Why Chattanooga?

Author: Jennifer Calderon

We get asked A LOT, "why would you choose Chattanooga?"

People often ask this question with a tone of bewilderment if not borderline judgement. Originally from California and most recently from Austin, Texas, many lifelong residents of Chattanooga don't understand why we would leave either of those places.

The truth is, when it came time to move, we had a better understanding of why we wanted to leave the SF Bay Area and Austin, more than we really knew why we wanted to move to Chattanooga.

Although leaving California was hard on the heart it was easy on the brain. Leaving the only home you've ever known and all the people you love behind wasn't an easy decision. However, we also knew we couldn't stay in California AND have the quality of life we wanted.

Recently married, we had moved in with my parents to save money to buy a home. One year into saving, it became apparent that one year wasn't going to be enough if we were going to buy in the Bay Area. We knew we wanted to be homeowners and we also knew we wanted to be live on our own, so we started looking at other parts of the country.

Austin was easy to love. As a college town it had a vibrant feeling to it. We loved paddleboarding on Lady Bird, visiting the swimming holes, drinking at Treaty Oak and of course breakfasts at Veracruz. But as Austin continued to grow we couldn't help but feel that the SF Bay Area, both the prices and the culture, were catching up to us.

At this point, Ryan and I had already started our side hustle as AirBNB hosts, renting out two bedrooms of our four bedroom house. Ryan had been learning more and more about real estate investing and with the increasing home prices in the Austin area we knew we wouldn't be able to comfortably invest there. If we were going to succeed at investing, we knew we need to find another market.

So...we started looking again.

I loved living in Texas, so if I was going to move again I knew I wanted it to be Tennessee. We headed out to Nashville, only to quickly discover that it wasn't going to be a cost friendly market either. It was about this time, that my best friend who was living in Atlanta, asked us, "have you thought about Chattanooga?"

Chatta-what?

We drove down to Chattanooga from Nashville and spent 1.5 days there before buying the house that is currently our home.

In November of 2023, one year and four months post moving here, we sold our Austin home and bought our second home, this time in downtown Chattanooga.

One day I'll tell you more about that first 1.5 days here (the good, the bad and the ugly) but for now know this: Chattanooga is the best decision we ever made.

On a personal, only applies to us level, my best friend ended up moving here too. AND Ryan's large extended family all lives within thirty minutes of us.

On a more broad level here are the things we love:

• the cost of living - although prices are slowly starting to rise it's still a LOT more affordable. For instance I was just back in the Bay Area and my latte was $6.50, here at my favorite coffee shop, it's still $4.50

• the median home price is still below the nation's average (at the time of writing this a quick Google search showed that the median home price in the United States was $394,000 and in Chattanooga it was $324,921. In the SF Bay Area that number goes up to a little over a million and in Austin homes are sitting right around $424,450)*

• the outdoors - situated in a valley Chattanooga is at the transition between the ridge-and-valley Appalachians and the Cumberland Plateau, both of which are part of the larger Appalachian Mountains, this makes for some BEAUTIFUL scenery and because the Tennessee River runs through it we still have paddleboarding and boating to look forward to in the warmer months

• the people - southern hospitality is a real thing. The pace of life is just a little bit slower and people do take the time to linger over conversations. We had great neighbors in Austin, but prior to that we didn't know any of our neighbors. Here in Wildwood (just 15 minutes outside of downtown Chatt) I know my neighbors, their contact information is in my phone and I know they will be there when I need them because they've already proven they are the type of people we can count on

• things are little more traditional out here - it's still okay to proudly waive your American flag, and at graduation ceremonies they sing the national anthem and say a prayer

• things are still progressive - as much as we love God and country we're also all about inclusivity. Although it's not quite as big of a melting pot as the SF Bay Area or even Austin, Chattanooga is diverse. From cultural backgrounds to who you love, all are welcome. As we look to grow our family, the last two bullet points were must haves wherever we move

If you're looking to move and are considering the greater Chattanooga area, we'd love to have you here. If you need a realtor, make sure you reach out to Ryan at 805-801-9671 or schedule some time on his calendar here.

If you're looking to move and aren't sure where you want to go yet still reach out. Ryan can help get you in touch with quality agents anywhere in the country and can maybe help you decide where a good place to call home (or invest in) may be.