Talk to me about TN (Knoxville/Maryville area)

[jvanhoy]

I've actually looked around there as well and have a Zillow alert set up for that area. Why would you go up there instead?

You will be in my neck of the woods then. Love south Holston. Spend almost every weekend on it. Slower pace here but better money in Knoxville.

 

[geetar]

A potential retirement area that has popped up on my radar recently is Ashe County-Boone area, North Carolina. Just over the ridge from Johnson City, Tenn. Never been there but it looks nice, and very affordable compared to what is currently happening in the West right now. Even Southwest Virginia looks nice and affordable. So how does each state, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia stack up against each other? Pros and cons?

I’ve lived in NC all my life. Ashe county is a favorite spot of me and my brothers. The New River is good for fishing and floating and it’s just an overall relaxing area. I would totally get it if someone wanted to move there. Look me up if you ever come down to check it out. I live a couple hours southeast of it. My dad has a vacation spot in Southwest Virginia. Hillsville area. Land is cheap there and the people are some of the nicest I’ve met. He gets trail cam pics of black bears on the regular. I’ve never been anywhere in the mountains of NC, VA, or TN that I did not like with the exception of Asheville. It’s a liberal hippie hotbed. The kind of place transplants with an agenda go.

 

[BigHornRam]

I've heard Asheville is not a place that would interest me.

 

[geetar]

I've heard Asheville is not a place that would interest me.

You do need to go just one time to tour the Biltmore house though. It’s kinda on the outside of town and is pretty amazing. You’re wife would love it as well.

 

[tarheel]

A potential retirement area that has popped up on my radar recently is Ashe County-Boone area, North Carolina. Just over the ridge from Johnson City, Tenn. Never been there but it looks nice, and very affordable compared to what is currently happening in the West right now. Even Southwest Virginia looks nice and affordable. So how does each state, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia stack up against each other? Pros and cons?

Boone is a college town as well as several ski areas in the winter. It gets terribly congested at times with college sports traffic. Roads are mostly 2 lane and crooked as a snake. Occasional banjo music can be heard emanating from the hollers.

 

[tarheel]

I've heard Asheville is not a place that would interest me.

Too many liberal transplants.

Asheville is currently having a serious bear problem with the bruins moving into town all over the place. There's even a new Trumpy bear in town. Someone stuck a Trump 2020 sticker on an adult bear's collar recently.

 

[geetar]

Boone is a college town as well as several ski areas in the winter. It gets terribly congested at times with college sports traffic. Roads are mostly 2 lane and crooked as a snake. Occasional banjo music can be heard emanating from the hollers.

I’m just gonna take this moment to appreciate the fact that iPhone now has a banjo emoji. we just need a moonshine jug emoji now.

 

[tarheel]

I’m just gonna take this moment to appreciate the fact that iPhone now has a banjo emoji. we just need a moonshine jug emoji now.

I go up to Todd pretty much every year for the New River Bluegrass Festival but it's likely as not to get rained out at least half the time.

 

[OleRedbeard]

I hate to say this but VA is stacking up to be the next CA when it comes to many things. The state is a D stronghold now at the state and federal level and we are having gun laws pushed down our throats by northern VA and parts of E VA. I would go to TN hands down personally I'm trying to go that route myself hopefully in a few years. Lots of outdoor opportunity and fishing in VA. but it's not the state it use to be. I've already had a few friends move to TN. to get away from these issues. Crime isn't bad in any of these areas so don't allow that to push you away. Violent crime is rarely ever seen in SWVA, NETN, or WNC. Thieves can be an issue but the key there is to make yourself a hard target and living in the right place usually helps.

Living in SW Virginia myself I second everything you just said.

 

[OleRedbeard]

I’ve lived in NC all my life. Ashe county is a favorite spot of me and my brothers. The New River is good for fishing and floating and it’s just an overall relaxing area. I would totally get it if someone wanted to move there. Look me up if you ever come down to check it out. I live a couple hours southeast of it. My dad has a vacation spot in Southwest Virginia. Hillsville area. Land is cheap there and the people are some of the nicest I’ve met. He gets trail cam pics of black bears on the regular. I’ve never been anywhere in the mountains of NC, VA, or TN that I did not like with the exception of Asheville. It’s a liberal hippie hotbed. The kind of place transplants with an agenda go.

Man that is the absolute truth!!

 

[BigHornRam]

You do need to go just one time to tour the Biltmore house though. It’s kinda on the outside of town and is pretty amazing. You’re wife would love it as well.

I understand they make good wine there. My wife would like that and so would I.

Winery

Discover Biltmore Winery, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina on George Vanderbilt’s 8,000-acre estate.

www.biltmore.com

Hillsdale is right in between my 2 favorite race tracks. Bristol and Martinsville.

 

[geetar]

I understand they make good wine there. My wife would like that and so would I.

Winery

Discover Biltmore Winery, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina on George Vanderbilt’s 8,000-acre estate.

www.biltmore.com

Hillsdale is right in between my 2 favorite race tracks. Bristol and Martinsville.

They do make good wine. My wife and I did the winery tour there.

 

[Usmcff]

My wife and I have been seriously talking about making a move up there within the next year or two. With some personal things going on right now with my wife's job it may bump our schedule up to as close as year end. Some things that you may find useful and/or I'm specifically curious about below.

• We're looking for better weather than scorching hot year round. I miss mountains, and changing seasons, and places to hike, and local freshwater trout fishing, etc. Also, I'm not thrilled about raising my family in south Florida with the local politics looking the way they are.
• I work from home and we could likely live on my income as long as is needed for my wife to find a job. She is a teacher at a private school right now but has banking background as well. What are employment opportunities like?
• We'd be looking to buy a place (hoping to keep our house down here too as an investment/vacation home). We're hoping our expectations of places up there are reasonable (they seem to be per Zillow surfing)
  • Budget would be +/- $375K.
  • 3+ bedrooms
  • 1+ acre (real as large as I can afford without jeopardizing house quality lol)
  • Preferably within 45 minutes to 1 hour from southwest Maryville area.
  • No immediate renovations needed
  • Hi speed internet an absolute necessity for work (I'm having a hard time narrowing down whether this is generally available).
• We'd likely go private school for the kids. Part of the reason we like this area is the school system in general, and a specific private school in particular.
• What sort of public land deer hunting is available within +/- 1 - 2 hours? Down here public land is somewhat scarce, and limitations are abundant. I'm not interested in having to search for a lease to hunt every year.
  • Are regs pretty straightforward? Obviously I'll look this up myself too but opinions are appreciated.
  • Is public land pretty crowded and/or filled with crazy people?
  • Any other hunting opportunities that I should know about? Turkeys? Small game?
• Anything else you're willing to share that you like/dislike? Weather? Traffic? Pace of life?

Any and all opinions are appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read

Not sure if your still considering or not moving here but her finding a job wouldn’t be hard. We are bank and teaching poor and always need more people. The hardest part will be finding the internet you seek. Average internet speeds here for rural areas are between 5-25 mbs. If you live in town you can find 50-100 in smaller towns or upwards of 500 or more. Satellite internet here is crap, best bets are the cell phone carriers or electric/ landline companies. A lot of the state is getting fiber installed currently so that’s helping a lot, I’m a gamer so it’s nice to finally catch up with everywhere else. Generally there’s no data caps except for cell carriers. Cell service is spotty in my places. Land is getting expensive. Nashville is one of the fastest growing places and I live about an hour from it and hate all the commies from CA and places moving here. They are trying to turn the state blue. Hunting is really good here and our seasons and bag limits are liberal. In my zone you can shoot 2 bucks a year and 3 does a day. House prices average around 250k for 2500 square feet. Land is probably about 2-5k an acre. Depends on location. If you have any other questions or any I missed, don’t hesitate to pm me and I’ll find out or get the right person.

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

Well, the wife and I finally made the call to pull the trigger and move. We made the decision late last year but promised her job she'd finish out the school year. Currently we have a house under contract, scheduled to close next month, and we're estimating hitting the road around the 2nd weekend of June.

As far as I can tell, I only have to be resident for 90 days to purchase resident tags so I'm looking forward to doing some hunting in TN later this year. Is anyone willing to jump into the PM's with me so ask WMA's close to me? We're going to be living just south of Maryville and it looks like the biggest areas within short(ish) driving distance will be North and South Cherokee National Forest, but there are also some smaller WMA's nearby.

Edited to add: My wife would hold it against me if I didn't start pushing you guys for info on the local fishing as well lol.

 

[Usmcff]

Well, the wife and I finally made the call to pull the trigger and move. We made the decision late last year but promised her job she'd finish out the school year. Currently we have a house under contract, scheduled to close next month, and we're estimating hitting the road around the 2nd weekend of June.

As far as I can tell, I only have to be resident for 90 days to purchase resident tags so I'm looking forward to doing some hunting in TN later this year. Is anyone willing to jump into the PM's with me so ask WMA's close to me? We're going to be living just south of Maryville and it looks like the biggest areas within short(ish) driving distance will be North and South Cherokee National Forest, but there are also some smaller WMA's nearby.

Edited to add: My wife would hold it against me if I didn't start pushing you guys for info on the local fishing as well lol.

I can answer some questions but I don’t know much about the wmas. Most farmers and landowners around here will usually let you hunt as long as you are nice, respect the land, and offer to help them whenever they need the extra hand. Feel free to pm me. I’ll answer what I can.

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

I can answer some questions but I don’t know much about the wmas. Most farmers and landowners around here will usually let you hunt as long as you are nice, respect the land, and offer to help them whenever they need the extra hand. Feel free to pm me. I’ll answer what I can.

Thank you. I'm still doing some research on my own so I don't ask any blatantly obvious questions lol. I'll reach out when I narrow it down a bit.

 

[JShane]

Thank you. I'm still doing some research on my own so I don't ask any blatantly obvious questions lol. I'll reach out when I narrow it down a bit.

Good luck to you and yours on your next chapter. If there are any gps numbers to snapper, grouper or lobster spots you'll be discarding I'll happily take them off your hands and see to it that they go to a good home.

 

[MJE2083]

Congrats! I got married in the Smokys not far outside of Maryville. Beautiful area for sure. I've only ever fished in the national park, but the trout fishing is good. The South Holston and Watauga rivers near Bristol are awesome tailwater trout rivers and probably only a couple hours away. Lot of big lakes nearby.

 

[jvanhoy]

Congrats on the move. The white bass run is about to kick in good in the rogersville area. Upper end of Cherokee lake. I’m hoping to get down there this year. It’s been along time.

 

[geetar]

Well, the wife and I finally made the call to pull the trigger and move. We made the decision late last year but promised her job she'd finish out the school year. Currently we have a house under contract, scheduled to close next month, and we're estimating hitting the road around the 2nd weekend of June.

As far as I can tell, I only have to be resident for 90 days to purchase resident tags so I'm looking forward to doing some hunting in TN later this year. Is anyone willing to jump into the PM's with me so ask WMA's close to me? We're going to be living just south of Maryville and it looks like the biggest areas within short(ish) driving distance will be North and South Cherokee National Forest, but there are also some smaller WMA's nearby.

Edited to add: My wife would hold it against me if I didn't start pushing you guys for info on the local fishing as well lol.

The landlocked striped bass fishing up that way is good. Got some friends that fish a place called Melton Hill.