. I worked making barely above minimum wage in TN and CA for years and in hindsight, it was hard in both places. In TN, I got $6 an hour 10 years ago. In CA, I got $15 an hour. Both wages in both locations were equally difficult to survive on.

The real shocking difference I think comes when you're making middle to even upper middle income wages. I've found that middle income wage earners in places like TN can make their income go almost twice as far as those making double, even triple the income in places like CA. I make decent money here but would never be able to afford even a basic bare-bones house in the ghetto versus being able to afford a pretty decent starter home in TN for half the income.

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by Tony1790

Howdy,

This is a question to any of the newcomers to TN that moved from a higher wage area to the lower wage area of TN, did this move put you in a financial bind and did you regret that move? How did you offset the lower wages and how are you able to cope.

My reason for asking is not to poke fun at TN, I'm in the process of moving (longer process than I thought). I'm moving from WA state with considerably higher wages, for example, my wife works as a grocery checker at Safeway and makes $17.50 per hour. I have to assume that she will be lucky to make half of that in TN and I myself have yet to line up a job, so needless to say our wages will be alot lower in TN than here in WA.

As for me, until recently I was making $65,000 per year, now $20,000 on my military retirement.

I'm looking for input on how others managed to overcome the lower wage situation.

Thanks in advance

Tony in WA
(retired military)

I was just up there in TN looking for property myself last week. we came across a piece in Sevierville we were looking at and the neighbor happened to be outside. He was very informative to us. He was from New Orleans and moved there 6 months ago. He wasn't flooded out or anything but all the people in the east side flooded the west side and his kids didn't want to go to school anymore because they were so over crowded. He said he was used to working just 3 or 4 days down there and was worried he would have to work 5 or 6 days in TN to survive but he was wrong. He said he can still get by just working 3 or 4 days a week. he builds fireplaces. He also said his auto insurance went from $200 a month down to $60 a month for 2 cars. He said it was a big change for him but the bills basically disappeared. Just the basic monthly bills and they were not near as high as he was used to paying. Now i don't live there yet and can't give you my input but i thought i'd pass on what little info i was given by a resident in Seviere county. Thankfully when i move i will still have my job working from home as long as I have internet access so at least we'll be sure to have some kind of income coming in right away.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Yet they own their home in Knoxville outright and have for years.

Yeah, well, there you go. Of course, I am just whining again. Sorry to be so depressed guys. I just thought that this was where I could finally afford a place to live.

Y'all are way ahead of me in the game of life and I am 45. It's just that I ALMOST had it. But this is Tony's thread.

I hope I explained about the struggles of finding a job here. That is pertinent and advice from someone that is not a native, lives here NOW, and it really did happen.

[Jon F Moss]

this appears to be one of the big hurdles for most looking to move from a high-cost/high pay/high stress/overcrowded state to a wonderfully temperate climate/lower costing/yet lower wage paying state like TN. the wise ones have said it, and I echo their sentiments....have something lined up before going! It's a personal preference that each family has to decide whether it's right for them or not.

my situation is slightly different, however, being an employee benefits advisor (insurance agent) I have many clients here in Florida, and thus (it appears to me) several options:

1) find work at a local insurance company/agency in TN & sell my business here
2) keep my FL clients and service them from TN while continuing to obtain more FL clients
3) service & keep FL clients, and start looking for TN clients
4) option 2 & 3

Anyone here in the insurance business? Very interested in your input. Thanks