Need Rural...but w/in 30 min of Knoxville (Maryville, Crossville: houses, job transfer)

[hiknapster]

I am so excited for you!

The worse traffic that I know of is going into the city from west Knoxville in the a.m and coming out of the city heading west on I-40 in the afternoons. The afternoon is the worst. Is it as bad as the northeast? Nope. Not even close!

JMT and I will be happy to answer your questions. See how I volunteered him?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I am so excited for you!

The worse traffic that I know of is going into the city from west Knoxville in the a.m and coming out of the city heading west on I-40 in the afternoons. The afternoon is the worst. Is it as bad as the northeast? Nope. Not even close!

JMT and I will be happy to answer your questions. See how I volunteered him?

Thanks, hiknapster! What would I do without you!

bbkaren, I agree with hiknapster, while the rush hour traffic in Knoxville can be maddening, it's NOTHING like the garbage people have to put up with in Nashville, Atlanta, South Florida, DC, and probably NJ/NY. The state just finished widening I-40 just west of downtown Knoxville, so the traffic isn't that bad anymore (knock on wood).

And I think 9 days is long enough to get a feel for the area. The drive from Nashville to Knoxville is scenic, at least it's scenic from about Cookeville on (and be sure to honk your horn as you drive by my beloved Cookeville). Do some shopping while you're here, go into grocery stores, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc., just to see what the people are like. You don't even need to buy anything, just wander around and see if the people are friendly.

And if you have internet access while you're here, be sure to pop in every now and then and let us know how you're doing. I know hiknapster will be happy to answer your questions! (heh heh)

Good luck, and have a WONDERFUL trip!

[summergal]

bbkaren - wow we have something in common. My hubby & I are also musicians (classic & alt rock) considering Knoxville How cool is that? I'm so excited for your trip as well! I hope you get a chance to bar hop a bit and chat with the local talent. I spoke with a few over the net awhile back and they were saying the clubs don't pay very well? Maybe reffering to original bands? But on a brighter note they also said there are TONS of bands there and lots of different types of music which is a good sign I think lol. Please let us know what you find out... Good luck with your journey and have a great time. We can't wait to hear your report.

[bbkaren]

Thanks summergal, and all of you! I don't know how I'm going to make it for the next 2 months waiting. I'm so excited for this trip.

We're planning to take a ton of pictures (no, serioiusly!) and post them remotely so anyone interested can get a really good idea of where we were.

We plan to visit several counties. It seems like a really ambitious plan but I have a feeling once we hit a town we'll feel whether it's got possibilities for us or not.

Our interests are in a circle around the western Knoxville/Oak Ridge area:

Roane County: Rockwood, Harriman, Kingston
Anderson Cty: Clinton, Oliver Springs, Norris
Union County: Maynardville, Luttrell
Knox County: Mostly to visit/explore...but who knows?
Blount County: Maryville, Friendsville
Loudon Cty: Philadelphia, Loudon

I hope we can at least briefly check out the areas in the 9 days we'll be down. Anything we shouldn't miss?

[summergal]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

Anything we shouldn't miss?

A nice afternoon drive through the Smokeys! Hey I don't know if you're into this kind of thing but I saw something about a paddlewheel boat that takes a tour from Knoxville and goes up the river? I think it has food and live entertainment too. Sounds like a nice time.

[hiknapster]

bbkaren:

I like the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. It gives you a great historical background of the area and the people.

[maraplus]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

We're so excited...finally made our flight reservations. We'll be flying into Nashville (half the price of Knoxville!) on May 11, and leaving May 21. We'll be renting a car and staying at either a hotel or our friend's house in Crossville, depending on where we are on a given night.

Haven't really nailed down our travel path yet but we have a lot of ground to cover.

We definitely plan to hit Maryville, as well as areas of Anderson, Loudon and Roane Counties. There were some properties for sale on the outskirts of Knoxville so I imagine we'll spend some time in those areas as well.

Good thing we're getting unlimited mileage with our rental!

Do you feel like 9 days would be enough time to get a feel for these areas? I reckon we'd spend a day or two (plus a night or two) in each area.

We plan to make a rush-hour round trip between the West Knoxville commercial area and any neighborhood we're interested in buying in, to get a feel for what the highways are like on a typical workday.

Here in NJ, we have a couple of highways that are single-direction gridlock during rush hour (i.e. Route 80 East is bad in the morning but West is okay in the morning--vice versa in the afternoon). I've heard about I40 and I75 in Tennessee being pretty bad traffic wise. While I find it hard to believe that traffic in TN can rival New Jersey, I'd be interested in knowing what the flow is like in the morning and afternoon so perhaps we could plan to live somewhere against the traffic pattern to make our commutes easier.

Thanks for any advice!

This will be exciting for you. But you'll be doing alot of driving!! Driving hours between properties. Do you have a real estate person helping you? If not, you might want to consider it....letting them know what you want ...and DONT want...then they can weed out the properties that dont meet within your specifications. Otherwise I am afraid you may waste alot of time traveling to areas your not familiar with.
We live out of state and this past summer my husband flew to East Tn to look at property. We DID have a realestate person helping and it was still alot of work. We had picked out about 20 properties from the MLS that interested us...the agent narrowed it down to about 12...for us since she knew the areas. THen when my husband got there they looked at them...they looked way better on the MLS listing!. Things like electric station tower in the middle of property....rail road tracks just behind property line...or a steep rocky drop off ...(which you dont want if you have young kids) THey dont tell you those things on the MLS listing. He spent 4 days there and there was one property that fit all our criteria.
We bought it!!! It is 5 acres just inside Roane County from Loudon County. Cedar Grove South. All usuable , rolling land, meadow. With 1 acre of that wooded. Perfect for us. Just a few miles from a dock on the river and 30 min from Knoxville. We are thrilled...but couldnt have done it with out help.
Some things you should consider other then location will be if electric/ water/ septic are on your property. Building restrictions -some areas allow moble homes..some dont. ALso many have restrictions on allowable square footage. Plus upkeep of property while you dont live there...we had to have it bush hogged ( which was costly the first time) and will do that a couple times a year.
Actually we plan on driving up in a couple weeks so I can see the property!!
Before we started looking I requested county info from each County we were interested in. Go to the Chamber websites and they will mail you alot of useful info.

So good luck!!

[bbkaren]

Thanks Maraplus! Yes, actually we have a realtor we're working with. And we're not in a hurry to buy right now. We're kind of going there to pick out an area to live in, and also to look at whatever property we find on the market at the time if applicable.

We also get a daily MLS report for all properties within 50 miles of West Knoxville, 8 acres or more. It's really interesting and allows us to keep an eye on what's moving and what's not. I reckon if we find a place we like that's been on the market a while once we're there, maybe the price might be more negotiable or something...

Anyway, thanks so much for your advice!

We're pretty much set on unrestricted properties--one, because we'd probably build another modular (though not a mobile) similar to the one we just built up here in NJ. And two, because of that "holier-than-them" mindset that I believe comes with restricted property, some of the subdivisions, especially the gated communities.

We've gotten the chamber packages from Knox, Loudon, Blount, Roane, and Union Counties already. What a collection of stuff we've got now!

I can't believe how excited I am about this trip. What a dork I am.

[maraplus]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

Thanks Maraplus! Yes, actually we have a realtor we're working with. And we're not in a hurry to buy right now. We're kind of going there to pick out an area to live in, and also to look at whatever property we find on the market at the time if applicable.

We also get a daily MLS report for all properties within 50 miles of West Knoxville, 8 acres or more. It's really interesting and allows us to keep an eye on what's moving and what's not. I reckon if we find a place we like that's been on the market a while once we're there, maybe the price might be more negotiable or something...

Anyway, thanks so much for your advice!

We're pretty much set on unrestricted properties--one, because we'd probably build another modular (though not a mobile) similar to the one we just built up here in NJ. And two, because of that "holier-than-them" mindset that I believe comes with restricted property, some of the subdivisions, especially the gated communities.

We've gotten the chamber packages from Knox, Loudon, Blount, Roane, and Union Counties already. What a collection of stuff we've got now!

I can't believe how excited I am about this trip. What a dork I am.

Oh no , not a dork, I totally understand.
Good , I'm glad you have time to look at the area and have an agent to help out. Every so often I still go to the MLS, just out of curiosity, and I still see some of the listings for sale that we looked at. If they've been on the market for a really long time...theres usually a reason. ( like that railroad track I mentioned- wish I could remember which one that was )
We have family in Blount County and actually started looking there first but land seemed a bit out of our price range. So had to move further west. We considered unrestricted too...but then decided "some" restrictions will only protect us in the long run. Where we bought you can have double wides, not single wides, though it has to be at least 1000 sq feet. (I've been researching modular/SIP homes on the internet) Some of the other restrictions like...no pig farming, junk yards...etc. So certain restrictions can be a good thing for you. I will be able to have a couple horses...a dream come true.
Yeah...I know about the Chamber packages!!! They just kept coming....but that was OK...I scurried for the mail box everyday like a kid to see what was there! The Roane County package was impressive I thought.
ALthough I'm not sure what 'town' we are in...Its about 15 - 25 min or so SE of Harriman....but close to the County line. I dont think there is a name for the area. I'm hoping thats not a bad sign. Its listed with Loudon County zip 37774...but its actually in Roane Co.
ANyway keep us posted on your adventure....make lots of notes and take lots of pictures!! But most of all have fun.

[samiam1215]

Hi everyone. Thank you to the regular readers and writers who take care of us wanna be Tennesseeans. I am from Western NY. My husband and I want to move to the Knoxville area. I have a severe migraine problem. Both Knoxville and Buffalo, NY (the area we are leaving) are high on the list of "migraine cities." They published this list right after we decided we wanted to move to Knoxville! I see that someone wrote that most people have sinus problems, which kind of coincide with migraines. I am curious to hear from any migraineurs out there. Has anyone felt any better or worse since living in the Knoxville area? And also very important, are there any neurologists in the area who specialize in migraines? Mine is atypical, just like me! Thanks again.