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Just starting to look online at Aiken for retirement in 3/4 years . When viewing homes in the Aiken area , North Augusta pops up alot and the prices look more reasonable . Is North Augusta not as desirable , for whatever reasons , crime , location , than Aiken ? Is North Augusta located totally within South Carolina vs Augusta Georgia ? I do plan on visiting soon
You are on the right track. My opinion is that North Augusta is not as desirable a location as Aiken. Aiken has the nice downtown, more retirees, larger community, etc. Aiken is more of it's own self-sustaining small metro while North Augusta is more a small town that could be considered a suburb of Augusta, GA. This of course means that if you live in North Augusta that you are closer to Augusta which is a major Georgia city and offers more than Aiken.
North Augusta is completely located in South Carolina and separated from Augusta only by the width of the Savannah river. It has some nice areas as well as some not so nice and is pretty reliant on Augusta for shopping, healthcare, and jobs. Innovator hit it on the head when he described it as a suburb of Augusta. You can have Augusta amenities with South Carolina taxes. Not a bad deal.
Aiken is a huge draw for retirees. I have just discovered this in the last year while doing some work there. Woodside Plantation Country Club is pretty much a retirees dream. Gated community, 2 golf courses and 1100 members (almost exclusively retirees from all over the U.S.) . I highly recommend you visit Aiken. Nice downtown area. It is also a huge horse town.
Just starting to look online at Aiken for retirement in 3/4 years . When viewing homes in the Aiken area , North Augusta pops up alot and the prices look more reasonable . Is North Augusta not as desirable , for whatever reasons , crime , location , than Aiken ? Is North Augusta located totally within South Carolina vs Augusta Georgia ? I do plan on visiting soon
I live in Aiken and would never live in North Augusta. Aiken has LOTS of retirees. North Augusta doesn't. Visit both and see what you personally think.
North Augusta does have more crime. It's closer to Augusta so they may get some from that. And no North Augusta is not as desirable as Aiken. They're VERY different.
Aiken does have a decent amount of shopping. For what we're lacking, you can go to Augusta (which also doesn't have everything) or Columbia (which has more than Aiken and Augusta, but not as much as Charlotte or Atlanta).
It all depends on what you're looking for. Like I said, there's a significant portion of Aiken's population that is retired. If you're into horses, this is the place for you! If you want to live in the city, a condo, an apartment, a townhouse, in a development on 1/4 of an acre or 5 acres, we've got it all in Aiken.
I've lived/worked in Aiken and worked in North Augusta. I grew up and lived in Aiken again after college. Aiken has way more amenities than what NA can offer. Both are good communities, however. But for a retiree, Aiken is the destination spot. More restaurants, more shops, more retail, more (and better) golf courses. If you are looking for a bigger city feel, NA is only minutes from anywhere in Augusta. It is a good half-hour or longer drive from parts of Aiken into Augusta. Both are experiencing some riff-raff from Augusta-Richmond County coming into town, but NA is catching more of it.
I wanted to give a North Augusta market update. A very good friend of mine was transferred to Columbia last june and put his house up in July. He lives in Belvedere. He has been commuting since then. He took it off the market today because he has had only 2 people look at it. No rent offers either. He said he can't afford the commute anymore and is looking for a transfer back to NA or seek another job there. Sounds like a tough market.
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