I've been to Greenville. Many years ago for an interview when I was in grad school. I didn't get the job, but I don't think it would have been a good fit. We've looked at houses in Huntsville, didn't think the home value was there anymore. So much of this is what you know, what your used to. I was born in NYC and lived in NY for the first 35 years of my life (except 2 years grad school in NC). My wife lived her entire like on Long Island until we moved to Cleveland in 1996. I am a quintessential NYer in a lot of ways, good and bad. I worked my formative years on a trading desk and now consult for a hedge fund/betting syndicate so I'm pretty Type A. It's why I love this hobby. When I'm working on DIY or playing with gear I've got nothing else on my mind. It's so immersive for me. My wife is much more laid back but she likes a certain pace to things as well. We flirted with Chattanooga after seeing the Songbirds guitar musuem documentary. If people haven't seen, that it is an amazing movie.
I've come to the conclusion that we will have to pay 10-15% more for a property than it's worth in my estimation. Having worked on a mortgage trading desk I have a pretty good feel for how to value residential real estate. Unfortunately these days houses trade like meme stocks rather than based on their intrinsic worth so I am just going to have to not focus on over-paying and think about how cool it will be to set-up new listening rooms. Hopefully with new audio friends I meet wherever we end up.
p.s. Tennessee is bad for me from a tax standpoint because my incomne comes from a sub-S and Tennessee doesn't recognize those. I still like Nashville though because of all the live music.