Can you tell us more about Tennessee?? (Knoxville, Fairfield Glade: transplants, credit)

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by sandyart

I guess even us "blue staters" could live in Tenn. Since we are only going to have one place in retirement I think we will look at Tenn, however, we are still concerned about the winters. We want temps in the 50"s in winter. Living in the NE for so long, we hate the cold!

BTW we checked out Ahseville and I think we are the only nuts who did not like Aheville at all!! Also, it snows a bit there in the winter. We will check out Austin as in the previous post- - high prop taxes, even for a NJ couple; but if anyone else has ideas we are open to anything. We really thought Sarasota would be our mecca, but we are straying father away since getting on the FLA website.
Sandy

BTW--The FL website here is totally "Skewed" by Unhappy campers who essentially tookover--"Mob Rules" lol
FL is NOT that bad!! Come visit in winter and see what i mean--as far as weather

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by DeLaSalle

BTW--The FL website here is totally "Skewed" by Unhappy campers who essentially tookover--"Mob Rules" lol
FL is NOT that bad!! Come visit in winter and see what i mean--as far as weather

The other night I had on the news and there was some big brouhaha over some planned middle income or low income (can't remember which) housing project near Disneyworld and all I could think of was, "Oh great, more people who will complain about traffic, overcrowded schools, tourists and who will want to leave FL and come to TN." It's like I'm mad at Florida for driving people away and I don't live there.

[yellowhummer]

Lucky to be semi retires. We too are young (50's), still working full time.
We reside in Wellington, Florida. Purchased property in a rural town Spencer, Tenn. (development is called Hawks Bluff) last year. We just fell in love with the area and wanted four seasons. We too love warm weather but not everyday any longer. Moderator cut: cut
Spencer is less than an hour from Chattanooga which has everything, and Cookeville is a 1/2 hour from Spencer. Many people like you and I from South Florida have made the decision to retire in this part of Tennessee. For now I commute daily to Boca Raton for work, I look forward to the day that I will be enjoying life in Tennessee. Feel free to respond and I will answer any questions I possibly can. You should check out this area. It is just fabulous.
Good Luck to you!

Originally Posted by sandyart

My husband and are semi-young retiring (50's) in about two years. I have to admitt that we never even thought of going to Tennesse until I saw posts on the Florida website extolling its virtues. We were all set to go to Sarasota, which we like, however the Florida posts are scaring us off. We are also looking into Austin, Texas and plan to visit in the fall to check it out.
We are from NJ and "blue state" people, who are organic (Whole Foods shoopers) down to earth people, with four dogs; like yoga- - I think everyone gets the picture! We also like warm weather in the winter.

Was wondering if there is a particular place we should look in Tennesse that we would "fit in" We were going to spend about $400K on a house in Florida and would not get very much in Sarasota and it looks like we can get something very nice in Tenn without spending that type of money.
Any replies would be much appreicated!

Regards,
SC

[sliverbox]

I've been investigating Austin too. It has mild winters with occasional ice and snow... but it gets HOT! we're talking at least 90 degrees for more than 6 months out of the year. What's more is that Austin is not the place where baby-boomers are retiring. it is now a hip place for young professionals booted out of California. So you might feel out of place there. It is also not incredibly cheap anymore. property tax on a 200k home would set you back almost 10k a year.

Tennessee is not entirely different from PA or NJ in terms of the way it looks. Green, hills, mountains, etc. It gets humid in the summer. Winters are a totally mixed bag. I recall spending x-mas one year visiting my parents there, and it was 67 degrees outside and we were in shorts... in December! Other years it was 20 degrees. The majority of the time however you will experience cold winter nights and warm(ish) days where the temp can hover around 45-50 degrees in the sun.

As far as "culture", this is also a mixed bag. You can find granola, yoga, and other hip things. Even Japanese food. But you can also see good ole' boys fly fishing, at tractor pulls, and so on. I find this aspect of the state refreshing, but if you don't like people who have different viewpoints, then TN might not be the best place for you.

NC is getting fairly overrun by New englanders and other coasters. So you'd probably find a lot of people who ironically came from the same area you did. So you might look there.

Lastly- PLEASE don't tell the realtor that you have 400k to spend on a house for 2 reasons: A: people from the Northeast happily forking over wheelbarrow loads of cash for houses blows the affordability aspect of the region out of the water B: You can get a house- a NICE house in TN for 150-200k. So just keep the rest for your retirement. Good luck!

[hiknapster]

Don't even get me started on dumb husbands!

[New Jersey Texan]

Originally Posted by sandyart

My husband and are semi-young retiring (50's) in about two years. I have to admitt that we never even thought of going to Tennesse until I saw posts on the Florida website extolling its virtues. We were all set to go to Sarasota, which we like, however the Florida posts are scaring us off. We are also looking into Austin, Texas and plan to visit in the fall to check it out.
We are from NJ and "blue state" people, who are organic (Whole Foods shoopers) down to earth people, with four dogs; like yoga- - I think everyone gets the picture! We also like warm weather in the winter.

Was wondering if there is a particular place we should look in Tennesse that we would "fit in" We were going to spend about $400K on a house in Florida and would not get very much in Sarasota and it looks like we can get something very nice in Tenn without spending that type of money.
Any replies would be much appreicated!

Regards,
SC

My wife and I are of the same ilk. We had 4 dogs at one time but over the course of the 15 years that we've been together we have regretably lost the three original members of the pack. Our pack now consists of 2 German Shehpards who are half brother and sister. They will both be 3 very shortly. Then we have our baby. A 4 month old Rotty. And we have a deposit down for another shephard. Four dogs is all your legally allowed in Keller,Tx where we live. Even though the people around here obviously don't care one way or another. I've never seen such rampant disregard for pets especially dogs. You see them running around loose allover. And alot of the people around here keep their dogs out in the yard 24-7. Ours are all house dogs. Their caged during the day while my wife and I are working. At night they all sleep in the room with us.

[MomsTn]

Just a word of caution.
Check the City Ordinances where you will be moving about your dogs.
Many cities have an ordinance against Rottweilers or Pitbulls.
You will have to register them.

For instance, in Springfield, This is the Pit bull ordinance...
It is against the law to keep or own a Pit bull dog in the City of Springfield without following the required ordinance. These dogs must be registered, meet certain requirements for kennels, have proper signs warning people of a pit bull dog on the premises, provide proper insurance and provide a photograph of the animal.

[Shenandoah]

Chattanooga should be warmer than Knoxville. I'll have to check weather.com for stats, tho. Come to think of it, Chattanooga area should be on my list to look at also, as the company that I MAY be working for has an office there, as well as Knoxville and Nashville/Franklin. I just want to be well out in the country, but still within commuting range, with 'reasonable prices'. I'll have to MapQuest, but think that Pikeville area would be too much of a commute. 35 miles out tops would be it for me to commute - I've done 40 and don't want to do that again. Nashville 'burbs property prices, even 30 miles out is wayy too expensive for us. Same with Knoxville, but better than Nashville. This company has an office in Ooltewah, just outside of Chattanooga. I honestly haven't looked east of Chattanooga/Ooltewah, about 20 - 30 miles out. I'll have to do that. I'm lookin' for acreage, though, above 15 acres under $50k. And I've found quite a few properties like that further north.

So, a new area to explore, at least online for now.

blessings, Shen

[SPLIT]

S;We live on the West side of city, and went looking for acreage this week for two other forum friends. I noticed myself low target, that is doable for $3,000 per acre, however need homework. Do you wish pasture land for animale, or just woods for hunting.,? We had lots of Pine disease / blight before and many down or fallen trees, lunber co's even selling off their holdings recently. OOltewah getting popular and anything BUILDABLE should be East of town. Mtns start to get steep there, pretty, but are you planing to sub-divide for all building lots..?? Some of this tracts are steep, however anything with ROCK or MINERAL rights being harvested for a good profit, as all new construction using stone fronts, or walls......[/IMG]

[sandyart]

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I will be (hopefully) semi/retiring in several years. We are both fairly young- - I am in my nid 50's and my husband will be turning 60. We live in NJ an have lived in the NE all of our lives. We are very liberal in our social views, voted for Obama and are not Christian.

My husband is a non believer of any religion and I am Jewish. While we hate the winters, prop taxes and the general attitude of really rude NJ people, we are wondering if we could be happy in Tenn.

We are looking for cultural activies, nice people and a low cost of living so our retirment dollare can go far. Don't now how warm it is in the winter( we like seasons; however NJ is freezing. Have looked at Sarasota, Fla- -too expensive, snooty and hurricanes. In the process of looking at Raleigh and the RTP area (not exactly cheap) and Charlotte NC.

I work for a large pharmacetuical organization and one of my colleague move from NJ and he and his wife love it.

Was wondering if we are to visit (never been to the state) what areas do you think we would be happy in? We are looking for 55+ plus communities (e.g. Del Webb- - we have heard some complaints all over the country about their shoddy building???)

We are normal nice people who are looking for a nice lifestyle and don't want to be called yankees.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Sandy