Need No BS advice/recommendations on a safer small town (Knoxville: house, established neighborhood)

[Discosupafly_2022]

Hello all.

I will be posting this thread in the NC and GA forums as well.

My wife and I are looking for our forever home to finish growing old, and die. We are currently are in our late 40's, and just need a reprieve from this crazy world. I wont get to detailed here, but we are staunch Trump Supporters, but we don't judge anyone else's way of thinking and or life choices. I am a retired Law Enforcement, and Veteran, and my wife works from home. We are looking for a smaller town to retire too. Lets be real, I don't care about diversity, I care about quality of life, pride of ownership and safety. I hate big cities and crowded areas. We want to be close enough to the amenities, but far out enough to get away from the rat race. We use the "Costco" rule. Meaning, we like to be within at least an hour of Costco and 20-30 minutes from grocery shopping, i.e WalMart etc......

We have to have high speed internet, so other than Starlink, we need Hard lined speeds, at least 50 mbs down and 15 mbs up, No satellite. We have lived on large acreage (over 100 +), and small acreage (under 1 acre). We prefer something in the middle, maybe at least 2 acres min so I can put a shop if needed and I can shoot. Established neighborhoods over new construction is preferred. We want to be around like minded people, and want to blend into our community not change it. We have lived in CA, ID, VA, and Upper Pen MI.

Prefer lees exposure to tornados, but we understand it comes with the territory. When your time comes, the Lord is taking your ass no matter where you are.

We love the outdoors, but don't need to be in the boondocs. If you can afford us any incite on some areas that would be awesome. We are taking a impromptu road trip next week to buy a vehicle in NC. So we figured we would kill a few birds with one stone, and extend the trip to look into potential areas to call home.

Any help, is greatly appreciated.

I know some of you may attempt to troll this post, and I say go for it. There's a reason we have free speech, and I am wise enough to just ignore you anyway.

[BuffaloHome]

Originally Posted by Discosupafly_2022

Hello all.

I will be posting this thread in the NC and GA forums as well.

My wife and I are looking for our forever home to finish growing old, and die. We are currently are in our late 40's, and just need a reprieve from this crazy world. I wont get to detailed here, but we are staunch Trump Supporters, but we don't judge anyone else's way of thinking and or life choices. I am a retired Law Enforcement, and Veteran, and my wife works from home. We are looking for a smaller town to retire too. Lets be real, I don't care about diversity, I care about quality of life, pride of ownership and safety. I hate big cities and crowded areas. We want to be close enough to the amenities, but far out enough to get away from the rat race. We use the "Costco" rule. Meaning, we like to be within at least an hour of Costco and 20-30 minutes from grocery shopping, i.e WalMart etc......

We have to have high speed internet, so other than Starlink, we need Hard lined speeds, at least 50 mbs down and 15 mbs up, No satellite. We have lived on large acreage (over 100 +), and small acreage (under 1 acre). We prefer something in the middle, maybe at least 2 acres min so I can put a shop if needed and I can shoot. Established neighborhoods over new construction is preferred. We want to be around like minded people, and want to blend into our community not change it. We have lived in CA, ID, VA, and Upper Pen MI.

Prefer lees exposure to tornados, but we understand it comes with the territory. When your time comes, the Lord is taking your ass no matter where you are.

We love the outdoors, but don't need to be in the boondocs. If you can afford us any incite on some areas that would be awesome. We are taking a impromptu road trip next week to buy a vehicle in NC. So we figured we would kill a few birds with one stone, and extend the trip to look into potential areas to call home.

Any help, is greatly appreciated.

I know some of you may attempt to troll this post, and I say go for it. There's a reason we have free speech, and I am wise enough to just ignore you anyway.

Check out Cookeville/Putnam County. Cookeville has a Sam's Club, but if that's still not good enough, there's a Costco an hour away in Murfreesboro.

Since you specifically mentioned high speed internet, there's 10 gig internet in Putnam County, especially the western half of the county. You can live in the boondocks and still have fiber internet faster than just about anywhere else on the planet. I have friends who moved from Austin TX to the Baxter area (western Putnam County) similar to you: 40s, he's retired military, his wife works from home, super conservative, and they live on 30 acres in the middle of nowhere (gorgeous views) and have 10 gig internet at their home. They also have kids, and they're loving it.

Oh, and Tennessee has lower taxes than either NC or GA.

[suzytx]

We chose NE Tennessee in the Tri-Cities area. DH is a veteran and the VA hospital in Johnson City is convenient.

[Serious Conversation]

In east TN, the only Costcos are in Knoxville and Ringgold, GA, across from the line from Chattanooga.

[CrosbyStills]

You might look in the northeast area of TN where the 75 is north of Knoxville. Between Knoxville and the KY border. Or between that and the 40 on the Plateau (east of Crossville).

You sound like a perfect fit for this part of the world, welcome!

[Discosupafly_2022]

All great information everyone. Thank you very much. On the road right now, I will be checking out the suggested areas this coming week

[elizaloo]

Originally Posted by BuffaloHome

Since you specifically mentioned high speed internet, there's 10 gig internet in Putnam County, especially the western half of the county. You can live in the boondocks and still have fiber internet faster than just about anywhere else on the planet. I have friends who moved from Austin TX to the Baxter area (western Putnam County) similar to you: 40s, he's retired military, his wife works from home, super conservative, and they live on 30 acres in the middle of nowhere (gorgeous views) and have 10 gig internet at their home. They also have kids, and they're loving it.

Putnam County is hit or miss - we are far eastern, near White County...and we have Frontier with like 2 megs at best. There's high speed 10 gig just down the road in Cumberland Cove, but they won't run it out any further. It's incredibly frustrating, despite many many many emails and calls to the Mayor of Putnam Cty, he keeps saying, "It's coming." Best thing to do is make sure you have actual access to the 10 gigs when you are house hunting - that was a bad move on our part for sure.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by elizaloo

Putnam County is hit or miss - we are far eastern, near White County...and we have Frontier with like 2 megs at best. There's high speed 10 gig just down the road in Cumberland Cove, but they won't run it out any further. It's incredibly frustrating, despite many many many emails and calls to the Mayor of Putnam Cty, he keeps saying, "It's coming." Best thing to do is make sure you have actual access to the 10 gigs when you are house hunting - that was a bad move on our part for sure.

Very true. While the city of Cookeville has 1 gig with Spectrum (the cable provider), the areas with 10 gig are the areas covered by rural telephone cooperative Twin Lakes: Baxter (west Putnam County) and Cookeville South as well as some neighborhoods in Cookeville and Cumberland Cove in eastern Putnam County. Twin Lakes has announced plans to finish extending the 10 gig service to the rest of the county, but that'll take a couple of years minimum.

[BuffaloHome]

Originally Posted by elizaloo

Putnam County is hit or miss - we are far eastern, near White County...and we have Frontier with like 2 megs at best. There's high speed 10 gig just down the road in Cumberland Cove, but they won't run it out any further. It's incredibly frustrating, despite many many many emails and calls to the Mayor of Putnam Cty, he keeps saying, "It's coming." Best thing to do is make sure you have actual access to the 10 gigs when you are house hunting - that was a bad move on our part for sure.

Here's a map of the areas with Twin Lakes 10 gig internet. This is probably about the only place in the entire country where the most remote areas have faster internet than the most urban areas. According to this map, all of Jackson, Overton, Clay, Pickett, and Fentress counties have Twin Lakes' 10 gig fiber service, and all of western Putnam County and most areas in Putnam County south of Cookeville do, too, as well as some neighborhoods within Cookeville. And, of course, Cumberland Cove in eastern Putnam County. Twin Lakes is partnering with Putnam County to extend its broadband internet service to the rest of the county, hopefully within the next couple of years.

A realtor friend of mine told me that mansions around Center Hill Lake are selling like hot cakes to people from Nashville who are now working remotely from home and have 10 gig internet, faster than they could get in Nashville, and now live full time on the lake.

[MTFan]

Take a look at Woodbury, TN it is a small town about 25 minutes from Murfreesboro, which has all the amenities you need. Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club, hospitals etc.