Jobs in Greenville area (Spartanburg, Anderson: real estate market, broker, big house)

[ShabbyChick]

We are looking to relocate from Michigan, possibly to the Greenville area. We are considering both Greer and Taylors for our home. Our requirements are:

A safe, quaint and charming town. We want antique shops, great restaurants (chinese, mexican, PIZZA!), GOOD grocery stores, farmers markets, town square, festivals, and a Walmart or Target are a MUST! We'd also love a mall, Lowe's (or Home Depot), book stores, ice cream shops, cafe's, coffee shops. We don't want to HAVE to go into Greenville to get things. We are looking for a town with Christian values, we are Baptists.
We have 4 kids (1 more on the way), so we want parks and plenty of fun things to do with them. Sidewalks for strolling in town, FRIENDLY people, a bed-and-breakfast type of town where people sit on their porch swings and chat with their neighbors. We HATE subdivisions and want a big house (2,000 sq. ft.+) with a big yard for around $185,000. We will send our kids to private Christian school, but want to be in an area with very good schools for resale purposes. My husband is a real estate broker with Re/Max, but is open to other opportunities, so a very good job market is imperative, along with GOOD pay! I am a SAHM, so only his income, which is around $100k here in Northern Michigan (dependng on RE market!). I have read that Greer's job market and pay are very poor. Is this the case?

Questions:

1.) If my husband HAS to work in Greenville in order to find a good job and pay, how far of a commute is it (honestly) each way? If you say it's 20 miles, that doesn't sound so bad, but if it takes AN HOUR in traffic that's what we want to know. Both from Greer and Taylors.

2.) Has anyone moved to this area from Michigan? Share your experience!

3.) Which town (Greer or Taylors) sounds like a good fit for our needs? Or, does another town in the Greenville area seem more to our liking?

4.) IF we decided to live right in Greenville would we love it or hate it, based on our criteria?

Thank you so much for your help!

[Skyliner]

You may want to post this in the Greenville-Spartanburg subforum.

[Frankie117]

Greer is more of a bedroom community now. Most of the industrial jobs are located on the Southern and Southeastern portions of the city and suburbs. Greer is a nice community, but the traffic and smog can be nasty. The Real Estate business was doing well in the Greenville area, but not so much any more, the reason is probably more about the fact that there are a LOT of Realtors in the area.

Pay is considerably lower than the national average anywhere in the South you go, but houses are cheaper, cost of living is cheaper, etc. so it all comes out in the wash.

[Skyliner]

The real estate market in Greenville is still steady compared with the national average, as has been the case for many years. Greenville fared very well during the last national economic decline, and appears to be holding strong during this one as well. It is definitely as safe as any market in the state.

[southerngentleman]

Greer/ taylors along with Mauldin and Simpsonville are really more areas of greenville that separate towns. You go drive to all of them depending on where you need to go. They all sort of flow into on another. Greer and taylors are for practical purposes the same. Greer has a downtown taylors does not!There are several Baptist in the Taylors/Greer area of all persuasions. The head of the Southern Baptist convention is the pastor of the big church in taylors,there are tons of independents thanks to BJU and then there are the Christian exodus people( I don't really have much nice to say about them, so I won't say anything, besides it's too easy). There are several mass merchants all over the area,so you will never be too far from one.I don't know about the price of homes in that area and size range,Skyliner is good for those questions.And as for the Job market in Greenville I have no Idea,I own my own company,and work all over the US except Greenville .

Best of luck, I hope you do well!

[ShabbyChick]

southerngentleman-
Thank You! The church we are looking at is in the Greer area, and housing there looks nice and within our range. Can you tell me if there is a Walmart, Target, good grocery stores, etc. in Greer? Being that it is SO close to downtown Greenville, we can go there for most anything else, but want to at least live where there are stores in our area. We are NOT Southern Baptists, or Bob Jones people. What are Christian exodus people? I've never heard of them. Why are they bad?

[g-man430]

There is a Target, Walmart, several grocery stores, etc. in Greer. That's nothing though compared to this: Land owners want Greer to annex their properties | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News It will be 1.3 million square feet in size when completed.

[southerngentleman]

Originally Posted by ShabbyChick

southerngentleman-
Thank You! The church we are looking at is in the Greer area, and housing there looks nice and within our range. Can you tell me if there is a Walmart, Target, good grocery stores, etc. in Greer? Being that it is SO close to downtown Greenville, we can go there for most anything else, but want to at least live where there are stores in our area. We are NOT Southern Baptists, or Bob Jones people. What are Christian exodus people? I've never heard of them. Why are they bad?

There are Walmart,staples,target petsmart.panarra,Chickfila,....in Greer,and it is a quick drive to others. Christian Exodus.. Basicaly there view is to take over the government or leave the country...Google them,they are scary!

[Skyliner]

As scary as a tiny handful of delusionary individuals can be, but since they have made absolutely no impact locally (who even knows where they ended up?), I am sure that they will quickly move on to another location, assuming they have not already done so. They were originally targeting Anderson, but I have heard nothing about them since they were talking about the move. Basically, they are not worth even mentioning.