Columbia Questions........ (West Columbia, Cayce, Irmo: sale, houses, safe area)

[DadofTwo]

We are planning a mive to Columbia this summer..........when our house sells here......i will be teaching in the Columbia area .....

First question .... looking for info on Irmo, Cayce, Camden ....how is the community ... homes , etc. We must find a good neighborhood and good home on a teacher's salary.We will have a good downpayment from the sale of our home, but we hope not to go over 125,000

Second question ..... we need a good dance school for our daughter, she will be five and is just beginning but we need a good school ..... how is little league in the area ....

Third ---- we will also be looking for a good church home , preferably a more contemporary S. Baptist church with excellent children/family ministries ....

Also, if you want to give tips on good places to see and things to do...i am a history teacher and will look to that ... but what else is there .. and what about good restaraunts -- local places....

Thanks for your help.......

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by DadofTwo

We are planning a mive to Columbia this summer..........when our house sells here......i will be teaching in the Columbia area .....

First question .... looking for info on Irmo, Cayce, Camden ....how is the community ... homes , etc. We must find a good neighborhood and good home on a teacher's salary.We will have a good downpayment from the sale of our home, but we hope not to go over 125,000

Second question ..... we need a good dance school for our daughter, she will be five and is just beginning but we need a good school ..... how is little league in the area ....

Third ---- we will also be looking for a good church home , preferably a more contemporary S. Baptist church with excellent children/family ministries ....

Also, if you want to give tips on good places to see and things to do...i am a history teacher and will look to that ... but what else is there .. and what about good restaraunts -- local places....

Thanks for your help.......

First off, welcome to Columbia. You can get a nice home in many areas of Columbia for $125,000 or less. I'd start out with looking for a job and then making a decision about where to buy a home in case you wouldn't want a long commute. The overall schools in the greater Columbia area are ranked 9th in the country for MSA's with 100,000-250,000 students so you should be able to find a good school to teach in. As far as restaurants are concerned, you can find most something of most cuisines here without too much trouble. I eat out all the time so if you tell me what types of food you like I can make some recommendations.

I know that little league and dixie youth baseball is big in our area as well as American Legion and college baseball at USC. I don't know alot about the churches or the dance schools. Maybe someone else can help with those.

I have photos of alot of area neighborhoods on my website. Most of these are in-town neighborhoods, but there are some suburban neighborhoods in there too. Good luck.

Waccamatt's page ·

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by DadofTwo

We are planning a mive to Columbia this summer..........when our house sells here......i will be teaching in the Columbia area .....

First question .... looking for info on Irmo, Cayce, Camden ....how is the community ... homes , etc. We must find a good neighborhood and good home on a teacher's salary.We will have a good downpayment from the sale of our home, but we hope not to go over 125,000

Second question ..... we need a good dance school for our daughter, she will be five and is just beginning but we need a good school ..... how is little league in the area ....

Third ---- we will also be looking for a good church home , preferably a more contemporary S. Baptist church with excellent children/family ministries ....

Also, if you want to give tips on good places to see and things to do...i am a history teacher and will look to that ... but what else is there .. and what about good restaraunts -- local places....

Thanks for your help.......

Irmo would be good. There are great schools, dancing, sports, etc. Big new Baptist church, Riverland Hills Baptist Church on Lake Murray Blvd. Seems very popular. Friarsgate subdivision is a nice leafy subdivision with houses in your price range. Nice safe area for kids.

[Margaret Bangs]

I'm also relocating to Columbia, but my sons are grown. If you go to Realtor.com & enter a zip code it will show you houses in the area. Irmo/Harbison is 29212 approx 20-30 minutes outside downtown Columbia. Cayce is 29033. Cayce closer to town. Irmo is extremely family oriented with tons of activites. You can simply Google Irmo, Saluda Shoals Park. You can also Google Columbia chamber of commerce for a list of church web sites. If my boys were still young I would definitely head to the Harbison Irmo area for a healthy safe Christian environment. All areas are pretty good but it seems like Harbison/Irmo is what you're looking for. The State which is the local newspaper is on line.

[sandlapper]

I would say Irmo or Lexington would be what you are looking for

[DadofTwo]

Thanks for all the inof ...we do like irmo...we were there back in march... but what about cayce, we have seen afew homes on line there. thanks.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by DadofTwo

Thanks for all the inof ...we do like irmo...we were there back in march... but what about cayce, we have seen afew homes on line there. thanks.

Cayce is an older suburb, which also is very affordable. It is closer to downtown, including the Vista and Five Points areas, but the schools aren't rated as highly as in the Irmo area. You can probably get more house for your money in Cayce or West Columbia (next door), though.

[GoPadge]

I graduated from Dreher (class of 88) and lived in Rosewood at the time. If we move back to the Columbia area, we'd start looking in Shandon/Rosewood or Forest Acres. We prefer the more eclectic style of homes found in those areas over the suburban landscape of Irmo. Cayce has some nice neighborhood, but the schools (at the time) didn't have as good of a reputation as Irmo or Dreher.

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by DadofTwo

Thanks for all the inof ...we do like irmo...we were there back in march... but what about cayce, we have seen afew homes on line there. thanks.

For all the things that you listed - you would probably enjoy Irmo or Lexington. Might find better prices in Lexington, with very good schools.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by GoPadge

I graduated from Dreher (class of 88) and lived in Rosewood at the time. If we move back to the Columbia area, we'd start looking in Shandon/Rosewood or Forest Acres. We prefer the more eclectic style of homes found in those areas over the suburban landscape of Irmo. Cayce has some nice neighborhood, but the schools (at the time) didn't have as good of a reputation as Irmo or Dreher.

I totally agree with you, but his price range would leave out Shandon and Forest Acres. There would be a few places in that range in Rosewood, however. I'm in the Earlewood area and there are some houses there in that range, but the schools don't have as good a rep.