Moving to Tennessee with lots of questions (Knoxville, Chattanooga: sale, real estate)

[randymn]

This is an odd situation, but several of us (all cousins from around the US) are looking to relocate and Tennessee is looking the most promising, but none of us are familiar with it, other than what we've read. We'd like to build a four plex so we can all live together, need a few acres, ideally on the water, and proximity to a Wal-Mart and (for me) gay-friendly. We're all about fifty years old and will have between us about a million dollars to work with. Is there anyone who would be willing to help me with my many questions? Thank You! randymn at paulbunyan.net

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by randymn

This is an odd situation, but several of us (all cousins from around the US) are looking to relocate and Tennessee is looking the most promising, but none of us are familiar with it, other than what we've read. We'd like to build a four plex so we can all live together, need a few acres, ideally on the water, and proximity to a Wal-Mart and (for me) gay-friendly. We're all about fifty years old and will have between us about a million dollars to work with. Is there anyone who would be willing to help me with my many questions? Thank You!

Narrow this down based on the research you've already done. You probably haven't gotten any answers yet because you haven't said where in Tennessee (at least a general area - East - Middle - West TN) you want to move to, if any of you need to be near a particular type of work, activity, schools, etc.

[lalena71]

We, my mother and I and my 11yr old daughter are also relocating to TN, eastern to be exact. Possibly Erwin. We visited there last week, and the Chamber of Commerce was very helpful with our questions. We stayed in the town for several hours, driving around. I am a school bus driver, and already put in my application at the transportation office. Can't wait!

[randymn]

Thank both of you. I'm new to this, and obviously need guidance. To clarify a bit: It appears that Eastern Tennessee most meets our aesthetic desires for weather, topography and water. Perhaps somewhere between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Proximity to a somewhat metropolitan area is important, but prefer to be in the country for living. One of our members (there have suddenly become 6 of us Heads of Household who are all primed and ready) is concerned about school systems and job market. He has a two year old son. The rest of us are in the age of "any not too demanding jobs around here?" None of us are wealthy, most of us about fifty, but all have assets to reinvest to move. I'm also confused about some of the real estate terms I'm running across and how things work there. For example, almost everything says "community water" (or something to that effect)... no matter if you're out in the COUNTRY! Here in MN we just drive a pipe in the ground and hook up a pump. Also, "approved for two bedroom septic"........ new to me. Here we just put in the size septic and drainfield to accommodate the household size. LOTS of new stuff for me, and I get confused. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[randymn]

One more thing... Is gardening a Tennessee thing? I'm an addict for it, but up here we still have frozen ground, so I'm very limited for crops. I was in Joplin, Missouri this fall and discovered it's all rocks, and gardening was almost impossible.... total shock to me, coming from northern farming country. Can you grow melons in Eastern TN? Fruit trees? Roses, without having to dig them up in the fall and bury them? ( TOLD you I was dumb about all this.)

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by randymn

Thank both of you. I'm new to this, and obviously need guidance. To clarify a bit: It appears that Eastern Tennessee most meets our aesthetic desires for weather, topography and water. Perhaps somewhere between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Proximity to a somewhat metropolitan area is important, but prefer to be in the country for living. One of our members (there have suddenly become 6 of us Heads of Household who are all primed and ready) is concerned about school systems and job market. He has a two year old son. The rest of us are in the age of "any not too demanding jobs around here?" None of us are wealthy, most of us about fifty, but all have assets to reinvest to move. I'm also confused about some of the real estate terms I'm running across and how things work there. For example, almost everything says "community water" (or something to that effect)... no matter if you're out in the COUNTRY! Here in MN we just drive a pipe in the ground and hook up a pump. Also, "approved for two bedroom septic"........ new to me. Here we just put in the size septic and drainfield to accommodate the household size. LOTS of new stuff for me, and I get confused. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell you where to move but I can give you some Tennessee relocation research tips. I'll let someone else answer the water/real estate questions.

Decide how long of a commute to work you are all willing to make. Then look at a map to see what towns are within your acceptable commuting distance/time. Mapquest will tell you miles and time.

Look up those towns on the City Data website to find out some general information about them. If they have town websites or Chamber of Commerce websites or visitors websites you may want to check those out. If the info shows a place may not be right for you, scroll to the part of the town page that shows nearby towns that may better meet your criteria.

You need to do a "City Compare." We're not allowed to advertise a non government or non .org website here but if you go to Google and type in "City Compare" you can find a website where you will be able to compare where you live now to your potential new town on a variety of factors like cost of living. It's important to know if the new town is better/worse, bigger/smaller, cheaper/more expensive than what you are used to, where you live now. I would think the cousins should do the same since you are all coming from different locations.

Your cousin with the kid can review Tennessee school report cards based on standardized testing on this website as soon as you have an idea where you want to live:

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/rptcrd06/

Use the second drop down box to select the county or city. Once you get into the website for the county or city you can look at report cards for individual schools.


Next go to the online yellow pages and find out what kind of stores, restaurants, movie theaters, services, etc. are in your potential new town.


Do a search for the name of the local newspaper and read it online regularly. It will give you an idea of events in the town, future town plans, crime, classifieds, etc.

If you are thinking about the Knoxville area, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce website has a Workforce Study on it's website for Knox County and 8 surrounding counties. It will give you an idea of what workers are in demand (not just career/professional) and what they project will be in demand for the future.

If you are outdoor types, you might want to check out what state parks are close to your potential new town and what you can do in them:

http://www.state.tn.us/environment/p...indapark/#east

All the above is what you should do before you visit because it will help you to eliminate some places and allow you to spend more time in the places that do meet your criteria.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by randymn

One more thing... Is gardening a Tennessee thing? I'm an addict for it, but up here we still have frozen ground, so I'm very limited for crops. I was in Joplin, Missouri this fall and discovered it's all rocks, and gardening was almost impossible.... total shock to me, coming from northern farming country. Can you grow melons in Eastern TN? Fruit trees? Roses, without having to dig them up in the fall and bury them? ( TOLD you I was dumb about all this.)

Gardening is very big in Tennessee. Our last assumed frost day is April 15th here in Nashville. It's warm enough generally from then into the later part of October (that varies a lot from year to year) to garden and set out plants. Land that's good for gardening varies from place to place, even in the same county. Some times the land will be too rock or steep to farm. If you just need a place for a garden spot however, that shouldn't be hard to find.

You can grow melons and just about any other produce in Tennessee (my parents in Montgomery County were big gardeners, I've fooled around with it some). The only thing you can't keep out year-round is tropical and semi-tropical plants such or orange trees, palms and that sort of thing. Most fruit tree do well here except for peaches. Peach trees bloom just a little too early for our area. I hear they've come out with peach trees that are better suited to grow here, but I don't have any experience with them.

I've grown roses. Winters here are a little hard on roses; you would have to protect them in the winter, either by one of the traditional methods, or using the styrofoam pots they make just for that purpose.

I'm most familiar with Middle Tennessee and the information above is based on that. East Tennessee, in the higher elevations, would be slightly different, a little cooler in the summer and colder in the winter; not a lot but enough to make gardening a bit different than Middle Tennessee.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by randymn

This is an odd situation, but several of us (all cousins from around the US) are looking to relocate and Tennessee is looking the most promising, but none of us are familiar with it, other than what we've read. We'd like to build a four plex so we can all live together, need a few acres, ideally on the water, and proximity to a Wal-Mart and (for me) gay-friendly. We're all about fifty years old and will have between us about a million dollars to work with. Is there anyone who would be willing to help me with my many questions? Thank You!

I think if you want a few acres on the water, you're going to have to shell out a small fortune. The vast majority of the shorelines in Tennessee are protected and are off-limits to development. That means that what little shoreline is available is generally quite expensive.

To compound that, if you want somewhere that's "gay-friendly" that means sticking closer to a big city, and that means you'll have to pay more for land.

However, I think as long as you don't organize gay pride parades or flaunt your sexuality you should be fine just about anywhere. But to be safe, you might want to stick with places like college towns, Oak Ridge, or the big cities: in other words, places with people who tend to be more educated and who haven't spent their entire lives in rural Tennessee.

As for "community water" you're right, that means you won't have a well. My cabin up in the mountains is on a well, and the water is delicious and ice cold. However, in extreme dry weather it can sometimes slow to a trickle. So you might enjoy being connected to a water utility.

[SPLIT]

R: Seems like you got some favorable info so far. Our Roses did great last year, and last week 87 degrees, have buds already. Many neighbors have hobby or street sale size vegetable gardens.
Acerage on water is sort of a challenge, but East of Dayton and near the junction of the Hiwassee river still some older farms being sold or sub-divided.
Also behind me south of Dayton is 150 acres abandon on Cove, not sure of $$ or willing to sub-divide.
Our water supplier is a GREAT bargain. Minimum usage of 2,200 gal per month is a Minimum of $13.25. Also add some of the chemicals for county health guidelines, like small amount of Chlorine,(Talked about here in prior posts, some use a kitchen tap filter, or shower filter for better lady shampoo ?) Great pressure on top of hill....... .[/IMG]

[hoosier07]

Wow, what a nice picture....good way to start my monday...he..he..he....