Looking at Maryville and surrounding areas (Knoxville, Oak Ridge: homes, neighborhoods, purchase)

[toulousifer]

Hi, we are looking to move to the south-of-Knoxville area from San Jose, CA, and wanted to know if any towns/areas are more suited to us than others.

We have our own location-independent business, so we're open to any place that has what we're looking for:

1) Rural/country setting: We're looking to either purchase a home in a fairly secluded wooded site, or to build a home on a wooded lot. Looking for a minimum of 5 acres. Ideally, we don't want to be able to see or hear neighbors from our house, or hear any road or airplane noise. We would like nice views of the mountains/surrounding area too.

2) Airport: Proximity to the Knoxville airport is important, as we travel quite a bit. Ideally 30 minutes or less, but up to an hour for the right place.

3) Within 15 minutes of shipping/postal services. We ship out products daily, and can't be too far from a post office, UPS/Fedex drop off location.

4) Within 15 minutes of grocery/wal-mart/target stores.

5) Within 30 minutes of a variety of restaurants and movie theaters, malls, hospitals, other stores. I think we'll get this if we are 30 minutes from the airport, but since I don't know the area, I'd like confirmation of this.

Our kids will be out of school by the time we move, so school quality is irrelevant. We'll be close to 50 when we move, and plan on eventually retiring wherever we end up as well.

The towns I can see on Google Maps that are in the 30 minute airport radius include Maryville, Seymour, Walland, Lenoir City, Farragut, Oak Ridge, Powell, Strawberry Plains, Kodak, Sevierville, and Alcoa. Do any of these have good or bad points? Is there a certain stigma or reputation that any of these areas have?

For instance, in the Bay Area where we currently live, I would categorize (my opinions) towns the following ways: The town of Morgan Hill is considered "cheap, but too far from San Jose, surrounded by farmland and hills", while Los Gatos is "pretty, overpriced, and lots of money lives there", with Milpitas being "inexpensive, cookie cutter subdivisions but occasionally smelly (there's a landfill there)", and Campbell as being "older, pleasant neighborhoods with a lot of charm but too much traffic". I'm looking for these kinds of subjective opinions about these areas.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Barking Spider]

The 30 minutes to the airport is going to eliminate some of those cities. While Google maps may tell you its 30 minutes, reality is sometimes different.
Oak Ridge just might make it, but it would be close. Depends on traffic and times of day you are traveling. Strawberry Plains, Kodak, and Sevierville would probably only be 30 minutes at 3 am, on a weekday.

Depending on where you are, you will likely still hear airplanes. Same goes for hearing or seeing neighbors. Depending on how the 5 acres are configured, you could still be fairly close to the neighbors house.

15 minutes to walmart or target will also limit you some.

As far as shipping stuff goes, we do have postal service to homes, as well as you can have UPS pick up at your location too.

You should come for a visit, and spend a lot of time driving around to see what may fit your needs. Its just not possible to use Google maps to get a true feel for what the Knoxville area is like (and surrounding towns).

One thing to consider, especially if you travel a lot. Knoxville is not the best airport for the lowest airfares. Some times its cheaper to drive to Nashville to catch a flight.