Choices Choices Choices.... (I love it!) (Knoxville, Oak Ridge: transplants, apartment complexes, rentals)
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Hello everyone! I’m Greg. I’ve been lurking for quite a while and finely found a reason to post. My wife and I were born and raised in Indiana but moved to New Mexico about three years ago for my job. Now I’ve changed jobs and we want our trees, lakes, (rain) etc. back. We’ve decided on Knoxville TN. The West-side, but we’re having issues narrowing down the place to live. I’ll be there in a couple weeks to look at places. The two that I’m most interested are:
Eagle Pointe & Forest Ridge
We are looking for a “in the heart of ‘it’” type feel. It seems that both of these places are set about right for that. (?)
We have two Dalmatians so we’re looking for someplace with decent walking trails or near a dog park.
We want a nice place that we can be proud to bring friends and family to.
Lastly, and probably most important, I work internationally. I’m gone between 5-7 wks at a time leaving my wife at home alone. She says she wants to feel “safe” where ever we end up.
I digress. Anyone live at either of these two places that can offer advice or insights? If you know someplace even better, I'm open to suggestions. Budget is $1000/month or less.
Well....here's my VERY LIMITED geography of Knoxville. I know they are on the West Side. I know they both use Bearden (spelling?) as the High school. Does that help?
The way I understand it, there's a lot of build up on the West-side as apposed to the others. Also more diversity in food, activities etc. ???
To be honest, creeksitter, I'm just kinda going off what I've read on these forums till I get there in January to look aroud for myself.
FWIW, we stayed in Forest Ridge apartments with our two dogs when we first relocated to the area for work at ORNL. It is quiet and felt safe. The location is in the outer west burbs (off Hardin Valley), but it is convenient to groceries and Turkey Creek shops and an easy commute to the lab. It may be higher than your budget--I am not sure. They have many different lease deals.
thanks piedmont. They seem to be well within my budget for what we are looking for. When you say "outer" does that imply that they are somewhat out of town or on the fringe? I'm really hoping to be within walking distance (or well, short driving distance) to the "it" in West Knoxville that everyone's always talking about.
Greg,
I noticed you mentioned you are moving from New Mexico for a job, and were only there a few years. By chance are you moving from Los Alamos? We've seen a lot of Los Alamos transplants for jobs here recently in the engineering field. If so, would you be working in Oak Ridge and commuting? I ask because access to work has been important to others.
West Knoxville is great, and has that "it" feeling I suppose if you prefer to be surrounded by diversity, dining, shopping, entertainment. etc.. Looking at your budget, if you're wishing to buy, depending on what you'd put down, $1000 would put you around a $185-$200 home with rates hovering around 5% right now if you look to purchase. In that range there are definitely many choices for you to look. If you're going to rent, then there are many different great options in that range.
I wouldn't limit your search to one area or another. Finding a house or apartment you like is most important, then see if the area is condusive to your style, commute, etc. Searching by area first obviously limits your field, and with so many houses and rentals on the market, you don't want to miss "your" house. Knoxville is blessed by being very easy to navigate given our layout and interstate/highway system. There are numerous areas that would give you a SAFE, tied in, in the mix feel, with an easy commute to where you may work. The "outer" area Piedmont mentioned is a new area that is developing quickly. It is not in walking distance, however a very short drive to all the ammenities of true West Knox via Pellissippi parkway. It is around 7 miles to Turkey Creek, the new heart of shopping and dining in West Knox/Farragut area. There is also a good dog park close by at the PetSafe center. There are also many greenways in Knoxville that are great for leash walking your dalmations.
Safety first.....West Knox has a good safe feeling, and many apartment complexes will have a gated entrance, making your wife feel secure. There are also alot of groups she could join here that would give her people to meet and do activities with while your away. Best of luck with your move, and any more questions or needs you have, just let us know. My two cents...
When you say "outer" does that imply that they are somewhat out of town or on the fringe? I'm really hoping to be within walking distance (or well, short driving distance) to the "it" in West Knoxville that everyone's always talking about. Peace!
Basically, Knoxville's sprawl has gone westward, from downtown towards the west, away from the mountains. I don't know about any "it", but West Knoxville is the sprawl and it is where many shops and restaurants are located. The sprawl now extends to Farragut (which is west of west knoxville). I now live 20+ miles west of West Knoxville (Roane County) and find that when I take visitors to downtown Knoxville, they are shocked by how long the sprawl strip on I-40 is compared to what they are used to in larger cities. East of Knoxville, there is little sprawl; same with north and south (although they are busier than east).
Personally, I think downtown Knoxville is more interesting, with more specialty shops and food and less chains, but to each their own. Downtown Knox also offers a walking/biking commute for fun and basics. There has been a lot of rennovation and revitatlization work downtown, with many conversions of older buildings into very nice lofts.
West Knoxville is organized around the automobile. It is not really walking friendly. However, from Forest Ridge, we could get to restaurants in west knox (whether near Turkey Creek or Bearden) in under 15 minutes. Even downtown is not that far (20 minutes). It all depends on your perspective. If you're coming from LANL + LA, there is a lot more "stuff" here; however, it is a very different area in many other ways.
Hardin Valley area (which is near Forest Ridge) has relatively new mid range developments (150-350) and some higher end developments (500-900+). It was probably a gorgeous valley before this happened (there are a few hints of this left). I suspect people like this area because it is about halfway between downtown Knox and ORNL; it is also a bit quieter than some other parts of west Knox. Haw Ridge Park in Oak Ridge is a great place to walk the dogs if you enjoy hiking (it's about 10 minutes from Forest Ridge by car). Petsafe dog park near Turkey Creek is good if your dogs like to play with other dogs. Most of the so-called greenways in Knoxville are paved and near road traffic. I liked the greenways near UT on the river and through Sequoyah Hills (also on the river) the best for "urban" walking with dogs. I prefer the outer loop of Oak Ridge for greenway walking which is more like hiking. The Melton Lake greenway is also a nice walk (this one is paved).
Greg,
I noticed you mentioned you are moving from New Mexico for a job, and were only there a few years. By chance are you moving from Los Alamos? We've seen a lot of Los Alamos transplants for jobs here recently in the engineering field. If so, would you be working in Oak Ridge and commuting? I ask because access to work has been important to others.
West Knoxville is great, and has that "it" feeling I suppose if you prefer to be surrounded by diversity, dining, shopping, entertainment. etc.. Looking at your budget, if you're wishing to buy, depending on what you'd put down, $1000 would put you around a $185-$200 home with rates hovering around 5% right now if you look to purchase. In that range there are definitely many choices for you to look. If you're going to rent, then there are many different great options in that range.
I wouldn't limit your search to one area or another. Finding a house or apartment you like is most important, then see if the area is condusive to your style, commute, etc. Searching by area first obviously limits your field, and with so many houses and rentals on the market, you don't want to miss "your" house. Knoxville is blessed by being very easy to navigate given our layout and interstate/highway system. There are numerous areas that would give you a SAFE, tied in, in the mix feel, with an easy commute to where you may work. The "outer" area Piedmont mentioned is a new area that is developing quickly. It is not in walking distance, however a very short drive to all the ammenities of true West Knox via Pellissippi parkway. It is around 7 miles to Turkey Creek, the new heart of shopping and dining in West Knox/Farragut area. There is also a good dog park close by at the PetSafe center. There are also many greenways in Knoxville that are great for leash walking your dalmations.
Safety first.....West Knox has a good safe feeling, and many apartment complexes will have a gated entrance, making your wife feel secure. There are also alot of groups she could join here that would give her people to meet and do activities with while your away. Best of luck with your move, and any more questions or needs you have, just let us know. My two cents...
WoW! What an amazing amount of helpful response so quickly! Thank you all so much!
So, to answer some of the questions/comments:
William Sold: I'm moving from Deming, New Mexico. I was a Base Manager/Flight Paramedic for one of the Omniflight programs in Silver City, New Mexico. I currently work for a company called International SOS and work assignments in the Middle East & Africa as a "Remote Site" Paramedic.
Essentially I can live any where in the world I chose. I picked Costa Rica but allas, I was "out voted" by my wife. :P
All joking aside, she wanted to be closer to family as I work a five to seven week out of the country with five weeks home. Moving to Knoxville puts her about six hours from "home" (Alexandria, Indiana.) When trying to decide where to live, we evaluated our desires. Those being; trees, water, mountains, climate, city with a good population and 'stuff' to do, but not NYC. And of course close to Alexandria. We regularly vacationed in Gatlinburg/P-Forge when we lived in Indiana so we looked at Knoxville and said "Let's go!"
I will be coming down when I get back in the county on 10 January '09 to look at some places and narrow the search a little. Then in March my wife will join me in Knoxville for a week for use to narrow that list even further. We plan on crossing the threshhold of our new place on 28 May '09. (When you work overseas, planing get's just a little anal as you can see...)
Thanks to you and to Piedmont for the information on the 'spraw.' To be honest what I'm looking for has a lot to do with where I have lived for the last three years.
Where I live in Deming, NM (eightteen miles North of the US/Mexico border) if I want to eat anything other than one of the eightteen mexican resturants or three chinese resturants, I've got to drive about seventy miles. If I want to shop, any where other than Walmart, same situation. If I want to "Do" something, it's four hours to Tuscon, five hours to ABQ, and so on. I REALLY WANT TO LIVE somewhere that I can get a variety of foods (Being a vegitarian also complicates this). I would like to have activities like "Ice Skating in the 'town square' around Christmas." Movies, Theater, Opera, games, shows. Groups to get together with. All without driving three-four hours round trip. Maybe it's making sense?
Buying vs Renting: We're really not in the market to buy just yet. There's a chance that I may end up with a resident possition in Dubai or Abu Dabi, UAE by the end of the year. I really don't want to be sitting on a house if that happens. We have been looking at town-houses.
This, my friends is a battle "I" won! My wife wanted a house in the country. I wanted in town. Once she realized that these townhouses come with pools, gyms, gates etc., it was a pretty easy sell! LoL!
Laura C. - Holy GOD! You're not kidding they get you for the dogs! LoL! But, they are our babies so I'll gladly pay for it. Most of what I'm seeing is larger deposits. ($500-$700 range JUST FOR THE PET DEPOSIT!!!)
This is also going to be an adjustment for the dogs. They have always had a fenced back yard to play in. But, they are getting older (eight/five) and don't seem to mind laying on the couch with 'dad' when I'm home. I'm sure if we go for good walks on the trails you all have mentioned and go to the dog parks they'll be happy.
As I said, myself (and my grandfather whom I haven't seen in a couple years) are coming down on January 11th or 12th '09 (depending on when I get back from Africa.) Unfortunatly, my wife wont be able to join me this trip due to work issues, but will be there in March.
I was thinking... Just throwing this out there for anyone who might be interested...
I would love to hire a "local" who knows all the areas, know the townhouses, the shopping, the "stuff" etc, that would be willing to travel around with us and show us around a little. My plan is to meet with a few of the property managers for some places, but mostly just get a feel for Knoxville and take lots of pictures for my wife to see.
We will most likely be there from Monday to Friday. I was thinking like Tuesday/Wednesday with the guide. This might help to maximize my time while I'm there.
We could agree on a day rate plus meals. <-- Does this interest anyone?
Thanks again everyone.
Peace!
Last edited by gregbeaty; 12-29-2008 at 11:18 AM..
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