Are there any canadians in the columbia area? (Irmo, Lexington: 2009, rent to own)

[americana2009]

Hello, my family and I are moving from Ontario, Canada to South Carolina in about 4 months. I am excited yet scared. Its a huge move for us. We are looking for a rural area that has good schools, low crime, and friendly people.

We have family in S.C. and can't wait to live by them. I am just wondering are there other Canadians in S.C. and how well did you adjust?
Thank you for your input in advance.

[jlboney]

I only know one person from Canada in Columbia, but that's just me. I am sure there are more around here.

[americana2009]

hello, my family and I are moving to the Columbia area and I was wondering if it is a huge culture shock to move from ontario to sc?

I love the idea of living in such a beautiful place with such nice people but in the same breath its kind of scary moving so far away. We have two daughters and I know its going to be quite the change for them but they are kids and Im sure they will adjust.
I'm also excited about having no snow or atleast very little. Our move is taking longer than expected due to the immigration process so I'm hoping we are there by Oct.
thanks

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by americana2009

hello, my family and I are moving to the Columbia area and I was wondering if it is a huge culture shock to move from ontario to sc?

I love the idea of living in such a beautiful place with such nice people but in the same breath its kind of scary moving so far away. We have two daughters and I know its going to be quite the change for them but they are kids and Im sure they will adjust.
I'm also excited about having no snow or atleast very little. Our move is taking longer than expected due to the immigration process so I'm hoping we are there by Oct.
thanks

Unless you're moving to a small town you won't have much culture shock; the cities have more in common with cities in other areas than differences.

[jlboney]

I can't really say one way or the other about the culture shock, I'm afraid I've never been to Canada. But I can say that if you move to Columbia, it's not likely you'll have to deal with snow very often at all.

[americana2009]

We are thinking about a small to medium community, somewhere where people are friendly and community oriented, and of course good schools.

We really don't want urban we are looking at a more rural setting. Columbia is about the same size as the city we are living in now. Not sure how the crime rate compares to each other but our city we live in now is growing quite rapidly and we want more of a small community. We are not concerned about living in an area where everyone knows our business, because our business isn't that exciting.

The areas I am interested in are: Irmo, Lexington, Blythewood, and Gilbert.

We are coming down at the end of August for a week to look around and actually see the areas first hand.
We also have to find a home to rent for 6months to a year and check out schools too, that is going to be quite a challenge in itself.
Thanks

[jlboney]

Any of the areas that you mention above would be good areas. Richland 2 schools in Northeast get high marks, and Blythewood is in Richland 2. In fact they are currently building a new Elementry School on Langford and the plan to build a new high school on Turkey Farm Rd as well. Blythewood also will allow you to be in a rural setting that's close to shopping and dinning. Irmo, while it has a lot of shopping and dinning, is not exactly what I would call rural for the most part. Lexington, depending on where you are, and Gilbert on the other hand would be.
The best advice is to come down and take a tour of all the areas and see what feels the best for you.

[SCFriend]

Originally Posted by americana2009

We are thinking about a small to medium community, somewhere where people are friendly and community oriented, and of course good schools.

We really don't want urban we are looking at a more rural setting. Columbia is about the same size as the city we are living in now. Not sure how the crime rate compares to each other but our city we live in now is growing quite rapidly and we want more of a small community. We are not concerned about living in an area where everyone knows our business, because our business isn't that exciting.

The areas I am interested in are: Irmo, Lexington, Blythewood, and Gilbert.

We are coming down at the end of August for a week to look around and actually see the areas first hand.
We also have to find a home to rent for 6months to a year and check out schools too, that is going to be quite a challenge in itself.
Thanks

Without hesitation I would recommend Irmo and Lexington. There is more diversity in Irmo and less in Lexington. It just depends on what you are looking for. Irmo and Lexington have excellent schools. Gilbert is still very small town even though they are growing. All the best!

[americana2009]

Thank you all this information is greatly appreciated.

We are coming down for a week at the end of August hopefully to check things out.

We have to rent for probably 6 months because coming from Canada we don't have an established credit rating in the u.s. and my husband will be starting a new job. I dread that because in Canada our credit rating is 780 and 760. I'm sure everything will work out though. I was thinking about the whole rent to own thing but I'm sure the interest rate would not be worth it. Who knows?

Im just wondering how hard it would be to rent a house because we have 2 labrador Retrievers. They are both very well behaved and crate trained (Nothing like Marley and Me. LOL) I'm thinking if I'm willing to put and extra deposit it might be acceptable.

We've only owned and never rented so all this is pretty new to me.
Thank you again