Recent visit - my thoughts (Greenville, Taylors: ski resort, for sale, apartments)

[Terinth]

So my husband and I and our youngest of 3 children (2+ years old) just returned from our visit a few days ago. Just wanted to post my thoughts on the area. We had 5 days in and around Greenville including Simpsonville, Mauldin, Greer, Taylors, Paris Mountain, Traveler's Rest, and a trip up to Table Rock.

These are only my opinions and based on a very short visit, so take them or leave them.

First of all, what a beautiful area. I've spent most of my life in the desert with only short stays in England, Florida, and Arkansas. The natural beauty alone is enough to sell me on the area and we will be moving there in a few months.

We spent the first half of our first real day there downtown, which obviously is a great little place. I have seen some people criticize it, saying that it's only a few blocks and not much else and is nothing special. I beg to differ. It may be small, but it's a lot more than a lot of similar-sized towns/cities have done. You all should be really proud of that regardless of what anyone says. It took a lot of foresight and planning to make it that special and I imagine it will continue to grow and expand.

I didn't find roads to be all that bad. Sure, there might not be bike lanes or sidewalks everywhere, but I really didn't find them to be all that bad. Where we live currently, we get tons of snow which destroys the roads in a year.

Woodruff road: Our hotel was right off of Woodruff Road, so we traveled this quite a bit. Granted, we were not on it during a weekend day, but I didn't find the traffic to be that bad. Love that most of the shopping anyone would want is located mainly in one area. If you live outside of town, it seems like it would make it easier to come in and get everything you need in a shorter visit rather than driving all around the city.

Augusta Rd neighborhood/Cleveland Park: This is incredible! Absolutely loved the park and all the greenery. What a nice change from everything I've known. I imagine if you've lived somewhere green your entire life, you may take it for granted, but coming from the desert I couldn't get enough of it.

It seems in some ways Greenville is almost 2 cities. There's a more Florida feel in the more developed areas, and definitely a more Southern rural feel sometimes only a block or two away. I love this. I like that you can get one or two blocks off a main road and find yourself surrounded by green open spaces. You don't have to travel far outside the city to get away from concrete and urban sprawl.

As I've seen mentioned several times throughout numerous threads, everyone is so friendly. Even if it is only to your face, that's still an improvement over flat out indifference that I've become accustomed to here in Arizona. Just having someone at the check-out line ask you how your day is is refreshing. I'll take manners and common decency any day over standoffishness. I found people to be even more welcoming when we mentioned we were considering a move to the area. It was very easy to strike up conversations and get helpful information from just about everyone we talked to.

Poverty: Okay, keep in mind that where we live currently, $200k will buy you a mobile home or a tiny townhouse in the worst part of town. So even your poorest people here are typically doing pretty decently. That also means we have a lot of homeless people because this is an expensive place to live. Everyone here is borderline "poor".. In fact, Flagstaff is known as "poverty with a view," which is a great equalizer. The best Mexican restaurant here is in the worst part of town, and everyone eats there. One of the 2 high schools is in the worst part of town, but you're still safe to drive through the area without rolling up your windows or locking your doors. There's really not a class divide here unless you're talking people who can afford $500k+ homes and up, otherwise we're all sort of thrown in the mix together, shop at the same stores, attend the same schools, etc. I definitely find there is more of a divide in Greenville regarding class. There are areas you just don't go into and that's that. You know they're there and you avoid them/turn a blind eye. This will take some getting used to. I don't think this is either positive or negative, it's just different, I imagine Flagstaff is the exception.

As a Christian, I was blown away to see a commercial aired in primetime for Focus on the Family. That does not happen out west and really hit home that the region welcomes faith.. how refreshing!

Anyway, there are other little things that sold us on moving. Of course there is no perfect town, but it's definitely a good fit for us.

This board has been very helpful and I imagine I'll continue to post and read as we plan our move!

[distortedlogic]

Terinth,

Wow, that's an awesome review of our hometown. I am glad that you and your family have found some positive things about the area and I wish you best of luck on your move here! Flagstaff is a beautiful area and lots of awesome geological features there as well. You'll find the summers here much more humid and hotter than Flagstaff, but cooler than much of Arizona of course. Unfortunately, our Winter's are very mild and snow is hard to come by

I think you will indeed find lots of welcoming people and there are lots of Christian churches and organizations to get involved with. As you stated, it is not perfect by any stretch, but it does have a lot to offer. The downtown is currently being expanded by new projects and the population is expected to double over the next 3-4 years as all these apartments and condos currently under construction are finished. This will bring in more retail and restaurants and so forth. There is also a massive 160 acre park planned for the west side of DT which will spark all kinds of new development and expansion. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and good luck with your move!

[Terinth]

Flagstaff is beautiful, but it's still high desert with almost entirely only Pine and Aspen. Still a desert floor with no real grass or variation in trees. It's also largely a ski resort and we don't ski/aren't much into snow. I can appreciate why some people like it, but it's just not our thing.

The heat there was definitely fairly intense, but I spent 22 years in Phoenix, my husband 12 in Tucson, him in Tennessee and Florida when he was in the Navy, and me Arkansas and Florida. We're both definitely used to 115+ degree temps and still found the weather there to be more tolerable than the dry Arizona heat. Maybe it's just a case of, "the grass is greener" We probably will miss the snow a little, as even though neither of us are into winter sports, it is still nice to have a white Christmas, though we won't miss shoveling.

Flagstaff is and likely always will be a town made for tourists as it's the main town up to the Grand Canyon. This means the town doesn't have to make a lot of improvements for the sake of its residents because it will always bring in revenue from tourists trickling through. Greenville very much feels like a city made for its residents and that's a nice change. I love that your downtown is actually full of business that sustains a community and not just little touristy shops and not much else.

In the month or two leading up to our visit, we looked at some homes for sale here in Flagstaff and I felt insulted at the housing prices. Flagstaff is a nice town, but it's not so nice as to warrant $300k being really a starting point for any decent homes. I'm tired of working a good job with decent wages to barely get by here. Very much looking forward to being able to own a nice home and make a good life for ourselves and our kids and that goes a LONG way for considering a community to live in.

We love lakes and were excited even just driving by Hartwell driving up from Atlanta!!

Also like that you observe Daylight Savings there. It was great that it didn't really get dark until almost 9 pm there. The kids will definitely love this! Even in our warmest month here, we can still get the occasional snowfall and nights still cool off into the upper 40s. We are stuck indoors about 8-9 months a year here and we're ready to be able to get out more and do some exploring.

[beckycat]

Thanks so much for your input I love when people come back with their honest opinion. With that being said, glad you enjoyed it here. Good luck with you move and welcome to Greenville.

[gilmcel]

That's great to hear. We are coming next week to look around the same areas. We are planning a move next summer. We have small children as well. What area are you interested in?
We are from New York- talk about expensive!!

[Terinth]

Originally Posted by Ultrasound Life

Terinth,

Hartwell is a nice lake but also check out nearby Keowee and Jocassee closer to the mountains in SC.

They are clear water lakes and most beautiful lakes that I've seen.

The roads are solid in Greenville. They are currently repaving I-85 around Woodruff and Pelham road and they are going to reconfigure the entire interchange with I-385 with 11 new bridges and more lanes.

We are looking forward to getting to check out the lakes you mention, we just happened to drive by Hartwell as we flew in and out of Atlanta. Hah, I was excited to see water at all as it's hard to come by out here.

[Terinth]

Originally Posted by gilmcel

That's great to hear. We are coming next week to look around the same areas. We are planning a move next summer. We have small children as well. What area are you interested in?
We are from New York- talk about expensive!!

We aren't sure yet what area we'll wind up buying a home in, but we will spend 6 months in an apartment in Greer to check out the whole area before deciding where we want to be permanently.