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My husband and I are seriously considering relocating to the Greenville/surrounding area. We are currently living in Northern Arizona. We will be making a trip out there late this summer to check it out before making our final decision. We have 3 kids ages 10, 7, and 2. Just had a couple of questions and was hoping someone could provide some insight.
Our budget for a home would be renting up to $1300 month/buying up to $200k. We would ideally like a more established neighborhood with lots of trees, close to at least essential shopping, not too far away from everything, family oriented.
Right now we live in Flagstaff just a block or so from downtown (which we do love) and are wondering if it's even a possibility of finding something similar in our price range there? If this is unrealistic, that's fine too and that's what we're anticipating. What would be a good area to consider? Ideally we would like to remain in Greenville proper, hopefully within about a 15-minute walk to downtown, but if not, then we're thinking maybe Anderson or something similar? We don't want brand new subdivisions but would definitely rather be somewhere more established with a proper downtown.
A few questions:
-Does it get really windy there for months on end?
-Is there a good pediatric cardiologist and/or pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon nearby or would we likely be going to Charlotte for that?
-Are there plenty of cloudy/rainy days?
I thought I had more questions than that, but really I guess I'm just looking for some feedback about the general area. Is it realistic that we would find a nice home with 4 bedrooms there on a $200k budget? We're tired of the cost of living where we currently are and it just doesn't fit our needs anymore. We're really wanting somewhere green with lakes/rivers/water/hiking options nearby, somewhere warmer than here, somewhere less sunny, with a good sense of community and lots of things for families to do and a reasonable cost of living. We're both Christian and libertarian (not liberal) and think we'd have no problem with the politics and religion of the area, so that's definitely not a concern. Do the smaller surrounding towns like Anderson have a lot of things to do like swimming facilities and athletics and community events, or is that primarily in Greenville? Any input would be appreciated. Please feel free to ask any questions.
Edited to add: When I say older established neighborhood, I don't necessarily mean historic as I'm sure that's out of our price range, I only mean not new builds where there are really no trees and it's a shared open backyard. Something more like 50s/60s/70s/80s with trees and a little more privacy. Obviously a safe neighborhood is a must too. Nothing with too much crime. Good schools are important as well, but slightly less so as our oldest is home schooled, and Flagstaff's schools rank so poorly that most schools in the Greenville area automatically rank higher.
Also, we both work from home so we really are free to choose a location and don't have to base it on being super close to a particular area. The one thing we would need though is fast, reliable internet. Okay, that's all I can think of at the moment. Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Terinth; 04-06-2015 at 04:36 PM..
Reason: forgot to add some information
I'll try and answer some of your questions:
It does not get very windy for months on end and just looking at the averages for Flagstaff, it is much warmer here especially the lows. Not sure about the sun, it is very sunny here. You can compare weather and the number of days with sun shine on this site.
We have an several excellent hospital systems but I do not have any experience with a pediatric cardiologist. But I'm sure this info can be found online by googling pediatric cardiologists in Greenville SC.
There are plenty of options for hiking, and water nearby, some very close to Greenville, Paris Mountain, Swamp Rabbit Trail. But there are many, many options 30 minutes to an hour away depending on where you live. We are located just at the foothills of the mountains and you can see the mountains from all over, not Rocky Mountain type views but they are still beautiful! The state is bordered by 3 of the prettiest lakes I have ever seen. I grew up on Lake Ontario and while these lakes are small in comparison, they are beautiful!
It is very green here, alot of trees are greening up now, plants are starting grow. We are well into spring! The forecast calls for most days to be about 80 with lows about 60.
Many neighborhoods have community swimming pools.
Not sure how close you can get to downtown on a $200,000 budget, walking distance might be a bit of a stretch especially when trying to find 4 bedrooms. But there would be plenty of options in lets say a 15 to 20 minute drive of downtown. Anderson would be about as far away from Greenville as you can get and would be more like a 45 minute drive to downtown Greenville. I am certainly no expert in this area and I'm sure the realtors on this site can better answer these questions.
Good luck in your search. I moved here 8 years ago and love it!
I've been to Northern AZ/Flagstaff - what an amazing part of the country. The biggest change for your family will be the weather - specifically the humidity! Much, much more humid in the summer in Greenville. Very little snowfall here compared to Flagstaff. Also, a lack of wide open spaces and stars at night (I know Flagstaff has street light ordinances due to nearby observatories).
I will try to post additional information later.
Last edited by drfranklin; 04-07-2015 at 05:47 AM..
Area: Greenville is part of "Upstate South Carolina" or just "the Upstate" - the major cities include (from west to east): Anderson, Easley, Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, and Spartanburg (with numerous smaller cities/towns in between) - by far, the immediate Greenville area is the largest city and the epicenter of retail (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, REI, etc etc)
Housing: varies considerably in the Upstate - generally, the closer one gets to downtown Greenville, the higher the housing cost - walkable areas near downtown Greenville are extremely expensive (unless dilapidated or in a crime-ridden location)
Downtown Greenville: has undergone significant revitalization in the past 20 years - numerous restaurants, retail, activities - all walkable - you must see Falls Park
Weather: see above post - few windy days - many days with cloudy skies and rain - generally, the Upstate is not tornadic-prone (like the Dixie Alley with AL, TN, MS) - this area averages ~ 5 inches snowfall per year (due to unique geography, we are susceptible to ice storms) - very humid and hot from mid-June thru early September - much drier in fall/winter
Public Schools: quality varies considerably - one must research carefully - there are numerous threads in this sub-forum re public schools
Medical: generally fantastic with all specialties - Greenville Health System is the biggest hospital conglomerate in the state of SC - yes, there are pediatric cardiologists locally
Last edited by drfranklin; 04-07-2015 at 06:45 AM..
$200k here is more than enough to get you a decent 4 bedroom/2.5 bathroom house with a garage and a decent sized yard. Even more than that depending on whether you're willing to live a bit further out. We paid $220k for our house (4br/2.5ba 2600 sqft, 2 car garage, 1/4 acre, in an established neighborhood around 20-25 years old with tons of fully matured trees) and it's really close to everything. My brother paid around $170k for a similar sized house a bit further out (maybe 15 minutes away, in Greer).
For $1300 you could easily rent a 4br house. I own two different 3br houses that I rent out for $890 (no garage, 2ba) and $1000 (garage, 2.5ba) in Greer, more expensive closer to greenville of course.
Thanks everyone for your responses. I've spent quite a bit of time researching stuff online but of course first-hand experience from people who actually live there is important as well.
I did see there was a pediatric cardiologist in town but was wondering if anyone had any more information from their own experiences with that physician. I know it might seem like a minor issue but is actually one of the bigger reasons we're wanting to leave Flagstaff. Our 10-year-old daughter was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (only half of her heart was formed correctly). We have a good pediatric cardiologist here in town but no pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. The older she gets, the more likely she'll start having a lot of problems with living at high elevation. When she gets to the point that she does require more surgery, we would be having to go down to University Medical Center in Tucson which is more than 4 hours away. Our thought is to relocate within the next year while the kids are still young and before they have really made strong connections here. Better to uproot them now rather than later.
Also, glad to hear our budget shouldn't be a problem there. Okay, so downtown Greenville is probably out, but at least it's nice to know that we could afford something decent in that area. I'd looked quite a bit online at Zillow and Trulia and similar websites but the home prices there almost looked too good to be true as that same amount of money gets us virtually nothing in Flagstaff. CrackOfDown, if you don't mind me asking, what area are you in as that sounds like what we're looking for.
Just from pictures alone, the whole area there looks beautiful. My husband and I are both just tired of desert and scrub brush and no water anywhere and 300+ days of unbroken sunshine. He is originally from NH and me from Phoenix, but he lived a number of years in Tucson and me obviously in Phoenix, so we're both also well accustomed to heat. Regarding humidity, we've also both lived in different parts of Florida years before we'd ever met (him in Jacksonville in the navy) and me in the Tampa area, and we never minded the humidity down there.
One thing I am a little worried about are allergies. I do have pretty bad allergies, but I suppose that's likely to be an issue anywhere that's green that's not the desert, which is what we're really wanting. I'm verrrrry glad to hear it's not windy for months on end there. I'm so tired of the cold, sunny, extremely windy days here that last from March through mid June. I'm looking forward to proper summer weather that's hot enough for swimming and barbecues and sprinklers. You just don't get that here in Flagstaff.
I know we still have a lot of research to do before our visit there in late July, ack! From everything I've heard and read, it seems like a good fit.. just trying to narrow down specific areas to spend more time researching and looking at homes in while we're there.
! That's awesome. How did I not come across that in my search? Thank you so much!
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That's awesome. How did I not come across that in my search? Thank you so much!
