Need help on locations to move (Johnson City, Kingsport: transplants, crime, how much)

[junitas]

Hi all,
I am moving my family from CT to Tennessee and am not sure what towns are decent to live in and a hoping for some help. I have a few in mind but just want some opinions/thoughts. We are going to go back down to TN but do not want to waste our time looking in a town that is something like we are trying to get away from. I have 2 children, 1 is in middle school so that is a concern, we need a good school system but private schooling is an option also.
We are done with the "city" and want at least 15 acres of land, eventually I would like to start a small farm and ease my way into it. If you can give me some towns or yay or nay to the ones listed below that would be a great help. We are looking to leave within the next 6 months, the sooner the better.

The towns we have been looking into are

Greeneville
Sneedville
Speedwell
Tazewell this town I see a few houses that have been sitting and not being sold. I am curious about this town.
Stewart
Johnson City
Morristown

I am not looking for every detail just some thoughts on the residents.
I appreciate any feedback that you can give and cannot wait to be a resident of this amazing state.

Thank you,
Jennifer

[DubbleT]

You might get better replies if you clarify what it is about the town you are in that you don't like and don't want to see in a new location.
An idea of what your budget is might also be helpful since you are looking for 15 acres, how much of which needs to be farmable land?
Last but not least there are recent threads discussing Johnson City and Greeneville in the tri-cities subforum that might answer some of your questions. The other areas might be a bit tougher to get answers for as we don't have too members really familiar with some of the smaller towns listed. You can use the advance search tool for the TN forum to look for older posts on the different cities.

[junitas]

Thank you. This is my first time on this site so I am learning, I appreciate your tips. We don't need much
farm land. I am trying to get away from the city, I live in a nice area but we are constantly getting our cars broken into and we no longer feel safe. I want to live somewhere where I can't see into my neighbors window. The other day I was driving with my daughter and had to tell her to duck down due someone driving through the light and shooting at someone. My budget is 600k. I will definitely check out the other forums. I appreciate the help.

Originally Posted by junitas

Hi all,
I am moving my family from CT to Tennessee and am not sure what towns are decent to live in and a hoping for some help. I have a few in mind but just want some opinions/thoughts. We are going to go back down to TN but do not want to waste our time looking in a town that is something like we are trying to get away from. I have 2 children, 1 is in middle school so that is a concern, we need a good school system but private schooling is an option also.
We are done with the "city" and want at least 15 acres of land, eventually I would like to start a small farm and ease my way into it. If you can give me some towns or yay or nay to the ones listed below that would be a great help. We are looking to leave within the next 6 months, the sooner the better.

The towns we have been looking into are

Greeneville
Sneedville
Speedwell
Tazewell this town I see a few houses that have been sitting and not being sold. I am curious about this town.
Stewart
Johnson City
Morristown

I am not looking for every detail just some thoughts on the residents.
I appreciate any feedback that you can give and cannot wait to be a resident of this amazing state.

Thank you,
Jennifer

[Serious Conversation]

Sneedville and Tazewell are very remote and are quite a hike back to even basic conveniences. These will likely have the cheapest land.

Morristown and Greeneville are relatively small cities, but have all your shopping basics, a hospital etc.

Johnson City is the largest and feels the most upscale and modern.

[jjbradleynyc]

Regarding Sneedville, when I was growing up, one of my closest friend's family owned a huge amount of acreage in Sneedville, and we drove over there a couple times as a teenager. (I'm from the Kingsport, TN region originally)

It was very remote then, and is very remote now. Sneedville is in Hancock County, Tennessee, and is one of the smallest populations of counties in the state of Tennessee, as well as being one of the poorest.

Amenities are very few there, and they may have 2 or 3 fast food restaurants in the "town center." Rogersville would be the closest place for basic variety, and that is about 35-40 minutes away through winding hilly and mountain roads.

[mjshaw130]

Hi Jennifer,
I also live in CT and me and my fiance have been looking to move to Tennessee for quite a few years now. Unfortunately COVID put an immediate stop to our plans for the past 2 years. We are looking to leave CT soon as well with things slowly starting to turn around, unfortunately it has still been extremely difficult to land a job down there. Working in the law enforcement field I 100% get where your coming from in the means of being and feeling unsafe here though. Wishing you and your family the best of luck in getting down there, hope to make it there soon as well!



Matthew

[AppalachianAngler]

I'm from Greeneville and can answer any questions regarding it; shoot me a PM if you want.

Farmland there is going to be higher than most of your other towns (other than Johnson City area, due to its urbanization and population). Greene County has really good soil and the prices reflect that. Greeneville is a good town to live a quiet, rural life and enjoy the mountains and scenery, but it will be difficult if you are a social butterfly. It has all your basic amenities, but healthcare is poor. There are some transplants, but it is mostly locals, and Greeneville has a very local Southern Appalachian working class vibe. It will be a bit of a culture shock coming from CT. Somewhere like Sneedville or Tazewell would be way worse culture shock, though.

Greeneville is beautiful, and there is a good bit of revitalization going on, but it is still a small Southern Appalachian town and always will be. I would visit for several days and see if you can adjust to it.

[junitas]

Originally Posted by mjshaw130

Hi Jennifer,
I also live in CT and me and my fiance have been looking to move to Tennessee for quite a few years now. Unfortunately COVID put an immediate stop to our plans for the past 2 years. We are looking to leave CT soon as well with things slowly starting to turn around, unfortunately it has still been extremely difficult to land a job down there. Working in the law enforcement field I 100% get where your coming from in the means of being and feeling unsafe here though. Wishing you and your family the best of luck in getting down there, hope to make it there soon as well!



Matthew

Thank you, I worked in EMS for 10 years until this past November. As you know I have seen and heard too much. I know there is crime everywhere but I want to get away from New Haven, it is out of control.
So we flew down to TN and went to the eastern side and it was beautiful, the people are so nice and I felt like I was home. Avelo starts flying direct to Nashville this coming week out of Tweed, the flights are cheap!!! We flew out of Laguardia and a riot almost broke out due to the security lines being so backed up at 4:30am. Let me know if you make it down there!!! I hope to be down there within the next 6 months hopefully less.

[junitas]

Originally Posted by AppalachianAngler

I'm from Greeneville and can answer any questions regarding it; shoot me a PM if you want.

Farmland there is going to be higher than most of your other towns (other than Johnson City area, due to its urbanization and population). Greene County has really good soil and the prices reflect that. Greeneville is a good town to live a quiet, rural life and enjoy the mountains and scenery, but it will be difficult if you are a social butterfly. It has all your basic amenities, but healthcare is poor. There are some transplants, but it is mostly locals, and Greeneville has a very local Southern Appalachian working class vibe. It will be a bit of a culture shock coming from CT. Somewhere like Sneedville or Tazewell would be way worse culture shock, though.

Greeneville is beautiful, and there is a good bit of revitalization going on, but it is still a small Southern Appalachian town and always will be. I would visit for several days and see if you can adjust to it.

Thank you!!! I will send you a PM. We went down the April 13th and spent 4 days just driving around. Johnson City I am weary about, it was nice then we were in an area that was really run down. I spoke with a police officer and he gave me a few ideas and said it is safe but to go on the other side. Greeneville was amazing, I felt like I was at home and everyone was so friendly. Coming from CT I never thought I could spend 30 minutes chatting with a stranger and feel like I knew him for years. We checked out Livingston and it was great but it seems there are broke down cars all over the place then you are in a beautiful area. Then checked out Rickman and from what I saw land wise it was very nice.

We are going to fly back down in a few weeks, I will PM you to get some more ideas. This was my first time to TN so we had some time to spare on the way back to the airport.....downtown Nashville was just amazing!! Not to live but to visit, comparing that to NYC is night and day. We felt safe and it was very clean.

[junitas]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Sneedville and Tazewell are very remote and are quite a hike back to even basic conveniences. These will likely have the cheapest land.

Morristown and Greeneville are relatively small cities, but have all your shopping basics, a hospital etc.

Johnson City is the largest and feels the most upscale and modern.

Thank you, we did take a trip down. We made it to Greeneville, Johnson City and a few other places but not to Sneedville or Tazewell. I was told Parrottsvile (I think) was really nice so our next trip we are going to check it out. It is a definite yes on moving to TN but now we need to find out where. The people are all amazing and so friendly.