Sun City Hilton Head vs Sun City Carolina Lakes (Hilton Head Island: homes, purchase)

[Disgusted in CA]

I am a born and raised conservative Central Valley (traditional values) RECENTLY RETIRED Californian. As you can see by my title, I am very disgusted with California. My parents are gone and my son is grown so I have no real reason to continue to contend with everything happening in California. I have been scouring the Internet and am thinking about moving to South Carolina. I chose South Carolina since people there seem to have more of the traditional values I was brought up with. It also appears to be more "retirement-friendly" than California. I enjoy the ocean and like the rain. I realize there is definitely humidity to deal with in South Carolina.

I like the Del Webb communities since they have plenty of activities to keep me busy close to home. I would also like to keep the home cost around 150K. I will have approximately a 50K/year retirement income.

I am thinking seriously about either Sun City Hilton Head, The Haven or Carolina Lakes. I would like the following:
>
> 1) Traditional family values (traditional marriage, pro-life)
> 2) Christian (Catholic)
> 3) Conservative - socially and fiscally
> 4) Hard-working
> 5) Patriotic
> 6) Pro-military
> 7) Small town atmosphere

I am heading to South Carolina the end of August to take a look so I would appreciate hearing "the good, the bad and the ugly" to take into consideration.

I really appreciate reading all your posts. You all provide me a wealth of information.

[rothbear]

I currently live in SCCL and I hate to tell you this, but you will be hard pressed to find anything here for $150K unless you luck into something that someone is really desperate to sell. Even though they are still building homes here, the resale market is also very strong. $175K is about as low as I have seen.

If you go to the York/Lancaster board in South Carolina section of this site you will see a post that I replied to concerning resales.

I can't speak to Hilton Head.

Hope this helps!

[chasfran]

Originally Posted by Disgusted in CA

I am a born and raised conservative Central Valley (traditional values) RECENTLY RETIRED Californian. As you can see by my title, I am very disgusted with California. My parents are gone and my son is grown so I have no real reason to continue to contend with everything happening in California. I have been scouring the Internet and am thinking about moving to South Carolina. I chose South Carolina since people there seem to have more of the traditional values I was brought up with. It also appears to be more "retirement-friendly" than California. I enjoy the ocean and like the rain. I realize there is definitely humidity to deal with in South Carolina.

I like the Del Webb communities since they have plenty of activities to keep me busy close to home. I would also like to keep the home cost around 150K. I will have approximately a 50K/year retirement income.

I am thinking seriously about either Sun City Hilton Head, The Haven or Carolina Lakes. I would like the following:
>
> 1) Traditional family values (traditional marriage, pro-life)
> 2) Christian (Catholic)
> 3) Conservative - socially and fiscally
> 4) Hard-working
> 5) Patriotic
> 6) Pro-military
> 7) Small town atmosphere

I am heading to South Carolina the end of August to take a look so I would appreciate hearing "the good, the bad and the ugly" to take into consideration.

I really appreciate reading all your posts. You all provide me a wealth of information.

Hi Disgusted,

My wife and I have been taking a long look at the three Sun City Locations you mentioned and have visited all of them. Very similar and all have their + & -! Sun City Hilton Head is the largest and has two sections, a north & south section. Around 7-8 thousand homes in Sun City Hilton Head in the old section (south) and the new North Section is smaller but connected by a bridge and both have access to all amenities which are too numerous to mention. The Haven is nice, about 7 miles south of Sun City HH and a bit too isolated for us. Lots of heat & humidity in the Hilton Head area in the summer months. S C Carolina Lakes is also a very nice place with similar amenities but home prices are a bit more expensive. Your best bet of finding a home around $150,000. would be to purchase a home in the south side of HH SC where there are quite a few homes around that price. Lowest taxes there also of the three locations.
Hope this helps. Any further holler back.

Charlie

[marfall]

It's an adjustment moving from NY to SC, but we have settled in quite nicely. We moved to Sun City Hilton Head 3 years ago after having visited in 2006. You can definitely find a home or a villa (attached home) in your price range. Prices run from the low $100's on up to over $500,000. By way of disclosure, I am a Realtor specializing in Sun City Hilton Head resales. This is not a solicitation, just answering the posts that I came across on this site.
The community currently consists of over 7200 homes with another 800-1000 homes to be built on the north side of the community. There are over 200 clubs, 3 golf courses, sports park with a softball field, 2 fitness centers with a 3rd under construction, performing arts center, tennis courts, pickleball courts, indoor and outdoor pools etc. It is a 55 and over gated community, meaning one person in the household will need to be 55 or over to live in Sun City. Hilton Head Island is approx 12 miles east, Savannah is approx 20-30 min south, Beaufort is approx. 30 min north. There is so much more info, but I hope this answers some of the questions. Oh and yes, it's hot in the summer. But it's oh so nice in the winter.

[Disgusted in CA]

Thank you very much for the replies. Can I get some feedback on the items below?

> 1) Traditional family values (traditional marriage, pro-life)
> 2) Christian (Catholic)
> 3) Conservative - socially and fiscally
> 4) Hard-working
> 5) Patriotic
> 6) Pro-military
> 7) Small town atmosphere

Am I asking too much? How are SCHH and The Haven concerning these items? (Marfall, don't want to put you on the spot)

ROTHBEAR - heard your humidity is probably higher than SCHH - true?

MARFALL - heard you "may" have less humidity since you are a bit closer to the ocean than SCCL - true?

CHARLIE - have you all decided where you will live?

Anyway, thanks to all. Honestly, I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire concerning my "wish list". I would honestly just like to live somewhere with people who share more traditional values. I really value all your input.

Thanks again.

[innovator82]

Just speaking for the general areas that these communities are in, there is a large Catholic presence in both Beaufort County/HHI and the Fort Mill area. I would guess a lot of that in HHI is due to retirees and more due to families relocating to the Charlotte area for Fort Mill (although they are getting ready to build a new Catholic high school in Beaufort). There are very large Catholic parishes in both areas by SC standards.

Beaufort is also generally regarded as being a very "pro-military area" due to the presence of Parris Island. I can't speak about the developments themselves, but both areas you are looking at are pretty conservative areas.

[Disgusted in CA]

Thank you all for your responses. You give me a good baseline. I just need to come on back and check it out for myself. People out here tell me South Carolina is a beautiful state - just humid - but you get used to it....

[LPnerd]

most folks seem to be either baptist, nondenominational, or not into organized religion. Your values would be right in line with the undereducated of western SC, and the Appalachian region, but folks with mod to good education seem to understand that this country was founded on differences, in fact, my son is in the Navy protecting those rights.
I agree, Ca. is a different planet. But what makes your values any better than anyone else's that's learned the best way to get along in life is to actually treat others the way you'd wish to be treated, and not just give it lip service.
Your views are none of my business, unless you try to inflict them on me, and vise versa. Beufort Country, Hilton head, etc. Seems to be voting independent more and more if you look at political maps from the last 4-5 elections. If your looking for an area with people who look, think and act like you, perhaps you should consult one of those maps, and find the conservative strong holds.
Birds of a feather, ya know? Good luck and hope you find something you like.

[Disgusted in CA]

Originally Posted by LPnerd

most folks seem to be either baptist, nondenominational, or not into organized religion. Your values would be right in line with the undereducated of western SC, and the Appalachian region, but folks with mod to good education seem to understand that this country was founded on differences, in fact, my son is in the Navy protecting those rights.
I agree, Ca. is a different planet. But what makes your values any better than anyone else's that's learned the best way to get along in life is to actually treat others the way you'd wish to be treated, and not just give it lip service.
Your views are none of my business, unless you try to inflict them on me, and vise versa. Beufort Country, Hilton head, etc. Seems to be voting independent more and more if you look at political maps from the last 4-5 elections. If your looking for an area with people who look, think and act like you, perhaps you should consult one of those maps, and find the conservative strong holds.
Birds of a feather, ya know? Good luck and hope you find something you like.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the input. God bless your son for serving in the navy. The military is always in my prayers. I will check out the political maps and keep looking to be with "birds of a feather".

[Vycee]

I love it!!