Possible relocation to greenville (North: sales, 2014, houses)

[Ericcartman22]

Hello everyone, my family and I have been wanting to move South Carolina for the last 10+ years. It may finally happen.

Of course we have many questions, I have searched on all of my questions and curiosities however sometimes it is nice to talk to actual people.

First and foremost is property taxes. I have been looking at houses 180-240k and checked on public tax records what the taxes were for the whole YEAR and I'm finding anywhere from $1000-$1300. Is that for real?? Or a joke? My property taxes are almost $6,000 a year and I'm not sure what to believe.

Second is we live very far up north and do not have problem critters like copperheads, rattlers, recluses, scorpions, black widows etc. Are these a frequent issue? I'm looking at property's that are 1 acre+ within a 10 miles radius of Greenville, we have many dogs and have been wanting to build a giant fenced in area so they can all run and play but we worry that they might get bit by something and we won't know.

Also Mosquitos are HORRIBLE up here after 5-6pm and I have a bad allergy with them, how bad are the Mosquitos down there? Do they come out before 5pm? I will also add I'm looking at property's that are not near any type of standing water.

Does anyone know what the job market is like for a senior recruiter/ talent acquisition manger?

Those are my questions for now, thanks in advance everyone.

[esd087]

Great to hear you are considering moving here - almost everyone in Greenville is proud of where we live!

- Taxes: yes, that is for real. Our house is <$130k and we pay roughly $800 a year in property tax. There was a time when I was looking into a job up north and started researching cost of living, and noticed the exceptionally high taxes in comparison to SC.

- Critters: just about the only thing that's relatively common IMO are copperheads and spiders, but even at that it's not something to worry about. We rarely if ever see snakes.

- Mosquitoes: they can be bad but no worse than what I've experienced up North.

[myrc60]

Taxes are real as long as the property is now owner occupied and will be when you buy! Seniors get an additional deduction on total taxes. We pay less than $700 on $130k home with that senior deduction (in our case its a disabled deduction tho).

If you care about mosquitoes find out if the town you plan to settle in sprays for mosquitoes. Some don't do that! I'm not sure if Greenville County has a plan for it either.

You'll definitely see a different variety of bugs down here. Winter kills off a lot of bugs up north each year. If it doesn't freeze good and hard down here more bugs will have a longer life.

[TaterBritches]

The taxes are real, but if not owner occupied they do go waaay up. But you also don't get the same level of government services, and the public education rates way lower also.

Copperheads will change your outdoor experience. If you're used to enjoying the woods without having to constantly look for venomous snakes, you will be in for a surprise. Copperhead bites are painful and not to be taken lightly, but if you keep alert you should be able to manage. A property near any kind of water seems to be more attractive to them.

We do have the Tiger (striped) mosquito that has moved up from the coastal region over the past few years. It bites in the daytime as well as at night, and seems to be less affected by DEET repellents than the common variety mosquito. Not fun.

[Ericcartman22]

That is wonderful to hear that property taxes are low.

I should add that my type of work requires working outside all day, so it seems I won't be able to avoid the nasty pests and mosquitoes.

Is it common to find venemous pests in your yard? Garages? I feel the thing I am worried most about is one of my dogs getting bitten.

Also from what I have gathered there is not a vehicle safety inspection but you have to renew registration and also pay taxes every year? Does anyone know if pickup trucks (ex. F250/f350) require special commercial license plates like we have up north?

Thanks for the responses so far everybody.

[flgargoyle]

I carved a hole in the woods, and have been building my own house for three years, so I know a thing or two about critters! Mosquitoes have been a non-issue during the day, and even at night they are much less numerous than my native CT. I've seen a total of three snakes; none poisonous. We do have ticks; some years worse than others. I barely saw any until this year. We have little scorpions, but I haven't been stung yet. I've found a few black widows in their usual places like wood piles. I do use bug spray when working in the woods. We have a LOT of hornets/wasps/yellow jackets. They are all over the place, but I rarely get stung. Still, it's rather stimulating when you're 20' up a ladder and you stir up a wasp nest!

BTW- My brother lives in northern VT, and pays $16K a year in taxes on a fairly average house!

[Ericcartman22]

Thanks for your response gargoyle, doesn't seem too bad. I will also note that we have those tiger stripe Mosquitos up here anyway so I'm already acquainted with them, everything else will be new to us.

[Pgh33]

My family and I just moved here in June from Pittsburgh and we love it. The property taxes are indeed very low. However, you need to be aware of the personal property taxes on vehicles. When buying a vehicle, the sales tax is capped at $300. You do pay an annual personal property tax instead and depending on the cost of the vehicle it can be quite significant. It is based on the value of the vehicle. As an example, I own a 2014 BMW X5 and just paid $800 this year. Now, this will go down every year as the FMV of the vehicle goes down. On our other vehicle, which is a 2013 Nissan Armada, we paid around $400. Income tax is about double what we paid in PA so it all about washes out in the end. Lower property taxes but higher income tax along with the personal property tax. I do feel we got a lot more house for our money than we did up north.

Hope this helps!