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Update: We're probably looking for 3-4 BR house for around $150,000, less if it needs a lot of work but is in a great neighborhood. For a rental, we'd like to keep it under $1,000 per month. Thanks again.
Looks like we'll be moving from Memphis to Columbia this summer. My husband's office will be near Providence Hospital Northeast (is this the Northeast part of town?), while I'll be working out of the home. We have two daughters, ages 4 and 5, so good public schools are very important.
We plan to rent a house first, for six months to a year, while we get to know the city and settle on the right area and home for us. My husband is pretty handy and used to work in construction, so we hope to find a fixer-upper--worst house in a great neighborhood--that we can remodel/repair while living in a rental home.
We can wait on finding the right home to buy, but because we have elementary-age children, I'd prefer to find the right area of Columbia before we move. Ideally, we won't have to transfer them from one school to another.
We hope to find something very similar to what we have in Memphis. We live inside the city limits, a short commute to work, five minutes from the school (we serve on the PTO and volunteer there frequently) in a well-established and diverse neighborhood. Our school is about 40 percent white, 40 percent black, 15 percent Hispanic and 5 percent other.
We're near all the city amenities, like nearby restaurants and shopping (I prefer Target to the malls), public parks, walking and riding trails, etc. Our well-built house was constructed in 1955, and we live on a 1/4 acre lot in a small subdivision with a decent-sized backyard for the kids to play. Our street includes families with young children as well as retirees and newly married couples. I love it here and hate to leave, but I'm looking forward to discovering all Columbia has to offer.
We're pretty liberal-minded, frugal (in a good way) and non-religious. We're white but diversity is very important to us. We're also "older parents," now in our early '40s with young children. We don't like cookie cutter neighborhoods or suburbs with lots of restrictions. We prefer neighborhoods and homes with character.
That's probably WAY more information than you need, but I appreciate you getting to cyber-know us. What area/neighborhoods/subdivision do you suggest? Thanks so much.
Last edited by lisake; 04-01-2009 at 12:00 PM..
Reason: Update
Looks like we'll be moving from Memphis to Columbia this summer. My husband's office will be near Providence Hospital Northeast (is this the Northeast part of town?), while I'll be working out of the home. We have two daughters, ages 4 and 5, so good public schools are very important.
We plan to rent a house first, for six months to a year, while we get to know the city and settle on the right area and home for us. My husband is pretty handy and used to work in construction, so we hope to find a fixer-upper--worst house in a great neighborhood--that we can remodel/repair while living in a rental home.
We can wait on finding the right home to buy, but because we have elementary-age children, I'd prefer to find the right area of Columbia before we move. Ideally, we won't have to transfer them from one school to another.
We hope to find something very similar to what we have in Memphis. We live inside the city limits, a short commute to work, five minutes from the school (we serve on the PTO and volunteer there frequently) in a well-established and diverse neighborhood. Our school is about 40 percent white, 40 percent black, 15 percent Hispanic and 5 percent other.
We're near all the city amenities, like nearby restaurants and shopping (I prefer Target to the malls), public parks, walking and riding trails, etc. Our well-built house was constructed in 1955, and we live on a 1/4 acre lot in a small subdivision with a decent-sized backyard for the kids to play. Our street includes families with young children as well as retirees and newly married couples. I love it here and hate to leave, but I'm looking forward to discovering all Columbia has to offer.
We're pretty liberal-minded, frugal (in a good way) and non-religious. We're white but diversity is very important to us. We're also "older parents," now in our early '40s with young children. We don't like cookie cutter neighborhoods or suburbs with lots of restrictions. We prefer neighborhoods and homes with character.
That's probably WAY more information than you need, but I appreciate you getting to cyber-know us. What area/neighborhoods/subdivision do you suggest? Thanks so much.
Based on where your husband is going to work (yes, this is part of Columbia NE by the way) and your desires, you can easily find a place to live 5-10 minutes from the hospital in one of the better school districts in the area - Richland 2. The demographics are likely to be similar as to what you are accustomed to as well. The one problem is, a lot of the newer neighborhoods in the NE are very much 'cookie-cutter' types as this area has really taken off the past decade or so w/many new developments. You may have to venture out into Blythewood (which is still on 10-15 minutes from Providence NE Hosp. & part of Richland 2 SD) to find a custom built house on 1/4 acre of land. Not saying you couldn't find this in a NE neighborhood, just it will probably be a little easier to in Blythewood. There are a lot of shopping opportunites out in the NE now as well including a Target (altough Wal*Marts are more prevalent). You may also want to consider Forest Acres as it is a more established community that you could probably find a fixer-upper easier, and still wouldn't be much more than 10 minutes to Providence NE, you'd be much closer to downtown, and it feeds into one of the better Richland 1 SD high schools (know that's a ways down the road for your girls), AC Flora.
Great info, thanks so much. I've been reading about Forest Acres and it sounds like what we're looking for. Rather than custom build, I think we'd like to renovate and/or expand a home in a well-established neighborhood.
I didn't mention in my earlier post, but we LOVE lots of tree cover (surrounded by grand Oaks here). One thing I DON'T love about our current home in Memphis is that it was built in the "backyard era" of the 1950s, when front porches were a thing of the past. Are there any nice (circa 1920s) neighborhoods with big front porches?
You may want to take a look at communities around Northeast Columbia. Long Creek Plantation may have some homes within your range that are not cookie cutter. There are tons of communities around that will allow you to be close to schools, the hospital, shopping, dinning, and not too far from down town if you want to head over there.
Hi there, I feel some of your pain. We are moving from Richmond to Columbia this summer also. We have 8 and 11 year old children so schools were our very first priority. We have been so fortunate to have lived in one of the very best school districts in VA. I did a lot of digging into the schools as we sought diversity along with an excellent education. However, diversity to us means that everyone is represented; that ethnicities are equally found. We didn't want the kids to be the only white kids in their class anymore than I would want to see only one black (or any other race) child in their class. We have found that Richland 1 district seems to have the best mix along with a range of programs. We are also renting for the first year or two to build up funds for down payment. We concentrated our efforts in Forest Acres/Arcadia Lakes, Lake Katherine, Forest Hills, Heathwood and Melrose Heights. This area tends to be houses built 1940's-60's primarily. There are older houses closer to downtown but they are on very tight lots and some don't go to the better schools in district. We found a rental under 1000 in Forest Acres that we made a deposit on (my husband is already living down there). It's a brick 1950's rancher, 2000 sf, fenced yard w/ swingset. We are also going for fixer upper when buying, we previously owned a 1920's four square and we want to go back to an older model too! Good luck with everything. Feel free to respond directly to me if you want more info on the research I've done.
Last edited by 8t9vt; 04-01-2009 at 07:09 PM..
Reason: forgot a neighborhood
Hi, I am relocating with my family to the Columbia SC area 29223, possibly. I see that you mentioned that your husband has already moved in to the apartment. If you don't mid, can you give me the website or name of a Realtor or property management team who may have helped you guys. We are moving this Summer and we are looking for a place similar to what you are describing. I have done some research on the elementary schools and they seem a lot better than the ones we have in NJ.
Thanks so much to all of you for all the great advice.
Wow, 8t9vt, sounds like we're in very similar boats. My husband would move to Columbia ahead of us for a couple of months while my daughter finishes out the school year and I get us ready to relocate. I'm back and forth about renting vs. buying at first, and a lot would depend on whether we could sell our home in Memphis.
The Forest Acres/Arcadia Lake area sounds perfect for us. Have you researched the schools there? I'm just beginning to look. After spending kindergarten in the perfect school in Memphis, I'm devastated at the idea of leaving and I'm worried but hopeful about finding the same thing in Columbia. Like you, I'm very concerned about diversity in schools and "all the children," not just my own.
I may write you for more specific advice/suggestions/research when I know more.
My husband has lived in an apt in 29223 for 7 mos and been very happy there. However, me and the kids stayed here in VA to finish the school year. Richland 2 has excellent schools but we felt that Richland 1 offered more programs and was more similar to our school district here in VA. 29223 feeds to some good schools but we were looking for a greater level of diversity, more 50/50, if you will, black/white versus 80/20 or even 90/10 as it is in some of the Richland 2 schools.
As for property management I continually checked and called the following:
We're moving to Columbia soon as well, and I am extremely thankful for technology making house hunting a lot easier. in addition to the sites you checked, use frontdoor.com, and make liberal use of maps.live.com, where you can get excellent views from the air, as well as Google earth. We had several houses on our list get crossed off because we were able to see the area, the neighborhood, in some cases traffic.
Does anybody know what jobs are available in Columbia. As I stated before, I plan to become a teacher, but in the meantime, I have court experience (superior court of NJ)/Administrative/Clerical. My husband has a transportation background. Please let me know if there is any advise on jobs.
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Jobs in columbia
