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There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Tennessee:
Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Tennessee, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Volunteer State.
To do that we are going to look at places in Tennessee that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Tennessee at the moment? That would be Bolivar according to our analysis.
Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in tennessee for 2020:
- Bolivar (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Lafayette (Homes For Sale)
- Dunlap (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Jonesborough (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Mount Carmel (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- McKenzie (Homes For Sale)
- Rockwood (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Loudon (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Kingston (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Sweetwater (Photos | Homes For Sale)
What's the best place to buy a home in Tennessee for 2020? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.
The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in tennessee and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in tennessee.
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In Tennessee
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Tennessee
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Tennessee
The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Tennessee For 2020
/10
Population: 5,002
Median Home Price: $94,000
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: -3.1%
More on Bolivar: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
The first settlers came to the area between 10,000 - 7,000 BC.
/10
Population: 5,055
Median Home Price: $92,700
Population Change: 1.4%
Home Price Change: -13.1%
More on Lafayette: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,083
Median Home Price: $112,200
Population Change: 0.4%
Home Price Change: -14.0%
More on Dunlap: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
Dunlap was founded in 1858 as a county seat for Sequatchie County, which had been created the previous year. The city was named for state legislator William Dunlap, who played a prominent role in the county's creation. The city's initial 40 acres, which were deeded to the county commissioners by Willam Rankin, were chosen due to their central location within the new county. Dunlap was incorporated as a city in 1941.
/10
Population: 5,321
Median Home Price: $162,200
Population Change: 0.9%
Home Price Change: 3.6%
More on Jonesborough: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
Jonesborough was founded in 1779, 17 years before Tennessee became a state and while the area was under the jurisdiction of North Carolina. It was named after North Carolina legislator, Willie Jones, who had supported the state's westward expansion across the Appalachian Mountains.
/10
Population: 5,327
Median Home Price: $141,900
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: 7.3%
More on Mount Carmel: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
Mount Carmel was once recognized as the only town in the United States to be totally on one side of the road. Since then, the city has secured property on the other side of the road and has built a cemetery.
/10
Population: 5,363
Median Home Price: $89,600
Population Change: -1.7%
Home Price Change: -1.1%
More on Mckenzie: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,419
Median Home Price: $81,100
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 7.3%
More on Rockwood: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
A Cherokee village situated in what is now Rockwood was the headquarters of Chief Tallentuskie, a Cherokee leader in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
/10
Population: 5,687
Median Home Price: $114,200
Population Change: -0.2%
Home Price Change: 8.2%
More on Loudon: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 5,821
Median Home Price: $153,900
Population Change: 0.2%
Home Price Change: 3.4%
More on Kingston: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
Kingston has its roots in Fort Southwest Point, which was built just south of present-day Kingston in 1792. At the time, Southwest Point was on the fringe of the legal settlement area for Euro-Americans. A Cherokee village, headed by Chief Tollunteeskee, was situated just across the river, at what is now Rockwood. In 1805, Colonel Return J. Meigs, who operated out of Southwest Point, was appointed Cherokee Agent, effectively moving the agency from the Tellico Blockhouse to Southwest Point. The city of Kingston was established on October23, 1799, as part of an effort to partition Knox County. Kingston was named after Major Robert King, an officer at Fort Southwest Point in the 1790s.
/10
Population: 5,870
Median Home Price: $123,100
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: 8.3%
More on Sweetwater: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
A legend states that the town's name originated from settler's descriptions of area springs.
How do you determine the best places to buy a home in tennessee for 2020?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Tennessee. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Tennessee with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.
To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2014-2018 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Tennessee with the following caveats:
- Home prices had to be within 20% of the state average (Much lower than that and you get to some of the more dangerous places)
- Home prices increased in the last year, and
- Above 5,000 people (Bigger cities have more data points)
So of the 0 cities and towns in Tennessee, only 95 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 95 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.
Turns out that Bolivar is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Volunteer State.
Read on for more on these places.
There You Have It - The Best Places To Purchase A House In tennessee for 2020
There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Tennessee. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.
So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.
For more tennessee reading, check out:
