Before we moved to Tennessee from Arizona, we were a bit worried if we’d like it.

Now that we’re a year in, do we regreat moving to Tennessee?!

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It was one of the best decisions we’ve made in our lives so far and we wouldn’t change it. Before we moved, we obviously googled and searched YouTube for some perspective and found only realtors. We wanted to hear from people who made the move. So here’s the opinion of two people not looking to generate business from you on why we love living in Tennessee!

Weather in Tennessee

We were afraid of what to expect for Tennessee weather. Ryan grew up near the beaches in Southern California. AKA sunny and 75 all the time. Melissa grew up in New Jersey so she had a bit more understanding of real weather. We lived in Arizona for about 10 years too and again used to sunny and perfect almost every day.

So how is the weather in Tennessee?

All over the place.

It is sunny and beautiful in the morning, then rain moves in and then it gets sunny again. Or sometimes we have a few days straight of rain. For people that aren’t used to checking the weather app at the start of the day, we’ve quickly learned that trick from locals. Bottom line is that the weather changes all the time and we love the variability in it. Each season is so magical too!

It’s like living in a new place every few months!

Summers are hot and humid (but honestly not that bad), falls are cool and crisp (absolutely breath taking beauty), winters are chilly (but only a little snow), and spring happens fast (so much pollen). Ryan never experienced allergies until Spring here in Tennessee. It was about a week of intense allergies.

As for tornadoes in Tennessee, they definitely exist and are freaky. When there’s a warning or watch, we definitely feel fear within ourselves and question why we expose ourselves to these. But then they pass and the beauty of this place reminds us why we tolerate the risk.

Overall the weather in Tennessee is awesome!

We often find ourselves driving around staring at trees, observing wildlife, and just appreciating life more – probably because there is SO much life around us now!

Entertainment in Tennessee

We always wondered what the entertainment scene in Nashville was like. Now we know.

IT’S INSANE!

We’re blown away that Broadway is literally in our backyard. After living here for a year though, we’ve noticed we like going to downtown Nashville less and less. We’re not really city people and notice more hustle and bustle when we go there. We also don’t enjoy paying for parking everywhere. But its part of the experience and we have fun when we do get out there (mostly when we have visitors).

More of our vibe is Downtown Franklin.

It’s cute, homey, and makes you feel like you’re in a Hallmark movie. It feels historic when in Downtown Franklin too! We also love going to Nolensville Tennessee. It’s more of a quaint, country feel. Basically a two lane road through the town, which is growing like crazy!

We also love how much more of a draw we have to farmers markets and waterfalls out here. We want to explore trails more too, especially now that we have a pup! There’s often movies in the park and concerts in the park during the warmer parts of the year too!

They don’t call Nashville music city for nothing! It’s crazy just how good everyone is! There’s tons of open mic nights and we just don’t understand how anyone gets famous because they’re all so good! We love having a winery just a stones throw away too! We got married at a winery and would have wine shipped to us from there, but it was never close enough for us to visit on the weekends.

Arrington winery has a barn side which is like folk music vibes and a stage side that has sweeping views of the beautiful state. Of course we had to become members there too.

Food in Tennessee

How good is the food in Tennessee?

AMAZING!!

It’s tough to watch our figure out here though, because the food is greasy, fried, but SO delicious!! We’re such creatures of habit and found a few go to places – like Martin’s BBQ, but we’ve made a pact to try new places! We’ve been in a Jersey Mike’s kick too lately which of course is a massive chain. We just can’t help it!

Something unique about Franklin, Nolensville, Nashville and the middle Tennessee area is whenever there are events (like concerts or movies in the park), there are always delicious food trucks! Lobster rolls, friend chicken, sushi, Asian, ice cream, you name it! We’ve yet to try a food truck that we haven’t loved!

Home Affordability in Tennessee

Well, when we moved we landed in Franklin, which we didn’t know was one of the more expensive places in the state. It’s like Orange County, CA, but surrounded by the woods. So of course now our frame of reference is an expensive town. Needless to say home affordability in Franklin is a bit outside of our price range, but we absolutely love the area! It’s clean, well maintained, has everything you could imagine, and just good vibes!

The overall housing market in the middle Tennessee area has been insane over the last year.

We put in 7 offers before finally getting our house! People are like banshees out there!! All cash, waiving inspection, waiving appraisal, $50k appraisal guarantee. If it doesn’t make sense, that’s what people are doing out there. What we love most of the real estate in Tennessee is the different style house. There is so much character in each house and it feels like so much history in the houses and neighborhoods too. Most of them at least.

Pace of life in Tennessee

It’s so much slower than anything we were used to in hustle and bustle California, Arizona, or New Jersey.

We love it!

People are friendlier, they hold the doors, you have conversations with strangers, and people just feel happier or like they appreciate life more out here. That’s our kinda people. The business community in Tennessee feels like a tight knit community, very welcoming, and just good Southern people. If you’re considering moving to Tennessee, we hope these help you in your decision. Something that helped us cope with the massive life change was this mentality.

If you don’t like it, you can always move back.

Something magical happens when you step out of your comfort zone and we hope you enjoy it!

TLDR: WATCH ON YOUTUBE