Finding a place to live in Tenn. (Memphis, Knoxville: for sale, rent)

[takarsuz]

My husband and I are in our late fifties and are looking for a place to retire. We have about 100,000 to spend and are looking for a three bedroom, two bath home, between 1600 and 1800 square feet. We like a small town feeling, but would like to be reasonably close to some major grocery stores. Although we are older we really want to live in a family friendly community. We'd prefer a one story house, but are open to different types of houses. Although we are older we want to live around families with children as we will be leaving our entire family behind in Florida. We'd really like to have neighbors that like to get to know each other and do these together. We're both retired so we don't have to worry about finding a place to work. This may be silly, but I'd like to live in an area where I can have a gas stove. I love to cook and all we have here in Florida is electric. I hope I gave enough information, and would appreciate any replies. Thank you the Smiths.

[jguillot]

You might consider the Cookeville, TN area. You will find all the goods and services your will need there along with a hospital. Cookeville has approximately 30,000 people. If you do an on-line search for homes in the Cookeville area and you should be able to find information on homes for sale in that area.

[induchman2]

Rent first.

[creeksitter]

Wherever you live you can have a propane stove.

[J&Em]

It would be hard to recommend any single town to your needs. You may want to consider weather, overall hilliness/flatness, and distance to things like airports if you need to travel. This may help narrow down what it is you will need when you have moved and make it easier to suggest at least a region. There are differences between each of the 3 parts if Tennessee in the look of the land and to some extent how hot or cold it gets. As a whole the whole state is pretty thinly populated and much of it is rural.

Once you know the part of the state you really need to make plans to spend time here. Start with the major cities and work your way out. You'll be surprised at how fast you'll be in a more rural setting in many of them. To some people it will be charming and "like home" right away and others will find a dozen things that make them want to run back to whatever state they were considering leaving. People often envision Mayberry like conditions but the truth is many of the small towns are far more run down and some are quite insular and don't want outsiders. If you head too far out from cities you'll find yourself far from big supermarkets and shopping. In some towns the church there is also the center of social life, in others it won't matter much if you belong or not and there are other ways to make friends.

As far as gas goes that will depend on where you live within a town since the pipes are not located everywhere. You can check with the Tennessee Gas Association or with companies like ATMOS Energy which seems to handle the service here in East TN. As already stated by Creeksitter propane tanks are readily available everywhere and can be used for cooking if you get a large enough tank.

Tennessee Gas Association

Atmos Energy

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by takarsuz

My husband and I are in our late fifties and are looking for a place to retire. We have about 100,000 to spend and are looking for a three bedroom, two bath home, between 1600 and 1800 square feet. We like a small town feeling, but would like to be reasonably close to some major grocery stores. Although we are older we really want to live in a family friendly community. We'd prefer a one story house, but are open to different types of houses. Although we are older we want to live around families with children as we will be leaving our entire family behind in Florida. We'd really like to have neighbors that like to get to know each other and do these together. We're both retired so we don't have to worry about finding a place to work. This may be silly, but I'd like to live in an area where I can have a gas stove. I love to cook and all we have here in Florida is electric. I hope I gave enough information, and would appreciate any replies. Thank you the Smiths.

I would suggest Western Tennessee some where. Especially North West Tennessee. That part of the state is roughly about 10 to 15 years behind the rest of the country culturally and economically. My home town, Union City, is easily within what you suggest. My dad owns a 3 bed, 2 bath house on 6.5 acres for around your price range. He has a stocked fishing pond.

The community is generally religious, it has a wal-mart and several other grocery stores, like EW James and sons. It has a very small town feel, 16,000 folks, but has most of the amenities that you'd want for every day life. You're a two hour drive from Memphis, and a one hour drive from Paducah, KY and Dyersburg TN which have malls and lots of shopping. You're about 3 hours from Nashville.

That'd be my suggestion.

[induchman2]

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

I would suggest Western Tennessee some where. Especially North West Tennessee. That part of the state is roughly about 10 to 15 years behind the rest of the country culturally and economically.

I wouldn't brag about that fact

[takarsuz]

Thank you all for your input. At least now I have a starting point. We plan on spending two weeks when we find where we think we want to settle to get a feel of the place.

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by induchman2

I wouldn't brag about that fact

Some people don't like the mtv music awards and rap music

There is a reason I don't live there, mainly because I didn't care for the 80s/90s to much

[medic51]

I looked at the area around Jackson (TN), mainly in Lexington. I enjoyed the small town feel, but found that for anything significant (medical, airport, etc.) that I ended up going to Memphis or Nashville. I decided that the area while beautiful, was not for me. I am now looking in the Knoxville area. Good luck.