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The posts in this forum have helped me tremendously over the years and I'm hoping to get some help with a possible move to the Greenville-Spartanburg area. I'm a single mom of two little boys and currently live in South Florida. I grew up in Maine and have also lived in Raleigh, NC and El Paso, TX (and easily found things I enjoyed in all of them). I am comfortable in both rural and city areas, and currently live in a suburb 15 minutes from Ft Lauderdale. While there are a lot of things about FL I like, I just cannot afford to stay here any longer. The rent is astronomical and the schools are not very good compared to the ones in Maine. I will be driving my oldest son to a charter school 40 minutes away every day this year so he can get a decent education (without having to worry about the teachers physically hurting him). He is in ESE for speech and language and has an IEP. Having a good public and/or charter school for him to go to is going to be important.
Before anyone says "go back to Maine", obviously I have already considered that option. However, aside from the intense winters and not-so-low cost of living, my family even says I should move somewhere more central (like the Carolinas). My ex-husband's family all live in FL but far away, so they don't see my kids much anyway. The ex is in the Army and deployed so I am already completely on my own down here with no real reason to stay. Most likely wherever I end up moving he would probably move there as well once he gets out of the Army (we have a very good relationship as co-parents so that is not an issue).
As a single Mom I am on a pretty tight budget and am fine with living in a really small place as long as it's in a safe area. I am used to the crime in FL but in the area I live now it is very safe. I love what I've seen and heard of Greenville, and have also heard good things about Greer and Spartanburg. I am wondering if Greer is the most convenient being between the two cities? My three main requirements are low rent, safe neighborhood and good schools. I don't even know if this is possible, but when I looked online I did find quite a few apartments that I could afford. I don't receive any state aid, I work from home as a web designer and also teach group fitness classes (so having a gym or dance studio close by would be great too).
Are any of these apartments/areas decent or possibly have what I'm looking for? Any help you all can give me is greatly appreciated!
mefl, I live in Greenville and looked up the Grangeagle Apts on a map and it looks like a good area. Your search area is large since it includes the cities of Greenville, Spartanburg, Greer, Central,and Anderson. I hope you are planning to come here and drive around to see which area would be a good fit for you and your family.
Thanks! I plan on visiting the Greenville area before deciding to move there, but I will be pretty limited on time so I'm trying to narrow down my apartment search ahead of visiting if at all possible. I guess I was wondering if any of those areas are known for being less expensive but also has good schools? I know I can always move to another area later if I found a place I liked better but I would like to have an affordable, safe place for my kids to live to start out. I'm pretty flexible on the location other than that.
Check out the Greenville County Schools website and you can find out the schools for each apartment. Then you can also find the school report card on the same website and see if the school is good or excellent.
I should mention Greer is only 1/2 in Greenville County so you might not get the school info if the address is in Spartanburg County.
Thank you all for the detailed info! I checked out the county website and did see that most of the Apts I asked about in Greenville have less than desirable schools assigned to them. Do any of you know about the Reynold's Square Apts in Greer? The school there is Crestview Elem and has a better rating. Those Apts are also very reasonable and include a washer and dryer in the units instead of just hookups or coin laundry. Is the Tabor Lane area in Greer a pretty safe neighborhood? I will also take your advice and call a few and see what they're really renting them for, because some list a range of $688 - $1,945 for a 2 bed, 2 bath. That's quite a huge difference in price.
Thank you all for the detailed info! I checked out the county website and did see that most of the Apts I asked about in Greenville have less than desirable schools assigned to them. Do any of you know about the Reynold's Square Apts in Greer? The school there is Crestview Elem and has a better rating. Those Apts are also very reasonable and include a washer and dryer in the units instead of just hookups or coin laundry. Is the Tabor Lane area in Greer a pretty safe neighborhood? I will also take your advice and call a few and see what they're really renting them for, because some list a range of $688 - $1,945 for a 2 bed, 2 bath. That's quite a huge difference in price.
Mitchell Road elementary is a good school on the Eastside of Greenville. Here's some places that are close to it. I'm not really sure what kind of budget you have, but you might want to check these out:
A good area for you to check out would be Mauldin in general. We like Mauldin because it's somewhat central to the Greenville area (downtown only 8-9 miles away), more affordable than some areas, good schools, and just a decent area to live in. No, it's not particularly pretty for the most part. It is more of a "crossroads" part of the area. Access to 85 & 385 is generally easy/good, and you can avoid *having to* use Woodruff Rd for daily getting around.
The Mauldin elementary, middle, and high schools are all considered good and it isn't crazy-expensive to live somewhere zoned for them.
There are apartments near me called Gleneagle that we considered, but we ultimately rented a townhouse instead. They seemed fairly nice and also reasonably affordable, though.
There are also duplex apartments here in Mauldin called Ashmore Bridge Estates. Maybe check them out. It's a busy corner/road but very handy to lots of stuff.
Mitchell Road elementary is a good school on the Eastside of Greenville. Here's some places that are close to it. I'm not really sure what kind of budget you have, but you might want to check these out:
Thanks so much for all of these great suggestions, I will check them out!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthByMidwest
A good area for you to check out would be Mauldin in general. We like Mauldin because it's somewhat central to the Greenville area (downtown only 8-9 miles away), more affordable than some areas, good schools, and just a decent area to live in. No, it's not particularly pretty for the most part. It is more of a "crossroads" part of the area. Access to 85 & 385 is generally easy/good, and you can avoid *having to* use Woodruff Rd for daily getting around.
The Mauldin elementary, middle, and high schools are all considered good and it isn't crazy-expensive to live somewhere zoned for them.
There are apartments near me called Gleneagle that we considered, but we ultimately rented a townhouse instead. They seemed fairly nice and also reasonably affordable, though.
There are also duplex apartments here in Mauldin called Ashmore Bridge Estates. Maybe check them out. It's a busy corner/road but very handy to lots of stuff.
GL searching!
Thank you! I haven't researched Mauldin yet so I will definitely look at that area as well.
A good area for you to check out would be Mauldin in general. We like Mauldin because it's somewhat central to the Greenville area (downtown only 8-9 miles away), more affordable than some areas, good schools, and just a decent area to live in. No, it's not particularly pretty for the most part. It is more of a "crossroads" part of the area. Access to 85 & 385 is generally easy/good, and you can avoid *having to* use Woodruff Rd for daily getting around.
The Mauldin elementary, middle, and high schools are all considered good and it isn't crazy-expensive to live somewhere zoned for them.
There are apartments near me called Gleneagle that we considered, but we ultimately rented a townhouse instead. They seemed fairly nice and also reasonably affordable, though.
There are also duplex apartments here in Mauldin called Ashmore Bridge Estates. Maybe check them out. It's a busy corner/road but very handy to lots of stuff.
GL searching!
Gleneagle is further down W. Butler Rd than I believe the Mauldin school zone stretches. If you can't get into Mauldin schools from Gleneagle I'd advise you to look elsewhere. I believe there is a group of rental units on Fowler Circle just off W. Butler Rd. that is very close to Sunset Park. I'll try to get the name of it next time I go that direction.
Also in or near Mauldin on Bethel Rd. is a complex called Lexington Place. I have no information on these units. I once knew someone that was going to move there but didn't. Might be worth checking out.
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