Hidden Downsides of Living in Northeast Tennessee

Living in Northeast Tennessee isn’t perfect… and today we’re talking about the hidden downsides that many people don’t discover until after they move here. From limited walkability and public transportation to allergies, backroad driving, lawn maintenance, weather swings, recycling differences, and the reality of living in a more rural mountain region — we’re covering the things no one really talks about.

We also reached out to many of our out-of-state buyers to hear what surprised them most after relocating to Northeast Tennessee. The good news? Almost all of them still absolutely love living here and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

If you’re considering a move to Northeast Tennessee including Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, Jonesborough, or the surrounding Tri-Cities area, this episode will give you a more honest look at what daily life is really like.

We’re Stephanie & Shad with The Freck Group at Greater Impact Realty, and our team specializes in helping people relocate to Northeast Tennessee.

📞 Stephanie Morr: 423-429-5214
 📞 Shad Freck: 423-631-1716
 🏡 The Freck Group at Greater Impact Realty: 423-973-8634
 📧 stefamorr@gmail.com

🌐 Website: Living in Johnson City
 🎥 YouTube Channel: Living in Johnson City Tennessee YouTube Channel

If you have questions about moving to Northeast Tennessee, feel free to call, text, or email us anytime. It’s never too soon to start planning your move.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

If you're thinking about moving to Johnson City or one of the beautiful surrounding towns in Northeast Tennessee, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Stephanie Moore, along with Jad Fred. This is the Living in Johnson City, Tennessee podcast. Learn about the local towns, neighborhoods, things to do, what you may not like, and why so many people are falling in love with Johnson City. Hop on over to our YouTube channel, Living in Johnson City, Tennessee, to enjoy videos of this picturesque area nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Now, let's get started. Everyone talks about how affordable and beautiful Northeast Tennessee is. But today, Shad and I are going to talk about the things that may catch you off guard. The hidden downsides of living in Northeast Tennessee that no one talks about, but we're going to talk about that today.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, yeah. We uh we reached out to a lot of our out-of-state clients that have already moved here. And this is a short list of some things that came out of that. You ready to start? I am. What you got? All right, number one on this list, we have hidden downside, uh, walkability and public transit. Uh, there's basically in a nutshell, there's not a lot of it here.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, that's true. I looked up the score for Johnson City on Walk Score. That's just one uh site that you can go to. And Johnson City got a 26 out of 100, so that's not great. And I looked at Johnson City because it is the largest town in the Tri-Cities with a population of 75,000. And then I checked on public transportation and it didn't even have a rating for that because it's pretty limited. There's some buses, they don't travel on Sundays, it's mostly like until six o'clock or even five o'clock during the week. So very limited. Now, the one thing we've noticed several times, people will uh reach out to us from out of state. They want to move in the downtown area or somewhere in the city, and they want to walk to everything. They don't want to drive their car.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Well, we do offer that. I mean, obviously, in the city life, you have sidewalks and a lot of access to different areas of the of the city. Uh, planned communities, subdivisions, uh, a lot of walkability in certain areas like that. What we have here is, you know, the more rural countryside that we offer, uh, the the slower change of pace that we offer in this area, you know, when you start stretching out from that core, uh becomes a little problematic for walkability purposes. So it's kind of if you want to be out uh out and about, out in the countryside, uh starting your own little mini farm or having a garden or two, like we've talked about in our last video, um you're gonna give up the walkability side of things. So you're gonna have a give and take uh if you want to be out in the countryside more.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, a lot of scenarios uh we see this scenario quite often. Hey, we want five acres because we want a pole barn, garden, chickens. Oh, but my wife, by the way, likes to walk three miles a day, and that can be an issue because the rural roads are narrow, there's no shoulder or little to no shoulder, so it's really not safe for walking. Now, the positive side is there are plenty tight places to walk, like you said, in town, sidewalks, even some of the country neighborhoods have sidewalks. But we have, you know, like the Tweetsy Trail, the Green Belt, and uh Kingsport, Warrest Path State Park. I could go on and on. There's plenty of places to walk, but you might need to get in your car and drive there. This is a place where you're mostly going to be driving your car. It's not like New York where you can walk out of your apartment and go to the dentist, go have something to eat and go to the theater. You you might be able to check a couple of those boxes off from your house, but it's an area that you probably want a car. So, number two, big city amenities. Well, this area is growing quickly, and we're seeing more and more businesses. You've been here, what, 10 years?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

11 years now.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And I'm close to 20 years, so it's changed a lot. There's so much here to do and restaurants and shopping. But what's the downside for some people? No Costco, no Trader Joe's. If you want to go to that uh designer store to buy your Gucci bag, uh that kind of thing, we don't have that. We don't have that kind of stuff here. We don't have the big megaplex like sports stadiums, uh top golf. I know it sounds uh negative. We don't have this, we don't have that, but we have a lot of uh things like tiebreakers we're getting a Dave and Busters, we have the Hard Rock Casino, uh the Bristol Motor Speedway, uh unlimited outdoor sports. But if you compare us to a larger area, what's our population for the seven county areas?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

We're right around 550,000, somewhere around there.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, so it's not a real populated area. So there's a little give and take, you know, for that quieter lifestyle, you're going to have a little less big city amenities.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I'm really super excited about that IMAX coming that's actually going to open in July in a couple months. And then uh we didn't uh had an announcement recently for culvers. So a lot of you from the Midwest specifically would know culvers. Um but uh stuff like that's still still happening. We're still getting a lot of new restaurants and businesses all the time. Yeah. Uh number three, we're on number three on this list. Limited business hours was brought up uh from some of our clients, and that's true. Uh it seems like uh well, I guess we'll call it the Chick-fil-A effect. Um not much is open on Sundays here.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Well, there are there are businesses. You can still go out to eat, you can still go to the mall and things like that, but there are a lot of businesses. For instance, in some of the smaller towns, mom and pop businesses that are open, you know, maybe breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday. Then there's businesses that are open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, some that aren't open uh on Sunday. So you can get frustrated sometime. You really need to pay attention to the hours uh so you don't make plans and you get there and it says closed. Uh, we don't have, you know, all these really late night businesses and 24-hour businesses. I there's a few here or there. So the business uh hours are are more limited here. Sure. And that takes uh getting used to. We we have heard a few people, you know, disappointed about going to maybe Annie Ruth's or Troyer's or something like that, and they weren't open on a Sunday. So just warning you. Okay, number four, allergies. Um, well, Northeast Tennessee has a pretty high pollen count, and in fact, we're only about an hour or so from Knoxville, and it's rated 21 in the US as being the worst area for allergies. So if you have issues with allergies, allergies, that's something you may want to pay attention to. Is that gonna be a big big problem for you here? Um, we talked to a lot of buyers that they did have some issues with allergies, but they use air purifier, um maybe medication. I know I did for some time and now I'm not um using that. We even had a few people that said um they actually felt better here. They had allergies, but they don't have a problem with it.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, I I've never had allergy or a problem with allergies myself. Uh I have been on a golf course and have seen the big green cloud of pollen go by. So it's a real thanks. And and also you're gonna need to wash your car uh a few times during the pollen season as well because your car will turn a little tint of green.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Well, and the trade-off is the beautiful grassy rolling hills and all the trees and flowers, you know, hence the uh allergy issues.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yeah, yeah, it's still very beautiful here for sure. Uh number five, go on to more green stuff. Five lawn maintenance. Uh from March to October, you will be mowing your yard. And generally it's at least once a month. And even during the prime time, when we're getting a lot of decent amount of rain and temperatures are great, it's growing well. You could probably mow every four or five days, but uh a minimum of once a week for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, definitely. And a lot of you may be looking for acreage, so that's something to keep in mind because you're gonna be sitting on the lawn more or longer, or you're gonna be hiring someone. We had dinner with three couples that uh we worked with that have moved here, and uh they said, Shed, you didn't tell us we're gonna be mowing all the time. So um, yeah, we live with that. Uh, we our lawn is mowed on Mondays, and by Fridays, it looks like it needs to be mowed again. So something to think about.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Number six, the terrain. You know, pictures don't always tell the whole story. And when you're looking at the MLS at a house, it looks great, but you know, we've got that hilly uh terrain, we have all the mountains. So that's something to think about. Uh, steep driveways, uh, lawns or acreage that's not sometimes very usable. If you're wanting to build, you know, a pole barn or add a pool. Uh, what would it be like for a delivery truck to get up to your house? I lived in a house, you know, the house I lived uh at out by the lake. Uh the movers had to go up the neighbor's driveway and haul all the stuff to the house that was very expensive. So those are things to think about.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, sometimes you can see the scrape marks in the bottom of the driveway from people's cars bottoming out. Uh so yeah, we pay attention to that. This is obviously very important for a lot of people uh when it comes to the terrain here and getting used to it. Even people from mountainous areas like uh I know people from Denver and Salt Lake City, and generally their area where they live is pretty flat. It's the mountains in the background, obviously, uh that have the slopes and the hills. But here, uh, not only do we have the mountains, but we have a lot of hills and ridges and stuff throughout the valley. Uh so slope and and and and that type of thing is something we definitely have to take into consideration. But it's part of the charm as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Which leads to the next one that is actually one of my favorite things to do around here is uh it's uh back road driving. So I like to get on the back roads here. I absolutely love it. But uh for some people it can be a little bit shocking uh that our roads can be a little bit on the narrow side, and you've already brought that up a little bit. Uh, not a lot of shoulder uh places to get off the road, kind of thing. So you gotta pay attention, which leads to the world that we live in now. Uh, with the people are always on their phone and stuff. It can be, you know, sometimes a little shocking to people driving on the back roads and coming around a curve, and someone is already in your kind of coming your way in your lane because they're not paying attention. But that is something that is a little bit of a surprise to people moving here.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yeah, lots of twists, turns, uh, elevation changes. And um the other thing is uh imagine driving on those roads when there's snow or ice. Not that we have that much snow or ice, but that is something uh to think about. And I think it's something that to consider. Uh, let's say, you know, a lot of people move here because they're retiring. And are those the kind of roads that you want to drive on as we're getting older to get to everything? Or maybe you have kids that are just starting to drive. Now, it's not like the movie The Shining, where they're driving doo doo doo doo up the mountainside, you know, maybe at Mountain City, some of those areas, but it's something to uh pay attention to. Oh, and the roads, the back roads are dark. I noticed that moving from Fort Lauderdale where everything has street lights on. Oh my goodness, I'm so scared. Because I you're used to street lights everywhere, but you get used to it. I promise you, you'll get used to it. Sure, sure. Number eight weather. Well, a lot of people move here because of our more our four moderate seasons, so that's great. Um, they're trying to escape, you know, the Northeast or Florida. So they're they're happy to have four seasons, but not too much of anything. But wear can be a little unpredictable. Do you have any comments about that?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Uh well, it can. It can. Well, so let me go back to what I know. Again, I I like to golf, and I've said that a million times on this channel. Uh, in the Midwest, you you put your golf clubs up in October, you bring it back out in April. And even then, you're dealing with uh uh a lot of rain and wetness and the ground and stuff, so it's muddy and it's just like you know, five, six months a year is just not fun. But here, even though we have all four seasons, uh I've you know, I've I've been golfing uh, you know, day after Christmas when it's 70 degrees, uh, you know, so uh we we do have that up and down. But also I feel like if you want all four seasons, you know, I can't name a better place to be because you just talk about just going a little bit farther north of here, and we have a little more uh snow in the in the in the winter, you have a little more uh of the ice and the coldness. You go a little bit farther south and you get the deep heat of the south. And so I've I really feel like even though we have all four seasons, uh if it's just perfect for me.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Okay, now some buyers say it's not perfect for them, and I'm one of the people that gets cold in the winter. Of course, I'm the person that sits in front of the TV um year long with the blanket on them. But what you'll see for our winters, this is what some buyers said were kind of the downside about Northeast Tennessee, is you could have freezing cold temperatures, it could be 65 degrees the next day. Um, we're in the 40s, it could be a little gray. But so for some people, and probably depending on where you're moving from, that's an adjustment. But like I always say, just about when you're sick of it, it's your kind of weather again. And the other thing would be humidity, and this really um comes up more with people that move from Arizona, Nevada, Southern California. We do have you know humidity here, more about July, August is when you get into the higher humidity. So, you know, some people uh say it's a little more humid than they um expected, but definitely not if you move from Florida.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Right, right. Not hard to convince people from Florida that it's not humid here. Uh next on our list, uh I guess we're already down to number nine on this list. Uh housing costs. Now, uh this has impacted everybody everywhere. This isn't a northeast Tennessee thing at all. Um, but we we have seen an in uh significant increase in housing uh pricing in our area. Uh but again, it's it's it's all from inflation and an appreciation on top of that as well because of the demand of living here. But when it comes to still dealing with averages and dealing with uh, you know, where where your other options might be around the country, we're still very affordable here.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah, and then when you um put into that calculation, no state income tax, lower property tax, hey, lower fuel costs at this point, it is a more affordable area. I'll throw the fuel cost in, but for your car. But um, yeah, so a lot of people are saving money with their houses, even if they're paying similar price, but many areas it it still is lower.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

We're still very affordable.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Yeah, it can be surprising to some people. It can be. You know, if they're there, there's you know, you're looking for I want five acres, a newer house, mountain views, an outbuilding, and I want to pay $350,000. Those days we want to do that too. Believe me, we want to do that too. Um, so those those days are over, but it's still very affordable. Yeah, absolutely. Number 10, fewer restrictions. Now, I guess the downside of that is, you know, you're moving here, you have less rules and regulations. A lot of people are moved from states that have a lot of those. We have a lot more freedom here. But let's say you live out in the country and you know, you really have no deed restrictions or anything, but maybe your neighbors don't either. You know, uh, you're living, you know, on your land, all rainbows and butterflies, but there's a lot going on next door. So that's that could be a downside.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, yeah. Some restrictions can be good too. Yeah. Um, but I, you know, here's an example. I had a client uh they moved here from California. They they moved into a subdivision. It didn't have an active HOA, so there wasn't any HOA fees, but there's some dated type restrictions that you can't do with your property, can't turn it into commercial property, stuff like that. Uh anyway, the the the number of pages, there were six pages to these restrictions and covenants. It wasn't just restrictions, it was everything about the subdivision, six pages. He said he hadn't seen anything below a hundred pages from where he came from. So that was a shock to him that uh, you know, less less intrusion from government and and entities that want to tell you how you can live your life. So uh that's definitely one of the the freedoms that people here really love and enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, they do. Sometimes it just takes some getting used to if you're from an area that you're used to having a lot of restrictions.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then uh last on our list here is recycling or lack of recycling, if you will. Um, Johnson City, I know, still offers curbside recycling, uh, but most of the cities' municipalities around here have done away with it from a from a curbside standpoint because the economics of it, they say it's just no money in it to be made. It's cost too much and a burden then on the to the taxpayers to pay for it. But we do have a lot of drop-off sites and stuff around the counties around here and around the towns and cities where you can drop off a lot, your your cardboard and your plastic and your a lot of the a lot of the uh drop-off points, you'd be amazed with the list of things you can actually drop off. As long as you're you know a citizen within that county, you can drop off you know, batteries and uh uh all kinds of glass and steel and and you know, again, car parts and and all kinds of things that you can actually uh drop off there as well for free.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah, and Chad's in charge of the recycling at our house taking it, and I'm in charge of making it.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

We need to stop ordering stuff on Amazon because that pile builds up really quick. But yeah, I I I'm in charge of the cardboard.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

I'm gonna add one more.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Number 12, friendly people. If you don't want to know your neighbor, and you don't want somebody opening the door for you. If you're a scrooge, you're not gonna like all the friendly people here in Northeast.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

You know, that's true. I mean, I I have tons of people say that where they come from, they never knew their neighbors. They never even, you know, met their some of their neighbors, or they did, but they never talked to them or ever see them. And so there's no interaction there. And people here, it's just totally opposite.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah, I mean, we've had people um, oh, I I pulled over on the side of the road to look at my map, and somebody pulled over behind me to help me, or you know, you're out in the uh parking lot. Like, can I take your cart for you? Can I help you? You know, so I get it's not really a negative, but I just throw thought I would throw that in there. If you don't like friendly people, you're not gonna like Northeast Tennessee.

unknown 20:30

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

So there you have it. Several downsides, several hidden downsides that people don't always talk about. Uh, you know, when you're living here in Northeast Tennessee, but I think you'll see it's nothing crazy. Uh, some things may be important to you, others you might think, whoa, that's a positive. But um, the one thing we did notice when we reached out to our out-of-state buyers that have moved here, they all agreed there were some downsides, but they would not leave Tennessee. They love living here in Northeast Tennessee. I'm Stephanie and this is Shad. We're with the Fret Group at Greater Impact Realty. Our team specializes in helping people like you that are moving to Northeast Tennessee. So if you have questions, and we know you do, give us a call, text, or email. A member of our team would be happy to help you. And like we always say, it's never too soon to start planning your move. We hope to see you here in Northeast Tennessee.