Tennessee

[Onestep]

I've thought about living up there more than once and always liked the state the times I've visited.
Those of you that are from there, what where the main reasons for settling there?

[bacpacker]

I've lived here for 49 of my 51 years. Some points I like are as follows in no particular order.

4 true seasons most years.
On this side of the state we have the Appalachian and Cumberland mountians. that run from Ga to Va and Al to Ky/Va.
There are 8 or so pretty large lakes around here and some decent fishing.
Plenty of wood land
In areas, there are still some decent size land tracts available.
Property taxes in most counties are very low in comparison to other states
NO income tax
Fuel prices are as good as or better than the surrounding states.
A lot of then land is Red Clay, but it still grows a decent crop in most cases.
The unemployment rate is a fair amount lower than the national average, although some counties are much higher.
You can get to the Atlantic or Gulf in 8 hours or so


Drawbacks:
7% sales tax +2.25 county sales tax (in my county)
Population is growing pretty quickly
A large growth of illegal aliens in the last 10 years (worse in some counties than others)
Some corrupt county leaders in certain counties across the state (mayors, judges, police)
A few nuclear power plants in 2-3 areas of the state
Nuclear labratories in the state
Air pollution blowing in from the west
Hot and Humid in the summer
For the last 10 or so years, a serious lack of snow in the winter

That's about all I can think of right off. if you have particular questions throw them up, I'm sure one of us will be able to answer. I can't think of many states I would rather live, (maybe Alaska or Idaho)

[Twitchy]

I've also considered the move up to Tennessee amongst other locations...

[izzyscout21]

I love it here.

While BP had mentioned the growing population, that only applies to certain areas. Where I'm at is very rural and is staying that way. The area's around Knoxville and the National Park is where you are seeing a lot of influx.

Property takes are low.
No income tax.
We do have a sales tax, but golly gee, I'll pay it in lieu of the income tax.......

Tennessee is a very lenient state on firearms possession. We are not restricted by state law in terms of what we can own. Anything class3 and below is available to us.

Great fishing.
Great hunting.
Great lakes and waterways.

There's a lot of history here, and lots of things to see.

The way the interstates run through, it is very easy to be anywhere in a relatively short amount of time....beach, mountains, large metro areas.....etc

[ladyhk13]

We love it here too. As the above guys for the same reasons.

We are further south in the state so the winters are milder
We are centralized so Nashville is an easy drive but Huntsville Al is convenient should we want stuff from a "big" city
Our property taxes are super low since we live in the country
We would never starve due to the abundance of turkey, deer and the neighbors working with management of them and they also raise cattle
People are soooo friendly and willing to help in any way. They are polite and always say "I appreciate cha" when you buy something at the store
There is NO traffic
I can go to my Congressman's office, his business (his wife still runs it and he comes home when out of session) or even his house if I really want to and talk to him. Yup, he lives right in town and is a normal guy.
You can go to the farmer's market and get fresh produce or go directly to the growers and buy what you want
You can have a shooting range on your property and no one will say a thing
Crime rates are low
Unemployment is low
Low cost for vehicle tags
Lots of outside stuff to do - hunting, fishing, whitewater rafting, skiing, hiking, horseback riding
Low cost of living in pretty much everything in our area

Kind of sucks that we are selling our house in this town because the county where our new property is has higher property taxes and gas is higher too. I think the downsides depend on the area you are looking at. Where we are now is absolutly perfect but we just couldn't find the really big acreage we wanted. We searched for 2 years before we found this house and are only selling because 27 acres just isn't enough.
If ya'll are thinking about coming up this way look up the counties and towns on www.city-data.com and you can find all kinds of info on the areas, you'll be surprised at the info you can get. If anyone has questions on specific towns pm me and I may be able to help some...we've looked at property in a lot of places and might know something about the place!

[Onestep]

Thanks for all the insight everyone, kinda what I thought but needed some verification.
I would lean towards the southwest/south central area near the AL border.
Lady, I'll be sending you a PM when I have more time.