Looking to Move from Washington DC area (Knoxville: home, buying)

[LauraH831]

We are looking to relocate from the Northern VA area of Washington, DC. We are tired of the traffic, rude people etc.. We want a simpler life for our family and are looking at East TN outside of the Knoxville area or outside of the Nashville area. My husband would be working from home so we will need to be where there is access to high speed internet and I am a teacher so I figure I can substitute teach to get my foot in the door. What areas are recommended? We want to have at least five acres and could possibly run a small beef farm (dh did farming every summer with his Aunts and Uncles and misses it terribly.) Funny since he was raised two miles from our nations capital!

Also, my husband is an avid Harley and Big Dog motorcycle rider and I would like any information on riding groups (NOT BIG DRINKING GROUPS).

Thanks for any help!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by LauraH831

We are looking to relocate from the Northern VA area of Washington, DC. We are tired of the traffic, rude people etc.. We want a simpler life for our family and are looking at East TN outside of the Knoxville area or outside of the Nashville area. My husband would be working from home so we will need to be where there is access to high speed internet and I am a teacher so I figure I can substitute teach to get my foot in the door. What areas are recommended? We want to have at least five acres and could possibly run a small beef farm (dh did farming every summer with his Aunts and Uncles and misses it terribly.) Funny since he was raised two miles from our nations capital!

Also, my husband is an avid Harley and Big Dog motorcycle rider and I would like any information on riding groups (NOT BIG DRINKING GROUPS).

Thanks for any help!

I can definitely understand wanting to leave the DC area. It's a great place to visit, but living there is something else.

Anyway, both Knoxville and Nashville are wonderful cities. You can live within 30 minutes of either city and have acreage. I've said this before on this forum, so some people are probably tired of hearing me say it, but the one advantage that Nashville has over Knoxville is its airport. If you like to travel, Nashville air fares (thanks in large part to Southwest and JetBlue) are often HALF what they are out of Knoxville--and you have a lot more options, too. Just something to think about.

Otherwise, it sounds like you could pretty much live anywhere you want. If I were you, I'd look at a map, pick out a few towns, look at their stats here at city-data.com, find some pics, then narrow down my choices. There are a bunch of us on here who love talking about our favorite towns here in Tennessee.

[Elrod]

Nashville has a lot of the same issues as DC, namely horrible traffic, pretentiousness, career obsession, and the proliferation of character-less McMansions. East Tennessee, outside West Knoxville, is probably a much better bet for a slower pace of life. I grew up in northern Virginia and I can certainly testify to the annoyances of the area.

[CowboyTim]

If you're looking at Nashville and its environs, do yourself a favor and avoid the Antioch area like the plague. Antioch is on the far southeast side of Nashville. I moved here 3 years ago from Chicago and made the mistake of buying in Antioch because I failed to do enough research. Now, I'm learning my leseson the hard way.