Decision time re Columbia - please help? (Sumter, Irmo: middle-class, condos)

[FL-NP]

I'm a FL nurse who has been offered a position at the VA in Columbia and will be facing a decision over the next few weeks of whether to take that job and move there from Jacksonville, FL. Yikes this is scarey as I've never done an out of state move! I've been trying to research Columbia on the Net over the past month, but there are some things I just can't see to find or really access. Husband is self-employed and this move would mean starting over for him....he's in PC repairs/networking, etc. 90% of his business comes from a Yellowpages advert. Can any Columbia locals tell me when the phone books come out up there each year....and does anyone have a feel for whether Columbia could use another PC repair guy or whether there is already a ton of competition in this regard?

I have also been trying to research areas for a place to live. Anyone know of some decent areas/zip codes that wouldn't be too far to commute to the VA on Garners Ferry? I'll be visting Columbia for a few days in a couple of weeks, but it would sure help if I had some potential homes to look at before coming up and I don't really like to rely on the opinions of a realtor who only wants to sell me anything he can....always better to get info from impartial locals!

Thanks for the help.....this forum will probably become my lifeline over the next few weeks as I face this tough decision!

[GoPadge]

Actually the neighborhoods around the VA hospital are quite nice. A nice mix of middle-class and above, especially south of Garners Ferry road.

[SusannaK]

I agree, there are a lot of really nice homes in a range of prices right next to the VA hospital. I'd suggest avoiding the newer housing developments past I-77 toward Sumter, though. We had some friends living in one of those and they said it went downhill really fast. If you want to be closer to the middle of the city, 29205 is a really nice zip code.

There are some PC repair people in town, but these days there's always room for one more.

[anonymous]

I'd agree with both of what they said; a good friend of mine bought an inexpensive house in that area behind the VA around Hammond School, and it's been a great neighborhood. I think he mentioned that the public schools weren't the best, though. And I agree that you don't want to go farther east down 378/76 (Garners Ferry Road).

Forest Acres is a nice place, generally with good schools. Anywhere close to Forest Drive/Trenholm Road area should be a good place to live. Shandon (between Rosewood and Devine) has some cool older houses, but more expensive. You could live farther out, in Northeast Columbia, Irmo or maybe over in Lexington. You could probably get a bigger lot for less money.

I don't know much about the PC Repair market in Columbia, though.

[FL-NP]

Thanks so much for the good advice about neighborhoods close to the VA. Can any of you locals tell me when the phonebooks/yellowpages typically come out each year? June or July maybe like here in Florida?

Oh, can anybody comment on the neighborhood or area known as "downtown/midtown"? Is it a safe neighborhood, or perhaps a neighborhood in transition at the moment?

[Akhenaton06]

There are several neighborhoods in and around downtown: Arsenal Hill (my favorite), Elmwood Park, Cottontown, Wheeler Hill, Olympia, etc. All of these are pretty safe neighborhoods.

[GoPadge]

One word of caution, Olympia borders Williams Brice Stadium and the State Fair grounds. During gamedays and the fair, traffic can be quite heavy and there can be a rise in property crimes. Also Olympia was originally a mill town, most of the homes and some of the people reflect that heritage.

(Not that it's a bad thing, but that there is room for conflict, especially when "old-world" mentalities cross with "modern" building developers.)

[SusannaK]

A lot of new development is going on downtown right now, mostly condos. The city center is not very big, though, so you might want to check on what they're calling "downtown." It could mean anything from the Vista out to Shandon and Rosewood.

The new phone books come out in February.

[mettler]

I found this the other day....might be the wrong age group, but anyway

MySpace.com - Columbia, SC - 103 - Male - COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - www.myspace.com/columbia_sc

[CarolinaSouth803]

^^^^

That's the unofficial page for columbia.....the cvb actually made a myspace page

MySpace.com - Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau - 33 - Female - Columbia, South Carolina - www.myspace.com/visitcolumbia

and a face book page

Columbia, SC | Facebook

and the phone books in Columbia come out in February each year...