looking in Tennessee

afternoonwillow · July 28, 2005, 11:05:45 PM

need 3-5 acres in mid-Tennessee for small cabin
must be within 1 hour drive of major hospital (cancer recovery) prefer spring/pond mostly wooded.....under $15,000 few, if any restrictions

Amanda_931 · July 29, 2005, 09:33:15 PM

Some of this is pretty general, good for everyone! At least I hope so.

I live in Wayne County Tennessee. Depending on where in the (2nd largest in the state) county you live you might less than an hour from some big hospitals in the Shoals area of Alabama--if your insurance will handle that (don't count on Tenn-Care for ANYTHING any more), or possibly the regional hospital in Columbia TN. We're down in the south-west corner of Middle Tennessee, generally counted as two hours drive from Nashville.

Land prices are still fairly reasonable. My nearest spring is a bit puny and silty right now, but most of the rest of the year it's fine. And there are two rivers down the hill reputed to have nearly drinkable water.

Two United Country offices in the county, Waynesboro and Clifton. Each office, I think is separately owned, but websites and pictures and an emphasis on land is pretty typical. Are they the best way to buy land? Who knows, but generally in areas where they are plentiful, they certainly can be the best way to see what's around while sitting at your computer.

http://www.unitedcountry.com/

Wayne County Chamber of Commerce would be happy to send you an information packet. Web site is here:

http://www.waynecountychamber.org/

Phone (931) 722-7107

You might want to take a map, draw circles around what seem to be decent hospitals (30-50 miles) see what's what's within them. I don't know what's all around--a couple of Middle Tennesse counties within reach of Jackson (which is in West Tennessee), maybe Dickson, Columbia has a regional hospital, are there two in the Shoals area, Nashville is big on hospitals but that whole area is expensive. Our local, barely worth the name, according to rumor, hospital is not far from Nashville via Life Flight!

Internet is a pretty decent resource. But small-county Chambers of Commerce can be very very helpful. They generally have pretty good maps, cheerfully send neat things like a copy of the phone book, weekly paper, lists of real estate agents (at least the ones who belong to the Chamber of Commerce), restaurants, motels, attractions. They are county boosters, though, absolutely convinced that they live in the best place in a multi-state area.

I think that Perry and Giles counties are both pretty. There are other people here building in Hickman and Lewis Counties. One or two up in East Tennessee.

Amanda_931 · July 30, 2005, 08:38:38 AM

Raw land tends to be a bummer for real estate agents. United Country franchises seem to be more interested than most of the local agents.

But do keep checking both the state and the local offices web sites. Much more likely to turn up something.

Since what you're looking for is prime McMansion country lot size, you may be confusing the agents with your size requirement. Might be less confusing if you said--"up to 20 acres", or "weekend cottage." Although the 15-150 acre parcels are the hard ones to find--too small for a farm, way too small for the timber companies to think about, and smaller lots bring more per acre. Next to nothing in the way of maintenance if it's woods--don't need to mow the lawn in the woods.

And certainly don't turn down something otherwise reasonable with a mobile home already on it. That means that the land almost certainly has a well or a developed spring, with pump, and electricity already on the property (with my local electric company that is probably worth at least a thousand, and if it's out a good distance from the nearest pole, many thousands). I don't think that my local phone company charged to put the line in--don't count on cell phone service--sometimes I can call out up the hill, but never here.

Ditto with broadband--satellite will be available up the hill. But it's not here, probably not for a couple of years, when the phone company is planning to extend DSL lines.

Sometimes you can sell the trailer to help defray costs after you've built your home. (Sometimes they get given away just to get them out of the owner's sight!)

Trailers tend to come with stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer, hot and cold running water, heat and air--and high utility bills. And used ones may have already outgassed most of the formaldehyde and other nasties.

And if you've got someone moderately knowledgable about the chosen area to advise you (not, probably, the real estate gal), take a look at auctions! That is the chosen way to sell land in this area--break up the farm into lots. Sometimes the price ends up as not a bargain, either. That's why it's the chosen way!

I'd guess that a fair number of isolated lot-sized parcels that are available now were sold at auction a year or so before, and the current owner is using a real estate agent, because it's just the one lot.

Amanda_931 · August 09, 2005, 04:44:09 PM

Hmm. Hadn't realized that you were not already in Tennessee.

I'd guess the first thing to do would be to find out where the regional medical centers are. Or the oncology centers.

This might help. I've a feeling that some pretty important places are not on the list. and you'd have to check it a couple of times before you realized that the Wayne County one is (was, I think, the Life Flight flights all seem to go to Vanderbilt) part of the Maury County system (that's pronounced as if it were spelled Murray, by the way--one of the ways we can tell a newcomer, even if I once met a Maury--Morey!--from the next county over from Maury--Murray).

http://www.theagapecenter.com/Hospitals/Tennessee.htm

Here's another list, makes no effort whatsoever to rate hospitals.

http://www.aha.org/aha/key_issues/qualityalliance/initiative_map/tn.html

Amanda_931 · August 12, 2005, 11:07:13 PM

I'm more likely to be flooded in than snowed in. At any rate it's been like that the last couple of years.

Two rivers here. The Green is mostly an overgrown stream. The Buffalo is Tennessee's longest un-dammed river. Bunches of canoe rental places along it.

Six inches of rain in two hours flooded the Green seriously not too long ago. Ten inches in a two days on top of saturated soil will cause a fair amount, depending on where most of it is. But because the Buffalo is not dammed both rivers go down about as fast as they go up.

But what are called "low water bridges" should probably be avoided. And I am very glad that I didn't buy anything resembling a waterfront lot.

Also glad I'm not on the Tennessee river. The way water gets released from dams sometimes causes a week of flooding.

Rain can be very spotty all summer, usually get more than this summer, but....

October can usually be counted on to be the driest month--lots of outdoor events scheduled then, and then they talk about winter rains. (mind you they didn't talk about winter rains when I lived 80-some miles north, but then I lived in the big city)

Two years ago I bought a few acres up the hill to give me better access to the back of my property. I thought that 2 grand an acre was mildly overpriced for "pasture" land overrun with blackberries, but I really needed the land. It might have been a little more if I'd waited until this year.

afternoonwillow · August 13, 2005, 01:45:18 PM

thanks for the info...I'm ready to spend $15 thou for around 5 acres, so I'm not far off on the pricing then...I keep getting some pics of semi-wooded with small creek...usually around 12-14 thou...but, some of them say year round creek within walking distance to the river...lots of sporting events...like river races, etc..which I do not want to listen to...so...mostly rain? I really want snow..guess I should look a little further north of there? the land just looks so pretty and right now I'm in the midst of brown..this area has 3 seasons...spring (one week) hotter than......mostly brown...and rainy...I have had it with rain...if it were stretched out over the year..it'd be great...but....grey/wet from Oct thru June is too much..thanks..keep in touch

dad-of-4-in-tn · October 03, 2005, 10:09:42 AM

Bledsoe county where I live is roughly 1.5 hour drive to chattanooga or knoxville. The only pemits we've had to get are septic and electric. no other codes that i'm aware of. here is a place that has land for 3995 an acre and up. http://www.tennesseelandsale.com/ hope that helps

SVDtiger · February 01, 2006, 09:20:38 PM

for flooding info try this link if you can catch it working.

http://www.floodsmart.gov/

forget hickman co. they think they going to be a big city and have adopted all sorts of wacky rules and ways of the big city. for instance no mobile can be placed unless its on 15ac. and only then if a non mobile home is already there.

what??

giles i would also avoid or anything near
any body of water that could be in my living room one morning.

well are big money, up to 10k or more but adverage 3.5 to 7k according to largest driller in the state and the main man from water management i spoke to. make sure your driller is licensed with state of Tn.

Mcnairy Chester Hardeman are all agricultural based so critters are cool there for sure.

United Country is luck of the draw if you ask me. Good folks or ex car salemen. handyman or fixer upper means you need to bulldoze it then build.

The area up near Monterey, Cedar Grove .
Cookeville is nice but you better not leave your building material or anything
valuable unguarded. this info from septic installer i got the 1800 quote from. also he says many karsts (sinkholes) up there and has actually lost a JCB backhoe :O oh my sounds like here.

thats another thing about wells in Florida the driller only guarantees water not quality. up there they dont even guarantee it to be wet :O uhoh.

if you want ill share any other info i find .it might help you not mess up. im trying my best not too. we only get one chance so i been asking hard questions.

on a plus everyone i have spoken with have been the very best of folk and seem very very honorable.

im thinking a set of our hosts plans melded with sip panels will be best for us. power and water are major concerns for me as i wont have control of my water in someone elses hands. im desperately trying to stay as green and eco friendly as i know how and still maintain my budget which is very small
under 60 so it will be very very tough

best of luck finding your dream. please communicate if you feel like it. John

here is the well driller reply. my dad was old time cast iron plumber and a wise old guy he always said look to an oak tree for flood prone areas as they keep a flood line for up to 5 years as a dark band up the trunk and a well driller for where to build with good water so i asked one

here it is:

Thank you for contacting our company. I will have to say that I have never heard of asking a well driller where you should live, but I believe that would be sound advice in regard to "trouble areas" for obtaining groundwater.

We serve about 15 counties in Eastern Tennessee and all have good and bad areas for groundwater. I would recommend visiting some of the areas in Cocke, Jefferson, Hawkins, Grainger, and Greene counties as there are many prime properties that might be of interest.

There would only be a handful of locations in each of those areas that you would be ill-advised to pursue. In almost all situations, we are able to obtain enough groundwater to serve a household. In the cases where the water quality might be less than expected, we can remedy with water treatment.

I would recommend that you spend some time narrowing your search criteria by visiting the area to see what areas might be most suitable to your family. Then contact us and we could help direct you in the way of groundwater. My wife requires that we live a maximum of 15 minutes from the nearest shopping mall--go figure.

Average well depths for all of the counties that we serve last year was 345', with an average of 84' of steel casing, and a yield of 6 gallons per minute. Your particular location may be different, but these figures may give you some idea of a budget for your private water system. Our drilling costs as of today are $10 per foot for the drilling, $9 for the steel casing, and about $450 in other fees, state registration, etc. Please note that we see a price increase on the horizon. The pumping system would then be designed and quoted once the well is constructed and all water usage demands are calculated. An average residential pumping system installed would cost around $3000 for a well of the above depth.

We do not have a tremendous amount of experience in installing the manual(hand) pumps in conjunction with the submersible (electric) pumping systems, but have installed a few(pre-Y2K). Our pumping systems are second to none in design and quality of components used.

I hope that this information is helpful and we look forward to serving your groundwater needs!

hope this helps...

Amanda_931 · February 15, 2006, 10:52:32 PM

Asking the well-drillers is not a bad idea.

I know or know of a few people who gave up on their property after the 2nd or 3d dry well.

It's no worse than picking an area because of the scarcity of roads. And I do know people who have lived happily in Wayne County for years who picked the area for just that reason. When I first moved to Tennessee, there were a couple of communities in Hardin County--next county west--that the standard highway map failed to show a road to--just little named dots in the middle of nowhere. Of course once you get there it's obvious that there have always been roads going through the town.

Certainly the closer you get to an Interstate, the higher prices are going to be. Although I think that Perry and Humphries may have affordable land.

Nothing's like that 20 grand an acre I was seeing in Iowa. Until you get up to Williamson or Davidson in Middle Tennessee. I know next to nothing about West and East Tennessee.

Coffee has quite a few artists and craftspeople, as does the area between Smithville and Cookeville.

My area does not have digital maps. Interesting flood site anyway.

And besides I know. I won't be flooded out. May have ponding water up on top of the hill. But I can and have been flooded in. It's got to be a pretty fair flood to do it more than a couple of hours, but in the last five years, it's happened more often than being snowed in, although flood doesn't last as long.

magcruse · March 16, 2006, 10:08:41 PM

Amanda-I have 73 acres for sale but would prefer not to sell any less than 30 acres. I had it listed for $280,000.00 for the whole track but brought it down to $175,000.00 for quick sale. I will sell half if you like. I can email pictures and maps also. It would deffinitly be a private secluded area.

Amanda_931 · March 17, 2006, 02:11:57 AM

Thanks, but despite the fact that the neighbors up the hill are having their property logged, I'm pretty happy where I am. Even if I can get flooded in. Hey, a really easy to get to spring that is otherwise dry has lots of water coming out of it then.

looking in Tennessee

afternoonwillow

Amanda_931

afternoonwillow

Amanda_931

Amanda_931

afternoonwillow

Amanda_931

afternoonwillow

dad-of-4-in-tn

Leo

SVDtiger

Amanda_931

magcruse

Amanda_931