The Tennessee Effect

[Riley.]

Appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions about crime, medical care, and other places to possibly consider in Eastern
Tennessee. I am open to other areas as well but probably would not want to venture too much further west than Nashville - and not in the immediate Nashville area for sure, too big and probably out of my reach financially anyway.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Riley.

Appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions about crime, medical care, and other places to possibly consider in Eastern
Tennessee. I am open to other areas as well but probably would not want to venture too much further west than Nashville - and not in the immediate Nashville area for sure, too big and probably out of my reach financially anyway.

The affluent parts of Knoxville will have basically anything most people will need on a typical basis, at a significant cost savings to Nashville.

If you need the occasional specialist visit at Vanderbilt, airport, etc., it's probably better to just do that as-needed than pay the extra cost of living in Nashville.

[Riley.]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

The affluent parts of Knoxville will have basically anything most people will need on a typical basis, at a significant cost savings to Nashville.

If you need the occasional specialist visit at Vanderbilt, airport, etc., it's probably better to just do that as-needed than pay the extra cost of living in Nashville.

Thank you, Serious. While I have to take medical care into consideration (I am not getting any younger LOL) I am not sure that is even my #1 priority. I can travel (not massive distances) for many goods and services, as I do here. That is one of the plusses of living where I do. Rural but within reasonable distances from anything I might need or want. Not alot of choices, but this again is a rural lifestyle.

I'd want close proximity to outdoor recreation so I can stay active. Since you don't have the winters we have up here, that becomes more important. My husband would like to fish. I like riding my bike on a bike path or rail trail (long ones). Still surfing the web seeing whats available. Sent away for a relocation guide, too.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Riley.

Thank you, Serious. While I have to take medical care into consideration (I am not getting any younger LOL) I am not sure that is even my #1 priority. I can travel (not massive distances) for many goods and services, as I do here. That is one of the plusses of living where I do. Rural but within reasonable distances from anything I might need or want. Not alot of choices, but this again is a rural lifestyle.

I'd want close proximity to outdoor recreation so I can stay active. Since you don't have the winters we have up here, that becomes more important. My husband would like to fish. I like riding my bike on a bike path or rail trail (long ones). Still surfing the web seeing whats available. Sent away for a relocation guide, too.

You could live a half hour or so north or west of Knoxville and still have reasonable access to Costco at Turkey Creek, all the other big box retail out there, the better grocery stores on that side of town, UT Medical Center, etc. It's not like far east TN where you are an hour and a half away from anything of consequence.

I'm from far east TN, and have always preferred the outdoors here compared to the Smokies area around Knoxville, but that can be personal preference. Plenty of good lakes for fishing around Knoxville.

[jabogitlu]

Fishing is pretty good all around. You could look up around Elizabethton towards Wilbur Dam and Watauga Lake. Communities like Siam, Blue Springs, Butler are some of the best the region has to offer in terms of peace and quiet, remote and rural but within 30 minutes of Johnson City and around an hour to Asheville, NC. If you're willing to extend the radius to within 1 hour of Johnson City, you can get a lot more rural (Shady Valley etc.) with homes more spread out, but that's pretty old school rural.

I agree with the previous post, the mountains in northeast Tennessee are far superior to the Smokies area around Knoxville, not in the least because there aren't millions of tourists pouring through every year.

[Riley.]

So appreciative of you all sharing your perspectives with me. It's very helpful.