Help Me Escape to Here!!!! (Oak Ridge, Athens: for sale, real estate, foreclosures)

[SikofSoCal]

Hello Tennessee,

I am currently living in So. California I have lived here all 48 of my years. I am ready to go to a place where the people still talk to there neighbors and it doesn't take 2 hours to get a a job. Can anybody help me with some advice on where a good place to move to in Tennessee might be. Im looking and hoping to live in the country outside of the big city. I can commute a little to a job if required. I have about 50K to buy a house with 1-3 acres hopefully it's enough thats what I have. It's just my roommate of 15 years and myself and she wants to move to the tennessee country more than me. I'm easy to get along with and I think I would get along great with the locals. If anybody has any good suggestions for me on where to look that would be greatly appreciated, I have looked through 100's of realestate listings but I don't know the good areas from the bad areas, the one thing I know is I want to be in an area with no history at all of flooding.

Thanks for listning and for your help

Russ Taylor

SikofSoCal

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by SikofSoCal

Hello Tennessee,

I am currently living in So. California I have lived here all 48 of my years. I am ready to go to a place where the people still talk to there neighbors and it doesn't take 2 hours to get a a job. Can anybody help me with some advice on where a good place to move to in Tennessee might be. Im looking and hoping to live in the country outside of the big city. I can commute a little to a job if required. I have about 50K to buy a house with 1-3 acres hopefully it's enough thats what I have. It's just my roommate of 15 years and myself and she wants to move to the tennessee country more than me. I'm easy to get along with and I think I would get along great with the locals. If anybody has any good suggestions for me on where to look that would be greatly appreciated, I have looked through 100's of realestate listings but I don't know the good areas from the bad areas, the one thing I know is I want to be in an area with no history at all of flooding.

Thanks for listning and for your help

Russ Taylor

SikofSoCal

50k for a decent house with 1-3 acres, to me, seems like an impossibility, this being 2010.

[hiknapster]

It's possible but most are going to be mobile homes or very primitive homes and they will be out a bit. Not two hours away, though. You will either have to find a job first, if you want to buy and get financed, or pay in cash.

[Barking Spider]

I suggest you visit the area first. I think you will be in for a shock when you see what 50K might buy. With 1 -3 acres too????? I think you are in for a rude awakening.

What kind of a job are you looking for? Like Hik said, you will need a job first, unless you are paying cash.

You should visit first.

[SikofSoCal]

I thought the prices were better in Tennessee than in So. Cal I guess not The homes I saw for sale throughout tennessee on Realtor .com & Trulia.com appeared by the pictures to be average looked OK and some worse I guess pictures really dont say it all, I do appreciate the input so I guess I will be scaling down to maybe an acre if Im lucky and Im a handy guy it really doesn't have to be like new. Im in the demolition and asbestos work In estimating and PM work. I was thinking that if I found a house for 50K paid cash I could probably get a job anywhere out of the rat race and get by without a rent/mortgage payment. My roommate has a 1k a mo. income too. Am I screwed????

Russ Taylor

SikofSoCal

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by SikofSoCal

I thought the prices were better in Tennessee than in So. Cal I guess not The homes I saw for sale throughout tennessee on Realtor .com & Trulia.com appeared by the pictures to be average looked OK and some worse I guess pictures really dont say it all, I do appreciate the input so I guess I will be scaling down to maybe an acre if Im lucky and Im a handy guy it really doesn't have to be like new. Im in the demolition and asbestos work In estimating and PM work. I was thinking that if I found a house for 50K paid cash I could probably get a job anywhere out of the rat race and get by without a rent/mortgage payment. My roommate has a 1k a mo. income too. Am I screwed????

Russ Taylor

SikofSoCal

Once again, the problem, as I see it, is getting a "decent," livable house for 50k, unless you want a manufactured house, like Hik suggested. Even in commutable, rural areas, I don't think you would find much of a livable house for that amount of money. Maybe you could work with some of the real estate agents who post here to try and see if what you want is at all achievable.

[creeksitter]

No, I think you can do it. Look around wartburg, harriman, Oliver springs. You might find deconstruction work in Oak Ridge. Maybe work cleaning up the ash spill in kingston?

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by creeksitter

No, I think you can do it. Look around wartburg, harriman, Oliver springs. You might find deconstruction work in Oak Ridge. Maybe work cleaning up the ash spill in kingston?

Wartburg, Morgan County, and Oliver Springs came to my mind, but 50k isn't much money. I guess it all depends on what one would accept as decent or livable. I did look at a $32k house near Petros last spring being sold by a Floridian who had made some minor improvements, but I wouldn't have paid even $25k for it. Still, if the op is a handyman and can find work, that area might be possible.

[FLORIDA TO NIOTA 2010]

You may want to check with the local banks. They may have some foreclosures. I know that Athens Federal had a 3/2 with basement on about an acre and wanted about 70K for it. They said it needed minor repairs. It was somewhere around Athens, TN. I know that was a little more than you stated, but if you call maybe the banks would be willing to sell for less. You never know unless you try. Just google Tennessee banks and start calling.
Hope this helps.

[dave1961]

Your best bet would be to buy a house at auction.