Looking for ideas on where to live in E. TN. Need good schools, reasonable home prices, scenery, drag racing track. (Memphis: sales, rent)

[DippyC]

Hi All,

My husband, two sons (6 and 3) and I are planning a move to Eastern TN when we sell our home here in NH. Although we love NH and it's beautiful, we are looking for a better quality of life with warmer weather and lower taxes.

Here's a little background on us:
My husband works as a union ironworker foreman (reinforcing iron/rebar) in Boston currently and has 25 years experience. We heard that the new power plant on Watts Bar (outside of Knoxville) that is going in and were told there will be "rodbuster" jobs there later this year. Also, it's good to know that there are ironworker union halls in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis. (We were looking in NC and they now have none.) My husband also drag races a classic truck. We enjoy drag racing, but we know nothing about NASCAR. lol

I am an entrepreneur and I own a small, home-based business Moderator cut: deleted I plan to continue my business when we move to TN, and thankfully according to the state, I can run my business from home like I do here in NH. (Yay!)

We have 2 little boys, both turning 7 and 4 in May. Our older son will be in 2nd grade this fall, and he has a mild learning disability (auditory processing disorder) but is doing great in a mainstream classroom. My sons and I are also on a gluten-free diet, so being close to a Whole Foods or Earth Fare or a high-end grocery would be helpful, but not necessary. (We bake a lot of our own stuff anyway.)

So, here is what we're looking for, not in any particular order:
1. Mountains or big hills and lakes (I'm a lake girl and hope to someday live on the water.)
2. Within 1.25 hours of at least one major city (being in between a couple would be great - my husband is used to commuting a distance, so it's no biggie)
3. Within an hour to a drag racing track - preferably a 1/4 mile track, but 1/8 is ok. Hubby has a trailer, so he can drive a-ways. (We know about Bristol and the tri-cities - esp. JC - is in the running for sure.)
4. Low crime - we want to feel safe
5. Good schools
6. A home on an acre or more with some privacy (We live on 3/4 acre now and feel like we are sitting on our neighbors. We have no privacy.)
7. Close to stores (clothing, malls, Earth Fare/Whole Foods), but I don't mind driving 30 minutes. A supermarket or two within 10 miles or less would be great. We drive that now.
8. A town with a downtown area would be great but not necessary. I hope to one day open a store. Oh, and a farmer's market where I could sell my dip mixes in the meantime would be fantastic!

That's all I can think of at the moment. Oh, yeah - we need a place that is welcoming. We are very nice Yanks. I am from NH, husband is from PA, we both lived/met in FL. We're always saying that we wished people here were more friendly. Also, we don't go to church. We have a close relationship with God, but are more spiritual in nature than religious. I don't want to be the only family in a small town that doesn't attend church. I'd like to blend in more.

We are actually jumping in our vehicle and driving down this Friday (3/13). We will probably spend 4 days looking around. Two places we will definitely be checking out are Johnson City and Maryville. I have been reading this forum and everyone has been incredibly helpful! I know you will have some great suggestions for me to look at later this week. Thanks so much for your help!
Chris

[Servpro Will]

Chris,

Great description on what you're looking for, you should get a lot of response and ideas forthcoming. Going on the notion that your husband may be working at Watts Bar, I will say that Johnson City and the surrounding areas may be a bit too much commute, even for those that are used to daily driving. The commute time between Watts Bar and the Tri Cities is easily well over 2+ hours, even at close to drag racing speed!
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=John...=watts+bar+dam
Good news, if he does work at Watts Bar, there is a closer track, called the Knoxville Dragway (actually located in Maynardville).
Welcome to Knoxville Dragway!

My best recommendations would be anything west of Farragut (extreme west Knox County), or up to Maryville, for a couple reasons. It would put you at an easy commute to Watts Bar via I75, though a relatively easy drive through Knoxville to the dragway. Also, from your criteria list, there is an Earthfare, Walmart, and Fresh Market all located directly off the Campbell Station road exit, making your shopping easy and navigable. Being very close to lakes is very attainable here as well, along with some mountain views and easy access to the mountains after a short 45 minute or so drive.

Maryville seems like a good option. There is a quaint downtown feel, the mountains are visible and close, the schools are great, Earth Fare and Fresh Market are easily accessed by Pellisippi Parkway in about 20-25 minutes, there's a Walmart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, and plenty of eating. 1 acres home tracts aren't too hard to find, though will vary in price depending exact location. The dragway would be easy to get to by some highway and interstate driving. I think there's a farmers market, but ask SmokyMtnGal on that to be sure, she knows all about Maryville. Watts Bar also would be a relatively easy commute by taking either Pellisippi or Hwy 321 to I75, then a straight shot down to the Watts Bar dam exit.

Other than that, there are a lot of smaller towns, options between Maryville, Lenoir City and Sweetwater that would fit the acreage, price range, and proximity to shopping you need, but if school is a major concern then I would look at some research for any area you like to determine if the school is up to your liking. Lakes and water are in heavy supply, so you can almost throw a stone in any direction and hit water, depending on exactly how close you want to be. If you're touring the 13th, I would definitely look at Maryville in depth, Lenoir City, Sweetwater, Athens, Kingston, Rockwood. Another choice would be Oak Ridge, as it has great schools, enough shopping, and easy access and commute to water, Earthfare, Watts Bar, though the mountains will be an extra drive, though still very doable.

Again, nothing against Tri Cities, its a great place, though if your husband truly does go to work for Watts Bar, he would be spending 4 1/2 hours+ on the road daily, and I'm not sure if that's the kind of commute you're looking for. As far as safety and welcoming spirits, I tend to think east TN offers both. Most of the mentioned places are low crime, though with any area there's going to be the good and the so so, so just feeling out the area when you're there will definitely help. I do feel that southern charm and nice neighbors is something we boast, though you may hear a few posts about northerners not being welcomed. But living here all my life, I don't agree with that sentiment all together, as I feel we're very inviting folk to nice new comers. We are in the bible belt, but that also doesn't mean everyone can't practice what they want or believe. I think it's a tolerable area, though if you ask an opinion, you'll get one. Easy enough either way. Best of luck on the 13th coming down, I hope you find it nice here, and I'm sure you'll get a lot of ideas between now and then!

[DippyC]

I forgot to mention, we will likely rent first and then later look for a home in the $160k range. Also, I'm sorry that I put a link to my business. I didn't realize it wasn't allowed.
Thanks!

[DippyC]

Thanks W.S! Helpful as always!
Maryville is definitely at the top of our list. I will look into the other towns that you mentioned as well. Thanks so much!

[Tri-Cities Native]

Hey Dippy! We're glad you're considering the Tri-Cities area for your new home. One thing I tell a lot of people is that we had a well kept secret for a very long time but it has been "leaked out" in the last several years.

As far as some of the things you're looking for:
Racing: You already know about Bristol. I bracket raced there for a few years. Needless to say it's an awesome facility! Your Hubby can run the truck at the Street Fights. I view that as heads-up 1/4 mile time runs. He could also run in the Bracket races in either the 1/8 mile footbrake (Pro) or 1/4 mile Sportsman class.
Mountains/hills/lakes: check out the first thread in the Tri-Cities forum. There's lots of great area pics.
Crime: Melissa DATA: Free Lookups is a good source for Crime stats and other useful info.
Schools: SchoolMatters - Home (http://www.schoolmatters.com/ - broken link) is a good site for school info
Privacy: That's one of the neat things about many areas in TN. You can be in the middle of the city and 15-20 minutes later it's like your in the middle of no where.
Earth Fare: One just opened up last year near ETSU in south JC. We had never been in one and was thoroughly impressed when we did!
Farmers Market: A more popular one is held in JC on Saturdays during season.
Nice People: It won't take you guys long to realize how nice the majority of folks are in this area. The good thing is that it's very contagious

Hope some of this helps and good luck to you guys!

[DippyC]

Does anyone have suggestions for towns between Knoxville and Johnson City? Just curious. Something smack dab in between might work.

[DippyC]

Thanks T.C.N.! I appreciate the links! The Johnson City is definitely in the running. I should mention that I don't know how long my husband will be doing ironwork, so we don't want to go with the Watts Bar possibility alone. He has arthritis in his back, so he may last 10 more years or he may last 6 months. Hard to say. Our whole purpose of moving is so that we can buy a home for cash and run my business together and be around for our kids. Of course, with him being union, he will try to stick with that as long as possible so we have insurance, etc.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by DippyC

Our whole purpose of moving is so that we can buy a home for cash and run my business together and be around for our kids. Of course, with him being union, he will try to stick with that as long as possible so we have insurance, etc.

Don't know if this applies to your husband:

Tennessee is a right to work state. In 2008, 5.5% of workers were union members compared to 10.6% in New Hampshire.

Table 5. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state

You can look up wage data by state metropolitan area and occupation here:

Wages by Area and Occupation

I'm only mentioning this because wages are generally lower here to go along with the lower cost of living.

[DippyC]

Laura C. - Thanks! My husband's ironworker magazine puts out a yearly directory with all of the wage info for each union local. We know it's a lot less than what Boston pays. I think Boston is in the top 5 for ironworker wages. It's all relative though. We live a little over an hour from Boston, in NH. We have a modest ranch, built in the 60's on 0.7 acres. Our town is pretty but the schools are lacking somewhat. We currently pay almost $5000 a year in property taxes, and we pay out a couple thousand or more for heating oil each winter. Granted, we don't have sales tax here on most things. Our house is currently listed at $249,900 (was $272k less than a year ago - we took it off the market for a while. Prices are coming down a lot.). A comparable home down there would probably be priced in the low $100k range. We'd like to upgrade a bit, so we're thinking that with the money we make from this house ( a fixer-upper that we fixed up and have equity in), we should be able to easily afford a home around $160k. We're looking forward to actually living life, instead of wondering where the money for heat will be coming from. lol

[INTN]

I just wanted to second what Laura said as my husband is a union electrician and has only been in TN when he's unemployed - as there is no work, especially union work here.