Mildest Summer, Low Crime, Good Schools, Fast Internet, Access to Medical (Knoxville: real estate, how much)

[mailmanx]

Yes, it does seem as if I want it all. And it's true, I do, but I'm very willing to compromise. The beauty of Tennessee really draws me in! Ultimately, I could probably learn to live in any town.

But let me be a little more specific: I generally prefer the right half of Tennessee from roughly about Cookeville and eastward. With that general area, I am looking for the best combo of the following:

1. SUMMERS: The winters in Tennessee don't bother me at all, but I hate heat and humidity. What town or what general area of Tennessee has the mildest summers? I can tolerate some heat and humidity, but the more I can be comfortable outside, the better!

2. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: My wife and I will be retired and can live anywhere without having to worry about a job. However, we are raising two granddaughters who will be in 6th and 8th grades, so I'd like an area with pretty good public middle and high schools.

3. LOW CRIME: I've heard of some trouble with drug crime around Knoxville and Johnson City, but don't know how bad it is. We'd like to be among friends and not have to worry much about crime.

4. INTERNET: My whole family loves their fast internet. I'd hate satellite or, gulp, DSL! I suppose that if we could get a true 100Mbps, we'd be OK. The faster, the better, though! 300Mpbs! Gigabit - Oh Yeah - light up the afterburners baby!

5. MEDICAL: We prefer to live either rural or suburban. We are not fans of city life or city traffic. However, since my wife and I are older, we think it would be prudent to be within, say, half-an-hour of decent medical facilities.

Follow-up, getting to know us:

We intend to buy a home, preferably $250,000 or less. I know that price is very doable! With that, we will want maybe a couple of acres (give or take) and either a basement or a shop for my RC hobby (brushless powered cars, boats, planes - yeah!). Again, very doable.

About us personally: We are Christian conservatives who honor our military, respect our neighbors and love our country. Therefore, we are looking forward to living among like-minded folk.

Would y'all throw this info into a Tennessee blender, stir it up a bit and see what you come up with for areas best for us? THANKS MUCH!

[Nomadicus]

I don't live there but had I explored it first I may have settled either in Maryville or Lenoir City... I like both and both are near state of the art medical in Knoxville. They are also near to great getaways for the day in the Smokey Mountain National Park.

[Serious Conversation]

Keep in mind that pretty much all these factors, with the exception of weather, are going to point to the cities.

Summer heat and humidity are a factor of life here. It declines with elevation and the further east you go. Parts of Johnson City are over 1700' with some more patches probably higher. There may be some areas of the Cumberland Plateau in a similar position.

In general, city schools throughout east TN tend to be better than county schools. Maryville and Oak Ridge city schools are good. Farragut is good. In upper east TN, Johnson City is good, Washington County is acceptable, and the quality really drops off from there.

Crime is more of a problem in rural areas than suburban or city (with a few city exceptions). Random violent crime is very low, but drug and domestic related crime is pretty high in rural areas. Property crime is high.

100 mbps should be available in most cities or suburbs. If interested in a property, google the town's name and internet service provider. I live in Bristol, have 100 mbps, and we are capable up to 10 gbps fiber. Jonesborough and Erwin also have fiber. Areas serviced by Comcast or Charter generally don't exceed 150 mbps.

Medical is a concern outside of Knoxville. My ex-girlfriend had to have two major joint replacements done at Vanderbilt because no one locally would do it. A former coworker of mine has lupus and needed a kidney transplant - that was done at UT Medical.

That budget is going to be tight for a home with a couple acres anywhere schools are good. You could do it in the Tri-Cities, but it would be with a yard and not acreage, or you could do it further out with fewer services and worse schools.

[mailmanx]

Nomadicus (GREAT HANDLE!) and Serious Conversation - thank you both for the valuable feedback. I also got one private message about Cookeville being a good match for me. I greatly appreciate the feedback for schooling and medical. Those are really the top two most important needs. Well, that and internet! THANKS!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by mailmanx

Nomadicus (GREAT HANDLE!) and Serious Conversation - thank you both for the valuable feedback. I also got one private message about Cookeville being a good match for me. I greatly appreciate the feedback for schooling and medical. Those are really the top two most important needs. Well, that and internet! THANKS!

I was going to say you should go ahead and check out Cookeville since you mentioned it in your initial post. It does match your criteria. You don't need to live in town to get fiber internet, and since the school system covers the entire county, you've got excellent schools no matter where you live within the county. With Vanderbilt located in Nashville, Cookeville is only an hour or so from the best hospital in the state, although the hospital in Cookeville is good, too. But it's good to know that one of the country's top hospitals is just 60-90 minutes away. If you plan on doing a lot of traveling, you'll appreciate being near Nashville's airport which is, by far, the largest and cheapest in the state, and is another perk to living closer to Nashville.

Cookeville is also a great place to race kids, very family friendly. In addition to excellent schools, t's got a children's museum, children's library, children's theater. And it's in a beautiful area with lakes, rivers, a dozen state parks, and waterfalls within a few minutes of town.

Your price range is definitely doable, too. Here are some samples of homes that have recently hold that are within your price range and, I think, within your criteria:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...81256610_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...1989750_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...0548131_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...41999096_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...1391624_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...1996666_zpid/?

[mailmanx]

Originally Posted by JMT

I was going to say you should go ahead and check out Cookeville since you mentioned it in your initial post. It does match your criteria. You don't need to live in town to get fiber internet, and since the school system covers the entire county, you've got excellent schools no matter where you live within the county. With Vanderbilt located in Nashville, Cookeville is only an hour or so from the best hospital in the state, although the hospital in Cookeville is good, too. But it's good to know that one of the country's top hospitals is just 60-90 minutes away. If you plan on doing a lot of traveling, you'll appreciate being near Nashville's airport which is, by far, the largest and cheapest in the state, and is another perk to living closer to Nashville.

Cookeville is also a great place to race kids, very family friendly. In addition to excellent schools, t's got a children's museum, children's library, children's theater. And it's in a beautiful area with lakes, rivers, a dozen state parks, and waterfalls within a few minutes of town.

Your price range is definitely doable, too. Here are some samples of homes that have recently hold that are within your price range and, I think, within your criteria:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...81256610_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...1989750_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...0548131_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...41999096_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...1391624_zpid/?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...1996666_zpid/?

Hi JMT - Thanks for the great input! My wife and I were originally looking further east, but this discussion forum got us to rethink that. The idea of being closer to the international airport is something we had not considered before but now realize is pretty important.

Thanks, too, for the great real estate links! My wife and I have been pouring over Zillow for weeks now and we keep finding places to fall in love with. It's just such damn pretty country and I really love that so many of the homes come with a bit of property around them and already have nice shops in place.

I'm excited! I'm ready to go! Part of that is a craving to be among people who believe more as I do. I am pretty conservative, yet for most of my life I've been surrounded by people so liberal that I just don't understand them. It tears me up when some of them talk about how much they hate the US even though they were born here. They seem to have no honor. I guess I'm an anachronism because I still believe in the power of a handshake and I would NEVER consider going back on my word. My family, faith and country are all important to me.

I'm sorry for seeming to get off-topic. I really was still talking about Tennessee because I know it is more conservative than where I live now. I crave that. I also love that Tennessee is NUMBER ONE of all 50-states for fiscal responsibility! Out where I live now, the thought of politicians making a balanced budget and living within it is almost laughable. It's not good.

[fishingupnorth]

Hello, please feel free to check out my comments regarding my move to Tennessee from Wisconsin in this post.


Retirement and Golf in TN

[gemstone1]

For those who don't know, city-data has a complete demographic on almost every city in the country...here is Cookeville, as you can see, like the rest of the south, it has it's share of high summer humidity. If you want a drier climate, go west.

If you want to do a sophisticated search by weather criteria you select, go here: link

Tax friendly states. link

Property tax map, interactive, by county. link



Regards
Gemstone1

[mailmanx]

Fishing Up North - Thanks for leading me to that post. Great info!

[mailmanx]

Gemstone1 - I did not know about the City-Data demographics info available. I also was not aware of the other links you posted. That is an excellent resource. Thank you!