Seeking recco for Tri-City town w strong sense of community pride/involvement (Johnson City: apartment complex, lease)

[KendraH]

Hi all -

Husband and I are heading to Tri-City area July 3-7 to investigate potential towns for relocation from north metro Atlanta. After 20 years, we're tired of fooling ourselves that we are city people when all we want is to own some land and live a more rural lifestyle. We're also tired of the impersonal, uninvolved communities which are prevalent here. We are looking for a smaller town where owning acreage is a possibility, but would love to hone in on areas where there is local pride and a sense of community involvement, where we could contribute. For example, we really like Abingdon, VA for all these reasons, but prefer to put down roots in TN. Husband (manufacturing engineer) is searching jobs in the JC/Bristol/Asheville area and is willing to commute up to an hour. Luckily my job allows remote work, but I'm keeping my options open. We are early 40s, no kids or plans for any, 1 dog (lab). We are extremely outdoorsy - hiking, camping,hunting, ORV. Would love some reccos of places we should check out on our scoping trip in a few weeks. Our home base will be Warrior's Path State park (camping), so Rogersville, Jonesborough, Kingsport, Elizabethton and Erwin are all on our list - do these fit the bill? Any others? Sincere thanks to all in advance. - KH

[Serious Conversation]

Abingdon is a very nice small town, but fairly well-to-do and expensive for that part of Virginia. The closest thing to Abingdon is likely Jonesborough in Washington County, TN. Jonesborough is the oldest town in Tennessee with a quaint/cute downtown area, and has some minor tourist appeal through the storytelling center and "oldest town in Tennessee" thing. Still, it's mostly quiet, fairly rural, and well kept up.

If you can afford it, that would be where I'd be looking at acreage. You may also want to consider the parts of Greene County close to Washington County (Limestone, Chuckey, etc., maybe around the city of Greeneville).

Elizabethton and Erwin are also fine. Both have a Walmart and grocery stores. Elizabethton is larger with more to do. Both are fairly short drives back to Johnson City. If your husband were to find work in Asheville, Erwin is the best option. Both communities are sort of trying to rebrand themselves around their nearby outdoor offerings and proximity to Johnson City, while maintaining their small town nature.

Rogersville itself is OK, but I can't recommend Hawkins County. Drugs, poverty, and crime are issues there. Rogersville is around thirty minutes or so back to Kingsport and is far removed from the rest of the area.

I also can't recommend Kingsport. I live in downtown Kingsport in a nice apartment complex, and there are a lot of issues with drug dealing and property crime where I am. I grew up in Kingsport, but lived in Johnson City for most of the past two years until my job was moved back to Kingsport. Kingsport has gone from middle class over the years to working poor. Drug abuse and crime rates are higher than surrounding communities. I'm moving back to Johnson City/Washington County as soon as my lease is up. Some rural areas in Sullivan County, maybe around Blountville or Bluff City, may make sense for you.

Keep in mind that the more rural you get around here, the more problems you get with drugs and crime related to drugs. The whole area is really quite rural with some pockets of urban. Coming from metro Atlanta, it will all seem rural to you.

Are you planning to have kids? If so, you'll want to be zoned to Johnson City, Kingsport, or Washington County schools, likely in that order. Otherwise, the schools here, especially rural schools, are fairly poor.

What's your budget? Acreage around Jonesborough, which is the nicest rural area around here by far, will not be cheap.

Definitely secure jobs before you move. Employment is a big challenge here for a lot of folks.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Kingsport has gone from middle class over the years to working poor.

That is incorrect. Kingsport and JC have virtually the same per capita income, and it was virtually the same in 2000 per the information on city-data.com


//www.city-data.com/city/Johnso...Tennessee.html


//www.city-data.com/city/Kingsport-Tennessee.html

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

That is incorrect. Kingsport and JC have virtually the same per capita income, and it was virtually the same in 2000 per the information on city-data.com


//www.city-data.com/city/Johnso...Tennessee.html


//www.city-data.com/city/Kingsport-Tennessee.html

Johnson City is going to be artificially low due to the large number of college students.

Drive around the cities and look at the housing stock. JC has much nicer housing stock in the urban core than Kingsport. JC has way more going on in terms of more upscale dining, retail, etc., than Kingsport. There are areas of the city of Kingsport like Fair Acres that remain fairly affluent, but the decline in manufacturing has hurt Kingsport much more so than Johnson City. Kingsport has also annexed surrounding suburban areas like Colonial Heights that are much more affluent the city core.

Anything "upmarket" opening in this area is basically going to Johnson City and now Bristol over Kingsport.

[KendraH]

@Serious Conversation - appreciate this info! Nope, kids are not on the radar at all. We live 40 miles north of Atlanta now, but spend almost every weekend hiking or camping in the North GA mtns, because we just prefer life away from the city, so rural is more what we are seeking for sure, though relative proximity to a larger city comes in handy. After spending a year looking for acreage in North GA, it's just not a lot of bang for the buck, and the city mentality continues to creep further and further north. Also we live in an affluent area now and are fish out of water for sure.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by KendraH

@Serious Conversation - appreciate this info! Nope, kids are not on the radar at all. We live 40 miles north of Atlanta now, but spend almost every weekend hiking or camping in the North GA mtns, because we just prefer life away from the city, so rural is more what we are seeking for sure, though relative proximity to a larger city comes in handy. After spending a year looking for acreage in North GA, it's just not a lot of bang for the buck, and the city mentality continues to creep further and further north. Also we live in an affluent area now and are fish out of water for sure.

This sounds like Carter or Unicoi counties. Both have excellent outdoor opportunities, but are fairly close to Johnson City for employment and other amenities.

These are rural, mountainous counties, so acreage may be hilly. You may be on well water, septic, and not have broadband or cell service. Keep that in mind when looking at property.

[rccrain]

Budget?
What type of acreage? flat, hills, or mountains?


W/o more info, I would recommend:
1. South JC around buffalo mountain - especially if you're into mountain biking
2. Jonesborough - less mountains more farms but a very close community
3. Elizabethton area
4. Erwin/Unicoi area
5. Rogersville

Honorable Mention (if you can go very rural): Mountain City, Shady Valley, and Hampton

[KendraH]

@rccrain - thank you. Good questions on details. Preferably looking for pasture w. some woods. Views of hills/mtns is desirable. Sweet spot budget is $250K, but could go up if necessary.

[suzytx]

Originally Posted by KendraH

@rccrain - thank you. Good questions on details. Preferably looking for pasture w. some woods. Views of hills/mtns is desirable. Sweet spot budget is $250K, but could go up if necessary.

$250K for land will get you a nice piece of acreage. For house and land, not so much.

[rccrain]

Most JC and Jonesborough acreage will be 20 to 30k per acre. The areas in Hawkins County and Carter County will be half that. There's a smattering of existing housing like this, but you may be better off purchasing land and then building.