Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Comunistafornia, and working to get out ASAP!
1,962 posts, read 5,197,785 times
Reputation: 951
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLRich
Well Mark depending on exactly where you want to live it may take more than a day or two here to get the feel..." Etc. Rich
Agreed. I guess the roads will be somewhat of a challenge when we get there for the scouting trip. We're used to 4-6 line highways and the cities being on a grid. Will take some getting used to.
We were in Virginia 4 years ago and the road between Richmond and Williamsburg was great! no traffic, nice road surface, easy on/off. It was the same case between Richmond and Charlottesville.
Do not get me wrong, this is no Orange Co. or Tuxedo NY type of community every place you go. You do have 3-4 lanes on I-77 and 2 lanes on 521 which are some major N-S routes in the Fort Mill, Rock Hill area, even more lanes further north in Charlotte. I-77 is another I-80 as you would see in NY/NJ. Your E-W routes though are a different story unless you are in town then it's just stop and go light to light traffic. Most are 2 lane country roads that I can't wait to get on with my Harley once the move is complete, right now everything except for my 2 suitcases are back in FL!
Growth is coming fast to Fort Mill, a lot of building wherever you go in the way of homes, condo's and roads. When one road is complete another road get's torn up, reminds me of home. The locals seem to deal with it quite well, it means that the property values are going up.
Great thread, just wanted to thank everyone for their info I've been absorbing lovethecarolinas you seem to be a wealth of knowledge for the local area there, I'll probably be sending you a PM soon to pick your brain.
Do not get me wrong, this is no Orange Co. or Tuxedo NY type of community every place you go. You do have 3-4 lanes on I-77 and 2 lanes on 521 which are some major N-S routes in the Fort Mill, Rock Hill area, even more lanes further north in Charlotte. I-77 is another I-80 as you would see in NY/NJ. Your E-W routes though are a different story unless you are in town then it's just stop and go light to light traffic. Most are 2 lane country roads that I can't wait to get on with my Harley once the move is complete, right now everything except for my 2 suitcases are back in FL!
Growth is coming fast to Fort Mill, a lot of building wherever you go in the way of homes, condo's and roads. When one road is complete another road get's torn up, reminds me of home. The locals seem to deal with it quite well, it means that the property values are going up.
okay FLRich...once you get settled in....I got some roads for you to check out...just please wear a helmet.
Settled in ? I sure hope so, I hate moving. I am sitting on my couch here in FL among dozens of dozens of boxes. I flew down on Friday night and am seeing the moving truck off in the morning. I'll spend a few days at my Mom's house with the wife and kid till' Saturday and do a marathon drive to Rock Hill. Can't stop since I will have a bunch of stuff in the bed of the wife's pick up and am afraid of having it stolen, too much of a risk for a 12 hour or so drive.
This is just the START to the end. I also need to meet with real estate agents about a hour north of here since I have 2 brand new investment homes that have not sold in months. The market is bad and my agent that I have now STINKS! Then on Friday I got to get to the closing of this house and close that chapter. It's a bit painful, our first home and a lot of good memories that have been tarnished by some really sleezy buyers. We were going to blow them off but no other choice than to deal with them since the market has reached a 10 year all time low in the past 6 months here.
Well enough venting... hopefully I can relax in the next month or so back in SC for a bit and find little to no cost activities for the wife and kid to do up there. We are going to be broke renting 1 house there and paying for 2 brand new vacant ones down here!!
TO FLRICH...I am also relocating from Palm Beach County
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLRich
OK maybe I can help a bit, not much but it seems I am 2 steps ahead of you, here some background.
I just transfered 2 weeks ago to our Charlotte office and am responsible for locations from the Charlotte airport to Lancaster SC, quite a bit south of Fort Mill Rock Hill. I have been living out of 2 suitcases in NE Charlotte and have just checked out of the hotel and am on my way to a "Corporate Studio" (furnished older apartment) for about a month in Rock Hill. I came from the West Palm Beach / Jupiter Florida area and was/have been very shocked with crime which is a concern of mine having been a Deputy and having a wife and 6 year old back home on their way here in Mid-July.
Fort Mill is a up and coming town, and getting overpriced. I think the entire real estate market nationwide will keep it a bit under control but it's still going up. People like me who have 3 homes to sell and are selling for below value or NOT SELLING AT ALL will keep prices SOMEWHAT in control overall. Fort Mill is mostly a new community with central areas that has what people need. Schools are rated very well and as I sit here at the car dealership waiting for my truck they are talking about the Fort Mill 6th Grader at the national spelling bee. If you like to live close to the city and have a nice but small property Fort Mill is nice and worthwhile for a nice steady appreciation value. Homes are clean, cookie cutter types mostly in developed communities not my style but it may become my style soon by need.
Since I have no family here (other than by phone) and I have very little money to spend (got a move coming up and 2 NEW investment homes in FL that are not showing let alone receiving offers after 3 months with $2K payments yeach a month!) I do a lot of driving to learn the area. What I have learned is that crime is very widespread even outside of the city but it seems to be in pockets. This was a new way to think for me since in SE Florida you need to look for the crime areas and here it is more like you need to look for the good areas, different way to think! If you are looking for crime areas back home you go to the cities and then find the bad areas of town. Here it seems to be that you do not need to go to big cities, even small towns have crime ridden areas. I don't want to scare you but it's what shocked me based on where I came from. All that is different is that you need to know where to go and where not to go.
In Fort Mill this is not as much as an issue as it would be in Rock Hill, Charlotte or even in small town Lancaster. Tega Cay and such have no run down or high crime areas that I have been able to find everything seems quite new and really quite expensive, even for me where 1.25 acres of land is selling for $280K in a DEAD market!
OK I rambled on enough but that is a view from a fresh set of eyes. I am really interested in hearing from others also that live in the area that can add to my findings or more information. Even though I am checking into a small studio today I will need to be renting a home by July1st waiting for the moving company and my family to arrive. Still not sure what I can find and afford during these difficult times in the real estate market. I sure don't want to have ANOTHER morgage to deal with so I guess I will be a renter for the first time in my life!
Rich
Hey there. My husband and I are relocating to Baxter in the spring of next year. I am a Florida Native currently living in Delray Beach. We are leaving for the obvious reasons (we need a new, bigger house but cannot afford one here-tourists-retirees-etc.) We are quite excited and I wanted to know how you and your wife have adjusted.
Hey Jackiev,
I just came back down from Fort Mill, we have old family friends who retired in Baxter and their kids live in the Lake Wylie area. Great area you are able to move into. I wish I could say we could afford Baxter but we did find something nice for less close by. Now we are on the road to putting our place on the market and my parents also. We live in South Florida and I figure if it is ment to be it will all work out. If we sell though it will be ment to be because we can't really get to much here without the taxes body slamming us. Good for you on getting into Baxter Village our old friends are very happy and we enjoyed the food at one of the resturants in the Village, only thing is that smoking is still permitted in resturants and even convience stores were smoke filled. It was different for us because South Florida does not allow smoking in public buildings and I heard it is the same in Cali. Hope all goes well with your move. Hope to see y'all there soon.
FLgirl36
Hey Jackiev,
I just came back down from Fort Mill, we have old family friends who retired in Baxter and their kids live in the Lake Wylie area. Great area you are able to move into. I wish I could say we could afford Baxter but we did find something nice for less close by. Now we are on the road to putting our place on the market and my parents also. We live in South Florida and I figure if it is ment to be it will all work out. If we sell though it will be ment to be because we can't really get to much here without the taxes body slamming us. Good for you on getting into Baxter Village our old friends are very happy and we enjoyed the food at one of the resturants in the Village, only thing is that smoking is still permitted in resturants and even convience stores were smoke filled. It was different for us because South Florida does not allow smoking in public buildings and I heard it is the same in Cali. Hope all goes well with your move. Hope to see y'all there soon.
FLgirl36
Yes, we fell in love with Baxter. We originally thought Lake Shore on Lake Wylie would be the place for us, but the feeling we got when we drove through Baxter was amazing. I am a Realtor here and have seen a definate shift in the market-with a Buyer's advantage. Homes are taking on average two months longer to sell than they did this time last year (and this is if you are listed with a Realtor-longer for a FSBO). I wish you tons of luck! Remember, there are thousands of people moving to the good old state of Florida every day...so the buyers will come! Where did you guys decide on in Ft. Mill?
Homes are taking on average two months longer to sell than they did this time last year (and this is if you are listed with a Realtor-longer for a FSBO). I wish you tons of luck! Remember, there are thousands of people moving to the good old state of Florida every day...so the buyers will come! Where did you guys decide on in Ft. Mill?
Hi Hackie, don't know where in Florida you sell but 2 months longer ? The entire state by what I have heard has come to a complete standstill!! I have real estate agents in Jupiter and in Vero Beach trying to sell my homes and my Mothers and not even a bite in more than 4 months. I did sell 1 home in Jupiter Farms in 7 days but only because I had something no one else did, a 1600 square foot garage you can park a bus in.
We have settled in and the Fort Mill Rock Hill area is nice depending on your lifestyle. What will kill you is Personal Property Tax, I just had to pay $120 for my wife's truck which is a plane jane Dodge 1500 Pick up from 98' with 190K miles on it, that is in addition to Title and Registration. My 2000 Harley which has 4K miles on it and is worth about $15K would have been roughly $500 in tax plus everything else. This goes on year after year after year then eventually reduces but the way I look at it is that it's a 98' truck why should I keep on paying extra taxes for something that is almost at the end of it's lifespan!
You can e-mail me off list yourbt@yahoo.com and I can fill you in on all the specifics but Baxter is nice and if you go just over the border to Ballentine that is REALLY nice. Coming from Delray you should be able to afford Ballentine but it will not be on the water.
Good for you on getting into Baxter Village our old friends are very happy and we enjoyed the food at one of the resturants in the Village, only thing is that smoking is still permitted in resturants and even convience stores were smoke filled. It was different for us because South Florida does not allow smoking in public buildings and I heard it is the same in Cali. Hope all goes well with your move. Hope to see y'all there soon.
FLgirl36
I don't know what convience store you were in but it's not that bad. Yes restaurants still do allow smoking but not every one of them, actually more of them do not than do. I have yet to walk into anything other than a hand full of restaurants and see smoking and in those it is limited to the bar area which is just like walking into a bar in FL. If you were at a local "Bubba and Bubba Corner Store" yes legally they can do it but I don't know of any chains that would allow it so it's not that widespread and nothing that would keep me back from living here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
TO FLRICH...I am also relocating from Palm Beach County
