(CHEROKEE LAKE REALTY WRITES A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE GRAINGER COUNTY JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. THIS WAS A RECENT QUESTION ASKED BY A READER.)
I understand your concerns with community feel. I moved to this area in 1995. It was quite different then. I would go to Walmart and ask folks where they were from, and almost 100% of the time, they had lived here a long time, sometimes for generations. Now, when you go to Walmart, and ask the same question, most folks are not from here but from another state. So why?
Well, let me share something that happened to me last week. Our family was in Miami for a few days. To fill up the gas tank with premium gas (we have one of those SUVs that needs 93 octane) costs $4.89 a gallon. At the same time it was $4.19 a gallon here. Do the math if you have a 15-gallon vehicle and fill it up just ONCE a week, that’s $546.00 per year more on just one fill-up per week. Being in real estate, and curious, I looked at listings in a suburb of Miami, Coral Gables. Two examples you can currently look up on Zillow: 1213 Aguila Avenue, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,202 sq ft, 0.115 of an acre (that’s less than ¼ of an acre), taxes on this one in 2025 were $12,506 per year. This was based on the home’s last sales price of $887,500. When it sells again at the new price, taxes will be much higher. Property taxes in the Miami area are generally well over $20,000 per year. The list price on this home is $1,400,000. Second example is 732 Majorca Avenue, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,247 sq ft, 0.129 of an acre. List price on this one is $1,199,000. Neither of these homes have ocean views, lake views, or mountain views. The lot sizes are so small that you can almost reach over and touch the house next to you. Do you know what those prices would buy you here? Do you know how much lower the taxes would be? Do you know how much more land you would get? Traffic. To get to our hotel to view these homes that were less than 10 miles away, it took us well over one hour. Not because of any accidents, that’s just the way it is in Miami rush hour traffic. Road rage. If you don’t peel out when the traffic light turns green, you can expect a series of car horns blasting. Stress in a larger city is magnified. You carry it around with you, everywhere. Car insurance premiums are quite high and reflect this. A lot higher than in East Tennessee. We went to a mall afterwards and paid for parking. Yes, parking at the mall costs $4.00 per hour. Can you imagine paying for parking at Turkey Creek or West Town?
Because of the column’s space constraints, I will wrap up the answers to your questions in next week’s column.
