Anyone here from TN?

Land prices and property taxes are lower if you go further south. Monroe and Polk counties are very nice if you love the mountains. Many homestead in these areas. There are not many large towns so you pretty much have to be self sufficient, or make long drives to one of the nearest towns for shopping.

As said before, schools are pretty poor, but that usually goes for any area where the average income is low. No income taxes, high sales tax (but you can buy out of state), low property taxes, ect. Land can still be found very reasonably priced, especially if you buy privately instead of from most realtors.

Bob

__________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
George W. Bush 8/5/2004
source: White House Web Site

Linden area is pretty nice, try www.tworiversrealty.com or www.unitedcountry.com and look for the linden office -- I just bought my homestead thru them!

I live in upper east tn and i must say everybody who has said that the schools are bad is exactly right they are. And it is not just county schools but also city schools. Employement is hard to find. Sales tax is high and county gov keeps finding ways to sucker the people into wheel taxes. I saw someone write that property costs and taxes were low. Well that has to do with where you live. I live in washington county and i went into see about the procedure for a building permit not to get a permit mind you just asked about the procedure. Well guess what never got the permit never built the bulding it was for. But they came along and reassessed my property anyway within a few weeks after my inquiry and raised my taxes. There is a few counties that i can recommend though if al that you have been told does not scare you. Unicoi county Carter county both rural to mountainous areas with very close net hard working and good people. I was going to live in Unicoi but my job requires that i live in washington county. Hawkins and Hamblen county rural farming communities that are not to isolated from bigger towns like tim1253 said rogersville is a great area. But with all the negatives said i must say i have been around and back again and you can't beat east tn it's truly gods country.

__________________
Oh Lord bless our horses, keep them safe, I pray in the name of He who was born in a stable. Amen

Thanks for all the help. With what I've read and gathered I think I'll be looking towards the Cumberland Platuea, Morgan County area. The pics I've seen look alot of what we're looking for. I have no idea if/when we would move. It's just an idea we're toying around with. You would not believe the diff. in prices for land etc. I'm finding several areas with lot's of land, for unbelievably low prices. I'm sending this link to show you what we're dealing with. This house is right down the road from us about 2 miles, the couple a retired trooper and his wife moved to Arizona, their son bought them a condo down there. Anyways here is the synopsis.
As you drive around the curve of the country road and approach this farm, you know you are entering a place of peace and serenity.The home was originally built during the depression--when builders truly built a home to last. There have been too many upgrades to list, but some include a new roof in 2003, new kitchen in 1999, central air in '98, refinishing original wood floors in '99. This list is quite extensive. There are 2 bedrooms,a bath, a living room with fireplace insert, dining room, kitchen, huge pantry, family room, and sun
room on the first floor. The second floor has two bedrooms with absolutely breath-taking pine floors, and a bath, plus much storage space. This is a wonderful place for horses or cattle. The open fields (about 15 acres) are lovely with productive-looking soil. There is a barn, a storage barn, several sheds, a carport, a motor-home carport, wonderful garden space, and a small pond with some good-sized fish. The wooded section (64 acres) is excellent, with some large hardwoods.
This is a outdoorsman's paradise, but would work exceptionallly well for the recreational farmer(whatever that is!), horse-lover, or just the person who needs the quiet life and lots of space to spread out and enjoy life. It really is a little piece of paradise right here in Buckingham County. You'll be singing, "Heaven, I'm in Heaven." Call today to schedule a showing.
Photos are here http://lafoonrealty.com/more_photos.php?id=4&page=farms
For $528,000!!!! This is what we're dealing with as far as price gauging. See our dillema?

and all for only $ 528,000. Man what a bargain :haha: Looks like someone's trying to increase their inheritance a tad

4sarge,

Exactly! That is what places are going for around here. Heck, 8 acres and a double wide go over $200,000!! Do you know how 'low income' this county is? All those fat pocketed Northerns(no offense anyone! ) Oh well, but yes anyone who wants to get some land around here simply cannot afford it, and I think it's sad. I'm not downing doublewides/mobile homes/ factory built homes but they are sprining up EVERYWHERE on a few acre lot's and especially in clear cut areas, not to down anyone, we've looked at them, but it's so darn generic it's not funny, not to mention not the most sightly thing either. Let me stress I'm not trying to down anyone, but this is just to say what we're trying to get away from.

just for comparison's sake- a fairly new double wide on 5 kind of level acres goes for around 50- 60K, around here. a small, well kept house on the same acreage is about 100K.

Are you the same safehavenfarm that was in Jeff Co.and raised Nubians?

Marvella,

Wish I could say that, you're lucky to find anything around 100k. We're watching the larger areas 100+ acres start going for close if not over a million. It's getting very sad to watch.

I have a friend that lives east of Johnson City in the Butler/Elizabethtown area. It is lovely there. My husband and I live in southeaster Indiana but we go to visit often and if I were to move to another area, I think that is where I would go . . .small towns, beautiful scenery and very friendly people.
I can't help you as far as prices of homes or school systems though . . .
if your interested, pm me and I can connect you with my friend who lives there - she could tell you all about it.

QueenB04, the Cumberland Platuea is truly a wonderful area, drove through there and back a couple of days ago. What you'll find is that most of the higher priced land is nearest to the interstates and major roads. If you want lower priced land with more privacy, try hunting for land that is further away from the interstates. Maybe along the smaller roads like 58 or 68. Those roads lead to the interstates, but wind through some remote country.

Also, beware of flooding in those lower lands. Many times, land that is bargain priced, is priced so because of flooding during the wet seasons. Of course, most realtors and sellers won't usually admit to it, even if you ask.

Before we moved onto our land, near where we were renting, someone was looking at some pasture land after a rain. It was flooded, and they stopped by to ask if that land flooded like that often. I told them the truth, that the stream running through overflowed the banks many times a year and flooded the pasture. Our realtor friend that was trying to sell that land was upset with us, but as I told her, I am not going to lie.

Bob

__________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
George W. Bush 8/5/2004
source: White House Web Site

Thanks again to everyone who has replied. So far we are concentrating on the Cumberland Plateau area, I've bee doing some searches on areas/counties in and around that area. Thanks for the realty links too! Still trying to track down some more, but the links I've found about the people have been great, I've heard nothing but good things. I do have a few questions about employment. I did a check through the TN state jobs and found a few positions open for me as far as 911 dispatchers, but what else is big as far as employment, state and/or local? And where are the big places? What's in your areas? Like I said I'm a 911 dispatcher, and my husband does construction. Look forward to hearing from you all!

Hey QBo4!
I sent you some photos, did you get them? My next door neighbor is a 911 dispatcher in Cookeville, and my son is soon to be an officer there, hopefully. Let me know if you were able to open those photos I sent to you. I tried and tried, and finally sent them as attachments. They wouldn't upload to HP for some reason.
backwoods

Backwoods,

Oh really? Good deal, and wish luck to your son. I love the job and would love to stick with it. Nope didn't get the photos I'll check again, sometime the mail is slow with yahoo, I'll PM you.

I live about as far as you can get in upper east TN,without being in Nc.Land prices here are high,because we have a beautiful lake.Lots of folks have moved here and built expensive homes on the lakeshore.taxes are high.but east Tn is beautiful country.Hope you find the place you want to settle in.Mary

I am new to this sight but I saw your questions about TN living. My husband three kids and I live in Kingston,TN. This is between Knoxville and the Cumberland Plateau going west. We love it here because we have the best of all worlds. My husband is a Yankee and he says he wouldn't llive anywhere else. It is a great place to live raise kids and homestead. If you want to check out this area I have a best friend who is a local realtor. Good luck!!!!

No thats not me. However i did live in jeff county about 37 years ago but that was on a dairy farm. I guess you could say thats why i hate milk so much. I live in washington county outside of jonesborough. And i raise Buff Orpington chickens and NZ rabbits and white yorkshire pigs. FOR NOW

__________________
Oh Lord bless our horses, keep them safe, I pray in the name of He who was born in a stable. Amen

I live in sevierville next to gatlinburg there is no farms of any size left they have beed split up to put rows of houses and if you can find any the price would be so high 4 years ago I paid 30t for 5ac now its worth 90t

I also live in NW Tenn. We have friends in Gatlinburg, so we visit there often. Personally, Gatlinburg is over run with foreigner owned shops. We spend most of our time in the parks or Cades Cove. We also go more often in the off season.

The schools are very bad here. My daughter went thru the school syst from the 4th grade on. If I had it to do over I would have home schooled her. Even tho we are related to half the county here, we have always been treated as outsiders and probably always will be. I grew up in the north and spent my summers here with my grandparents on their dairy farm. My daughter had a real hard time. If it hadn't been for family and her horse she wouldn't have had any close friends. They never forget.
Sharon