(CHEROKEE LAKE REALTY WRITES A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE GRAINGER COUNTY JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. THIS WAS A RECENT QUESTION ASKED BY A READER.)
I believe it is still a very good investment. Local folks may not agree with me, but it is not our local neighbors that are purchasing property in the area. Especially land. Tennessee overall is extremely attractive to residents from other states. No state income tax, lower property taxes, lower cost of living expenses, and less crime. And the lakes. Waterfront/view properties in other states will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. In South Florida existing homes are sometimes purchased for a million dollars and then torn down. Why? Because of the value of the land. 1.25 acres in Port Orange, Florida is being advertised at $2,500,000. 1.3 acres in Englewood, Florida is advertised at $3,500,000. In North Carolina, 0.45 of an acre is on sale for $650,000. New York? California? Just as expensive, if not more so. Plus, anything close to the ocean will require very expensive “hurricane” insurance.
The Cherokee Lake area is vast, surrounded by four counties – Grainger, Hamblen, Hawkins, and Jefferson. You can find parcels of land available in these counties for less than that. Much less. Land with fine views of Cherokee Lake can be had for less than $50,000 and lakefront lots can still be found for $100,000. Plus, insurance and property taxes are quite a bit lower. A 0.79 of an acre in Stuart, Florida pays $18,000 a year in property taxes. The same size lot, on Cherokee Lake, will cost you a few hundred dollars a year in taxes. And Grainger County, for example, is only a 35-minute commute to Knoxville. Why is that important? Land prices in Loudon and Tellico Lake, close to Knoxville, are much higher. I recently saw a one-acre lot advertised for $750,000. The closer you are to the bigger cities, e.g. Knoxville, the more you will pay. A 35-minute drive for folks that are coming here from large cities, and are accustomed to bumper to bumper traffic jams, do not mind a 30-minute drive to work. There’s a big difference between land that sells for $100,000 as opposed to $750,000. The savings will pay for a lot of gas as you drive to work.
Add all this up and perhaps you can agree that this is still a very good area to invest in. As I said earlier, locals may disagree, when back in the day $1,000 would buy you an acre of land. But twenty years from now we will all wish that prices were still what they are today. As the saying goes, they aren’t building any more land. Especially around Cherokee Lake.
