TN question (Clarksville, Johnson City, Kingsport: day care, homes, schools) - Tennessee - City-Data Forum

AmandaS · 04-24-2007, 11:27 PM

My husband and I are looking to relocate to a warmer climate. Visited NC - didn't feel "right" to us. Currently researching TN and would like to know your opinions about a good place to start an elder care business (non-medical help for seniors in their homes). We have a 4 year old so schools are very important. The Nashville area is appealing because it is only 7 hours from our family in IL but we are very open to looking at all suggestions. Thanks!

alleycat · 04-25-2007, 04:14 AM

My first thought would be to look at the mid-sized to larger towns in Middle Tennessee (Columbia, Clarksville, Gallatin, Franklin, Tullahoma, etc.); this would provide a population base for a business of this sort. Then I would research what elderly care is available now in those areas, while also checking on the school system. I would also check the statistical data to see what the percentage of the population is over 65, and what the income levels are. This would at least give me a starting point.

Franklin might be a good place to start, but it would depend on what elderly care is already available there. Are you going to be competing again two other businesses, or twenty?

JMT · 04-25-2007, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmandaS

My husband and I are looking to relocate to a warmer climate. Visited NC - didn't feel "right" to us. Currently researching TN and would like to know your opinions about a good place to start an elder care business (non-medical help for seniors in their homes). We have a 4 year old so schools are very important. The Nashville area is appealing because it is only 7 hours from our family in IL but we are very open to looking at all suggestions. Thanks!

Cookeville and Crossville have both been ranked in the top 10 best places to retire according to Rand McNally, and both are also part of the state's Retire Tennessee program. Cookeville is also a college town and has outstanding schools. It's not in Nashville, but it's about an hour from the Nashville airport, and it's also more affordable than most of the communities around Nashville. Just something to consider.

mbmouse · 04-25-2007, 07:15 AM

Hello,
Here is the Tri-Cities we have "Senior Day Care Centers" I know of one in Johnson City and One in Kingsport. They are full from what I understand. I have a good friend that stays with one gentleman all day while his daughter is working. I see adds quite often looking for someone to stay with their elderly family member. I also see "will sit with elderly" job wanted adds to so I would assume from that that there is a need for it in this area. I would suggest the best place to call would be the hospitals, I bet they would know that info?

alicenevada · 04-25-2007, 08:48 AM

I live about fourty five minutes from Cookeville. It's a nice town. Johnson City was the only city in Tennessee ranked as one of the top 100 places to live last year (and several years, I understand). It's beautiful and there are great schools there.

My town is TINY so I won't recommend it unless you don't mind driving and enjoy living in a very remote area. But we love it.

One thing we DON'T love is cold winters and to us, Tennessee winters are getting just as unbearable as anywhere else. Hubby and I are planning to move west, I think.

AmandaS · 04-25-2007, 09:20 AM

Thanks for the responses. I will look at each town you have recommeded. As far as the cold - is it really that bad? I would hate to move and find out it's not much better than IL. I don't mind a few days of snow but we started this year in Oct. and our last snow was about three weeks ago - too much!

alleycat · 04-25-2007, 09:25 AM

We had less than 2 inches total of snow in Nashville this year, and the low for the year was about 12 or 15 degrees.

Of course, some years it will get colder than that (below 0) and we will have more snow (10 or 12 inches). Generally our winters run from December to the end of February, but there are occasionally warmer days during that time as well. Generally, by early to mid-March it's starting to warm up and even many flowering trees are blooming. This year we had a freak cold snap in April, but that's really unusual. We tied the record for the coldest day in April ever.

mbmouse · 04-25-2007, 10:40 AM

Ditto on Alleycat's post for North East TN. We only got a few inches of snow that melted quick. But very odd spring, I think that was pretty much nationwide though.