May be relocating to Columbia, SC (North: for sale, foreclosure, HOA fees)

[Chickymama]

My husband, daughter, & I may be relocating from Pittsburgh, PA to Columbia, SC this fall. We are looking at several neighborhoods/School districts but are very interested in Lake Carolina. Do any of you know what it is like living there?
Thanks for your help!

[Brandon Hoffman]

Hey, I can tell you about that area. Lake Carolina is a bit unique because they designed the subdivision in several price points plus they have shops and general stores within the community. Lake Carolina is a great community and has great schools. It is very popular and it's a buyers market right now. BTW, my wife is from Murraysville and has mroe family in McKeesport (spelling?). I've been to a few Pirates games and 1 Penguins game. We'd love to have you join us in Columbia. When is your anticipated move date?-Brandon

[joemorrisbuilders]

yes, lake carolina is a very beautiful part of columbia... shopping and schools is great over in that area. if you are interested in a home contact joe morris builders! we've been building for over 35 years now. we can build all over the columbia area.

[ciara27]

I currently live in Lake Carolina and sadly must say that I will be moving in 5 months. I received a job offer in Raleigh.

Lake Carolina is a great place to live. It is a neighborhood like no other. We have great schools, shops, restraunts, coffee shop, ice cream shop, a lake, police station, and a new YMCA all right inside Lake Carolina.

The landscape here is great. Lake Carolina spends over a million dollars a year on landscaping. And once you drive through the front entrance past the lighted fountain you will see why.

During the summer months on a Friday evening you will find most residents sitting in the park on their lawn chairs with kids running around everywhere waiting for the movie to start. About once a month in the summer we have movie nights at the park. It is great. But I believe the best time of the year here in Lake Carolina is Christmas. All of the streets are lined with lights, ribbons, etc.. We also have horse and carriage rides during the Christmas season.

If you do move to Columbia I would suggest Lake Carolina as the place to live. Like I said in my opening, I am leaving for Raleigh but I will miss the Lake Carolina community.

[JERSEYIAN]

We Are Moving To Lake Carolina From Wayne, Nj. We Love It Homes Are Very Affordable And The Area Is Very Trendy And Growing Rapidly.

[CarolinaSouth803]

Here's the actually website to Lake Carolina.....


Lake Carolina - Homes for Sale in Columbia South Carolina


it's beautiful and you'll enjoy the area.....wonderful schools, seclusion and scenery...

[NancyM]

I was considering Lake Carolina but my budget is 125k, and the homes there in my budget seemed a little bit small compared to other subdivisions in NE Columbia. I did look at a few homes in my budget and they are very cute, but again, a bit smaller and don't have much of a yard. But, if the ammenities are as great as you all say, I may have to reconsider!

[psim01]

We have lived in Lake Carolina for Two years and at first were so excited about The Lake. The excitement soon wore off after speeding cars and people with Loud music overflowing from their cars were never taken care of. In our neighborhood alone 4 children have almost been hit and this is by the residents. Several neighbors have called Lake Carolina association ( that we pay $600 dollars a year for,) about the speeding problem and were told they could not and would not do anything about it and that we all needed to call the Lake Carolina police dept. We all took turns calling thinking the more complaints the better the result. We found out first off that yes the Lake has a dept. on site but it is not just for The Lake and they are very busy. The police dept. actually said they would patrol the neighborhoods when they could but that in order for a real solution to happen a child would have to be hit before any of us would see a change. The other option was to go door to door and petition for speed bumps, the officer said good luck with that because the bumps cause the alignment to go off so most people would say no. So far all that the $600 hundred association has paid for are flowers and some trees. Most rules are not enforced, and when friends have talked to the association about the neighbor with 2 cars parked on the front lawn and one in the drive way bringing your property value down they were told to go over them selfs and ask them to move them and then if they don't they will do something. Our neighbors across the street have called on the fact that some one lets their pit bull out every day and lets it do its business on his yard and then leaves it. He was told to say something as well. The point of paying $600 dollars for an association is so that you do not have to get into confrontations they are suppose to handle it. Their are 6 different house holds on our street that have worked on a solution only to find if something has to be done we will have to do it our self. The ONLY positive thing about the Lake is the elementary school it is fantastic. We have lost 3 of our neighbors because they could not stand the speeding and the teens throwing eggs, paint balls, and even going into their back yards at night hanging out and leaving trash. (No they did not know them.)
Their is a long list of problems that don't seem to get taken care of, if you look up more on Lake Carolina you will find complaints similar to mine about different neighborhoods at the Lake. One neighborhood was hit bad by one of the storms knocking trees into houses and the association did nothing to help. No dumpsters or trucks to lift the fallen walls and trees until they went to WIS news. The Lake has been voted the best for 7 years now, but their allot of things that need attention that no one seems to care to fix. The faster they can get houses up and sold really is the only main concern. The down town amenities are nice when you use them but all in all our neighborhood does not think its worth the money you pay for the house and especially the association!

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by psim01

We have lived in Lake Carolina for Two years and at first were so excited about The Lake. The excitement soon wore off after speeding cars and people with Loud music overflowing from their cars were never taken care of. In our neighborhood alone 4 children have almost been hit and this is by the residents. Several neighbors have called Lake Carolina association ( that we pay $600 dollars a year for,) about the speeding problem and were told they could not and would not do anything about it and that we all needed to call the Lake Carolina police dept. We all took turns calling thinking the more complaints the better the result. We found out first off that yes the Lake has a dept. on site but it is not just for The Lake and they are very busy. The police dept. actually said they would patrol the neighborhoods when they could but that in order for a real solution to happen a child would have to be hit before any of us would see a change. The other option was to go door to door and petition for speed bumps, the officer said good luck with that because the bumps cause the alignment to go off so most people would say no. So far all that the $600 hundred association has paid for are flowers and some trees. Most rules are not enforced, and when friends have talked to the association about the neighbor with 2 cars parked on the front lawn and one in the drive way bringing your property value down they were told to go over them selfs and ask them to move them and then if they don't they will do something. Our neighbors across the street have called on the fact that some one lets their pit bull out every day and lets it do its business on his yard and then leaves it. He was told to say something as well. The point of paying $600 dollars for an association is so that you do not have to get into confrontations they are suppose to handle it. Their are 6 different house holds on our street that have worked on a solution only to find if something has to be done we will have to do it our self. The ONLY positive thing about the Lake is the elementary school it is fantastic. We have lost 3 of our neighbors because they could not stand the speeding and the teens throwing eggs, paint balls, and even going into their back yards at night hanging out and leaving trash. (No they did not know them.)
Their is a long list of problems that don't seem to get taken care of, if you look up more on Lake Carolina you will find complaints similar to mine about different neighborhoods at the Lake. One neighborhood was hit bad by one of the storms knocking trees into houses and the association did nothing to help. No dumpsters or trucks to lift the fallen walls and trees until they went to WIS news. The Lake has been voted the best for 7 years now, but their allot of things that need attention that no one seems to care to fix. The faster they can get houses up and sold really is the only main concern. The down town amenities are nice when you use them but all in all our neighborhood does not think its worth the money you pay for the house and especially the association!

As a Lake Carolina resident, I am sorry that Lake Carolina did not meet your expectations. I will say there are certain things you said that I will agree with - I think the association could have done a bit better handling the storm debris from a month ago, and I definitely think their "leadership" could have been much less condescending in their public comments (like saying "we are not a concierge service"). In other words, I think the neighbors should be the "first line of defense" in terms of helping each other out, but it would have been nice for some of those $600 HOA fees to translate into some neighborliness in terms of common-area clean-efforts.

However, I think one has to manage one's expectations and not buy into every glossy brochure or billboard ad hook, line, and sinker. We live in a community of human beings, not Madison Avenue images, so I think it's important to put things into perspective. We did not expect perfection or utopia, but we have been reasonably satisfied with most aspects of Lake Carolina. We also did our due diligence - we knew beforehand that there is no such things as a "Lake Carolina Police Dept." - we are a private residential development, not an incorporated municipality. As such, the Region 6 Richland County Sheriff's office just happens to be located in Lake Carolina, and their territory covers a large swath of Northeast Richland County, including many remote, rural areas.

We personally (in our particular subdivision, at least) have not have any significant trouble regarding loud music, cars parked on lawns, or teenagers trashing yards. That would definitely be unacceptable in my book. I'm sorry you are experiencing such quality of life problems. Hopefully you and your civilized neighbors can come together and work these problems out on your street or in your subdivision. And hopefully, if those efforts don't change things, the association can at least help out - it is of course their job, in the end, to enforce the codes, covenants, and restrictions in good faith. Persistent work and complaints in the HOA should hopefully at least result in a letter or notice to the offending parties.

In terms of speeding cars, yes, we have also had some issues regarding that. Many are delivery trucks and "outside" vehicles, but a few are also residents, but I would say the vast majority are not residents speeding. People should be aware that as a family-oriented development, kids may be playing in the streets, especially on the interior subdivision streets. However, I do say that some (although not most) kids (I am talking older ones like 10-15 years old, not toddlers) do not pay attention when playing outside and I would hope their parents would explain to them to be reasonably careful around streets and be somewhat vigilant. This is a collective responsibility in terms of the subdivision streets - the sheriff's can't patrol every street every day.

On the overall issue of getting our $600 worth in HOA fees. Yes, they are a bit high for a largely single-family development, but what you call "flowers and some trees" is actually a very large and labor-intensive landscaping effort. Those stone and brick walls, playgrounds, gold-lettered subdivision signs (which seem to have all been recently repainted), and the huge number of trees and flowers do cost money - the HOA spends $1 million a year on landscaping, and I don't sense that they only focus on one area and skimp on the rest. At times I do wish they would fix a broken lamp post or sign sooner, but on balance I think it is not bad money. Again, I would hope they they would be nicer about being a little more neighborly and friendly. They are, frankly, not as customer-service oriented as I would like - their website for paying HOA fees was not working until the last minute before the deadline, and my wife has gotten condescending tones of voices when asking questions such as pro-rating swimming pool fees for starting an annual membership later in the summer season. I do think that CC&R compliance/complaint issues should not immediately be taken to them as a first resort - I do think that things should be worked out with neighbors first, if possible. Often walking across the street is better and faster than forwarding every issue to the HOA staff, although I would hope they would be nice about it (perhaps that is what is driving the HOA complaints at Lake Carolina - their unfriendly attitude?).

In comparison, our previous 30-year-old townhome neighborhood in Northern Virginia near DC was charging $250 per quarter for a LOT less that we get at Lake Carolina. As an older neighborhood, we had to come together to help get things done, and HOA folks would often do things like paint mailbox shelters on their own dime if that's what it took. I'm not saying things were bad/expensive there and good/cheap here (we had relatively good management up there) - but the point is that we need to, at some level, work as a real community and not think our HOA fees "buys" us a "community" (I suppose some folks think they are getting soup-to-nuts services from a high-dollar HOA, but that doesn't mean avoiding talking to your neighbors first).

In the end, I realize there may be some parts of Lake Carolina that are experiencing some issues in terms of quality of life and CC&R compliant, and that our HOA could be more responsive and friendlier. But by no means would I say Lake Carolina is a big disappointment. We are happy and hope to live here a long time. It is a wonderful development overall with great amenities (the schools, as you mention, and the new Y, of course), our neighbors are for the most part great, and the HOA fees do seem to maintain a reasonable level of upkeep, appearance, and landscaping. As the new home building slows down dramatically in NE Richland and Lake Carolina, I hope moving forward that the community continues to work together and live not just as a collections of houses, subdivisions, and HOA issues.

[Splenda]

In my opinion, the HOA rules are reasonable and (so far) fairly enforced in our particular subdivision of Lake Carolina. I believe right now the sinking economy and unstable job market may be causing many homeowners in Lake Carolina to be more concerned with meeting their mortgage obligation than making sure their lawns are the correct shade of green.

That being said, my wife and I do our best to maintain our home's curb appeal - as do our neighbors. In our particular subdivision most homes have a value around $500k and the residents are good neighbors. Since I don't see many foreclosure signs around our subdivision I assume the homeowners didn't overextend themselves. While walking around the neighborhood I've learned that some are military retirees (both husband & wife) who are working GS positions at nearby bases. These military folks are seasoned at being good neighbors, having lived in dozens of homes, states, and countries (perhaps).

Other neighbors are white collar types or transplanted professionals who have lived in this caliber neighborhood before and know how to live and let live. Mercifully there are no boy racers endangering the roads and the construction crews are very respectful with their personal vehicles as they finish up the last homes in the neighborhood. Speaking of vehicles - which are somewhat of a visible indicator - newer, high-end German, Japanese and America SUVs, sedans, coupes and convertibles are prevalent in our enclave. Trucks and vans normally belong to service folks, and the beater cars belong to the construction dudes. All are out by sunset. When folks drive into the neighborhood after that, and they don't pull into a driveway - there are eyes on them.

Since our subdivision doesn't allow through traffic, everyone knows everyone else by car, making things a little safer. Friendly waves are the norm - though not written into the HOA!