South Carolina Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Columbia Recommendations
My H and I are moving to Columbia from Chicago. Does anyone have any recommendations for good areas/neighborhoods to live--we prefer laid back and quiet but with an easy commute downtown? Conversely, anywhere we should absolutely avoid? Any good online resources about the area I should know about?
Thanks! I'm originally from Virginia and I'm looking forward to returning to the southeast.
Re: Columbia Recommendations
Hey there! We moved here in October (I'm from MI and BF is from AL) and live in the Columbia area. We're currently in Lexington and really like it here. It's a nice town, much larger than I expected and convenient to all the highways. There is a lot to choose from here as far as shopping/grocery, restaurants, things to do, etc. Plus, the schools are the best in the area and top in the state which was important to us for when we do get married and have kids. Prior to relocating, I did a lot of research on the area and talked to a lot of people...Lexington was the place that seemed to match where we wanted to be and since we've been here, so many people have said that we made the right choice by moving to Lexington.
We're about 10-15 minutes from downtown, depending on traffic (which is seriously nothing compared to Chicago...even Grand Rapids was worse than here)! I like this area because it reminds me a lot of Grand Rapids....you can live in a more rural area but still be super close to downtown if you want to. Right now, we're renting to get acclimated and figure out what neighborhoods/area within Lexington we will want to buy. We're in a little neighborhood that is older and fairly quiet...it's not ideal for me (I prefer to get to know my neighbors a little better and be around younger people/families) but it's a home and for now, it suits us just fine!
We actually just met a realtor not too long ago (coincidentally actually) and kind of gave her an idea of what we're looking for and she had several neighborhoods to recommend. I can get you her information or get you in contact with her if you like...just let me know! Also, 2bMrs.Hendrix is a realtor and lives in Lexington (she frequents the D&R board, so you might have better luck reaching her over there)!
We're still learning the area but I love being here. It's such a convenient location to everything (90 min. from Charlotte, 90 min. from Charleston, an hour from Augusta, 3 hours from Myrtle Beach, 4 hours from Jacksonville, etc.). I'm not too familiar with other parts of Columbia, but we're close to W. Columbia and from what I've seen, it's not somewhere I'd want to live. It's a little more "run down" from other parts. We've been to the Fort Jackson area and it seems nice over there, but I don't know much about it. We plan on staying in Lexington as long as we're in the Columbia area. Lake Murray is also nearby which is great for the weekends...we've contemplated buying a house there but it might be too far of a commute for BF (he works about 40 minutes away from here)!
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. I don't know a lot about the area as we're still new, so all I can tell you is what I've experienced so far!
Shandon is really laid back with a good mix of people. DH and I lived in the Five Points area and also Broad River. Five Points is close to USC, so you have a lot of college kids roaming around. While it was convenient to downtown, DH and I were really tired of hearing drunk kids roaming around on the weekends. We loved where we were in Broad River, but it's kind of a bubble. Good for renting, but not great if you're going to buy.
My dad lives in the Northeast. Norteast is very suburban and the homes are mostly newer (built within the last 20 years). A lot of doctors and attorneys live up there. The commute is a good deal longer than Shandon or Broad River, though.
Harbison/Irmo has a lot going on (shopping, restaurants, young families), but the commute is awful. I say that as a native of SC, but for someone from Chicago, it might not be a big deal. It can take about 45 min to get downtown from up there just because of traffic.
Of those neighborhoods, I would vote for Shandon. The homes are mostly older but it's really charming.
Hey, I just wanted to come back and say THANKS so much for all the information. It is great to have a place to start looking. I hope to frequent this board more in the coming weeks.