Anyone living in Tennessee?

[RockMiner]

I would welcome any comments on the Nashville area as a possible retirement destination. The lack of a state income tax, moderate climate, and nice country side seems appealing. I don't know about real estate values or property taxes but it is on my list.

Quote:

I would welcome any comments on the Nashville area as a possible retirement destination. The lack of a state income tax, moderate climate, and nice country side seems appealing. I don't know about real estate values or property taxes but it is on my list.

Rock,

I would be wary of any State that did not have an income tax when you are retired. They usually have higher property taxes and Sales taxes.

Income Tax is a nice problem to have when you are retired.

With that said, I did live in the Memphis area about 30 years ago. I'm not rushing back to Tennessee.

[haha]

I owned a farm in Franklin Co. KY, just north of the Tennessee border. I agree with Cut-Throat. Unless you have a special reason for being there, or you love hill-billy music, it doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it. It's fairly cold from time to time in winter, and hotter than hell in summer. Autumns are glorious though.

Mikey

[polloloco]

I would love to have a place east of Knoxville in the Smokies. Several of our friends have moved there after retirement and others have already purchased their retirement property there.

[haha]

Quote:

I would love to have a place east of Knoxville in the Smokies. Several of our friends have moved there after retirement and others have already *purchased their retirement property there.

Hey Crazy Rooster, I thought you said that Mississippi was the cat's meow? My parents used to take our family to the hill-billy Riviera in Biloxi. I really liked it. You said you live in the southern part of the state- near Biloxi or Gulfport?

Mikey

[moguls]

We retired to TN early this year. We previously were in the DC, Fla and KC areas. After spending several long vacations researching areas throughout the southeast, we settled on the Knoxville area. The weather is great (not too cold or hot) and the people are the friendliest we've ever met.

The only income tax is on dividends on non-TN based equities, but the sales tax is high (9 to 9.75% depending on county). But we've not found that to be a problem. Real estate taxes are very low and the general cost of services are lower than we've experienced elsewhere. I saw a recent article where even considering sales tax TN is still one of the best states for total tax burden.

Bottom line is we're glad we made the move.

Moguls
(wondering why we waited so long)

[gratefuled]

Nashville's OK but for quality of life I'd prefer to be just southeast of there in the Sequatchie Valley, or even on over towards the NC border. Settle west of Nashville and you might as well be living in Arkansas.

My wife and I moved from Chattanooga to Boston about seven years ago to chase jobs, and now that we're verging on ER we're planning to move back sometime next year.

The basis between the Boston-New York-Philly-DC corridor and Appalachia is incredible; we just bought a 2200 square foot log home on seven acres of land outside Chattanooga for $220K. That's less than the capital gain on the house we bought 3 years ago in Boston. Blows my mind.

Anyway, it's not just the cost of living. We'll be about twenty minutes from world-class trout fishing, whitewater kayaking (my passion; there we go with the kayaks again), mountain biking, and rock climbing. Anyone who says there's nothing to do in Tennessee has missed a few things (like Vol football, good moonshine, etc.)

And I've got family down there, which makes up the rest of the difference.

On costs: the sales tax rate in the county we're moving to is about 1% higher than the Boston rate. Property taxes are MUCH lower. Staples like food and gasoline and rum are cheaper. State tuition is cheaper, which may help when our daughter hits college. I've never had a Tennessee building inspector ask me for a bribe. You don't have to buy a gun license. Auto and homeowner's insurance are cheaper.

About the only cost we expect to increase will be the DSS bill so we can get NESN and the Red Sox.

Ed