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Why don't you buy in a city neighborhood instead of a subdivision? Then you'd have no HOA fees.
Being from out of town and having limited time to look when we do come to town - Can you maybe suggest some areas to look - I'm thinking maybe Forest acres may be a city neighborhood but not sure....Would definitely love a neighborhood with no HOA fees.
Will also ask the realtor about city neighborhoods with no Hoa fees
if you work near Lexington or somewhat near downtown Lexington is doable. Nice town area but one way in and out . So traffic can suck which is why I didn't move there since I work in the northeast anyhow. Also Lexington's greatest asset is lake Murray but that's expensive to live it unless you get a community dock or something.
Irmo traffic is bad too. Once again it's about commute and the lake Murray . Chapin is further out and more traffic if you have to go downtown. Northeast has pretty nicely planned highways and they are expanding i77 , Clemson, and hardscrabble . They recently expanded i20.
woodcreek is out of budget. Even for me it was. Forgot to take that into account.
Cobblestone might be too, could find some resale homes maybe.
I'd go to forest acres if hoa is not your thing. Nice area some older houses
Being from out of town and having limited time to look when we do come to town - Can you maybe suggest some areas to look - I'm thinking maybe Forest acres may be a city neighborhood but not sure....Would definitely love a neighborhood with no HOA fees.
Will also ask the realtor about city neighborhoods with no Hoa fees
Forest acres is a separate town from Columbia. Most of forest acres is just neighborhoods and in general is a nice and family oriented area and a very active community.
Being from out of town and having limited time to look when we do come to town - Can you maybe suggest some areas to look - I'm thinking maybe Forest acres may be a city neighborhood but not sure....Would definitely love a neighborhood with no HOA fees.
Will also ask the realtor about city neighborhoods with no Hoa fees
Do you know what part of town you'll be working in? Also, what else do you want close? Restaurants? Bars? Retail?
Just want to throw out there, sometimes the HOA can help. I live in Lake Carolina, they had to start mowing a neighbors yard because they just stopped doing anything. Looked horrible until then.
Sometimes that is all we have to clean up some of the foreclosed properties around here.
The Section 8 homes over near Hobart Rd even have some with boarded up windows. They don't have an HOA and you can tell. People parking cars on the front lawns. Just sad.
There are otherwise nice neighborhoods here, but if no HOA, the backyards turn into parking lots. On Lee Road near Publix, there is a trashy yard filled with Fords. Congrats on buying American, but you could find another place. Doesn't even have a fence.
Over on Rymer Pond, we have a group of very nice house, but no HOA. So, we had cars in the backyard, and for a while chicken wire style fencing. Just looked horrific. I feel bad for the people that live near them.
Can't speak for other neighborhoods in Northeast but I currently live in Wildewood section 7 right off sparkleberry road. The HOA is quite affordable at $175 per year. That covers the signs at both entrances and the dam maintenance. I also used to live in the southeast area (behind the VA hospital on garners ferry) where there was no HOA. Both have neighborhoods have their specific advantages. I personally like NE much more.
I plan on relocating to Columbia in May and buy a house but all the neighborhoods I visited have HOA fees $600 and up a year that pretty much do nothing except maintain the common areas and street lights like Lake Carolina and Longcreek - you have to pay an additional fee to access the community pool from what I understand. Does anyone know if there are nice subdivisions that don't have HOA fees or lower fees?
Also, I don't understand why the HOA fees would cover street light maintenance, doesn't the utility company charge a street light fee? If so seems like I would be paying double for the same thing.
The approx. $600 yearly fee at Lake Carolina is a bargain. We have extensive common areas including the miles and miles of paved walking trail w/gorgeous landscaping, huge well-maintained village green, playgrounds, pocket parks such as the one across from the fountain and sunset park overlooking the lake w/swings, a dog park, tennis courts, great wild trails that go along the shore in the woods (trailhead in Harborside across from the village green), the Lake House (they have the oyster roast here and you can book for special events), plus the hoa covers an event coordinator who helps organize our triathlon, giant yard sale in spring & fall, oyster roast, wine tasting, summer block party, weekly farmers market, etc. When we have a bad storm like a few days ago the landscaping team is out collecting debris and taking care of downed trees by 7:45 am -- let me know when you get that type of service in the in-town neighborhoods. You do have to pay $400 IF you want to join the pool at LC, but we have two beautiful pools open from May to Oct. 30 with weekly maintenance visits to keep them in great condition.
Please remember that in Lake Carolina your taxes will be around $1600 on a $200,000 house while they will be much much higher in Forest Acres or Columbia proper.
Just want to throw out there, sometimes the HOA can help. I live in Lake Carolina, they had to start mowing a neighbors yard because they just stopped doing anything. Looked horrible until then.
Sometimes that is all we have to clean up some of the foreclosed properties around here.
The Section 8 homes over near Hobart Rd even have some with boarded up windows. They don't have an HOA and you can tell. People parking cars on the front lawns. Just sad.
There are otherwise nice neighborhoods here, but if no HOA, the backyards turn into parking lots. On Lee Road near Publix, there is a trashy yard filled with Fords. Congrats on buying American, but you could find another place. Doesn't even have a fence.
Over on Rymer Pond, we have a group of very nice house, but no HOA. So, we had cars in the backyard, and for a while chicken wire style fencing. Just looked horrific. I feel bad for the people that live near them.
I've gotten GREAT advice from everyone that has posted to my HOA question so basically need to decide what is a good fit for us.
Lake Carolina is a beautiful master planned community with some nice neighborhoods but some of the HOA fees were upwards of $1000+ according to our realtor - the more the homes were in certain neighborhoods the more the HOA fees.
If we were looking for good schools for our kids and had pets - Lake Carolina would be a good fit for us but our kids are adults, we have no grand kids or pets and the HOA fees don't do what I need them to do for us maintain our personal yard in addition to the common areas and street light maintenance and not have to pay extra for the community pool.
I've been told the patio home communities includes doing the home yard maintenance and pressure washing the homes once a year as well as maintaining the common areas and street lights so will focus on looking at these type homes the next visit.
The approx. $600 yearly fee at Lake Carolina is a bargain. We have extensive common areas including the miles and miles of paved walking trail w/gorgeous landscaping, huge well-maintained village green, playgrounds, pocket parks such as the one across from the fountain and sunset park overlooking the lake w/swings, a dog park, tennis courts, great wild trails that go along the shore in the woods (trailhead in Harborside across from the village green), the Lake House (they have the oyster roast here and you can book for special events), plus the hoa covers an event coordinator who helps organize our triathlon, giant yard sale in spring & fall, oyster roast, wine tasting, summer block party, weekly farmers market, etc. When we have a bad storm like a few days ago the landscaping team is out collecting debris and taking care of downed trees by 7:45 am -- let me know when you get that type of service in the in-town neighborhoods. You do have to pay $400 IF you want to join the pool at LC, but we have two beautiful pools open from May to Oct. 30 with weekly maintenance visits to keep them in great condition.
Please remember that in Lake Carolina your taxes will be around $1600 on a $200,000 house while they will be much much higher in Forest Acres or Columbia proper.
I was very impressed with the miles of walking trails in this community and Lake Carolina Blvd, the main road that leads to all of the neighborhoods but feel I need to explore other areas because, our realtor has only introduced us to the Northeast side of town which I love but, think I'm going to check out Forest Acres along with other communities people have mentioned in their posting. I don't know what the in town city neighborhoods looks like because we don't know where they are. Our realtor is sending me some new homes to view in other areas so hopefully the next time we are in town we can decide on a home to buy. Our property taxes were almost $2000 on the home we just sold a couple months ago so as long as we can buy a home with taxes about the same we will be happy.
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