Buying a New House in Knoxville
Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:11:55 GMT
I actually moved into the new house BEFORE buying the new car. I needed the old F-150 pickup to carry stuff from my son's house to mine. Memory is bloody weird. Somehow, the car story arose in my mind before the house story.
My daughter-in-law put me in contact with the realtor who had helped them find their house, five years ago. She spoke with a glorious Tennessee accent. Had I known how few people I'd meet here who grew up speaking Tennessee, I would have paid more attention. I picked houses in my price range, which meant the low-rent districts. I wanted to be able to pay my mortgage, my auto loan, and food, with still some left from my social security check. Yeah, I know. Social Security is on its last legs. Thing is, it's been on its last legs for twenty years. Hopefully, it will hold on a little longer before the Federal Reserve manages to send the US dollar into hyperinflation.
I saw about five houses. The first time I saw the one I picked, I thought it was on too big a road. But the second time I saw it, I realized that though MLK Jr Ave is a big road, it actually had very little traffic. It took a while for the mortgage stuff to come through, and my son and his wife grew tired of me being in their little house, so I moved into an Extended Stay America room for two months. Learned a lot about West Knoxville there, before moving into my house in East Knoxville.
The house was obviously flipped, with middle-priced components inside, but it was nice, and still is, over three years later. I moved in in August of 2021.
The house has a large living room and large bedroom in front, with ten-foot ceilings, a kitchen, small bedroom, work room, bathroom, and hallway behind that, with standard eight-foot ceilings. It's perfect for an aging bachelor, with a guest room, so I can have occasionally overnight company.
There's a quarter acre lot in back, surrounded by a wooden fence, with storage shed, and a smaller lawn in front. I have a small electric mower to maintain the grass.
