Harriman or Centerville? (Columbia, Oliver Springs: crime, mobile home, buying)

[mrs1885]

Anyone in this area? We found some property we're thinking of buying and setting aside for a few years until the kids are old enough to move out. We have a 22 year old still living at home that I don't think will ever move out, so we decided maybe we'll be the ones to move out!!

We got an awesome deal on the house we own now and it has enough property that each of the kids were told when we bought it that they could each put a home on it. In a few years we want to start building a small house on a bigger piece of property for us. Something big enough for just us to be comfy in, but too small for kids to move back home!!

We found 2 potential properties that I'd like to take a look at. One in Harriman and the other in Centerville. I checked on here and the crime stats for Harriman look bad. Centerville crime stats look okay. Crime isn't a make or break thing for us (we're both retired law enforcement and have 3 rottweilers!!) and neither would schools as the kids would be moved out. The picture on the Harriman site of the lake is gorgeous!! I'd love to be close to water. It's the only think I miss about Florida. I'd love to get a boat some day - just something really small. Maybe even a canoe.

Anyone have info on either place? As I said, crime's not a make or break deal, but I don't want to live someplace where idiots are doing drive bys for fun on a Saturday night.

[alleycat]

Well, I don't know anything about Harriman. I assume you know that Centerville is way off the beaten path (to put it mildly). That might be just fine, if that's what you're looking at.

[ashley09]

i personally have never been to centerville. never really heard of it.
but i do live in harriman, and its not a bad place. its usually pretty quiet... sometimes boring, but if you ever wanted to go out somewhere, knoxville is just a short drive away.

i'm not sure about the crime...i don't really hear about much in harriman. the surrounding cities i've heard a few things... but not much here. but you said it didnt matter anyways [[and with 3 huge dogs i see why!]].

[mrs1885]

I love off the beaten path! We're way out in the country now and love it. My neighbors are cows and it's the best kind to have.

I'm glad you like Harriman ashley. That's where we were leaning toward. If I can come up with a street name or something could you let me know what the areas like?

[ashley09]

i sure will!

[mrs1885]

All it says is Woodcutters Paradise. Now I'm thinking maybe that's more a description of the property than the actual address.

Just found the property on a realtors site and it says the subdivision is Woodcutters Paradise. I still think it's a description. Does a subdiv with that name sound familiar??

[mrs1885]

Ok - I just send an e-mail to the realtor for more info on where it's located - either a street it's off of or something. Hopefully I'll get something more useful! It did have several pictures though, and 2 plot maps. The maps look like it's not in a subdivision of any kind I've ever seen. I really think it's more of a plot of land in the middle of nowhere. At least I'm hoping it is!

[frbenson]

I don't live in Harriman, but I have a map book of Roane County. Wood Cutters Paradise is listed under "Subdivision Index". It's located approximately 10 miles NE of Harriman town center, on Rte.61, heading toward Oliver Springs. In fact, it's a fair bit closer to Oliver Springs than to Harriman.

Frank

[Rob_H]

Centerville is a great little town with lots of character and one of the best meat and three's I've ever eaten at, "Breece's" right on the sqaure. It's a little over an hour to downtown Nashville or Columbia and close to the Trace for a nice country drive.

http://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/ce...c_town_square/

[bbkaren]

Originally Posted by mrs1885

All it says is Woodcutters Paradise. Now I'm thinking maybe that's more a description of the property than the actual address.

Just found the property on a realtors site and it says the subdivision is Woodcutters Paradise. I still think it's a description. Does a subdiv with that name sound familiar??

Well, you're in luck--we just looked at that property and I can tell you, it was a serious deliverance moment (actually almost an hour).

The road is barely navigable, luckily we had 4 wheel drive--and is a washed-out dirt trail, going up a mountain. Straight up.

The property in question is right after a burned-out bus with a sheet metal "awning" over the door that we believe someone might be living in. It's located between a house that's at the left of the road (cliffs straight down on either side) which is made up of spare building materials (we realized it was a house because we heard a dog barking), and two mobile homes that somehow miraculously got to the top of that mountain.

I seriously am telling you, it was scary. Many will attest, I have no reason to make this stuff up.

I've taken about a thousand pictures of the area and may have taken some there. It was truly an out of body experience.

Harriman, however, is quite nice in general.

p.s. the property on Bazel road we weren't able to find, but the area wasn't great (Bazeltown) in my opinion so we stopped looking...

The larger pieces of land in this area that we located were straight-up cliffs off the road, so we wound up looking elsewhere...

Good luck!