Looking to Relocate to the Area and need Input

[waccamatt]

Waccamatt, what do you mean when you say the state legislature is a pain?


As Akhenaton said, the legislature's hard-headedness about moving the confederate flag to a museum is one, the fact that South Carolina is one of only a few states without comprehensive hate crimes laws is another, the fact that the legislature spends most of their time "majoring in minors" is relevant, also. IMO, they're more interested in showboating than progressing our state into the 21st century.

[Brandon Hoffman]

First off let me say I don't give a flip too much either way about the confederate flag. It used to mean one thing, certain people have changed the meaning of the flag in today's society (mostly the people who fly it in their yard, paste stickers all over the their trucks, and also the NAACP has contributed). I personally have no problem with a Civil War monument on the capital ground because it did shape the course of our state and is part of our history. We did, after all, fire the first shot in the Civil War.

In regard to hate laws, I don't know enough about what we have and other states have to make an educated statement or even offer an opinion.

[Ceezer]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Columbia is far from being "of similar stature" with Jacksonville, NC or Marietta, OH.

In that example I used Sumter as a reference, not Columbia. Sumter is very similar in size and demographics to Jacksonville. And it's similar to Parkersburg/Marietta except for crime.

If you can find Coberg milk in Sumter for $3/gal I'd like to know where. Coburg is the only brand we'll drink because everything else smells like salty pretzels, feet or just plain funky.

There's several things I like about Columbia, I'm not bad-mouthing it. It may appear that way because I listed more negatives than positives, but some of the positives had already been stated and I wasn't going to repeat them. I would do the same for any place I've lived because I'd rather give a true unbiased description to someone than try to play it up or down.

I've been around a bit and in my experience the costs of living are higher than they should be. Heck, my buddy bought a brand new build in Clayton/Garner, NC (Raleigh suburbia) and for only $20k more he got nearly twice the living space than the 20 year old place we bought in Dalzell. The house he owned when he lived in Charlotte was just a bit smaller than ours (by 150sqft, I think) but substantially cheaper (almost half what we paid). That is a severe unbalance.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Ceezer: There's more that goes into the price of the home than sf. Was there land, where was the location, how much demand is there in that particular location, what was the construction material, upgrades, you get the picture....

As far as Sumter, I don't know the market but I know there is a lot of base housing. Is this possibly the reason things are so high? If you have a decent rental sufficient demand will drive the prices up. Perhaps there's less availability in Sumter than the other places you mentioned. We do have a branch in Sumter and the prices seem very affordable for buying but I don't know about rentals.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by Ceezer

In that example I used Sumter as a reference, not Columbia. Sumter is very similar in size and demographics to Jacksonville. And it's similar to Parkersburg/Marietta except for crime.

I apologize for the misunderstanding.

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by Ceezer

our rent was $375/mo. we currently pay about $6-6.50/gal of Coburg and $11/can of Folgers), gas is sometimes as much as $.25/gal more than it is in places like Parkersburg, WV.

I think you need to get your glasses changed!