We bought a condo (Chattanooga, Lebanon: rent, mortgage, motorhome)

[crsmbuck]

My wife and I live in NY state and are a bit over 4 years from retirement. We have spent a great deal of time researching a good place to retire and Tn. has been at or near the top of our list for a little over a year. We finally has the opportunity to visit your lovely city and were so impressed we bought a condo last week. The closing is coming up on 4/16. It is in a development called Hickory Trace that is located just off I75 near the mall (Hamilton Place?). I believe the area is called Brainerd-East Brainerd.

Can any of you that are from Chattanooga give us some insight into this area (it sure looked good to us)? Sometimes beauty is skin deep, but we are hoping our instincts were right and that this area is actually beautiful way down deep.

We are looking for comments on overall quality of life, the possibilty that the market for property will go up in this area (as opposed to being so depressed in upstate NY), whether it is a good area for young (we will be 56) retirees, and opinions on why you like Chattanooga as a place to live. I guess we are looking for reinforcement that we made a good choice.

Thanks in advance for any comments, all will be appreciated whether good or bad.

[SPLIT]

C.B.: We are quite similar to you. Live on the West side of the river for more piece & quiet. I-75 hwy can be quite busy/dangerous everyday with truck route & I-24 Jct. Your mall area should grow even more with the business "Enterprize South" business park. Last year just lost out the new Toyota assembly plant.
. N.Carolina just to East for higher hiking, parks, etc. Also Condo can easy close up and travel. Chattanooga very active with Festivals, music assn, conferences, etc. Weather mush better than Upsate, I was raised in Troy / Albany area, many years Snow skiing, scuba diving Lk George / Lk Chaimplain.
. Guess you will rent out property for the next 4 years.??

[crsmbuck]

Actually we are going to carry the mortgage and use it for long weekends and vacations. We figure thats a good way to get to know the city better. As for travel, we also own a motorhome and will use the condo as a home base to explore.

[Jon F Moss]

congrats on the new purchase! You're definitely on the "busier" side of town with good shopping and lots of restaurants. Chattanooga is small enough so that you're never far away from any/everything! LW's family is all up in Rochester, and I used to live in Finger Lakes region on a farm as a boy.

It's my understanding that the area is a top choice for "young" retirees.

[Donwind]

Congrats on the condo purchase! My wife and I spent 3 days in Nashville, Lebanon, Carthage, Cookedville, Gainsboro, looking at many riverfront properties but wasn't able to make up our mind. On our way back to home,
we exit I-24 and got lost in Chattanooga and we decided to retire there!
We're still looking. We live very closed to Lake Lanier, Georgia and we have
a 64 acre farm in middle GA.

Any suggestions to where in Chattanooga that is good to call home is greatly
appreciated!