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Hi there! Read through if you can stand another post about relocating to SC. After 20+ years of talking about it, husband and I are finally ready to "just do it" and move to South Carolina. I have lived in the same 30 mile radius of my hometown in southeast Wisconsin all my life. Husband is from the south being raised in a Marine family and lived in North Carolina, Beaufort, South Carolina and Clearwater, Florida - so I like to consider myself "southern by marriage". His whole family is from the south. Husband has family near Greenville and Greenwood, SC and Wilmington, NC. We are getting the house ready to sell within the first quarter of 2019. Over the years, we have done tons of research including perusing this forum and have finally narrowed it down to three areas: Greenville and surrounding towns, Augusta, GA (I realized this is not an Augusta forum but it's on the border) and surrounding towns and of course, the low country area between Charleston and Savannah (around Beaufort). We are coming down for the first week of January to look around these areas - Not much time I know. We made our list of must haves: 1. Bike Paths (not mountain biking though. We want to be close enough to ride our bikes to a trail. We go a lot in summer here. 2. Water - at minimum lakes with beaches 3. Hiking - Parks 4. School - Looking for a decent school for my special-ed kid. He's super smart but with some emotional/behavior issues. He's always been in regular classroom with support. He's just 12 now but I'm looking at smaller high schools (under 1200 students preferably). 5. Strong Alcoholics Anonymous community 6. Lower Crime rate. 7. Community Pool. Job is not an issue and I work from home and will stay with company. Housing - At least 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, smaller yard, must have fireplace. I would actually prefer to be more in an established neighborhood with bigger trees. $175000 or lower. (is this doable??) We do not want to be in a cookie cutter house neighborhood. No condo. No mobile home. Please advise.....please help me narrow down my list!! We're only coming for a week...where should our focus be??? Thank you for reading my long post!
$175k is doable but not with everything on your list, especially water.
Our son’s older neighborhood in Greer (between Greenville and Spartanburg) is a 3 bed/2 bath/2car garage/nice lot/fp/no basement in the mid $160s (ish). It is “cookie cutter” but a quiet, pleasant neighborhood, larger trees, with lower crime and, I think, Greer HS is smaller.
You’re not going to get close to a lake in that price range.
Ditto what was said above. You can definitely get a house in that price range in the area, and if you looked in the Berea or Sans Souci area you could be close to the Swamp Rabbit Trail as well as Paris Mountain State Park for hiking. The park also has a small lake that you can swim in. I echo Greer as far as a possibility for the type of neighborhood you want as well as proximity to some lakes but you will not be close to a bike path.
I don't know about housing but if you like Greer you might like Easley, which has the Doodle trail for bikes. Probably some homes in your range there and you'd be that much closer to the lakes.
Thank you both very much! I've had my eye on Greer as the HS seemed smaller too. Any thoughts on Travelers Rest?
Travelers Rest would put you by the Swamp Rabbit Trail for biking. You would be close to the NC mountains as well. Travelers Rest has a cute downtown with cafes, shops, etc. They have events in the summer at Heritage Park. They also have a farmer's market. I am sure you could find a community pool in one of the subdivisions. You are close to Otter Creek water park as well. It's very reasonable for a season pass. There is some basic shopping (Walmart) and fast food restaurants there. It's near Furman University.
Either way, you can't go wrong with either. Greer has more shopping options but doesn't have a bike trail. It has some nice lakes but unfortunately you can't swim in them. You can kayak/boat there but no big boats allowed. Greer also has a small downtown with shops, restaurants and cafes as well. Both towns hold different events throughout the year. Greer is closer to 85 if you travel around Greenville. TR doesn't have a main artery. It has 25 which takes you to downtown Greenville one way or the NC mountains.
Awesome feedback! Right now, enjoying a Wisconsin-style blizzard....NOT!! Yes, the bike trail is a must have and so are the parks. BigRedBeth, are you a real estate agent? We would be very interested in sitting down with a realtor and maybe looking at a few homes in TR, Berea, San Souci and anything else with easy access to the biking while we're down there the first week in January. Thank you!
Greer High School has around 1,200 students so it is close to your maximum size. The Berea and San Souci areas don't necessarily feed into the best high schools - you will want to closely look at the schools there to make sure you are happy with them. The TR high school has not historically been great, either. Your maximum budget will be difficult to meet everything you have on your list.
The SC state school report cards are a good place to start to gather some information on specific high schools. https://ed.sc.gov/data/report-cards/
Awesome feedback! Right now, enjoying a Wisconsin-style blizzard....NOT!! Yes, the bike trail is a must have and so are the parks. BigRedBeth, are you a real estate agent? We would be very interested in sitting down with a realtor and maybe looking at a few homes in TR, Berea, San Souci and anything else with easy access to the biking while we're down there the first week in January. Thank you!
Yes- I am, and would be glad to meet, chat, and look at some homes. And I do recommend you look at the school report cards as others have mentioned and consider all areas, including perhaps ones that require a short drive to biking trails, as in the Greer area.
Oh- and Easley was a good suggestion, with the Doodle Trail as well as proximity to several state parks.
Same advice I'd give anyone moving anywhere: research Greenville, and look for an apartment. If you have more furniture and stuff than will fit in the apartment, put it into storage. Be sure to trim down your belongings before the move. Put your down payment in the bank and spend the first year (or so) getting to know the area and deciding where you want to live. Then begin the search for a home to purchase.
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