Fairfield County - pros and cons? (Columbia, Irmo: mobile home, buying, school district)

[IM42A]

From time to time, I play around with the idea of buying 5-10 acres of land in the deep country, remote enough that it would provide privacy and distance for things like camping, hunting, and target practice with a homemade dirt pile for a backstop. Would Fairfield County be a good choice?



I have to imagine the property taxes would be much lower, and at one time land out that way was dirt cheap (no pun intended), but that seems to be changing. I do notice that Fairfield County lacks the overall vibe of growth and prosperity that you see in Lexington County and even in Kershaw County. It is right on I-77 and is no more remote than parts of the other two counties. Is there some reason that growth and settlement by newcomers in large numbers seems to have passed this county by? WRT commercial activity, there just seems to be some kind of hard-to-define malaise, and Walmart pulling out was a death blow to retail availability in Fairfield. Roses, IGA, and Family Dollar just aren't the same.



I'd just want to go into it eyes-wide-open, rather than plunk down tens of thousands of dollars, and then find out this wasn't quite the place to do that.


Any thoughts from the forum?

[DemanoRock]

Pretty bad school district. Lots of poverty. Walmart pulled out because they couldn't do well with the shoplifting. As long as you don't have kids to worry about, then deep country would be great. If you have to work, the commute might be a little tough, but I-77 may not be too far away and that could get you to town. I would love to build out there if I didn't have a son in school right now in Richland 2.

[Woodlands]

Yeah there is no reason for development to spill into Fairfield County with Kershaw next door.. It is on I-20 and is just as accessible to Columbia and has better schools and likely similar taxes... At some point I think northern Richland will take off ..it has similar challenges as Fairfield because of schools but the Richland can compensate for that either through building the bridge over the Broad River and or merging the districts which is a longer shot.

All of that being said.. I would at least look for a tract of land near I-77 or near one of the exits..That way if you ever decide to sell maybe there would be opportunities for residential or warehouse type of development may purchase your property a part of a larger assemblage of tracts of land....

[Robertsm76]

Originally Posted by DemanoRock

Pretty bad school district. Lots of poverty. Walmart pulled out because they couldn't do well with the shoplifting. As long as you don't have kids to worry about, then deep country would be great. If you have to work, the commute might be a little tough, but I-77 may not be too far away and that could get you to town. I would love to build out there if I didn't have a son in school right now in Richland 2.

Man, if Walmart pulls out of an area, that’s never a good sign.

[BrandonCoombes]

Originally Posted by Robertsm76

Man, if Walmart pulls out of an area, that’s never a good sign.

Just look at bush and broad river roads.... Well, tbh, I think they left Bush River because of the inevitable closure of the ramps off and onto 26. And I’m sure closeness to harbison had a little to do with it.

[IM42A]

Originally Posted by DemanoRock

Pretty bad school district. Lots of poverty. Walmart pulled out because they couldn't do well with the shoplifting. As long as you don't have kids to worry about, then deep country would be great. If you have to work, the commute might be a little tough, but I-77 may not be too far away and that could get you to town. I would love to build out there if I didn't have a son in school right now in Richland 2.

Thanks, those observations are about what I figured. I do know they have a fairly good-sized private academy out that way, where a lot of parents choose to send their children, so that's never a good sign as far as the public schools are concerned. "Good schools" are always a magnet for in-migration and residential development, in fact, when speaking of Lexington County, that is one of the first things out of anyone's mouth. We would not be building a primary residence out there, we're perfectly content to stay in northeast Richland. I was just thinking of some fairly inexpensive, rustic land in an area that just begins to take on some piedmont characteristics, pleasant microclimates in places (Blythewood has a very inviting microclimate, you get that breezy "hilltop" feeling), someplace perhaps we could take a camper van, maybe build some kind of small cabin or (but probably not) put in a small mobile home. I also like to shoot and would like to have someplace remote enough that I could build some backstops without having neighbors complain of noise. The present ammo shortage and inflated prices militate against that, but this too shall pass (I hope). At one time there were these long, thin tranches of land in eastern Fairfield, evidently "scraps" from adjacent development, that could be had for pocket change, but I haven't seen any of those advertised lately. Seems like wherever there is land, someone eventually finds something to build on it, or some other reason to snap it up. Like the old saying goes, they're not making any more land.



I have also wondered, as a side concern, whether the county administration in Fairfield is easy to deal with, or if they welcome newcomers. I'd like to think that TPTB in Fairfield envision their county as an "exurb waiting to happen", but again, people don't willingly move with families to areas where they anticipate school problems. We homeschool, so that wouldn't be a concern for us, but it would be for many.


I do hope they build that bridge between Blythewood and Harbison. That would be a catalyst for development like no one could believe. Right now, to get to Harbison, it's at least a 20-mile drive (further from Blythewood) and it's not something one does just on a lark, especially with the traffic and the difficult highway configuration (not to mention the congestion once you get there). Richland County is, in a very real sense, "split in two" geographically, not as dramatically as Irmo, Chapin, and Ballentine are cut off from the rest of Lexington County (hence the recent movement to create a new "Birch County" --- Ballentine - IRmo - CHapin --- an effort that will probably go nowhere, and was proposed to take in a sliver of Richland as well), but still, urban growth is checked by the Broad River plunked down in the middle of Richland north of I-20.


I didn't know about the shoplifting issues at Walmart. I'd hope the closeness of the Killian Road Walmart softens the blow somewhat. But that doesn't keep money in Fairfield.

[Robertsm76]

Originally Posted by BrandonCoombes

Just look at bush and broad river roads.... Well, tbh, I think they left Bush River because of the inevitable closure of the ramps off and onto 26. And I’m sure closeness to harbison had a little to do with it.

Store was losing money I’m sure. There’s a reason why you never see any real grocery stores or department stores in certain areas.

[LAG1994]

I worked in Fairfield County about a decade ago and it was depressing...the people, the surroundings, it was sad. If felt like I was in the twilight zone.

[tylerSC]

Originally Posted by LAG1994

I worked in Fairfield County about a decade ago and it was depressing...the people, the surroundings, it was sad. If felt like I was in the twilight zone.

Being adjacent to I-77, would Fairfield County not possibly be a future growth area for industrial, retail, or residential development? Eventually new suburbs could develop. And on another note, perhaps more reliable TV/radio reception from Charlotte in addition to Columbia.

[DemanoRock]

Originally Posted by tylerSC

Being adjacent to I-77, would Fairfield County not possibly be a future growth area for industrial, retail, or residential development? Eventually new suburbs could develop. And on another note, perhaps more reliable TV/radio reception from Charlotte in addition to Columbia.

More important than TV service would be High Speed internet, and I think that may be rare out there. Now I want someone to compare highspeed bandwidth across the state.