Trying to understand the area (Columbia, Forest Acres: for sale, renting, how much)

[Tinidril]

We are possibly moving to the area in the next six months. From the Great Schools website, it looks like the best high schools in the area are Chapin High School, Dutch Fork High School, and Lexington High School.

What can you tell me about the local feel for these schools and the neighborhoods surrounding them?

What about the elementary/middle feeder schools?

We have boys who are academically accelerated and athletically-oriented (esp. baseball and track). Are any of these schools better than the others in academics/athletics?

Also, in looking at houses on-line, I'm very puzzled!

In Lexington, I see many 2000+ sq. ft. houses for sale under $160,000 with property taxes under $1,000. Is that right? What am I missing here? A similar house in my area would be double the price and quadruple the taxes. (Our current house is 1,200 sq. ft. and $150,000 with $4,000 in prop. taxes.)

One house we saw in Chapin was $145,000 with over $3,000 in taxes the last two years. Are there pockets of areas with higher/lower property taxes?

What do property taxes typically include/ not include that might not be apparent to an outsider? Are there other fees/taxes that I should be aware of?

A lot of questions, I know. Please help!

[Brandon Hoffman]

Taxes are 6% normally. Owner occupants get a discounted 4% tax rate. It's based on a millage rate so the non-owner occupant taxes are generally about 3X higher. That's probably the difference you saw. When you get ready to start looking shoot me an email.

[Etincelle77]

I don't have kids so I am not 100% expert on schools but I think that AC Flora (in Columbia) and Dreher High School (in Columbia) are pretty good. It depends if you guys are going to live in Columbia or Lexington or wherever.

There are also some private schools that would cater to your accelerated son's needs. I don't know how much you can afford. I used to teach in a private school and if some kids left due to money problems, they would usually go to Crayton Middle School - also a good school.

There are a couple private schools here in Columbia - the main two are Heathwood Hall and Hammond. Heathwood is the most expensive - High school is probably 10K a year. Then there is Cardinal Newman High School.

It might be worth it driving/flying down here and visiting several schools in one day to get a feel for them...they can make everything sound awesome on paper, but the little things you see while actually visiting is what makes the whole picture...like do you see kids walking around during class for no reason...do teachers correct kids if they are running around etc. Is the school clean? Is it loud? All of that.

The house prices will vary even within the same general area...my friend lived in a house that sold for around 150,000 and just down the street where they were trying to renovate and make it look better - they were trying to sell 3 houses at over 250K.

The neighborhoods are interesting in Columbia to say the least - you can have a decent street and one street over is awful. You shouddl also come by before buying/renting something and check the neighborhood out during various hours. Shandon in Columbia is considered very safe and family friendly as well as Forest Acres (it's technically a city but it's in Columbia).

:-)