Lexington & Chapin Area-NEED Info on area Please? (Columbia, Charleston: relocating, real estate)

[Can'tWaitToMove]

Hi all

What a great forum!

Can anyone please tell me about the Lexington and Chapin area? Have 2 little ones and 1 in high school. Coming from the north. Have visited, but, feel the more info we have the better off we all will be

How are the schools?
People I have found to be very very nice!
Finding work in medical and professional field, Is it difficult?
Area(s) in general? ppl, traffic, stores, restaurants, crime, etc.?
Weather in general?

Anyone deal with DR Horton builders? Happy? any regrets? anything you would have done differently? Any hidden things to be concerned with? Any info. would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, I have made a few trips there last yr and was very happy with what we experienced, however, never enough time, would LOVE anyone's input and their experiences living, bringing up children, and how their moves were/are? Happy? Any regrets? What would you do differently?

Thank you all so very much - can't wait to hear back

[salatheel]

Greatschools.com can give you some insight into the schools. They rate them from 1-10 higher being better. Lexington and Chapin are all 9 and 10 which is excellent.

[Chi2Midlands]

I moved to the Columbia area 2 years ago and hopefully my answers will help:

First things first: AVOID DR HORTON LIKE THE PLAGUE. My house was built by them, and to make a long story short, the local Columbia division is terrible. They have some good people, and other divisions may be better (my wife's cousin has a DR Horton-built home near Charlotte, NC) but our overall experience was awful. Our house is not falling down, but the process was too painful to explain, especially with a pregnant wife during the entire ordeal. Stick with word of mouth if you can on a builder - a good real estate agent can be a start. I've heard Essex Homes SE aren't bad. I would shy away from Shumaker and Mungo.

"How are the schools?" - Lexington and Chapin have very good public schools. Lexington (the town and vicinity, not the whole county) is in Lexington District 1, and Chapin is in Lexington-Richland District 5. Both are excellent school district.

"Finding work in medical and professional field, Is it difficult?" - The short answer is no, it should not be difficult, especially with the growing Lexington Medical Center and fast-growing suburban areas around Lexington & Chapin. That being said, I would encourage you to find a job first before permanently relocating down here. While the Columbia metro area is a decent job market, I would not expect to have a job drop in your lap like in other, faster-growing areas of the country (such as DC or parts of Florida). Have the job lined up first, and then move, is my recommendation. But as a professional you should not have too much difficulty - this is a largely white-collar town.

"Area(s) in general? ppl, traffic, stores, restaurants, crime, etc.?" People are very friendly, as you say. While people in and around Columbia are more career-oriented on balance, this being South Carolina, don't be shocked or offended if you are asked "What church do you go do?". Overall, we have a good balance of Southern hospitality and upwardly-mobile professionalism.

Traffic is not bad at all, especially compared to larger cities like Atlanta, Houston, DC, LA, Boston, etc. However, we do have rush hour (though shorter than bigger cities), and there are pockets of congestion, such as between Irmo and downtown along I-26/I-126 and between Lexington and downtown (along US Routes 1 and 378).

In terms of stores, we have all the basic big-boxes and chain restaurants common around suburban America, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Lowe's, Petsmart, etc. There is Macaroni Grill, Pizzeria Uno's, Applebee's, Olive Garden, etc. Fast casual is here as well: Panera's, Atlanta BreadCo, Moe's Southwestern Grill, etc. There is some local chain flavor such as Lizard's Thicket, Sticky Fingers, D's Wings, FATZ Cafe, Rush's, etc. Lots of BBQ places, from mom-and-pop to small local chains.

We have one "premier" suburban mall near Irmo (Columbiana Centre, on Harbison Blvd, where many big-boxes and chain restaurants orbit it). Dutch Square is an older mall between Irmo and downtown Columbia. Other malls include Midtown at Forest Acres, Columbia Place, and the Village at Sandhill, all on the east side of town in Richland County. In time, there may be some mall or large retail development on the Lexington/Red Bank, perhaps with more subdivisions being built, but no concrete plans announced by anyone yet.

Crime - don't let the stats shock you. Yes, crime is relatively high in and around Columbia. However, I should point out that much of the crime is not "random" violence, but domestic disputes and other crimes between acquaintances limited to certain pockets. That being said, we do have occasional incidents in shopping parking lots, but common sense should help (don't go alone to a Wal-Mart at 2am). A lot of people move to Columbia from out of state, and obviously there are enough good reasons otherwise to stay here. And the Lexington and Chapin areas are among the safest in metro Columbia. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Weather - overall I like the weather. People will complain about the heat and humidity in the summer, but from my short experience, it's only about 2-3 weeks in July/August where it's truly unbearable (like 95 degrees and 95% humidity at 5 or 6pm!). You will appreciate it more in the fall and winter. October is a gorgeous month - morning lows in the 50s/60s, afternoon highs in the 70s/80s. If you truly feel oppressed by the local temps, you can escape to the mountains of Upstate SC and western NC, about 2-3 hours away. Even in the summer, the beaches can be hot but with pleasant ocean breezes - Charleston and Myrtle Beach are 2-3 hours away as well. Winters can be cold (it's been as low as 18 here recently, but that's unusual), but usually stay above freezing for most of the day. Snow is very rare, but ice/sleet is a bit more common. Nevertheless, you will almost never have to worry about shoveling your driveway to get to work.

[Millay]

I grew up in Chapin. The schools are excellent, not just on paper, but in reality. The lake offers plenty of entertainment, and enroll your kids in the recreation league or the community theater.

I haven't lived there in a good ten years, but I hear it's growing like mad.

My one warning: sometimes, when you tell people where you live, they'll assume Chapin is full of snobs. Yes, there has been a big influx of outsiders to that area and the socio-economic profile is vastly different from other regions in the state, but overall the people are congenial and nice, not snarky.

And Irmo is now so big there's no reason to go all the way to Columbia anymore. Just jaunt down 76 through Ballentine and you can find everything you need in Irmo.

Good luck!

[Lucky parent]

Lexington 1 schools are great unless your child has special needs. Brewer home builders is a custom builder who is among the best.
The owner attends Willow Ridge Church as do many healthcare professionals for local area.

[mof29212]

Was involved with schools in this area. Moved away in March and would move back in a minute, if I could. If you have not moved and have any questions for which you have no answers, you are welcomed to email me.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Chi2Midlands said it very well. I would add that Chapin is a smaller town, very quiet, with fewer students in the high school than either of the Lexington schools (White Knoll or Lexington HS). Lexington will probably be a little close to most of the health care facilities where you might find work.

Lucky Parent, how can you back up your claim that Brewer Home Builder's is among the best? Clearly you know them personally, do you have stats or information to back up your claim, or do you feel that they are a good builder simply because they go to church with you?

[Newmom2B_08]

We are looking for a starting house, my husband and I recently got married. We are thinking about MUNGO homes, we are so close to take a decision, the house looks great, but I was reading some bad comments about that builder and now we have some doubts. Is someone there with any comments about MUNGO?? Please let us now.

[Tommy1981]

I just posted in another post about Mungo. They're a very established company and they have products targeted at just about every market segment (price range from ~100k to well over 500k).

If you're looking for a starter home, I'd say they're probably a good place to start if you plan to move in 5 years or so. Their lower end houses are nice enough, but the neighborhoods that have <200k houses have them crammed into the place with very small lots. Hunters Mill is in a particular bad location because its so close to the airport that you hear planes taking off all the time.

I also toured Persimmon Grove which is further out towards Lexington. Its newer than Hunters Mill and won't have the airplane problems, but the lots are still small and seem crammed in. There are several builders in a combined development in Persimmon Grove, so there would be more variety there than in a Mungo ONLY development, although the different builders have their own streets, so you won't see a Mungo home next to a Hurricane home, but they're just the next around the man made common-area pond they built.

I have friends that just bought a Mungo home in Chapin and they really like it. I guess its best to say Mungo has a diverse product line, and its hard to make a generalization about the company as a whole. Go look at their different neighborhoods to see what you think. There will be a good bit of variety from one to the next.

[Larsbee]

I think both Lexington and Chapin are great areas to live. I went through the Lexington 1 School District System (Lex Middle and High) and graduated less than 10 years ago. If you are looking for a new home, I would go with Shumaker Homes. They are a local builder that pays a lot of attention to QUALITY and customer service. They recently have started to build "Green" homes in a community in Lexington called Wellesley. I myself didn't buy a Shumaker Home a few years ago when I purchased my current home but have been thinking about moving again and they, to me, seem the best out of the choices of builders in the Lexington area. I would shy away from the national builders - I know Beazer has annouced that they are leaving Columbia and Charlotte and have had friends who have had bad experiences with KB Home and DR Horton. Mungo is pretty good, but in their lower priced home series, the walls have a texture to them (instead of being smooth).