In this tread I introduced myself as a "good Yankee" looking to move to southeastern, TN in two years. I am making my transition from service manager of my company here in the Worker's Paradise of Illinois, to being "just" a field service tech covering all of the US, Canada and other countries. The transition will take a while, but I look forward to be done with the bullshit and frustration of being in management with more freedom, less responsibility and the same pay.

Now that it is actually happening, and our move may now happen in 1 year and not 2, I am thinking being closer to the Nashville  airport, rather than Knoxville would be the wiser choice. So I have started searching on Zillow and I am finding quite a few interesting properties around Nashville, 30-60 minutes from the BNA airport. I started looking on the east side, out from 64, since that is where BNA is. I would rather go no further than Murfreesboro and a similar radius nearby.

I very strongly prefer to be in a conservative county. I would like to have a minimum of a 1 acre lot and I would love 5, if I can afford it and if the site is level enough to build on and can pass a percs test for a 3 bedroom/3 bath house. The max I can pay now is $100,000, but I would like to come in at half of that.

The funny/sad thing is, you can't swing a dead cat here without hitting an Illinois serf that is planning to move to TN. My wild ass guess is that 60% of those people are someone I would want as a neighbor, 25% independent and the rest are varying degree of liberal and I wish they would go somewhere else.

Any advice helping in my search is greatly appreciated

30-60 minutes from the airport could only be 5 miles on some days.

$50k won't buy much right now.

Huh?  Memphis…Knoxville…BNA?  Assume you mean Nashville.  And out of 95 counties in Tennessee, there are essentially two that skew blue- Davidson (Nashville) and Shelby (Memphis).  So you want to be really close to Nashville, not in it, and get 1-5 acres for under $100K.

Good luck with the search- I unfortunately don’t think you’ll find what you want in that budget.  And unless you’re building yourself, good luck finding a builder that isn’t backlogged or outrageously expensive.

Sorry, I am talking about Nashville (BNA) I have Memphis stuck in my head for some reason. If I went further east Knoxville (TYS) has a somewhat decent number of non stop flights, and you can get most everywhere in the US  that I need to get to, with 1 stop. But Nashville has almost 3 times the number of passengers annually.

I don't mind spending $100K for a good lot, as long as it is over and acre and within 50 miles of the Nashville airport, I should be able to make that work. Is that doable, or should I head back towards Knoxville?

ETA: Most all of the int'l flights I take ,route me through Houston anyhow, even from O'Hare.

Right now with the real estate market finding what you are describing near Nashville sounds like unobtaineum to me.

As for Knoxville’s airport, it sucks as far as direct flights, cities served and airfares. We cannot even come close to what Nashville offers.

Within 50 miles you might be able to pick up a decent acre.  I'd look in Wilson or Rutherford County

That which you seek is out there.  Zillow shows multiple lots over 1 acre in your price range in the Murfreesboro area.  Get a good agent (I can point you to the one I used...he's REALLY good) and you could make it happen.  

I've been using Zillow for my search, we used it when we were in the Cleveland/Knoxville region for a week in July, you learn how to read the info that is posted there. If a property has been under contract 2-3 times, but never sold, you know it's not passing the perc test.

I would be interested if you have a name of a solid realtor. Thanks, Andy

@kcobean

For comparison purposes, I live in the Murfreesboro/Blackman area.  The below 1.74 acre lot in my neighborhood recently sold for $95K and is currently a heavily wooded swamp that needs to be significantly built up.  ETA: looks like the sale fell through or something weird happened because it was listed/sold a few months ago and all traces of that transaction are now gone.  Still, someone paid $80K last year for it.

One thing I quickly learned in my house hunt after leaving Nashville was to include the commute to actually get to the interstate.  We found a house in Columbia we loved that looked like it sat right off 65, but you had to drive 3 miles past it and circle back for 25 minutes on back roads to get there.

https://www.redfin.com/TN/Unknown/609-Richpine-Dr-37128/home/173032431?1280460695=variant&600390594=control&231528114=variant&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

Lewisburg is 46 miles as the crow flies south of Nashville International.  Lots of good land between the two.

Perhaps @Arowneragain might have some suggestions.  I *think* his wife is in real estate; I may be confusing her with someone else though.

Good luck.

Yes. We live in the Columbia area, but near Lewisburg, and we work from Lawrence County to Putnam County.

OP, I could type out a book. Suffice to say land prices are high and going higher as owners are starting to list things speculatively. I'm seeing houses sell for 10% over asking price. It's absurd. You don't want to be really close to Nashville. You just want to be within easy driving distance, which will vary greatly depending on time of day, as millions(?) of people use the interstates to go in-out of town to work every day.

We really like the Maury/Marshall county area. But, frankly, where you end up will depend on your exact mix of things you like and need. And it's possible that multiple areas will support your needs.

@handyandy @arowneragain is the man.  He and his wife are an AWESOME real estate team.  They helped us find and close on our house last year and it was a pretty time consuming process for them because the house is an hour and 40 minutes from them and we were living in VA at the time.  He drove to the house multiple times to be present for all of the inspections for pool, home, septic, termite, etc.  I can't say enough about the value they provided, and in the middle of the pandemic (mid-2020) too.

Just to give you an idea of what's happening to home prices, even here in Warren county which is right next door to the middle of nowhere, we paid $500k for our home in June of 2020 and today Zillow "Zestimates" it to be worth $576K (not including any of the upgrades we've done on it).  I'd say if you're going to buy, even if just land, sooner is better than later.  It seems that people around the country are starting to discover the hidden gem that is TN.  For example, there were a bunch of 2 acre lake front plots here that the owner just sold with no notice to surrounding area residents...they only advertised the sale to Californians who, as I understand it, bought every available plot, sight unseen.  

One thing to consider....if you can find 15+ acres that's farmable (even if it's just hay) or can be forested that fits into your budget, do it.  Real Estate taxes are never going to go down and TN has a "greenbelt law" that effectively reduces qualifying property taxes by about 75%.  The taxes on our 4k square foot house and ~22 acres is HALF of what I was paying in taxes for a 1750 sq ft. home on .15 acre (yes fifteen hundredths) in Northern VA. That's thanks to the Greenbelt law.  Just food for thought.

Good luck in your search!

keep in mind there's likely to be a good bit of culture shock, especially if you think 60% of people in IL would make a good neighbor in TN

most of your neighbors in TN are going to look at 90% of people in IL as being big gov people.     i've you've ever voted for a tax increase to fund schools or libraries or just about anything, you're gonna get the stink eye.   especially if you start telling people down here how you did things in illinois and complaining about lack of services down here.

We try to earn our money. I genuinely appreciate the kind words - but you guys made it easy. I don't think it would have been possible for you guys to come here with better timing. You did very well.

Attached File

Believe it or not, a lot of people in Illinois are not shitheads. We are completely fucked over by Cook County/Chicago. South of I-80 is like a whole different state. I don't want TN to change, I am moving there because it's not IL. I travel for work and I am very familiar with TN and about 30 other states.

One other thing:  I'm about 10 miles north of the border.  BNA is right around an hour from here straight up I-65 and assuming no heavy rush hour traffic.  BNA is our preferred airport even though Huntsville International is quite a bit closer, but via all 2 lane roads and hence takes just about as much time.  BNA has a lot more flights and a heck of a lot more direct flights.  The extra drive is worth it.

in my experience that's mostly true.   but people coming from california say the same thing and it's definitely not true.

a huge percent of TN moved up to the rust belt back during the industrial revolution and up until the 1950s  or 60s or so.   then when they retire they move back.  you'll find a lot of old people here who used to work up there but have family here.    and in the late 80s/90s car mfg were relocating to mid TN (e.g. saturn, nissan) which drove a fair amount of migration as well.

I guess I should thank Governor Northam and Tyrannical Delegate Mark Levine for driving that timing.  It's amazing how motivating your government trying to turn you into a felon can be to leave the state.  

You guys definitely earned every penny on this sale, and furthermore, I'm glad to have met you and call you a friend.  A better introduction to the people of Tennessee there couldn't have been.

Are there a lot of places to shoot outside of Nashville?

It's a big state...it probably depends on where you go and what "a lot" means.  I moved here with an explicit requirement of not having to go to a gun range to shoot unless I wanted to shoot long range rifle, so I didn't research ranges a lot, but I know there are at least 2 indoor ranges in Murfreesboro, and even out here where I live there are a couple of good ones including Dead Zero which has a 1000 yard range, killer shotgun courses, pistol bays, etc.   It's definitely a great state to be a gun owner in. We need to deal with a few RINOs and fix a few laws, but overall it's a great state!

If I had a 5 acre lot an hour outside of Nashville, would rapid firing of .22LR for prolonged periods be okay to do? Assuming a safe backstop and after I have introduced myself to my neighbors.

It's illegal to shoot in the state of TN:

You're just trying to make me jealous!

Click To View Spoiler

Y’all shoot? AT HOME?!???!?




Attached File


(Seriously....more metro counties usually have noise ordinances. Rural counties generally do not. Ask the Sheriff’s department before buying in any given county).

We used to have some land in Davidson County near Joelton and we would shoot all the time.  My CIII buddy would bring all the toys and we'd let them rip.  One time a metro PD came driving up in a car and we just told him that I was the owner and he said be safe and left.

Absolutely do-able.

For reference, here in Warren county, this is the range I built.  the interior dimensions are 30yards x 20 yards, and I now have a path cut back through my property that lets me shoot 265 yards.

Attached File




Here's a vid from the 100 yard line: