Narrowed down the school district & HAPPY NEW YEAR 2 ALL (Socastee: for rent, HOA fees)

[outtaoptions]

Happy New Year & Thanks for the info on my last posting. I am new to forums & really appreciate all who lend their advice.
I have decided to start looking for a home/Apt/Condo for rent in the St. James school district. I have a son who is 12 years old and like to know if anyone has any advice for good , safe neighborhoods with children & low if no HOA fees.
This area would include rt707 & east to rt 17.South or in the area of Holmestown Rd.

[CTyankee54]

We did quite a bit of research in the area that you are looking in and ultimately decided to build in the Socastee school district. But, here's what I can tell you about a few communities in the area that you are looking.

First, the only one I would definitely stay away from is Brightwater on Rt707. I've seen some negative posts on this forum about that development and I'll say that on our drive through it, our impression is that the posts were on the money.

Don't know what your budget is but here are some suggestions:
Carolina Woods built by Flagship Construction who builds a nice, quality home.
Southbury and Burkridge built by Ameribuilt Homes--Leed certified (high efficiency) but more in the mid $200's for price.
Cameron Village built by Beazer whose quality is ok but not as good as the others.
The Gates on Holmestown Road is nice and has a mix of housing prices.
The Lakes on Rt 17 is an already developed neighborhood with little, if any, building going on. I think that the houses are starting to "turn over" to new, younger families. Don't know if this is in the St James district or not.
Osprey Cove by Flagship Construction. We have friends that live here and they like it very much. If you look here, be sure and look in the new section. The older section has very small homes that are older.

I can't tell you what the HOA fees are in any of these neighborhoods but HOA fees are hard to avoid if you want to be in a development. If you want to live outside a development in a house built along the side of the main road, you can generally avoid HOA fees but you get none of the benefits that the HOA brings and in SC, those benefits are, in most cases, desirable. The area you are looking at is not a city and thus the County zoning and rules apply. County restrictions are very loose and, for example, someone could put a trailer right beside your house or could put 2 cars up on blocks in their driveway for months/years and there's no rule against it. Some people have no problem with that and that's fine. But, if you're one for whom it does matter, then an HOA helps prevent that.

[outtaoptions]

I am going to check this out now. I did not see Socastee SD on the schooldigger or great schools website.
I am looking to live in a development but wanted to rent first.( I noticed some HOA fees going $20 to as high as $120 Per month)
I will call a RE agent as soon as I pin point this info you just gave me.
I did look at trulia & I remember seeing some nice homes in Osprey cove
Thank you very much I really appreciate this.

[CTyankee54]

Our children are out of school now but my understanding is that Socastee is a pretty good school. Here's a link to some of their accolades and you can link back to their home page. Accolades and awards - Socastee High (http://sh.horrycountyschools.net/academics/international_baccalaureate/accolades_and_awards/ - broken link)

Here's a link to ratings of all schools in Horry County. State Report Cards - 2010 - HorryCountySchools (http://www.horrycountyschools.net/cms/One.aspx?portalId=743462&pageId=12073890 - broken link)

Looks like Socastee compares well with St James so you can't go wrong there either.

Hopefully, I didn't make things more confusing for you. We built in a new development (we're the 4th house built of 50) so we don't have many other families yet. But, if you're interested in know more about where we live, let me know. But, as I said, St James is a good school and I think you'd be happy with either school.