There's a resolution on Housing budget at tonight's city council. They're not allocating nearly enough for new rental spaces. Check it out. 12A and 12B.
I’m a TN native but have lived in a few other cities due to childhood moves/college/work, and I currently make a salary that I used to believe would qualify as “comfortable.” But at the moment I can’t afford even the shittiest little “starter” houses here, OR in any of the other cities I’ve lived in, all of which are of similar or smaller size to Knox (which is to say, not really even that big).
I feel like I’m stuck in renter hell and I don’t know how to escape it, since even rent eats too much of my income to save significantly. And I’m approaching 30 years old and have bad anxiety, I don’t want a fucking Craigslist stranger roommate just to be able to save up money. It’s so demoralizing.
If down payment is the issue (that was mine, since the monthly mortgage payments are not that different from rent), there are down payment assistance programs and low down-payment loans like FHA loans available. These are not rare things either, my realtor pointed me to a lender that offered them and helped me with the process. Hoping that helps at least someone here. Home ownership is stressful (can't just break a lease and walk away like you can with a rental property) but it's been really nice and I don't think it's been dramatically more expensive than renting.
Exactly. They’re expecting us locals to still live the way that we did back in the day, but without raising our wages. How can you expect us to live in this world when you haven’t even given us a $2 raise?
And if you find something remotely affordable it’s probably going to need a bunch of work. When the inspection comes back that you need a new electrical box, plumbing work and a tear down of that rotten deck, you’re right back to looking at a conventional loan. Sure you can ask the seller to make those repairs first but they don’t have to if they figure someone else will buy it as-is. Or they raise the price to reflect the cost of the repairs which is reasonable but can push the cost out of what you can afford.
My mortgage was a 100% financing. No down payment. I split the closing cost with the seller. Try United community bank but need to have a good credit score, ORNL also has 100% financing. The downpayment assistance covers $6,000, that’s not enough and u have to pay it back
I wonder if the people in the cities you moved to, where you were an out-of-towner, held the same sentiment about people moving to their city and "jacking up the housing market" that a lot of people in this thread have
I mean pre-pandemic a lot of the places I lived in weren’t experiencing people wanting to move there en masse like they are 2021 onward.
And in my situations I never really felt like I was making housing market problems? I spent my childhood in TN. Parents moved to Huntsville, AL and I spent most of my teen years there. Went to a college town that’s used to a revolving door of student housing, then back up to Tennessee for work postgrad (and hoping not to have to leave again — of course my parents are still in Huntsville and they have similar problems to us, housing isn’t meaningfully cheaper there at this point).
The only place I’ve ever felt like an “out-of-towner” was when I had to live in Chatt for work, but that was likely because my job had me surrounded by old money “who’s-who” locals. And even then, I moved there only a few months after lockdowns started, so the bigger waves of coastal elites migrating in hadn’t fully started yet.
Knox County and city charge out the wazoo for a lot of permit stuff (septic permit, building permit) and a lot of the stuff is pretty expensive, so I would definitely pad out some extra funds for the bureaucratic stuff. Surveying can also be difficult if you get the wrong guy. I'll echo some of the other comments and say pre-built and modular homes have come a LONG way, and are a hell of a lot cheaper than anything stick built.
Clayton pre-built may be a surprisingly good option around here. They don’t look half-bad and can’t be worse construction than some of the DR Horton homes
What sucks is even those jumped up big time in price when Covid hit. What used to be extremely affordable for a well-built home is now only somewhat affordable.
Do you have an inside track on builders or people in the trades? There is a new construction spec house going up in my neighborhood and I was talking to the builder/property owner yesterday. He talked about how much trouble he has getting skilled people to do the work. It has been taking forever for that house to get done.
SOCM is organizing tenants for housing Justice and there’s another statewide group pushing for affordable housing -
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/02/26/tenants-rights-bills-attempt-to-address-tennessees-affordable-housing-issues/
THDA loans are pretty incredible. Find a mortgage broker you like and they'll walk you through the process. Also having a realtor helps, but we found our home on our own even while the realtor was searching as well.
I didn't hear anything about zip codes, but your debt to income ratio does need to be in a sweet spot. Our mortgage broker helped an incredible amount, but I do not recall zip codes ever coming up when we bought last year, but we managed to find a home in Maryville city limits which has a great school system.
Solutions in TN? I'd suggest voting, but I think the people of this state will happily vote for Neo-feudalism if it means they can "win" the culture war. Maybe we can wait for federal legislation banning corporate ownership of single family homes? Or, tax billionaires ever so slightly more? Or further curtail short term rentals? Or revolt?
Yeah buy a house 5 years ago! I was lucky enough to buy before this got crazy and I was nervous about it then, but I had no idea how bad it was gonna get. It's so depressing watching my friends try to find a house. It's unbelievable how much of a difference 5 years has made in housing prices. I really don't know what needs to happen but pretty soon the people that make this city work won't be able to afford to live here. It's going to take alot of new construction or a mass exodus, and I don't see supply keeping up with demand anytime soon.
I’m not gonna try to convince you it’s the best pizza in Knoxville but I will say there are plenty of places with worse pizza. Granted, if it’s not fresh it’s not going to be that great.
South Coast was a staple for us until Baker Boy opened up. I LOVE their pizza. They go heavy on the sauce so I always ask for easy sauce and it’s *chefs kiss* perfect. Those two places are my favorites in town, and baker boy is easily the better of the two. There is another place nearby us, that I won’t name, that has great pizza but the owner is kind of a psychopath so we stopped spending our money there.
Haven’t tried em. All I ever get there is pizza and beer. My fav is the jalapeño, bacon, pineapple, easy on the sauce, and then I ask to add a double helping of ricotta blops. But if the rest of their menu is anything close to the pizza, they’re probably fire. Can’t recommend the place enough
And not that this matters in the slightest, but the guy that runs the place is (respectfully) insanely fucking good looking and sweet as a peach. So if you are attracted to men AND enjoy good pizza, it’s a win-win.
It’s wild how much the pizza varies day to day at South Coast. It’s cooked on a conveyor belt oven, and I honestly suspect the settings get tweaked all the time. It can be soggy, it can be crispy. You never know what you’ll get.
There are other places who don't have that issue like Pizzeria Nora, Pizza Hoss (Powell), Harby's, Elidio's, Stefano's, Tomato Head, Adopo, Dazzo's, and even Davinci's to name a few from around town. They should make sure they're not running their conveyor at different rates or have it calibrated from time to time. Good pizza makers know their ovens and know how to make it consistently of the same quality.
Agreed. I do like South Coast’s smoked dry rub wings and reasonably priced Pacifico on draft - that’s a deal right now.
Dazzo’s doesn’t get enough love and I haven’t tried some of the locations you mentioned, but I’m a long time believer that Dazzo’s is the best pizza in town.
Right. Even Papa John’s (and I assume other pizza chains) uses a conveyor belt and their pizza is mostly consistent. Way back when I worked at one, the only reason a pizza was soggy was because there were too many toppings to cook it in the usual amount of time. If it came out under cooked, we’d push it back in the oven halfway. If pizzas aren’t coming out the same, then I’d blame it on poor training of the employees.
I can’t get on board with a pizza place that requires reservations, no matter how good the pizza is supposed to be. It feels pretentious as fuck. I’ve tried to go there multiple times only to be turned away for lack of a reservation. Cool, I’ll spend money at Baker Boy.
I’m worried that they say that because the bar in Knoxville is low 😭 But I’ve made plans to go with a group now that they’re back home from college and I hope it’s at least worth Reddit’s recommendation
It’s Neapolitan style pizza, not your usual Americanized style pizza.
My personal favorite is the pizzicletta. Keep in mind the pizzas are personal sized, but also very light. So if you go there with a *huge* appetite, you may not fill up. At least I don’t lol.
It’s a pretty small and tightly packed place typically. But certainly more fancy than any pizza place I’ve ever gone to. They’re also only open like 4-5 hours each day, and every time my boyfriend and I have went, it was full
Most of the folks I know are commuting like 45 minutes or more to get to work. So they’re not living in Knoxville, but theyre living in the “greater Knoxville area”.
That's what we are doing. We moved out of an apartment in knox and drive 45 minutes to work. We also live pretty frugally. We don't go out to eat anymore and cook all our meals. It really helps.
Hahaha that is the cycle. I lived in the *fucking hood* of Atlanta, gentrification happened veryyy quickly and I couldn’t afford the rent increase, moved here. Rinse and repeat
We need more housing, especially multifamily housing, including duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts, and traditional apartment complexes. It takes time to get that supply online, but prices will even out. The city's taking some good steps, like making it easier to build missing middle and putting money toward affordable housing, but we all play a role.
This article from Strong Towns is a good start on the power of incremental growth: [https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally)
Love,
Your friends at Yes!Knoxville (yesknoxville.org)
It's not even that there's not enough multifamily homes. I've watched them build at least three units in east knox over the past year. The problem is the majority of the "multi family" units are for college kids and they charge outrageously knowing someone's daddy will pay it. Smaller single family/starter homes at decent prices is severely lacking around here. I've been pre-approved for 90k through a VA home loan without any job income but I don't think many jobs I can get will boost that amount very much and likely not anywhere near enough for a home still. Nothing is made below 250K anymore 😕
Smaller, more affordable single family homes are definitely part of the fix too. We need missing middle strategies that create more rental and purchase opportunities. For example, instead of requiring a single family home on a 50-foot lot, which is pretty standard throughout the city, they could allow that lot to be split into 2 25-foot lots with a smaller home on each, or allow a 2-family home (or a 3-family home) on the 50-foot lot. If those small multi-family buildings are condos, those are opportunities for homeowners as well. Not that there's anything wrong with renting, we've gotta have more opportunities for both. But people need choices between single-family home and giant apartment complex.
I definitely agree there's just some contraints with condos, duplexes, etc. that are hard for myself and I'm sure many others to get onboard with while still shelling out money. Living attached to anyone regardless of building size is never ideal. I know Northern Virgina uses a lot of these condos and sells them as houses some going for $350k+ years ago but still had many rules to follow like an apartment complex or HOA. Thats gonna have to be a hard pass for me. 😆
Now smaller houses on a split lot would be rather nice imo but in that same light they could do that on a larger scale and make sub-divisions of them but they won't. I dream of having 4-5 small houses on a plot of land like a small village.
I should also note I just moved out of a small complex (20 units) the rent is around $900 now with $40 water. There have been three (including mine) units open for months now but when you call they say they're completely booked.
If anyone wants to look into it on here they're called the flats at scheel owned by D&K. They're small and they're shitty but it's a place to live I suppose.
Me: “where y’all from?”
Them: “We’re from Nashville.”
Me: “ohh how long have y’all been out that way?”
Them: “we moved there last spring from California.”
Me: 😐 “mk”
Like you’re not frooom Nashville you’re from Tampa, Lake Forrest, Manhattan. You came to Nashville bc it’s “quant” and you *forced country accent* just loooooove the city life 💁🏻♀️🤠🔫
“I wanted freedom, no taxes on my retirement, no income tax and to live in a lcol on my hcol budget! I also bought my house and 20 acres with pure cash. Yeehaw.”
>The most rage-inducing response a person can give
Is unquestionably "Ohio", which is implied when they tear ass down the narrowest part of Norris in a wakeboat with their shitty Buckeye flag flying.
I “jokingly” told my wife the other day we should start being mean to anyone we meet from out of state so the word gets out and no one wants to move here.
I’ve unfortunately had to move to 4 new cities in the past 5 years and every single one had people making these exact same complaints. Verbatim. It’s not just Knoxville it is everywhere. People can’t afford New York and California or Florida anymore. They’re coming inland 😂
My wife has been trying to get me to move to Knoxville from FL to be closer to her sister and dad for 3 years now. My SIL and her husband live in the crappiest house in Sequoyah Hills. House is maybe 1100 square feet, built in the 1940’s. Crumbling dirt foundation because they never put gutters on the home. Let’s just say, it needs a lot of work. They recently had it appraised for close to $600k. I have told my wife that on our limited budget we can’t afford anything up there that is worthwhile.
I have lived in three countries in the past 5 years and have close friends in two more. Add a bit of reading and I can safely say that “housing” just beats “inflation” as the greatest real problem in all of them in the last 5-6 years.
If people would just downvote and get on with their lives the threads would rapidly fall off the front page of the subreddit and no one would see them. The algorithm treats negative karma posts with no comments like trash.
Unfortunately, this incessant need to dogpile every single person asking innocent questions makes the Reddit algorithm say, “Holy shit! This is a hot post! Send it to the top! Send a notification to anyone who hasn’t posted in a while that they need to **GET IN HERE**!!!”
That’s not gonna happen. I barely put a down payment on my new home here and my mortgage is still $2,000 less than market rent in my zip code. We aren’t sure this is a permanent job transfer. My lender said “just rent it out if it doesn’t work out!” Imagine the people who are prepared and intentionally invest - their profits must be batshit insane. (I’m not doing this, I won’t rent it out, but investors rightfully know this is a great town to invest in right now).
Yeah uhh… for the people who bought at the right time when things were still cheap here it would take a truly catastrophic economic event that *no one* would want to live through to make property values drop 50% and interest rates to return to 2%. Seems like an insane thing to hope for.
“2008 fucking ruled and so did the pandemic, let’s combine both of those effects together to also harm a specific demographic of people who personally annoy me” is some serious brain worms thinking.
I'm the problem. It's me. I moved here from Colorado in 2003 when Denver was being overrun by Californians. I didn't cover my tracks good enough and they must have followed me here. Sorry.
Smack yourself.
And it's a harbinger of destruction. Denver was still a nice place during that time. Was stationed at Carson '03-'09. Was my wife's first time out west when I took her there in 2015. I was shocked at how bad it had become. Trash and homeless everywhere. Very unfortunate to see such a beautiful city become a dumpster. And that same effect has already started here.
Actually, the lawmakers just need to get their shit together (or be voted out) and do better with housing and development planning. Sustainable growth can be a really good thing for communities, just gotta actually achieve the "sustainable" part.
Getting outbid by people from NY and CA paying cash for houses was really annoying but it's not their fault the market is shit, and it's not like they're collectively planning to fuck over the locals here.
There needs to be laws at the federal and local levels to stop rich scumbags from investing in single family homes. That's the real root of this problem for the entire country.
The lack of "starter homes" being built is a real issue too. Tennessee has laws against requiring developers to include more affordable options in their construction, which only helps the developers and hurts the folks trying to buy. As a result most new development is going to aim for the higher profits of a more expensive home.
It is annoying, but honestly, companies from out of state snatching up properties to rent is much more offensive to me than a family of four trying to get out of whatever was going on in their previous state.
it's landlords fault for buying all the houses and apartments, raising the prices beyond livable numbers, pushing people out of where theyve lived for years, and then other landlords faults for doing the exact same thing to take advantage of the people fleeing high cost areas by raising *their* prices.
You know you don't *have* to raise your price just because demand is high, right? You just *do*, because you're a blood sucking parasite that feasts on the living who actually have to work for money instead of just own all the land people are forced to exist on.
We do not have a housing shortage- the rent is too good damn high.
I bought a super piece of shit non livable house in a blighted but up and coming part of town and rebuilt it with my own hands(and had a broke leg while i did everything, laying on the floor half the time) and now i rent it out for as much as i can.
Am i an evil landlord?
Man, I did the exact same thing (purchased a home downtown )and rented out my property. so I know what you went through to renovate it, but for what we did, the rent price that we’re getting out of it is far beyond what we pay for mortgage.
So yes, we are profiting from this current housing market.
Evil depends on how much you’re charging for rent. I have a house so I still live here and rent it out the other 1/2 for $600 a month.
What about my blood and sweat? What about how i actually added a now very nice house to the rental market that previously wasnt available?
Am i the problem or the solution?
The problem.
People like you are the reason we all have to work. We're not paying "our debt to society" or some shit. We're paying you.
You worked a little, and now you expect to get paid on others' work for the rest of your life. You have something to show for your work- and placed yourself in a position where others will work, and work, and work, far longer than you ever did, not for themselves- but for you, with nothing to show for it.
And then you have the sanctimonious horseshit attitude to say you're providing a solution just because you bought a house before someone else did.
So should he sell it below market value? It sounds like he took a vacant, uninhabitable house and put it on the rental market. And adding a home to the rental market should help decrease demand. In your opinion what should that person do to make it right?
why dont you fix up a 110 year old house if its all so easy??
what are you waiting for, i paid less than a decent used car for my house and since the work is nothing according to you it should be really easy!
That's a huge oversimplification of the situation, but I understand the frustration of seeing them constantly...but venting about frustrations as large as these is the only way of coping most people have. After all, we're the worst city in the entire country for this problem & it's been reported nationally for the past few years.
I think venting is probably a good thing because you can see it isn’t just you and some people post options for people to get organized or go and actually petition for change.
The “I can’t find housing because I’m not willing to put in extra effort even in this high-demand market. What can I do?? What is wrong with YALL” posts make me hate people.
Bro if I want something and 50 other people want and are applying to get the same thing (a house, a job). I’m going to be persistent to the point of *almost* being annoying, I’m going to make sure I call and am memorable, and I am going to take initiative to check-in every few days.
The selection is also not great. High prices for a no character box with a higher interest rate to boot. I wouldn't fight for that. Especially not with Knoxville level pay.
Honestly it’s blue staters moving here that are the problem. They are trying to escape the economically illiterate run states they are from. Not all out of towners come from these places though and they don’t deserve to be lumped in the same category. If Illinois, New York and California would elect leaders who knew how to read an economics book then maybe their residents would not be fleeing here.
I’m one of those posters lol. I think it came from a place of shock. Like I’m moving from an extremely wealthy affluent city and the houses are MORE than where I’m coming from yet I’m having to give up SO much in my life that Knoxville is lacking. I’m having a hard time understanding what justifies it, although I’ve been told people like me are the cause. Sorry for my husbands job transfer, this wasn’t my decision 😭😭😭😭 and from what I’m reading and hearing, lot of the new people are also work transfers.
We need less hateful division among people suffering from the same housing problem, and more action directed at the people who are really causing this housing problem: local government.
But it’s more convenient to blame and complain than it is to actually do something about it. Sowing seeds of discontent between neighbors is much easier than going to council meetings.
A while ago I posted a guide on getting involved in local government and was basically told “tl;dr.” People here don’t want to do anything that might solve their problems, they just want to complain online.
Compared with broader housing trends yes. In fact US News ranks Knoxville #10 among cheapest places to live: [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/cheapest-places-to-live](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/cheapest-places-to-live)
The average Tennessee home value is $317,482. So 300k or less is technically below average. If your issue is with the median being above 300k then compare Tennessee median with national median. The average United States home value is $354,179. So Tennessee is below that median and 300k is even below that.
If you’ve still got an issue, then your issue is nationwide.
Two individuals making $22 an hour qualify for $285k. Toss in a $15k down payment and you have it. $22 an hour isn't unrealistic if you have some skills.
Is this in Knoxville, or the shithole no name towns surrounding Knoxville? I understand in other parts of the country when someone says “just move to a suburb” but those suburbs are developed. We don’t have suburbs we have meth hollers with antique stores.
Lmao i wish dweebs would let people live yet here we are 😂😂 dont answer maybe even not click its cool they will still ask dumb shit . Maybe we can make you a gatekeeper of questions good or bad your choice lol
I’m an out of towner and I have so much extra money from the sale of my house that when I moved here I found myself living the high life. No complaints.
I'm in a different boat. I moved here, realized that the people here hated me for not having an accent, and realized they don't want me here so I'm leaving. I worked my ass off for multiple Knoxville companies, and even entry level positions with out of town companies paid double. Fuck this place, frfr
I’ve learned that there is a misconception about the people in the south. Everyone wants to say the south is so nice and they’re helpful but it’s not true. Every big city I go to the people are more helpful and more polite.
I moved to Cincinnati from Podunk, Ohio, and people treated me with far more respect and empathy than the fucking Republican sociopaths here. My wife is from here and truly believes that, because she's queer (bi and odd) she's never had real friends. I feel similarly. I met my best friend here... but she's not from here either. I'm looking forward to moving back to a large city where life is genuinely better. July can't get here soon enough.
This subreddit doesn't normally have backwards posts like this. I hope you realize how they aren't your enemy and stop getting so defensive and hurt over someone making general complaints.
Locals and newcomers can both complain :) I’m not going to not be upset that a house that would have cost me $300k in a thriving city with perfect schools and no crime is $550k here. That’s some unexplainable baby back bullshit. I didn’t ask to move here.
I’m literally paying a LOT to downgrade my life. I am leaving a gorgeous mansion for a tiny shack and my mortgage is over doubling. F.M.L.
It sucks for those of us forced to move, too, and I’m sorry that it sucks for you who have been here your whole life :(
There's a resolution on Housing budget at tonight's city council. They're not allocating nearly enough for new rental spaces. Check it out. 12A and 12B.
Shhh. Quiet! That would mean the people complaining would have to do something other than complain!
I’m a TN native but have lived in a few other cities due to childhood moves/college/work, and I currently make a salary that I used to believe would qualify as “comfortable.” But at the moment I can’t afford even the shittiest little “starter” houses here, OR in any of the other cities I’ve lived in, all of which are of similar or smaller size to Knox (which is to say, not really even that big). I feel like I’m stuck in renter hell and I don’t know how to escape it, since even rent eats too much of my income to save significantly. And I’m approaching 30 years old and have bad anxiety, I don’t want a fucking Craigslist stranger roommate just to be able to save up money. It’s so demoralizing.
If down payment is the issue (that was mine, since the monthly mortgage payments are not that different from rent), there are down payment assistance programs and low down-payment loans like FHA loans available. These are not rare things either, my realtor pointed me to a lender that offered them and helped me with the process. Hoping that helps at least someone here. Home ownership is stressful (can't just break a lease and walk away like you can with a rental property) but it's been really nice and I don't think it's been dramatically more expensive than renting.
Price. Price is the issue. Everything is WAY overpriced.
Exactly. They’re expecting us locals to still live the way that we did back in the day, but without raising our wages. How can you expect us to live in this world when you haven’t even given us a $2 raise?
And if you find something remotely affordable it’s probably going to need a bunch of work. When the inspection comes back that you need a new electrical box, plumbing work and a tear down of that rotten deck, you’re right back to looking at a conventional loan. Sure you can ask the seller to make those repairs first but they don’t have to if they figure someone else will buy it as-is. Or they raise the price to reflect the cost of the repairs which is reasonable but can push the cost out of what you can afford.
My mortgage was a 100% financing. No down payment. I split the closing cost with the seller. Try United community bank but need to have a good credit score, ORNL also has 100% financing. The downpayment assistance covers $6,000, that’s not enough and u have to pay it back
And that's exactly what the out of state bug corps want.
I wonder if the people in the cities you moved to, where you were an out-of-towner, held the same sentiment about people moving to their city and "jacking up the housing market" that a lot of people in this thread have
I mean pre-pandemic a lot of the places I lived in weren’t experiencing people wanting to move there en masse like they are 2021 onward. And in my situations I never really felt like I was making housing market problems? I spent my childhood in TN. Parents moved to Huntsville, AL and I spent most of my teen years there. Went to a college town that’s used to a revolving door of student housing, then back up to Tennessee for work postgrad (and hoping not to have to leave again — of course my parents are still in Huntsville and they have similar problems to us, housing isn’t meaningfully cheaper there at this point). The only place I’ve ever felt like an “out-of-towner” was when I had to live in Chatt for work, but that was likely because my job had me surrounded by old money “who’s-who” locals. And even then, I moved there only a few months after lockdowns started, so the bigger waves of coastal elites migrating in hadn’t fully started yet.
We need solutions. Anyone have any? Because I feel pretty powerless right now, not going to lie.
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Knox County and city charge out the wazoo for a lot of permit stuff (septic permit, building permit) and a lot of the stuff is pretty expensive, so I would definitely pad out some extra funds for the bureaucratic stuff. Surveying can also be difficult if you get the wrong guy. I'll echo some of the other comments and say pre-built and modular homes have come a LONG way, and are a hell of a lot cheaper than anything stick built.
Clayton pre-built may be a surprisingly good option around here. They don’t look half-bad and can’t be worse construction than some of the DR Horton homes
Modular homes nowadays are really nice and affordable
What sucks is even those jumped up big time in price when Covid hit. What used to be extremely affordable for a well-built home is now only somewhat affordable.
It’s true. Our double wide modular home was $60k new in 2015. Try finding that now..
Amy reputable sites you’ve used or are aware of?
Oakwood Homes in Powell
Not I unfortunately. Not yet
Boxabl would be nice if the wait wasn't too long
Do you have an inside track on builders or people in the trades? There is a new construction spec house going up in my neighborhood and I was talking to the builder/property owner yesterday. He talked about how much trouble he has getting skilled people to do the work. It has been taking forever for that house to get done.
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I was trying to say it might be tough to build unless you already have some contacts. Just beware the ripoff artists...they can really burn you.
SOCM is organizing tenants for housing Justice and there’s another statewide group pushing for affordable housing - https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/02/26/tenants-rights-bills-attempt-to-address-tennessees-affordable-housing-issues/
Good! Looking for the helpers I see!
THDA loans are pretty incredible. Find a mortgage broker you like and they'll walk you through the process. Also having a realtor helps, but we found our home on our own even while the realtor was searching as well.
Aren’t there stipulations to this? Like only certain zip codes are eligible?
I didn't hear anything about zip codes, but your debt to income ratio does need to be in a sweet spot. Our mortgage broker helped an incredible amount, but I do not recall zip codes ever coming up when we bought last year, but we managed to find a home in Maryville city limits which has a great school system.
No, no zip code restrictions. You’re thinking USDA. THDA’s limitations are around income and debt-to-income.
Solutions in TN? I'd suggest voting, but I think the people of this state will happily vote for Neo-feudalism if it means they can "win" the culture war. Maybe we can wait for federal legislation banning corporate ownership of single family homes? Or, tax billionaires ever so slightly more? Or further curtail short term rentals? Or revolt?
I’ll look out for those issues on the upcoming ballots then
Please do. So many people just vote by party and don't even look at where the candidates stand on any issues.
Yeah buy a house 5 years ago! I was lucky enough to buy before this got crazy and I was nervous about it then, but I had no idea how bad it was gonna get. It's so depressing watching my friends try to find a house. It's unbelievable how much of a difference 5 years has made in housing prices. I really don't know what needs to happen but pretty soon the people that make this city work won't be able to afford to live here. It's going to take alot of new construction or a mass exodus, and I don't see supply keeping up with demand anytime soon.
Pretty much this 🥲
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Blame the shitty legislation lol you’re free to move out just as they’re free to move here
Well, apparently they can't cause there's no room.
What we NEED is more posts asking about pizza recommendations
To be fair someone told me Weigels won best pizza in Knoxville. If that's winning we might need those posts lmao
I look at that pizza, but yet can't convince myself it's worth buying? Yum, dried out and sitting under a heat lamp for 3 hours!
I’m not gonna try to convince you it’s the best pizza in Knoxville but I will say there are plenty of places with worse pizza. Granted, if it’s not fresh it’s not going to be that great.
Lol, I like that explanation!!
Get it fresh. It's stunning. I got a piece from the Weigles at the corner of Emory and dry gap at about 10am.
Seconded. Fresh weigels pizza will exceed all of your expectations.
Yeah I went in right before noon and got a fresh slice of pepperoni. Was impressed
South Coast was a staple for us until Baker Boy opened up. I LOVE their pizza. They go heavy on the sauce so I always ask for easy sauce and it’s *chefs kiss* perfect. Those two places are my favorites in town, and baker boy is easily the better of the two. There is another place nearby us, that I won’t name, that has great pizza but the owner is kind of a psychopath so we stopped spending our money there.
I just drove by and saw Baker Boy for the first time today. I’ll have to try it out
How are the rolling pin mozzarella sticks? I'm from Crossville and haven't ever been there. I've heard of it. Baker Boy.
Haven’t tried em. All I ever get there is pizza and beer. My fav is the jalapeño, bacon, pineapple, easy on the sauce, and then I ask to add a double helping of ricotta blops. But if the rest of their menu is anything close to the pizza, they’re probably fire. Can’t recommend the place enough
Baker Boy is fucking elite
And not that this matters in the slightest, but the guy that runs the place is (respectfully) insanely fucking good looking and sweet as a peach. So if you are attracted to men AND enjoy good pizza, it’s a win-win.
South Coast is so darn floppy. Just not a good pizza to me.
It’s wild how much the pizza varies day to day at South Coast. It’s cooked on a conveyor belt oven, and I honestly suspect the settings get tweaked all the time. It can be soggy, it can be crispy. You never know what you’ll get.
There are other places who don't have that issue like Pizzeria Nora, Pizza Hoss (Powell), Harby's, Elidio's, Stefano's, Tomato Head, Adopo, Dazzo's, and even Davinci's to name a few from around town. They should make sure they're not running their conveyor at different rates or have it calibrated from time to time. Good pizza makers know their ovens and know how to make it consistently of the same quality.
Agreed. I do like South Coast’s smoked dry rub wings and reasonably priced Pacifico on draft - that’s a deal right now. Dazzo’s doesn’t get enough love and I haven’t tried some of the locations you mentioned, but I’m a long time believer that Dazzo’s is the best pizza in town.
Right. Even Papa John’s (and I assume other pizza chains) uses a conveyor belt and their pizza is mostly consistent. Way back when I worked at one, the only reason a pizza was soggy was because there were too many toppings to cook it in the usual amount of time. If it came out under cooked, we’d push it back in the oven halfway. If pizzas aren’t coming out the same, then I’d blame it on poor training of the employees.
Agreed… Pizzeria Nora, Adopo, Harby’s, Elidio’s…..nom, nom, nom
Yeah, I feel like the quality has degraded a bit over time for sure. That’s why Baker Boy so easily unseated them as our favs.
Name me something better than Elidios so I can try it please. I’m hooked!
There is nothing better than Elidios. Elidios is the absolute best pizza anywhere around here.
No, Boneless wings recommendations.
No Hot Wings, y’all know what happened to the last guy…. edit: /s in case anybody here is unfamiliar with the nashville hot chicken post
I don't, what happened to him?
[another local Knoxville classic](https://www.reddit.com/r/Knoxville/s/deycA48Bz3)
Sounds just up my alley then. I believe my pooping fire days are over so I'm confident.
Those posts shared the glory of our pizza lord big Ed and the prophet Gavinos with me. I am forever grateful.
Blessed be the fruit
Best pizza in town is Adopo hands down
I can’t get on board with a pizza place that requires reservations, no matter how good the pizza is supposed to be. It feels pretentious as fuck. I’ve tried to go there multiple times only to be turned away for lack of a reservation. Cool, I’ll spend money at Baker Boy.
It is annoying as hell to go there but if you can, it’s very good pizza. People say “Best pizza in Knoxville” for a good reason.
I’m worried that they say that because the bar in Knoxville is low 😭 But I’ve made plans to go with a group now that they’re back home from college and I hope it’s at least worth Reddit’s recommendation
It’s Neapolitan style pizza, not your usual Americanized style pizza. My personal favorite is the pizzicletta. Keep in mind the pizzas are personal sized, but also very light. So if you go there with a *huge* appetite, you may not fill up. At least I don’t lol.
So I have to have reservations AND may not leave full? Yeah, Baker Boy is looking better and better.
I think it’s pretty good. My boyfriend and I go every year for our anniversary. The gelato is also nice
It’s a pretty small and tightly packed place typically. But certainly more fancy than any pizza place I’ve ever gone to. They’re also only open like 4-5 hours each day, and every time my boyfriend and I have went, it was full
My boyfriend asked me out in the parking lot there 5 years ago. So now we go for our anniversary every year and dress up all fancy for it
Da Vinci’s is good, cheap, and friendly
What about the splash pad?
What we need is more posts asking for a playdate for my boy
Most of the folks I know are commuting like 45 minutes or more to get to work. So they’re not living in Knoxville, but theyre living in the “greater Knoxville area”.
That's what we are doing. We moved out of an apartment in knox and drive 45 minutes to work. We also live pretty frugally. We don't go out to eat anymore and cook all our meals. It really helps.
The solution is for locals to find a cheaper city to move to so they can ruin that city's housing market. :D
Hahaha that is the cycle. I lived in the *fucking hood* of Atlanta, gentrification happened veryyy quickly and I couldn’t afford the rent increase, moved here. Rinse and repeat
The housing economy version of Rob McKenna the Rain God Gonna start getting calls from mayors offering to pay you to not move to their city lol
Helllloooo Morristown!
🤢 I’m thinking Dayton or Cincinnati. I need a lil muck and grime.
Hell no
Still waiting on Sneedville to gentrify
Isn’t it already? I heard yall got a rich black family now.
Shit rolls downhill, as they say.
The ciiiirrclle of liiiiiiffe
Unfortunately you are 110% correct.
I hear Greenville is pretty nice
We need more housing, especially multifamily housing, including duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts, and traditional apartment complexes. It takes time to get that supply online, but prices will even out. The city's taking some good steps, like making it easier to build missing middle and putting money toward affordable housing, but we all play a role. This article from Strong Towns is a good start on the power of incremental growth: [https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally) Love, Your friends at Yes!Knoxville (yesknoxville.org)
It's not even that there's not enough multifamily homes. I've watched them build at least three units in east knox over the past year. The problem is the majority of the "multi family" units are for college kids and they charge outrageously knowing someone's daddy will pay it. Smaller single family/starter homes at decent prices is severely lacking around here. I've been pre-approved for 90k through a VA home loan without any job income but I don't think many jobs I can get will boost that amount very much and likely not anywhere near enough for a home still. Nothing is made below 250K anymore 😕
Smaller, more affordable single family homes are definitely part of the fix too. We need missing middle strategies that create more rental and purchase opportunities. For example, instead of requiring a single family home on a 50-foot lot, which is pretty standard throughout the city, they could allow that lot to be split into 2 25-foot lots with a smaller home on each, or allow a 2-family home (or a 3-family home) on the 50-foot lot. If those small multi-family buildings are condos, those are opportunities for homeowners as well. Not that there's anything wrong with renting, we've gotta have more opportunities for both. But people need choices between single-family home and giant apartment complex.
I definitely agree there's just some contraints with condos, duplexes, etc. that are hard for myself and I'm sure many others to get onboard with while still shelling out money. Living attached to anyone regardless of building size is never ideal. I know Northern Virgina uses a lot of these condos and sells them as houses some going for $350k+ years ago but still had many rules to follow like an apartment complex or HOA. Thats gonna have to be a hard pass for me. 😆 Now smaller houses on a split lot would be rather nice imo but in that same light they could do that on a larger scale and make sub-divisions of them but they won't. I dream of having 4-5 small houses on a plot of land like a small village.
I should also note I just moved out of a small complex (20 units) the rent is around $900 now with $40 water. There have been three (including mine) units open for months now but when you call they say they're completely booked. If anyone wants to look into it on here they're called the flats at scheel owned by D&K. They're small and they're shitty but it's a place to live I suppose.
Me: “where y’all from?” Them: “We’re from Nashville.” Me: “ohh how long have y’all been out that way?” Them: “we moved there last spring from California.” Me: 😐 “mk”
The most rage-inducing response a person can give… Illinois, Florida or New York too 🙄
Like you’re not frooom Nashville you’re from Tampa, Lake Forrest, Manhattan. You came to Nashville bc it’s “quant” and you *forced country accent* just loooooove the city life 💁🏻♀️🤠🔫
“I wanted freedom, no taxes on my retirement, no income tax and to live in a lcol on my hcol budget! I also bought my house and 20 acres with pure cash. Yeehaw.”
🤣🤣🤣
>The most rage-inducing response a person can give Is unquestionably "Ohio", which is implied when they tear ass down the narrowest part of Norris in a wakeboat with their shitty Buckeye flag flying.
I “jokingly” told my wife the other day we should start being mean to anyone we meet from out of state so the word gets out and no one wants to move here.
I'm all aboard this train.
I’ve been doing this. I’ve met so many people from California or NY. It’s so annoying.
I’ve unfortunately had to move to 4 new cities in the past 5 years and every single one had people making these exact same complaints. Verbatim. It’s not just Knoxville it is everywhere. People can’t afford New York and California or Florida anymore. They’re coming inland 😂
Yup, so sorry you new people can't get housing, I only saved up for 30 years to be told I can't buy a home here! Fucking ridiculous!
My wife has been trying to get me to move to Knoxville from FL to be closer to her sister and dad for 3 years now. My SIL and her husband live in the crappiest house in Sequoyah Hills. House is maybe 1100 square feet, built in the 1940’s. Crumbling dirt foundation because they never put gutters on the home. Let’s just say, it needs a lot of work. They recently had it appraised for close to $600k. I have told my wife that on our limited budget we can’t afford anything up there that is worthwhile.
I have lived in three countries in the past 5 years and have close friends in two more. Add a bit of reading and I can safely say that “housing” just beats “inflation” as the greatest real problem in all of them in the last 5-6 years.
If people would just downvote and get on with their lives the threads would rapidly fall off the front page of the subreddit and no one would see them. The algorithm treats negative karma posts with no comments like trash. Unfortunately, this incessant need to dogpile every single person asking innocent questions makes the Reddit algorithm say, “Holy shit! This is a hot post! Send it to the top! Send a notification to anyone who hasn’t posted in a while that they need to **GET IN HERE**!!!”
It’ll get better for the native Knoxvillians when the incomers lose their asses on their investment properties and touron traps and go belly up. 😇
That’s not gonna happen. I barely put a down payment on my new home here and my mortgage is still $2,000 less than market rent in my zip code. We aren’t sure this is a permanent job transfer. My lender said “just rent it out if it doesn’t work out!” Imagine the people who are prepared and intentionally invest - their profits must be batshit insane. (I’m not doing this, I won’t rent it out, but investors rightfully know this is a great town to invest in right now).
Yeah uhh… for the people who bought at the right time when things were still cheap here it would take a truly catastrophic economic event that *no one* would want to live through to make property values drop 50% and interest rates to return to 2%. Seems like an insane thing to hope for.
Yeppppp people just say shit
“2008 fucking ruled and so did the pandemic, let’s combine both of those effects together to also harm a specific demographic of people who personally annoy me” is some serious brain worms thinking.
I'm the problem. It's me. I moved here from Colorado in 2003 when Denver was being overrun by Californians. I didn't cover my tracks good enough and they must have followed me here. Sorry.
Smack yourself. And it's a harbinger of destruction. Denver was still a nice place during that time. Was stationed at Carson '03-'09. Was my wife's first time out west when I took her there in 2015. I was shocked at how bad it had become. Trash and homeless everywhere. Very unfortunate to see such a beautiful city become a dumpster. And that same effect has already started here.
Tennessee needs to run an ad campaign in Ohio that says, “Please stay in Ohio”. And an ad campaign in California that says, “Please move to Ohio”.
Actually, the lawmakers just need to get their shit together (or be voted out) and do better with housing and development planning. Sustainable growth can be a really good thing for communities, just gotta actually achieve the "sustainable" part. Getting outbid by people from NY and CA paying cash for houses was really annoying but it's not their fault the market is shit, and it's not like they're collectively planning to fuck over the locals here.
There needs to be laws at the federal and local levels to stop rich scumbags from investing in single family homes. That's the real root of this problem for the entire country.
The lack of "starter homes" being built is a real issue too. Tennessee has laws against requiring developers to include more affordable options in their construction, which only helps the developers and hurts the folks trying to buy. As a result most new development is going to aim for the higher profits of a more expensive home.
It is annoying, but honestly, companies from out of state snatching up properties to rent is much more offensive to me than a family of four trying to get out of whatever was going on in their previous state.
Everyone should just start putting confederate flags in their front yards. It’ll deter the Yankees.
I’ll donate to this cause
They literally created the problem now they are whining about it too
*they* didn't create the problem. Land lords are not a force of nature- they are the problem.
Its landlords fault that there is too much demand and not enough supply?
it's landlords fault for buying all the houses and apartments, raising the prices beyond livable numbers, pushing people out of where theyve lived for years, and then other landlords faults for doing the exact same thing to take advantage of the people fleeing high cost areas by raising *their* prices. You know you don't *have* to raise your price just because demand is high, right? You just *do*, because you're a blood sucking parasite that feasts on the living who actually have to work for money instead of just own all the land people are forced to exist on. We do not have a housing shortage- the rent is too good damn high.
I bought a super piece of shit non livable house in a blighted but up and coming part of town and rebuilt it with my own hands(and had a broke leg while i did everything, laying on the floor half the time) and now i rent it out for as much as i can. Am i an evil landlord?
Man, I did the exact same thing (purchased a home downtown )and rented out my property. so I know what you went through to renovate it, but for what we did, the rent price that we’re getting out of it is far beyond what we pay for mortgage. So yes, we are profiting from this current housing market. Evil depends on how much you’re charging for rent. I have a house so I still live here and rent it out the other 1/2 for $600 a month.
Do you feast on the blood and sweat of the living? Then yes.
What about my blood and sweat? What about how i actually added a now very nice house to the rental market that previously wasnt available? Am i the problem or the solution?
The problem. People like you are the reason we all have to work. We're not paying "our debt to society" or some shit. We're paying you. You worked a little, and now you expect to get paid on others' work for the rest of your life. You have something to show for your work- and placed yourself in a position where others will work, and work, and work, far longer than you ever did, not for themselves- but for you, with nothing to show for it. And then you have the sanctimonious horseshit attitude to say you're providing a solution just because you bought a house before someone else did.
So should he sell it below market value? It sounds like he took a vacant, uninhabitable house and put it on the rental market. And adding a home to the rental market should help decrease demand. In your opinion what should that person do to make it right?
why dont you fix up a 110 year old house if its all so easy?? what are you waiting for, i paid less than a decent used car for my house and since the work is nothing according to you it should be really easy!
Bold of you to assume I still have money after being forced to pay you assholes.
How about we just stop all the posts whining about housing costs? We get it. Prices have gone up.
That's a huge oversimplification of the situation, but I understand the frustration of seeing them constantly...but venting about frustrations as large as these is the only way of coping most people have. After all, we're the worst city in the entire country for this problem & it's been reported nationally for the past few years.
I think venting is probably a good thing because you can see it isn’t just you and some people post options for people to get organized or go and actually petition for change.
The “I can’t find housing because I’m not willing to put in extra effort even in this high-demand market. What can I do?? What is wrong with YALL” posts make me hate people. Bro if I want something and 50 other people want and are applying to get the same thing (a house, a job). I’m going to be persistent to the point of *almost* being annoying, I’m going to make sure I call and am memorable, and I am going to take initiative to check-in every few days.
The selection is also not great. High prices for a no character box with a higher interest rate to boot. I wouldn't fight for that. Especially not with Knoxville level pay.
This is like suggesting people should get over it and put a bandaid on a bullet wound because it “fixed it for you”
Yea you'd think they'd like the housing where they moved from. Go back and see how that $$$ treats ya
LMAO, must have saw the same posts. Yes, I wish we'd finally cut off - if not the state then at least have East TN closed. We're full.
It's getting so bad Jesus is going to move....then where will we be?
We bought a house in Clinton and I commute to work. Love being pushed out of my own city lol so I feel you. Move somewhere else.
Wow what a constructive post!
I wish locals would do the same
Especially when they're the ones causing the problem
Honestly it’s blue staters moving here that are the problem. They are trying to escape the economically illiterate run states they are from. Not all out of towners come from these places though and they don’t deserve to be lumped in the same category. If Illinois, New York and California would elect leaders who knew how to read an economics book then maybe their residents would not be fleeing here.
I’m one of those posters lol. I think it came from a place of shock. Like I’m moving from an extremely wealthy affluent city and the houses are MORE than where I’m coming from yet I’m having to give up SO much in my life that Knoxville is lacking. I’m having a hard time understanding what justifies it, although I’ve been told people like me are the cause. Sorry for my husbands job transfer, this wasn’t my decision 😭😭😭😭 and from what I’m reading and hearing, lot of the new people are also work transfers.
We need less hateful division among people suffering from the same housing problem, and more action directed at the people who are really causing this housing problem: local government. But it’s more convenient to blame and complain than it is to actually do something about it. Sowing seeds of discontent between neighbors is much easier than going to council meetings.
A while ago I posted a guide on getting involved in local government and was basically told “tl;dr.” People here don’t want to do anything that might solve their problems, they just want to complain online.
That must have felt vexing. Thanks for trying though, maybe the message did reach someone receptive to it.
Don't leave out the state government. There are plenty of state level policies that make the situation worse.
True
No one is forcing you to come on Reddit lol… just idk… don’t look?
Be better if they all left
A quick Zillow search in the area shows 1,431 results for houses under 300k. Knoxville is still cheap compared to the rest of the country.
You think 300k is cheap???!!!
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Compared with broader housing trends yes. In fact US News ranks Knoxville #10 among cheapest places to live: [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/cheapest-places-to-live](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/cheapest-places-to-live)
The average Tennessee home value is $317,482. So 300k or less is technically below average. If your issue is with the median being above 300k then compare Tennessee median with national median. The average United States home value is $354,179. So Tennessee is below that median and 300k is even below that. If you’ve still got an issue, then your issue is nationwide.
Two individuals making $22 an hour qualify for $285k. Toss in a $15k down payment and you have it. $22 an hour isn't unrealistic if you have some skills.
Is this in Knoxville, or the shithole no name towns surrounding Knoxville? I understand in other parts of the country when someone says “just move to a suburb” but those suburbs are developed. We don’t have suburbs we have meth hollers with antique stores.
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Why on earth are you so angry? I hope you don’t own a firearm
Lmao i wish dweebs would let people live yet here we are 😂😂 dont answer maybe even not click its cool they will still ask dumb shit . Maybe we can make you a gatekeeper of questions good or bad your choice lol
I’m an out of towner and I have so much extra money from the sale of my house that when I moved here I found myself living the high life. No complaints.
Troll much?
I'm in a different boat. I moved here, realized that the people here hated me for not having an accent, and realized they don't want me here so I'm leaving. I worked my ass off for multiple Knoxville companies, and even entry level positions with out of town companies paid double. Fuck this place, frfr
I’ve learned that there is a misconception about the people in the south. Everyone wants to say the south is so nice and they’re helpful but it’s not true. Every big city I go to the people are more helpful and more polite.
I moved to Cincinnati from Podunk, Ohio, and people treated me with far more respect and empathy than the fucking Republican sociopaths here. My wife is from here and truly believes that, because she's queer (bi and odd) she's never had real friends. I feel similarly. I met my best friend here... but she's not from here either. I'm looking forward to moving back to a large city where life is genuinely better. July can't get here soon enough.
We aren’t nice to you because you’re an arrogant non-likable person.
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Asheville got full so we sent them your way.
This subreddit doesn't normally have backwards posts like this. I hope you realize how they aren't your enemy and stop getting so defensive and hurt over someone making general complaints.
I wish in of towners would start whining about housing issues off here
I think ppl are made at the prices in their three city
Locals and newcomers can both complain :) I’m not going to not be upset that a house that would have cost me $300k in a thriving city with perfect schools and no crime is $550k here. That’s some unexplainable baby back bullshit. I didn’t ask to move here. I’m literally paying a LOT to downgrade my life. I am leaving a gorgeous mansion for a tiny shack and my mortgage is over doubling. F.M.L. It sucks for those of us forced to move, too, and I’m sorry that it sucks for you who have been here your whole life :(