Considering Retirement in Tennessee (Knoxville, Chattanooga: for rent, condo, homes)

[Jkgourmet]

We currently live in the suburbs of Phoenix, but want to move to someplace that has fishing and boating. We would most likely put the AZ home up for rent, and I would prefer to not be a snowbird.

Our style of fishing has nothing to do with trophy's or big fish. We just like to have fun with it. Catch lots of stuff, release nearly all of them, but never be bored with the 'one bite an hour' kind of fishing (that's a GOOD day in Arizona!). We loved fishing in Cape Coral/Fort Myers, FL, but I don't believe the 6-7 months of humidity each summer will work well for my husband. Otherwise, SW Florida would be darn near perfect.

Tennessee has a year round, moderate climate in many areas and I've always thought it was a very pretty place (my dad retired to Hendersonville, NC, so I do know a little about the TN area). The climate is probably our #1 reason for relocating.

What is important to us:

• Living in an area that has a a decent choice of restaurants (ethnic especially), happy hours, shopping within a ten minute drive. A longer drive would get us an even better selection. We find that suburbs of most medium cities are adequate.
• Very close to good fishing and a marina. Or even lakefront living with a dock. We do not want to launch a boat every time we want to use it.
• Prefer to live in an environment where there is a substantial population of retired folks. In fact, we would be open to a 55+ community (assuming it's not out in the boonies as many of them seem to be)
• Access to a good, active pool hall for my husband within 25 miles. Again, we find that most medium size cities/suburbs have a billiard room or bar with pool tables where he can find his afternoon games.
• We are definitely not rural dwellers. The idea of being isolated is NOT us. And we generally prefer newer homes and communities - we're okay with HOA's and 'cookie cutter' communities, if the location makes sense.

Budget between $200-$350K - and we would consider a condo if it had a view.

I believe that Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville all have possibilities. Do you agree? Are there others we should consider? We are wide open to ideas and suggestions (and yes, we will come out and visit first, then rent for 3-12 months, then buy.)

Thanks for your advice and thoughts.

[DubbleT]

I am not familiar enough with fishing or with the lake areas to give specific recommendations, but in the meantime here a couple of sites that might give you some ideas on communities to look at.

LENOIR CITY, TN All Retirement Communities and All Retirement Homes

Gated Private Master Planned Communities Page

I know there are some threads in the forums about some of these communities already, (like this one for example- //www.city-data.com/forum/knoxv...wes-ferry.html ) so if a place looks promising you could do a search here for more info.

[rundugrun]

Knoxville area has lots of boating / fishing opportunities... Lenoir City, Tellico Lake, Fort Loudon Lake.

[Jim Mac]

Paris and Maryville are always recommended towns.

[Barking Spider]

Might be hard to find water front with a dock in the Knoxville area in your price range. Pretty easy to find stuff NEAR water in that price range.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

We currently live in the suburbs of Phoenix, but want to move to someplace that has fishing and boating. We would most likely put the AZ home up for rent, and I would prefer to not be a snowbird.

Our style of fishing has nothing to do with trophy's or big fish. We just like to have fun with it. Catch lots of stuff, release nearly all of them, but never be bored with the 'one bite an hour' kind of fishing (that's a GOOD day in Arizona!). We loved fishing in Cape Coral/Fort Myers, FL, but I don't believe the 6-7 months of humidity each summer will work well for my husband. Otherwise, SW Florida would be darn near perfect.

Tennessee has a year round, moderate climate in many areas and I've always thought it was a very pretty place (my dad retired to Hendersonville, NC, so I do know a little about the TN area). The climate is probably our #1 reason for relocating.

What is important to us:

• Living in an area that has a a decent choice of restaurants (ethnic especially), happy hours, shopping within a ten minute drive. A longer drive would get us an even better selection. We find that suburbs of most medium cities are adequate.
• Very close to good fishing and a marina. Or even lakefront living with a dock. We do not want to launch a boat every time we want to use it.
• Prefer to live in an environment where there is a substantial population of retired folks. In fact, we would be open to a 55+ community (assuming it's not out in the boonies as many of them seem to be)
• Access to a good, active pool hall for my husband within 25 miles. Again, we find that most medium size cities/suburbs have a billiard room or bar with pool tables where he can find his afternoon games.
• We are definitely not rural dwellers. The idea of being isolated is NOT us. And we generally prefer newer homes and communities - we're okay with HOA's and 'cookie cutter' communities, if the location makes sense.

Budget between $200-$350K - and we would consider a condo if it had a view.

I believe that Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville all have possibilities. Do you agree? Are there others we should consider? We are wide open to ideas and suggestions (and yes, we will come out and visit first, then rent for 3-12 months, then buy.)

Thanks for your advice and thoughts.

If you plan on returning to visit Phoenix after moving in Tennessee, you'll probably want to live fairly close to Nashville since Southwest has a hub there and has direct flights to Phoenix. There are definitely lots of lakes in the Nashville area (say within an hour of Nashville). If you head east out of Nashville towards the Cumberland Plateau you'll find more lakes, waterfalls, gorges, etc., and it'll still be pretty convenient to the Nashville airport since the airport is on the east side of town.

The state of Tennessee has an official web site for retirees thinking of locating to Tennessee, and it lists 13 communities that it considers prime for retirees:
Retire Tennessee

In addition, the American Association of Retirement Communities has given its Seal of Approval to three Tennessee communities: Chattanooga, Cookeville, and Crossville.

[SKYSEA]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

We currently live in the suburbs of Phoenix, but want to move to someplace that has fishing and boating. We would most likely put the AZ home up for rent, and I would prefer to not be a snowbird.

Our style of fishing has nothing to do with trophy's or big fish. We just like to have fun with it. Catch lots of stuff, release nearly all of them, but never be bored with the 'one bite an hour' kind of fishing (that's a GOOD day in Arizona!). We loved fishing in Cape Coral/Fort Myers, FL, but I don't believe the 6-7 months of humidity each summer will work well for my husband. Otherwise, SW Florida would be darn near perfect.

Tennessee has a year round, moderate climate in many areas and I've always thought it was a very pretty place (my dad retired to Hendersonville, NC, so I do know a little about the TN area). The climate is probably our #1 reason for relocating.

What is important to us:

• Living in an area that has a a decent choice of restaurants (ethnic especially), happy hours, shopping within a ten minute drive. A longer drive would get us an even better selection. We find that suburbs of most medium cities are adequate.
• Very close to good fishing and a marina. Or even lakefront living with a dock. We do not want to launch a boat every time we want to use it.
• Prefer to live in an environment where there is a substantial population of retired folks. In fact, we would be open to a 55+ community (assuming it's not out in the boonies as many of them seem to be)
• Access to a good, active pool hall for my husband within 25 miles. Again, we find that most medium size cities/suburbs have a billiard room or bar with pool tables where he can find his afternoon games.
• We are definitely not rural dwellers. The idea of being isolated is NOT us. And we generally prefer newer homes and communities - we're okay with HOA's and 'cookie cutter' communities, if the location makes sense.

Budget between $200-$350K - and we would consider a condo if it had a view.

I believe that Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville all have possibilities. Do you agree? Are there others we should consider? We are wide open to ideas and suggestions (and yes, we will come out and visit first, then rent for 3-12 months, then buy.)

Thanks for your advice and thoughts.

As a recent retiree from So Cal., l moved to Cookeville. You might want to run a search on Cookeville itself. We have three lakes within 1/2 drive (all with marinas) and at least two rivers. For your budget you could buy a very very nice home that is less than five years old. We are 75 miles away from Nashville (one hour), and about 1 1/2 hours from Knoxville where they have the large shopping malls. Cookeville is no rural town, has a college, great hospital, symphony, etc., but five minutes in any direction and you are on peaceful two lane roads. I strongly suggest you check it out, and JMT, listed above, is a Cookeville advocate, just ask him. You won't find any nicer people anywhere you go.

[MomOfCuteKids]

I totally LOVE Cookeville. It is in the middle of Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville. Approximately 100 miles from each. It is SO incredibly NICE. Good people, good weather, and a BEAUTIFUL town.