Please help us with your opinion of TN-everyone (Knoxville, Kingsport: condo, get credit)

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by psdziwo

Did it ever occur to any of you that a lot of us in Michigan want to move to your state BECAUSE of you slower pace, your non-liberal views, your southern traditions, etc??? Maybe we're envious of what you have. My husband and I are going to retire in about 2 years, and central / east Tennessee is one of our possible locations. All we can dream about is finding an older home on a little bit of property - enough to have a decent sized garden, plant my flowers, and relax with a drink on the porch. We can't wait until we can finish our projects around the house at a more leisurely pace, and not have to cram everything into a weekend. We want to join a nice church and meet our neighbors. We aren't "over the hill" yet, and we want to find a way to fit in and sign up for some church committees, or volunteer for something needed in the area. From some of the posts I've read, it almost sounds like we are dreaming, and won't really be welcome. I hope that's not the case, because I've been looking forward to calling Tennessee my home for quite a while now. And it's sad, because overall, we really love Michigan. We have places here that would be hard to duplicate, and a lot of them are not that publicized. But the liberals in Washington and in our own state have made retiring here on a fixed income an impossibility. So try to remember that we don't all come to "change" your ways - many of us are coming to embrace them.

It sounds like you are going to love it here! You sound like just the couple to fit in here!

I attended one of the large Baptists churches and also a very nice Methodist, and they are quite eager for volunteers! I think that the other poster is from Carolina and they were really overrun with transplants. I really understand what she is saying. I lived in a place like that in Florida, and people can really get their back up when they have a LOT of pushy transplants take over.

It's not like that in my area.

She did give you some great info, as did creeksitter, though. Just be careful with the labeling with some folks. The well-brought up ones don't like the labels or the political rants.

I'm a liberal atheist who exists here and for the most part, I am left alone. Here is how it goes:

We move into the neighborhood and one of the neighbors welcomes us and says, "Are you from Knoxville?" knowing by our accents that we are not.

I respond and tell her where we are from.

She says, "There are a lot of nice churches here."

I say, "Yes, ma'am," and nicely smile.

The subject is dropped.

That is our least friendly neighbor. The rest were really nice and never mentioned that we were from somewhere else or church or God or politics.

Now don't get me wrong, we have our bigoted, loudmouths, too and more than a few that are quiet bigots. But polite company does not act that way, most people are very nice and you will certainly be welcomed and more than encouraged to volunteer for ANYTHING in the church and community.

[leonard]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I really don't think transplants will outnumber the locals anytime soon. So, in the meantime, the whiners usually end up moving away, but they are awful to listen to while they are still here.

They have a choice:

Be "whiners" or "winners".

I like it here and I am still visiting trying to decide where to move in E TN.

My biggest complaint is how hard it is to chose where to live as most places are great, except I crossed Maryville and Athens off my list.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by leonard

They have a choice:

Be "whiners" or "winners".

I like it here and I am still visiting trying to decide where to move in E TN.

My biggest complaint is how hard it is to chose where to live as most places are great, except I crossed Maryville and Athens off my list.

Leonard, that's the nice (tough) part....so many great choices.....

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by leonard

They have a choice:

Be "whiners" or "winners".

I like it here and I am still visiting trying to decide where to move in E TN.

My biggest complaint is how hard it is to chose where to live as most places are great, except I crossed Maryville and Athens off my list.

Unfortunately, the whiners in Florida didn't leave, so I did. I noticed a lot of the non-whiners moved here.

I have zero opinion, but it might be helpful to people if you said why you are no longer considering Athens and Maryville. Your insight might help someone and what you don't like someone else might love.

[psdziwo]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

It sounds like you are going to love it here! You sound like just the couple to fit in here!

I attended one of the large Baptists churches and also a very nice Methodist, and they are quite eager for volunteers! I think that the other poster is from Carolina and they were really overrun with transplants. I really understand what she is saying. I lived in a place like that in Florida, and people can really get their back up when they have a LOT of pushy transplants take over.

It's not like that in my area.

She did give you some great info, as did creeksitter, though. Just be careful with the labeling with some folks. The well-brought up ones don't like the labels or the political rants.

I'm a liberal atheist who exists here and for the most part, I am left alone. Here is how it goes:

We move into the neighborhood and one of the neighbors welcomes us and says, "Are you from Knoxville?" knowing by our accents that we are not.

I respond and tell her where we are from.

She says, "There are a lot of nice churches here."

I say, "Yes, ma'am," and nicely smile.

The subject is dropped.

That is our least friendly neighbor. The rest were really nice and never mentioned that we were from somewhere else or church or God or politics.

Now don't get me wrong, we have our bigoted, loudmouths, too and more than a few that are quiet bigots. But polite company does not act that way, most people are very nice and you will certainly be welcomed and more than encouraged to volunteer for ANYTHING in the church and community.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. We've been traveling to different parts of Tennessee and surrounding states for quite a while, but it seemed like we always compared other areas to Tennessee. That helped narrow our choice a bit. Looking forward to making it our permanent home in the near future. Enjoy your week!

[2mares]

What I really want to know is if Capt. Dan is actually seeing people buying up land where he lives. And I mean in the past six months, or so. It would be interesting to me from an economic standpoint.

I dont know about west TN but I have seen a decrease in land purchases in my area. I live near one of those developments where an acre that sold for 4K (1.5K when I bought) is now going for 20K. I hope this trend continues.

[Capt. Dan]

Yes. Capt. Dan has seen alot of Illinois-Indiana-Michigan-Ohio etc. people showing up at farm forclosure auctions and outbidding the locals. And by outbidding I dont mean paying alot for this land. If I had not seen it, i wouldnt have said it!

[leonard]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Unfortunately, the whiners in Florida didn't leave, so I did. I noticed a lot of the non-whiners moved here.

I have zero opinion, but it might be helpful to people if you said why you are no longer considering Athens and Maryville. Your insight might help someone and what you don't like someone else might love.

Hi,

I loved Athens and the area. The crime statistics, especially the large number of personal assaults, robbery, etc were way high. I know of the Meth lab problem, but those crimes are a people problem, lots of people. I chose to avoid it. In my investigation I could not see it as a small area problem (Bad area of the city/county) rather a widespread problem affecting rural and city dwellers alike.For some this may not be a problem.

Maryville could be great for someone who wants a Big Little City. Lots to do, plenty of societal activities, etc. My wife and I were not looking for the number of people, congestion, traffic etc found in the city. The area around it is lovely. We decided to look closer to Seymour. Loved it.

Next is the Tri Cities area.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by leonard

Hi,

I loved Athens and the area. The crime statistics, especially the large number of personal assaults, robbery, etc were way high. I know of the Meth lab problem, but those crimes are a people problem, lots of people. I chose to avoid it. In my investigation I could not see it as a small area problem (Bad area of the city/county) rather a widespread problem affecting rural and city dwellers alike.For some this may not be a problem.

Maryville could be great for someone who wants a Big Little City. Lots to do, plenty of societal activities, etc. My wife and I were not looking for the number of people, congestion, traffic etc found in the city. The area around it is lovely. We decided to look closer to Seymour. Loved it.

Next is the Tri Cities area.

The Jamestown area has a lot of horse farms and I like the fact that it is close to Pickett State Park. I enjoyed my time there when I visitied. I noticed that Crossville area has seen a lot of new housing development, commercial, and restaurant expansion.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by leonard

Hi,

I loved Athens and the area. The crime statistics, especially the large number of personal assaults, robbery, etc were way high. I know of the Meth lab problem, but those crimes are a people problem, lots of people. I chose to avoid it. In my investigation I could not see it as a small area problem (Bad area of the city/county) rather a widespread problem affecting rural and city dwellers alike.For some this may not be a problem.

Maryville could be great for someone who wants a Big Little City. Lots to do, plenty of societal activities, etc. My wife and I were not looking for the number of people, congestion, traffic etc found in the city. The area around it is lovely. We decided to look closer to Seymour. Loved it.

Next is the Tri Cities area.

I understand. Athens is adorable. It reminds me a bit of where I was raised, in Mass. Same population. But wow, you are right. I covered our local courthouse for 10 years and never saw crime like they have in Athens. That's a lot.

And I understand why Maryville would be too large for you. I was kind of looking for a town like Athens, minus the crime, when we moved to Tennessee, but of course, with job concerns, we ended up in Knoxville, but Fountain City is a good compromise for us.

I see why you would like Seymour. We have a nice, retired lady on the Knoxville forum that lives there and just loves it. She gets a lot of freebies for the local shows and attractions because she lives in Sevier County. It's very close to the mountains but also to Knoxville.