Are you a country bumpkin, or a city-slicker? Are you looking to trade in one of those lifestyles for the other, or simply wanting to dip your toes into the wild side and see what life is like under different conditions? Tennessee is a state that offers both country and city living situations due to the variety of cities, towns, and villages that it has to offer. Here are a few questions to ask yourself while house hunting in the state to figure out if you want to choose the country or city lifestyle.
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Do you want the hustle and bustle of a city, or the quaint community of a small town?
This will be addressed more specifically below, but taking an overarching look at the situation is a good way to begin. When you ask yourself what your ideal life looks like, what do you see? Do you see bustling streets, tall buildings, food carts, museums… or do you see tall trees, sweeping fields, farm animals, and unpaved country roads? While this isn’t a specific enough self-inquiry to make an entire life-decision on, it will give you some insight into how your needs are trending. Some people are suited to one lifestyle and one lifestyle-only. Others find that they change lifestyles over the course of their years, with different places being right at different times. Ask yourself about your energy, and the energy you need to surround you right now. Country energy and city energy are very different.
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Do you want to go to restaurants, or become a seasoned cook yourself?
If you’re thinking of moving to Nashville, you’ll get to try the delicious cuisine of Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, Cafe Roze, Brown’s Diner, and possibly hundreds more. If Memphis is your destination, you might find that places like Marlowe’s Ribs and Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar become your favorite places to eat. City living in Tennessee affords you a wealth of restaurants and cuisines to try, with the best of the best southern dishes at your fingertips. If you’re in the country, however, you are more likely to have a few small in-town eateries with less variety. That doesn’t necessarily mean the quality is less, but your options will be. That certainly works for some folks, as does cooking at home, which is a delight of many. Do you want to be a restaurant-hopper or a down home cook?
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Do you want something social and exploratory to do every evening and/or night, or are you satisfied settling in with a good book?
If you’re in Memphis, chances are that you’ll be out on the town often, visiting everywhere from Graceland to Beale Street, the Memphis Zoo and Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and everywhere in between. If culture on this level is your thing, you’d benefit from looking at Memphis Houses for Sale and seriously considering living either within or close to the city. If you prefer to cuddle on the couch with a good book, and have little need for outside stimulation other than the grass, the trees, and the animals, then country living is a fair choice! In that case, you might consider towns like Lynchburg, Townsend, Tellico Plains, Erwin, or Nolensville.
