Koala-> can I come too???

http://www.americantowns.com/

This site is good for checking some stats before you decide.

My daughter goes to college in Johnson City... Beautiful area and not too rural. Close to interstate and lots of things to do in the area... We would love to move there. It's not south of Knoxville but a little northeast!

Great. Another I-75 kind of guy...

Knoxville's hilly. Might be an issue. South of Knoxville's pretty. Alot of fresh water bodies. Still hilly. Cleveland TN's rural. Go slightly west to Crossville - I like the mountain views there looking east. Again, hilly. Chattanooga is too "old" for me. Knoxville's a little more modern. Going east of Knoxville - I wouldn't stop until Ashville NC.

Northern GA's rural. Atlanta - too crowded. Macon's not bad, but I wouldn't recommend it. I turned down a job offer there once because of the area. The other 200 miles of GA - just let me teleport to Lake City FL...

Northern Florida I wouldn't recommend to anybody unless it's near Tallahassee or Pensacola or Jacksonville. I don't like places where people hate people just because... Central Florida - hot and humid. Around Yeehaw Junction area or Orlando, if that sounds more familiar. Going near the Gulf or Atlantic is more manageable weather wise.

South of Lakeland/Winter Haven area, well, Tampa/Sarasota/Bradenton is crowded but along I-75 there's alot of decent development that's still not too congested. Nice outlet mall near Bradenton. Golf course communities, etc.

This is I-75 - you're booking down the west coast now. Until Naples. Then I-75 becomes Alligator Alley across the Everglades and ends in North Miami. Nothing there.

Tennessee and Florida - no state income taxes. Property taxes are still low in TN, but not in FL.

I'm from an I-75 family. Folks had chalet off I-75 up north in MI near Gaylord. We lived near I-75 in Detroit area. Met and married my wife while working in Toledo near I-75. My parents live west of Knoxville. A bunch of the family on both sides while I was growing up lived in Lakeland FL. We have a condo off I-275 in St Pete - my parents have a condo just down the beach (next island over). And my wife and I lived near the end of I-75 in Miami for 9 years in the 90's.

I got some stories about I-75... I could talk for days about my experiences on that road and I-71 (my first 12 years were in Cleveland - South Euclid)...

Ask if ya want more specific info. My parents are happy with the Knoxville area except the airport - then they go to Nashville or Atlanta.

Tom

Tom, stayed in the Tampa - St. Pete area for about 5 weeks, Largo. A bit too hot and muggy for me a mile from the beach, the whole month of August, until Labor day weekend. South of there? Nope! Actually quite a lot of traffic there also, nice place, but in my opinion housing is over priced.

Golf? LOL Aren`t golf courses graveyards without headstones? Shopping? sort of a limited and different idea for me. Food, clothes( limited need) if I need to wear anything fancy? I don`t go. Tools, lumber, specialty drill bits and hardware are always nice to get close by. I do like freshwater lakes nearby, but not fond of looking out for gators or poisonous snakes near by. Had my run ins with rattlesnakes in Canada.

Worked outside all of my adult life, don`t mind cold, just can`t deal with being trapped indoors by snow. Don`t really need an airport except to make air travel easier for anyone that may want to come to visit. Never been on a plane and no intentions of doing so.

I really don`t know much about the south, never had intentions of going there until the illness. Don`t need night life or a lot of stuff to see and do, I can find things to occupy my time on my own.

More of a question of finding the right housing at a price I consider reasonable. Just need a one level home on a way smaller lot! Almost 4.25 acres here and it`s too much now. 4 levels on the house and for me that is asking for trouble sooner or later. Something 1500-1800 square feet will do, want something new or almost. On a level lot, don`t care if it is hilly around me.

My biggests consideration when relocating, other than price, is the proximity to major medical centers and major veterinarian facilities. I feel the need to be at least within 60 minutes of both which is usually near major cities.

Tennessee is beautiful and hopefully affordable. Good luck!

Jules at least currently I seem to be healthy except for the effects of the MS. A hospital nearby is always a good plan?

Didn`t wander off I-75 except to fuel on the trip through TN. It did look better than Ohio though. From what I have seen housing is cheaper than in my area? but maybe comparing apples to oranges? I am looking for a smaller home with way less land.

Florida is out of the mix, as is moving in with the first ex anywhere. Friends but not room mates or anything else complicated. She has become a recluse by choice, I am sort of by illness, but not by choice. Her contact with people is limited to work. No one goes to her home, she doesn`t allow it.

Housing is a lot cheaper up north of where you stayed. It's warmer though, in central FL - watch the weather. It's a bit cooler toward Jacksonville. I liked that area better. Still, lots of traffic. I didn't think that was as bad as Orlando, traffic wise.

The taxes are not that bad depending on what area. Some prop taxes are under 1k, some are 4k for almost the same kind of house - ask a realtor why, it's complicated. But they arer re-assesing, due to the bad market.

The house we're looking at, smaller house, bigger lot out-in-the boondocks house has lower taxes than my OH house (2k+), and will be lower still after the homestead thing.

Right now we are seriously up in the air about the whole deal. Sun rail has been trying to buy this line of rail for years. They jusr made a deal - was it in Boston? - and bought some part of that RR. So it looks like this deal could finally happpen. That would put severl RRers out of work down here -dh would be the first to go.

Sun rail, like Amtrak, cannot make a proffit. Never has, never will. Why they want to beat that dead horse is anyone's guess.

But ther powers that be down here think they are gonna get some of the high speed train stimulus money and slip some of that to Sun Rail to pay for this RR purchase.

I really hope they don't pull that con off.

LOL Cathy, taxes on my property here are a hair over 2 grand a year. If I move 10 or so miles east into the city of Medina out of the rural setting I get to pay twice as much for a house of the same value on a post card size lot.The joys of city life?

It`s not like I am really going to be doing a lot where ever I move, the King`s castle has to be tight though. Just trying to look at things in reality, I don`t need a lot to keep me happy. I know I am going to get worse, 58 now and not overly concerned about it, LOL your born, stuff happens, you pay taxes, then you die, make the best of it don`t worry, be happy! LOL now with mrs. wonderful gone I am happy again.

Kids got my back, I got my dog, all is good! Knoxville area is too bad a drive from here or Columbus, depending on how far my baby decides she can go in vet school. Just more centrally located than Florida and I can deal with the weather there.

We looked at a few places in NC and thought that over, but no jobs came up. Very pretty country though, and housing was affordable. A couple guys dh worked with did not like it there - one was sent home, they did not like him (but nobody does, LOL!!!).

But no matter, everyone has their own opinion, you know? Some people don't like out-in-the-sticks living. I don't mind, and dh prefers.

We have options for Nashville and a few places in Alabama if jobs open for dh - but he is really loving the Sanford job. As long as Sun Rail doesn't buy them out, he's secure there.

Right now I think this way - there are thing I really don't like about FL, and things I really like. Don't like too far from family, traffic, crime, summer too hot for dh and scary poisonous stuff.



But my house will be away from most of traffic and crime - nice and quiet. Love the house (the house, the pool, the yard), warm winters, going to beach, dh having the cool job, not being too close to kids, lol. Very relaxing.

But if we had a chance to check out Nashville I'd be all over that in a flash. Never been there and might just love it. Also could try someplace in GA.

Guess that's my hesitation, have not seen enough to know where I'd put roots if I could go anywhere I want. You can look online or ask around, but you don't know till you are really there.

As far as the drive - we're not driving it anymore. We've started(this year, lol) to fly. Much easier on the old bones, and faster and often cheaper.

And hey don't mock the shopping dude. Not just about buying fancy stuff. There are places on the planet where you are an hour away from a gallon of milk. Not funny.



Sheesh, city boys...