Can You Split the Year Between Florida and Tennessee National?

Yes, you can split the year between Florida and Tennessee National, and the two fit together well. I-75 connects them, and the good months barely overlap.

Not everyone who looks at East Tennessee is leaving Florida. Some people like their Florida winters fine. What they want is somewhere else to be from late spring to fall. If that is your plan, here is how a two-home year works, and where it gets complicated. The Tennessee half in this guide is Tennessee National, a private, gated lake and golf community on Watts Bar Lake in Loudon, Tennessee.

Can you split the year between Florida and Tennessee National?

Yes. Three things shape the pairing.

• The road. I-75 runs from South Florida through Tampa and Atlanta into East Tennessee. Tennessee National is about 10 minutes from it.
• The calendar. The good months do not overlap much.
• Taxes. Tennessee has no state income tax. That does not settle which home is your legal residence. More on that below.

Be honest about July. East Tennessee summers are warm and humid. This is a lake at valley level, not a mountain top. You are trading a Florida summer for a lake summer with a real fall at the end. You are not trading it for cool air.

How do you get back and forth?

By car if the pets, the clubs and a trunk full of gear are coming, and by air if they are not.

Driving. From north or central Florida it is one long day on I-75. From South Florida, plan two days. Atlanta sits in the middle of the drive, so time your pass through it. Chattanooga is the last big city on the way, about an hour and a quarter from the gate.

Flying. McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is about 35 minutes from the gate. Check current routes from your Florida airport, because schedules change by season. See what airport to fly into.

The boat. Decide where it lives. If it stays on Watts Bar, ask the marina about winter storage and what winterizing involves. Tennessee National has a full-service marina with 140+ boat slips. Freshwater is easier on a boat than the Gulf or the Atlantic. No salt.

Which home is your legal residence?

That is a legal question with a paper trail, and it belongs with a CPA or an attorney, not a blog post.

The choice can turn on many things: where you vote, where your cars are registered, how each state treats a primary home for property tax, your insurance and your estate plan. Each state has its own tests. We will not guess at them.

Who to ask:

• A CPA who works with two-state households.
• An estate attorney, if your will or trust names a home state.
• The property tax office in each county, about how a primary home is treated.

Our guide to establishing residency in Tennessee explains the Tennessee side.

How do you leave a house empty for months?

With a routine and three conversations.

1. Your insurance agent. Say the home will sit empty for months at a time. Policies can treat an unoccupied house differently. Get the answer in writing.
2. Someone to check the house. Tennessee National is gated, which helps. A gate does not notice a leak. Ask what the association maintains, then arrange a neighbor or a home watch service for the rest.
3. Your builder, if you are building. Say the house will be empty part of the year. A water shutoff you can reach, a thermostat you can check from your phone and low-upkeep landscaping are easier to plan in than to add later. Homes go through design review, so raise it early.

Winters here are mild, but pipes can still freeze. Do not leave without a cold-weather plan. Our guide to lock-and-leave living goes deeper.

What about hurricane season?

Being inland from June through November is a fair reason to like this split. Atlantic hurricane season runs through those months, and a lake home in East Tennessee is hundreds of miles from the coast, on freshwater with no tides.

Two cautions. Your Florida house still needs its storm plan while you are away: shutters, someone with a key, your insurer's phone number. And inland is not weatherproof. East Tennessee gets strong thunderstorms and heavy rain, and the remains of tropical systems can reach the region. Ask an insurance agent what a policy here covers and what it does not.

What is the Tennessee half of the year like?

It is lake mornings, golf and a busy calendar, on 1,492 gated acres.

• The lake. Watts Bar Lake is a TVA reservoir with more than 39,000 acres of water and 722 miles of shoreline. Pontoon cruises, kayaks and sunset runs are part of the routine.
• The golf. One Greg Norman Signature course. 18 holes, 7,393 yards, par 72.
• The people. 22 social clubs and 180+ events a year. Ask which ones run during the months you would be here.
• The setting. A golf cart community with a clubhouse, Kendall's restaurant, a pool, pickleball, tennis and walking trails.

What drives the cost of a second home here?

Seven things: the home itself, association dues, property tax, insurance on a house that sits empty, utilities all year, someone to watch the place, and the trips back and forth. Get each one as a real number before you commit.

How you own matters too. There are five ways: The Timbers (wooded homesites), lake homesites, waterfront homesites, Land & Home packages and townhomes. A smaller home is less to leave behind. There is also no deadline to build after you buy a homesite, so you can buy now and build when the plan is firm. Pricing is in the info pack.

The honest trade-offs

You will own two of everything. Two insurance policies, two sets of utilities, two sets of doctors. Ask your health insurer how coverage works in both states before you sign anything.

You will be part-time in two communities. Friendships take longer when you leave for half the year.

The drive is long, and summer is still summer.

So test the rhythm before you buy it. Spend a week here in July and a week in October. If you want a longer trial, see renting near Tennessee National before you buy. And if you end up wanting one home instead of two, our guide to planning a full move over a year lays out the steps.

Facts about Tennessee National come from the community. Lake facts come from TVA. Rules, taxes, loans and insurance change, so confirm anything that affects a purchase with the right office or professional before you buy.