looking to move to Tennessee, but where ? (Knoxville, Chattanooga: mortgage, big house)

[hate living in florida]

me and my wife are looking for to move to Tenn, but i really have no idea where, as i've really only been to Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas. i asked almost the same question about five years ago, but now it's a real possibility of it happening.

i'm a hot rod / muscle car / truck guy, love the water, nightlife isn't a big priority, we are not religious at all (if it makes any difference). we are in our mid 50's and access to doctors is getting higher on the list. i don't like big(er) citys, rather be in a more rural setting where i could be on 1/2-1 acre of land so i can have a free standing garage / work shop, but we don't need a big house, 1200-1500 sf is plenty. we are conservatives. if anyone has any thoughts i'd appreciate it. if you guys need more info, just ask. thanks in advance.

[suzytx]

Originally Posted by hate living in florida

me and my wife are looking for to move to Tenn, but i really have no idea where, as i've really only been to Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas. i asked almost the same question about five years ago, but now it's a real possibility of it happening.

i'm a hot rod / muscle car / truck guy, love the water, nightlife isn't a big priority, we are not religious at all (if it makes any difference). we are in our mid 50's and access to doctors is getting higher on the list. i don't like big(er) citys, rather be in a more rural setting where i could be on 1/2-1 acre of land so i can have a free standing garage / work shop, but we don't need a big house, 1200-1500 sf is plenty. we are conservatives. if anyone has any thoughts i'd appreciate it. if you guys need more info, just ask. thanks in advance.

You might consider Elizabethton which is about 2.5 hours northeast of Gatlinburg. They have a car club and cruise-ins downtown on Saturday evenings from May through October. There's also a motorcycle club. Truly a car/truck/motorcycle town.

Medical care is available in town with a local hospital and multi-care clinic but there's also Johnson City which is about 25 minutes away. I would recommend looking just outside the city limits for better prices and lower taxes.

[hate living in florida]

thank you, appreciate the information

[brickpatio2018]

Douglas Lake looks like a good area, between Knoxville and Gatlinburg. There are towns all around there and they are just 30 to 45 miles from Knoxville.

Not too far from there is Cherokee Reservoir near Morristown which is sizable enough to have solid medical care.

In southwestern Tennessee is the very nice Pickwick Lake, in which case I would probably live in quaint Iuka, Mississippi. In that case the nearest hospitals would be in Corinth and Tupelo, Mississippi.

You could also consider areas near Nashville's Percy Priest Reservoir, such as near Lebanon, Tennessee which is 30 miles outside Nashville.

The Cookeville, Tennessee area is popular with some pretty hills and mountains nearby. And Cookeville has a university and is big enough to have strong medical care.

Also the Winchester, Tennessee area, which is between Nashville and Chattanooga, has pretty views of the nearby Cumberland mountains. Atop those mountains is Monteagle, Tennessee which is about 45 miles from Chattanooga.

And as the other poster mentioned, the Johnson City/ Elizabethton area is beautifully located next to the mountains.

[hate living in florida]

another question, will $200k-250k buy something with a little land out of the bigger citys? i own my home outright in florida, so when we decide on a place to settle, we'll get a mortgage on the new place and we can take our time moving and pay off the new note when our home here sells.

appreciate the info from you guys.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by hate living in florida

me and my wife are looking for to move to Tenn, but i really have no idea where, as i've really only been to Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas. i asked almost the same question about five years ago, but now it's a real possibility of it happening.

i'm a hot rod / muscle car / truck guy, love the water, nightlife isn't a big priority, we are not religious at all (if it makes any difference). we are in our mid 50's and access to doctors is getting higher on the list. i don't like big(er) citys, rather be in a more rural setting where i could be on 1/2-1 acre of land so i can have a free standing garage / work shop, but we don't need a big house, 1200-1500 sf is plenty. we are conservatives. if anyone has any thoughts i'd appreciate it. if you guys need more info, just ask. thanks in advance.

As a car guy one place to visit is the Lane Motor Museum. Near the airport.

https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/

[LauraC]

If either of you need a job, you should find that first and then ask about surrounding towns where you might want to live.

[hate living in florida]

Originally Posted by LauraC

If either of you need a job, you should find that first and then ask about surrounding towns where you might want to live.

we've talked about this, and we will need to work, but being that we won't have a mortgage will defiantly help with where we can work.

[JRR]

Originally Posted by hate living in florida

another question, will $200k-250k buy something with a little land out of the bigger citys? i own my home outright in florida, so when we decide on a place to settle, we'll get a mortgage on the new place and we can take our time moving and pay off the new note when our home here sells.

appreciate the info from you guys.

I would think that you might have to go pretty rural to find something in the $200k-$250k price range. Even around Cookeville that would not buy much of anything with a bit of land.

[hate living in florida]

Originally Posted by JRR

I would think that you might have to go pretty rural to find something in the $200k-$250k price range. Even around Cookeville that would not buy much of anything with a bit of land.

thanks. just to be clear, by a little i mean 1/2-1 acre ( that's a lot to me, lol)