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Hey, I was wondering if South Carolina was a good place to live/ Start out.
Is the Employment rate high or low?
Taxes?
snow, no snow?
decent schools?
High or low rent prices?
Thanks Goodfella24
Goodfella24,
Been living here since the end of July this year and have found the following items annoying when compared to Florida where we lived for over 20 years:
Is the Employment rate high or low? No idea since I moved here for work.
Taxes? Up to $350 per vehicle in Personal Property Tax payable each year on any vehicle you own (Car, truck, motorcycle, etc.), food is 10%, gas is cheap, roads are a mess (hope you have good shocks, good tires, and repair money).
snow, no snow? No idea yet
decent schools? My Son is in Dorchester II in High school and as a former teacher I'm impressed so far
High or low rent prices? 2100 sq ft 2-story runs us 1495 a month. Utilities, however, are expensive to us.
From Louisiana originally so besides the above we like the atmosphere here. People are genuinely friendly and helpful. Missing Florida especially since we had to rent out our 5-yr old house but getting used to it. Gotta go where the work is these days.
coming from WI, we found many differences between the states. From the obvious climate change (winter here is like fall in the north), to financial and taxes, to cultural. While we did a lot of research to narrow down what state we were interested in, we came and spent 8 days checking out various parts of the state to get a better in-person feel. Now our relocation was different then the OP as we're in our 40's, empty nesters, and brought work with us. But for the original q's listed, i'd add the following.
Unemployment for the state is high, but the metro areas seem to be getting better compared to some rural. Taxes? i'd say this will vary for you depending on if you rent or own a home. Meaning yes you pay prop tax on a car/boat/rv, but if you own a home that tax can be part of your deductions. I cant say if that's the case if you rent and perhaps dont itemize at tax time. But for one who owned a home up north where taxes were much higher, we are in better shape here then back home.
As for roads; overall i'd say they are better then what we were used to. Main difference is no frost heaves and actually fewer heat issues then back home. Though be careful here following your gps, seems it's easy enough to follow it's lead and end up on a gravel road lol.
For us, we chose Columbia area as we wanted to be centralized, a 2 hr drive to Charleston and the ocean, and a couple hours the other direction to Greenville and to the mountains. And we love it here. Found people overall more friendly then home, love a long hot summer (again winter here is nothing) and have been very happy with our move.
Depending on your situation, i'd suggest a visit to SC, see some of the cities, and also check out things you'd do if you lived here. Good luck!
Do yourselves a favor. Stay where you are or move to nearby areas but do not even think about moving to South Carolina. There are no jobs here not even for the local people. This is a very poor State and the people are backward. South Carolina is mostly a rural State and you will feel very lonely with nobody to talk to as local people are not talkative and really don't like any relationship with strangers. They don't even talk much among themselves.
People talk about Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Charleston. In Columbia now there is nothing special. Years ago there were many businesses and movement of people in Main Street but long ago they moved out to other areas and apart from State offices and some offices and Banks there is nothing which can stimulate your mind and soul.
If you are young it's possible to find company among the many students and young crowd at local coffee shops but all is limited. There are only a few areas where one can visit and feel the company of others. The City is full of Black criminals hanging around wheeling and dealing and Mexican gangs making their mark too.
In the summer is hot as Hell. It's hot all over SC .The sun will chew you up and you'll feel weak if exposed to it and you need to pay attention if you don't want to get a stroke or two. Mosquitoes and other strange looking bugs show up any time depending on which month you're in and you're not going to like it.
In the winter it's chilly cold and humid. Between the summer and the winter if you have arthritis or any injuries you're going to feel in pain and medical care is not easily available any place in the State and you don't have insurance no doctor will see you.
Myrtle Beach and Charleston are beautiful Cities yes but it's confined to the inner Cities. During the summer there are thousands of tourists visiting and all looks nice but as soon as the summer comes to an end everybody leaves and there is nobody around...almost,except for the local people but looks like there is nobody around.
Just outside of both Cities it's full of Black criminals too and you don't want to be nowhere around them. A very large number of Mexicans,criminals and otherwise are flooding these areas. Be cautious if you really want to move to South Carolina and want to buy a house! One day you may look around and see strange neighbors and if you have to move again there will be no buyer for your house and you'll loose all of your money.
What I have found in these threads is that posters talk thinks that are not that important and they know that they made the wrong move by settling in SC and don't want to admit it. They keep saying how beautiful it is, how nice people are and how everything is really going good for them.
The reality is much different. Besides what I said it's a huge culture shock...you'll never feel at home here and the problems start when you begin to open your mouth and talk!
We live in Chapin, SC. good Schools. A little bit of Country but not so much you feel isolated. Many developments. some good and some not so good. We choose to live not too far as we commute to Columbia. We looked at homes that we were considering that we first saw on the internet that were close to Lake Murray. Living on close to Lake Murray is Nice but at such an expense as an added commute time. I It adds 20 – 40 minutes to your commute. We looked at homes off Amicks Ferry Rd.and they were nice but wasnt going to deal with that type of commute. If you leave past 6:50 a.m., its one lane in and one lane out with bumber to bumper traffic and no alternative routes. I know because we rented a lake house off of Amicks ferry while our house was being built on the other side of Chapin. Our Home is Just as Nice if not nicer than the homes we looked at in the Timberlake and the surrounding homes off of Amicks Ferry. Plus we loved Lake Murray Elementary. Lake Murray in itself is a great lake for boating, swimming fishing and there are plenty of little islands that you can pull your boat up to and swim or get togther with other families. Plus there are Marinas on both sides of the Lake.
Taxes? Up to $350 per vehicle in Personal Property Tax payable each year on any vehicle you own (Car, truck, motorcycle, etc.), food is 10%, gas is cheap, roads are a mess (hope you have good shocks, good tires, and repair money).
State tax on food is 0%; don't know where you figure it is 10%. I also know some people with newer cars that pay much more than $350 property tax. I pay about $60 on my 98 Toyota.
Check into The University of South Carolina, Beaufort. It's a 4 year school in Bluffton, SC. Bluffton would be a great place for your dad. Not sure how good a social life would be for a 20 year old, but maybe you can get a side job in Hilton Head where you may meet young people (ie., look into Steamers in the Coligony Plaza area).
I commend you on taking care of your Dad, by the way, and sincere condolences on the passing of your Mom.
Agree on above, my in laws retired to sun city in Bluffton, they love it and don't miss the cold of the Northeast. Hilton Head is nice, I'm pretty sure you could find at least a PT job in the service industry. From this area if you had to you could even commute to Savannah, it's not that far. Only thing may be a little tough is social life at first but I'm sure you can find places to meet friends. We currently live in CT, originally from NY. Get ready for a way slower pace of life there....for example wecwent to cracker barrel for breakfast, it was a 2 hour affair and it wasn't even crowded. Food is better up here, people I think are way friendlier there....businesses too, for example took my truck to the ford dealer there after we drove there for a much needed oil change...they also washed my truck, vacuumed it, gave me a coupon for free coffee at local convenience store and it was all about $15 less than a dealer charges here for just the oil change.
Personally, it's too slow-paced for me, maybe when I am 70 but it's not a bad place...
I will be moving to Mytle Beach area the end of the month. I am looking forward to getting out of North Carolina. Love the beach and I think if you want to work you can find something. Change is a good thing.
sc-come on new victims needed!!!!and more tax payers for the drugies and people who refuse to work when there was work, checks and foodstamps-homeless by choice??new park built just for you convienitly across from the piggly wiggly food store and buger king maybe still be the liqour store there for them to-i want away from this crummy place-here see how the military-shaw air force base lets there sgt's do women and dogs,and how the sheriffs dept enjoys it too..my home videos security clips http://www.youtube.com/user/iamjeannie1?feature=mhee
have you thought of NC.? the employment rate is better, there is a GOOD school on every corner, LOL ok, but there's a ton of good schools state wide and if you live there a year you can get in pretty reasonably compared to other home state offers.
There is the citadel here but thats pretty hard to get into. I lived many different places but NC is our personal fav for so many reasons. Depends on whats important I guess. You can go to the libary after you narrow it down and they have books on each state. travel guide books can be a great place to start I've found. Good Luck.
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Is South Carolina a good place...
moving
