Hi,

I have lived in FL all my life. Love it here but the schools stink!
It costs me over $2k month to send my kids to a decent  private school. (4 kids, only 3 are school aged)
I started to consider moving to an area where the public schools are an option and where there is no state income tax.
TN is currently at the top of my list. I am considering the Signal Mountain area. Hamilton County - Thrasher and Nolan elementary are my current targets.
This area has consistently had great schools and low crime. But i am open to any other areas to consider in TN, with equally good schools as Hamilton County.

I wanted to pick your collective brains:

I want some sort of water(lake/pond/river/creek) and be allowed to shoot on my property.
I will need min of 3 - 4 bed rooms. I am open to building on a lot of land or buying preexisting property.
Anyone have any experience with prefab home builders in the area? Or prefab construction at all?
Can in ground swimming pools be installed in this mountainous area?
I would have to stay under $425,000 total for housing purchase. Where is the best bang for your buck in that area right now?
Anyone know of any pocket communities in this school area? Any detail will help me narrow my search!

I am a telecommuter in the IT security sector. I will need DSL connection at a min. My job is very stable at the moment, but need to plan if i were to lose that job, what IT jobs would be available within 1 hour commute.

I am open to any and all input. I am going to take a trip out to TN to scope this myself sometime this year.

Add Hamblen County to your research.  Morristown is the city.

In TN if you are anywhere out in the country (out of a city) your internet speed will SUCK...just saying.

Don't do it!!!! I've been in TN for the past 5 years trying everyday to get back to FL.

I will actually second Hamblen County, lifer long resident here. For $425,000 here you'd have a mini farm w/ all the options. School are actually good here as well, we are blessed with some good educators. We are located between Douglas and Cherokee Lakes and within 30-40 mins of Knoxville.

Anything from Dickson eastwards is worth living in. I would avoid Cheatham Co. though. Armpit of TN.  

Bradley Co, Hamilton Co & that SE corner is where *I* would look. Equal distance from Atlanta or Nashville if the wife likes to shop.

My .o2

Thank you all for the feedback!
Any opinions on soddy daisy?

A couple.  

No shooting in the city limits of SD.  Stay in the county/unincorporated areas and you are good to go.  

If you want acreage/water, look at the north end of SD, further north towards Sale Creek/Dayton, or up on Hwy 111 towards Dunlap.

Public school quality varies, but while I wouldn't rate any of them as truly excellent, most are pretty decent.  There are plenty of private schools in the area if needed.

No idea about prefab construction.  3-4 bedrooms will be plentiful and no problem to find at a decent price.  $425K should be plenty for what you are looking for, depending on your acreage wants/needs.

I have family that builds gunite swimming pools, if that is what you are looking for.

Stay within EPB's service area (https://epb.com/home-store/internet) and you can get up to 10Gig service if you need/want to pay for it.  The basic 100mbps package is plenty fast for me and cheap.

If you see a 36yr old blonde with short hair and an attitude............ FUCKING RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Trust me.... really.

Wait......I know a short haired blonde from Soddy Daisy that I ran away from.  

It must be in the water.

Sorry for the long response, have some experience living on Signal Mountain and in Soddy Daisy.

Signal Mountain is very nice but has gotten really expensive over the last five years since they built the new high school.  Right now land is going for $10,000/acre minimum in the unincorporated areas of Signal Mountain.  Most of the land has been bought up by developers who are developing subdivisions where the minimum lot size is 5 acres.  All of these developments are nice, but have rules and usually you can't shoot on your own property.  A friend of mine bought five acres in one of these subdivisions and had a house built.  The property and house are nice, but he can't shoot on his own property and has roughly $500,000 invested in the property and house.  You could also look for land on the Sequatchie County side of Signal Mountain but you would have to pay for your kids to go to Hamilton County schools and you wouldn't have good internet.

I currently live in Soddy Daisy and both my kids go to Soddy Elementary.  Very happy with the school and would recommend it to anyone.  The middle school and high school in Soddy Daisy are not that great and I am currently looking at getting them into Sale Creek for middle school and high school.  There is land for sale in North Hamilton county that would meet your needs and allow your kids to go to good schools and still get good internet access.  Another option is to buy/build a house where you want and buy land in Sequatchie County for your shooting needs.  Two years ago I looked for land to shoot and hunt on and spent six months trying to find a decent piece of property that wasn't to far from my house.  I ended up finding 30 acres in Sequatchie County for $60,000 that is only 30 minutes from my house in Soddy Daisy.

If you have any questions feel free to IM or email me.

I spent 5 years in FL trying to get back to TN, you can keep it.

Thank you all for answering my questions!!

As long as you do NOT bring either or BOTH of my EX wives with you,  Welcome!

Got one in Deland (Native Floridian), and one in Kissimmee (British National).  I wish for them to stay there pending their arrival in HELL!

I spent about a quarter of my life in Florida.  Any state with 46 varieties of Cock Roach, you can keep!  Palmetto Bug, 4 inch roach that flies and sounds like a Humming Bird.  First ex wife did not find it funny when I referred to it as the State Bird.  LOL