Apartment Suggestions (Columbia: apartment complexes, neighborhoods, schools)

[aequos]

I need a bit of help from some natives in choosing an apartment.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1 bedroom/ 1 bath

NE area (I'm working for Richland 2 schools starting in the fall)

Reasonable rent, I'm a teacher after-all!

Quiet-ish if possible.

Here's what I've done:

Checked out your forums

Poured over "Apartment Guide"

Scoured Craig's List

Visited what I believe to be a decent spectrum of apartments
Fairways -> Crowne Lake -> Carrington Place and a few others that were not open at the time I visited.

Here's what I need from you:

Places you've heard fit my loose criteria

Places to stay away from

Places to revisit

Best values

What I'll give you

My undying thanks

[Chi2Midlands]

aequos - the apartment complexes you mentioned seem to be decent ones (apartmentratings.com seems to be good site to start gauging them - of course it's always good to visit). Carrington Place is near the Wildewood development which is a very nice, safe, upscale neighborhood, has the large county Polo Park & recreation facility across the street, and is very convenient to highways, major roads, and shopping. The other two complexes seem to be nice in their own right (i.e., high-quality, self-contained, and safe) and are extremely convenient to highways/roads, but I'm not 100% sure of their surrounding neighborhoods (as you get closer towards the city in NE Richland/Columbia, you may hit some patches sketchier neighborhoods, but you can only really tell if you drive around the vicinity of the apartment complexes).

The places you listed are all very convenient to most Richland 2 schools, and especially if you will be near the district headquarters and some of the older, more established school facilities. If you are willing to move a bit further out (towards the newer schools and neighborhoods), I would recommend the Reserve at Lake Carolina on Hard Scrabble Road. The surrounding area is very safe and quiet, although you may hit some traffic congestion during rush hour and school entry/exit periods.