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I graduated college in May 2015 and my mom and I have been pondering a move to SC for a long time. She is retiring this year and we are moving together. I have a job offer in Greenville, SC (and am also considering one in Florence, SC...much further--I know). I currently live in Indiana...about 40 minutes from Chicago. We are hoping to move to a more suburb area, but when looking at Greenville real estate online it looks like quite a few have large yards...so we would consider that too. We just don't want to be right on top of another house. And not on a street with crazy busy traffic.
The areas we were currently thinking of include Taylors, Mauldin, and Easley. Does anyone have any feedback on these areas? Or any others that you would suggest looking in? The plan is to come look at possible houses in about 3 weeks. I have looked at the statistics online..but it is always easier to ask those who know the area. I might be working several nights a week leaving my mom home alone. Are these safe areas? Are there any areas to stay away from?
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for a real estate agent that could help us look in Greenville and the suburbs?
I live in Simpsonville and like it - would much rather live here than in Mauldin or Easley, but that's just my personal preference. Taylors is a little closer to Greenville and has some nice neighborhoods, so definitely give that a look.. Also take a look at Greer. Greer has a lot of the nice suburbs that you're looking for, and the downtown area of Greer is really starting to come along with a few nice restaurants and places..
Simpsonville is extremely popular with transplants and while the newer homes are generally built close together there are definitely older neighborhoods where there is some breathing room between the houses.
I highly recommend Taylors, somewhere along Wade Hampton...that's where we live. It's in the middle between all the attractions of downtown Greenville, and the quaint small-town feel of downtown Greer. Plus...the Wade Hampton corridor between Taylors and Greer is booming with new restaurants, grocery stores, shopping, etc. Plenty of convenience, but you don't feel crammed in like a huge city (although some newer subdivisions are crammed).
Really it depends on where you work, and other places you will frequent (church, schools, entertainment, etc.). For us Taylors works - lots of convenient retail like I said, close to our church and family, close to the Airprot and I-85, and easy access to Hwy 25 which takes you up to the mountains.
Can you give more info - like where your work is located, and what your price range is for a house?
I highly recommend Taylors, somewhere along Wade Hampton...that's where we live. It's in the middle between all the attractions of downtown Greenville, and the quaint small-town feel of downtown Greer. Plus...the Wade Hampton corridor between Taylors and Greer is booming with new restaurants, grocery stores, shopping, etc. Plenty of convenience, but you don't feel crammed in like a huge city (although some newer subdivisions are crammed).
Really it depends on where you work, and other places you will frequent (church, schools, entertainment, etc.). For us Taylors works - lots of convenient retail like I said, close to our church and family, close to the Airprot and I-85, and easy access to Hwy 25 which takes you up to the mountains.
Can you give more info - like where your work is located, and what your price range is for a house?
I can second this being I live in the same area. Taylors works for us as well. As mentioned, the stores and restaurants are right on Wade Hampton. It's 15 minutes to downtown. There are plenty of subdivisions where the houses are not on top of one another. It is safe here too.
I was going to ask your price as well. Are you going to buy or rent? You may want to rent short term until you get to know the area and what you like.
One other thing is that Greenville temps will be cooler than Florence, if that matters. Florence is closer to the beach. Greenville is closer to the mountains.
Not very familiar with Florence except that I lived within a few hours away from there when I lived in Myrtle Beach and heard good things about it. Greenville, on the other hand, I have lived in for 6 years off and on. I have lived near Maudlin and off one of the major roads in Greenville Suburbs (Woodruff Road). I would avoid Woodruff Road if possible, traffic is always bad partly in due to horrible planning/parking design and partly because that is where a majority of the shopping is unless you go to Pelham and Haywood (equally as bad). Downtown Greenville is BEAUTIFUL but can be nightmare to try and visit (again, horrible traffic, limited parking unless you want to pay for it, and mainstreet is a 2 lane road) and is a tad bit small for my preference. As another has said I have quite a few good friends in Simpsonville who love it. Within half an hour to downtown Greenville and reasonable pricing when it comes to housing. As mentioned, you will probably want to look for an older neighborhood as the newer ones tend to build houses very close together. Depending on where you look in Greenville, you can find a decent size yard as well but generally comes at a higher cost and again more traffic. If you are looking for North of Greenville I have heard Spartanburg is a nice area as well (depending on where you look).
Not very familiar with Florence except that I lived within a few hours away from there when I lived in Myrtle Beach and heard good things about it. Greenville, on the other hand, I have lived in for 6 years off and on. I have lived near Maudlin and off one of the major roads in Greenville Suburbs (Woodruff Road). I would avoid Woodruff Road if possible, traffic is always bad partly in due to horrible planning/parking design and partly because that is where a majority of the shopping is unless you go to Pelham and Haywood (equally as bad). Downtown Greenville is BEAUTIFUL but can be nightmare to try and visit (again, horrible traffic, limited parking unless you want to pay for it, and mainstreet is a 2 lane road) and is a tad bit small for my preference. As another has said I have quite a few good friends in Simpsonville who love it. Within half an hour to downtown Greenville and reasonable pricing when it comes to housing. As mentioned, you will probably want to look for an older neighborhood as the newer ones tend to build houses very close together. Depending on where you look in Greenville, you can find a decent size yard as well but generally comes at a higher cost and again more traffic. If you are looking for North of Greenville I have heard Spartanburg is a nice area as well (depending on where you look).
To each his own but I don't find Woodruff Rd that bad at all except on Saturday afternoon and around Christmas time. Horrible traffic in downtown Greenville? Main St. does get backed up some on Saturday night but horrible? Seems a big exaggeration. . I never have trouble parking either. Occasionally I have to pay but it is very reasonable. Most times I find a free space.
Just spent time with a couple thinking of relocating here; they thought they wanted Taylors/Greer but found Wade Hampton Boulevard really run down and unattractive, and preferred Simpsonville.. I hope that one day something can do done to make that road more attractive.
To each his own but I don't find Woodruff Rd that bad at all except on Saturday afternoon and around Christmas time. Horrible traffic in downtown Greenville? Main St. does get backed up some on Saturday night but horrible? Seems a big exaggeration. . I never have trouble parking either. Occasionally I have to pay but it is very reasonable. Most times I find a free space.
Just spent time with a couple thinking of relocating here; they thought they wanted Taylors/Greer but found Wade Hampton Boulevard really run down and unattractive, and preferred Simpsonville.. I hope that one day something can do done to make that road more attractive.
I lived right off Woodruff road, and although not comparable to downtown Atlanta traffic, it is pretty bad, but it also depends on when you are on the road. Lunch rushhour and 5-7 pm, forget about it; The nice part about Woodruff is also its demise: access to I-85 and 385 on the same road (again, traffic). Between the traffic lights (horrible timing/lots of them), bad drivers (in general, but I am from Atlanta area orginally so), horrible planning for commercial development (tons of no access parking lots) I would do about anything to avoid Woodruff except after 7. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get around it. Downtown Greenville is beautiful, I will give it that, but small and shopping is OKAY at best. The one thing they do have is a great art scene, decent festivals, and some GREAT restaurants. It also has a beautiful park downtown (Falls Park) but again small is small. Falls Park's beautiful little waterfall makes up for its small size, though. Traffic is the worst on Saturday, yes, but I have found anytime we want to go downtown it takes us much longer to reach the parking lot than it does to walk the length of Main St (small downtown). Seeing as it is expanding very quickly and getting alot of incoming new residents, it will only get worse. I live 20 minutes outside of Atlanta and the traffic in Greenville is comparable to here during rush hour (and population numbers being almost equal but again, adding in the Atlanta incoming/outgoing traffic). I will say that the job market is excellent (manufacturing in particular) and that is in part why Greenville is experiencing such a big boom in its population growth. Cost of living is okay but I have found that compared to here, Greenville seems to be alittle more expensive. I have grown up in suburban Atlanta so, alot of my opinions on Greenville are probably due to my preferences. The proximity to the mountains and Lake Hartwell is a big plus if that is what you like, and of course it sitting about equally between Atlanta and Charlotte (roughly 2 hours give or take 30 minutes). There are alot of things to love about Greenville and many of my friends love what it offers (majority of them residing in Simpsonville). Personally, for my fiancee and I, it just didn't have the feel we were looking for.
Last edited by NomadByKnight; 08-11-2015 at 11:07 AM..
I live 20 minutes outside of Atlanta and the traffic in Greenville is comparable to here during rush hour
You must live in some kind of alternate universe. I've sat in rush hour traffic in Atlanta where it took an hour to go fewer than 10 miles. I've never seen anything even remotely close to that in Greenville. Even on a weekend during a major festival, I've never spent more than a few minutes finding free parking in downtown Greenville.
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