Lake Front Property in South Carolina?

[Ed_Geary]

Wife and I are looking to move to South Carolina in a couple years. We have no idea as to where in the state we want to go and it really doesn't matter.

Can anyone suggest a good size ski/surf lake that still has reasonably priced lake front lots (1/4 acre minimum)?

Wouldn't mind being near Greenville or Columbia.

Any S. Carolina Realtors on the forum?

[5:00]

The wife and I are doing that tour ourselves. We have about five more years until we can move (not retire). We will be empty nesters with all kids in college or done with it. We have settled on SC. GA was on the list but the wife isn't into places where alligators roam. I almost hit a five footer at night on the way to check out a place in GA.

We have visited and stayed at Lake Greenwood. Nice place, good community and a bit out of the way of the town. A bit over an hour away to Charlotte airport which I will need for sure. We were there during hurricane Joaquin in 2015. We still managed to have a good time but not on the water. Large lake but you want to be on the lower part as when the water gets low, you want to be in the deep end. Most everything you will need is in the towns that are fairly close and is still on our list.

We have stayed at Lake Wateree many times as well. Again way out of the way of the actual town but a great and really uncrowded lake. The big day is July 4 and you still have your pick of places to do what you want at about 23 miles long. Other than that day you have the lake to yourself and it is a great lake but there is nothing there which is good for some. About 45 minutes from Columbia.

I have spent a little time on Lake Murray and it seemed crowded but like I said, just a little time.


We still want to visit Greenville, and Lake Keowee.
We haven't been to Lake Keowee but it is top on the list for what we want. We are looking at the Keowee Key community. The lake is smaller than some of the others so we will spend a long weekend there as we have done on the others and see how traffic on the lake is. I will haul my skis down there so we can go anywhere we want quickly. It is close to a major town and is large. It has a good size community and the lake is more than large enough to do what we want most likely. We were slated to go with another couple to check it out on Columbus day weekend but they couldn't make it so we canceled. We have it planned for early spring with two other couples who are now interested. The only downside I see there so far sight unseen is the weather. It is a bit north and toward the mountains. The mountains hold back a lot of the cold air and snow coming in from Tennessee but if that is mentioned it may get colder than I would like there. It isn't really cold but I want to have only a couple of months that are "cold".
They have Clemson University, all of the big box stores and everything else you need there. I feel a bit stupid putting Keowee so high since I haven't been there but from all of our research it looks great. We have been going to retirement functions in our area where they have reps from a lot of the communities in NC, SC, GA, VA, PA, MD and TN. We are pretty much always the youngest ones there LOL. I will find out in the spring how it really is in Keowee.

We plan on putting our list in order then in another year or two take a week and drive around again to all of the spots on our list and see again how we like it. We will put our current lake house on the market a year or two before we plan on moving and go from there. We are really looking forward to it and sooooo ready to get out of the rat race in Northern Virginia.

Where are you located now?

Keep me posted on what you find!

[Ed_Geary]

Thanks 5:00!

Before you responded, I did find out about Lake Keowee and Lake Wateree. They both sound real interesting. I want a place that is fairly rural, but yet close enough to large cities for some cultural activities. Want to stay away from large lakes.

I'm presently in Clermont, Fl. near the tourist attractions (RatWorld, Universal, etc), where the alligators roam :)

My present lake is 3600 acres.

I'd like to purchase a lot now and build around 2020 - when I retire.

[jmvotto]

got a buddy that moved to a lake near Columbia SC and loves it . I think its lake murray

[5:00]

jmvotto Murray is the one near Columbia, SC. I just don't know that much about it. I know the boat store there had a spare prop in stock when my wife hit a rock at the beginning of a weeks vacation. We were on the lake a little bit but not enough to get a feel for it. I don't think it is on our short list.

Not a lot of cultural activities around Wateree other than a weekend of horse racing they have only once a year. I am sure there are other things though. The nearest town is Camden, SC which is beautiful and about a minimum of 15+ min from town. Great little town and does have a Wal*Mart, Tractor supply and things smaller than that. I would imagine lots there are relatively inexpensive. If you need a realtor there I know locals there and can get you a name. All of the people I have met there have been good so far. I have spent the entire July 4 week there for the last 6 years and love it. Great if you don't want much in the way of people yet a huge lake.
From what you describe it sounds like Keowee? Well at least there may be two Moombas there in the next 5 years! We are still figuring it out though.
We are looking forward to getting down there for sure but the 4-5 year sentence we have to do here only 20 minutes from D.C. seems like a long time. Our last kid is off to college in 2020 but would start building probably 6 months to a year before that. They can come visit us in SC.

[moombaman16]

I just wanted to throw out my 2 cents on lake keowee, I have a place there have been going every weekend and week stays for the last three years. I have a park model setup near the keowee key community, it is a very nice community. My family loves the lake, we mainly surf but just bought our first Moomba this year so more water sports to come I am sure. We love lake keowee and the surrounding area and have even discussed at some point making it a permanent residence. The lake can get crowded in the height of summer but there is plenty of coves to hide in and surf. And of course I am 15 mins from Clemson University. Go Tigers!

[That Guy]

This thread interests me. We plan to do something similar in 5-8 years once kids in college. We are thinking KY, TN, Carolinas or even TX. Please keep us updated!

[5:00]

Moombaman16 thanks for the $0.02. Looking again that is a decent size lake. How bad does it get during the summer? How long is the surfing/wake season there?

[Ed_Geary]

I really want to find property on a lake that doesn't get very crowded. My present lake - even on a sunday or Saturday during the summer, I might see one or two boats in the distance.

Here is my dream property:

Rural lot with hardly any grass and lots of trees.

Dock located at the bottom of a hill - have to have steps going down to the dock

45 - 60 minute drive to a large city

No redneck neighbors.

What kind of pricing have you found at Keowee?

[5:00]

Except for #4 you are looking pretty good. That one however is a crap shoot and can be anywhere though. Generally good people I find.
Pricing is all over the place and it depends on what you want. I find about $350K for .5 acre on big water. In a cove you are probably looking at about $150K?
I would go to www.zillow.com and take a look. You can filter out everything except for lots and there are an absolute ton to choose from. Keep in mind those are just asking prices.

[moombaman16]

Moombaman16 thanks for the $0.02. Looking again that is a decent size lake. How bad does it get during the summer? How long is the surfing/wake season there?
If you get in the main channel area and the popular places, there is a water fall about half way up the lake or down the lake depending on which direction you are coming where a lot of people tie up and swim and what not and that area can get crowded. I don't know how much you know about the lake but we stay around a landing called stamp creek when it is busy weekends, such as the 4th and Memorial Day and we can surf all day and only see a handful of boats. There is always some where to go and have you own space and not get run over, especially if you are not trying to stay in the main channel. We were there this past weekend and the water temp was still in the upper 60s low 70s it was warm enough to surf, we didn't but my buddy has a mojo and I have the craz and we were wishing we would have surfed. Our season every year is march through November we could do even in to December and some in February but my wife hates the cold water and temp so we usually quit around the end of November.

[deerfield]

... three years. I have a park model setup ...

moombaman - What is a "park model setup"? - deerfield

[5:00]

Wow that is really good news all around! That is weather I can deal with. I wouldn't think of being in a main channel so that is really good.
Are there a decent amount of places to eat on the water and off?
We haven't been there yet because our friends couldn't over Columbus Day weekend but we will be there in the spring to check it out.

[Ed_Geary]

"I find about $350K for .5 acre on big water. In a cove you are probably looking at about $150K? "

That for a lot only - no house???

[sandm]

moombaman - What is a "park model setup"? - deerfield

https://www.athensparkhomes.com/park-homes/Chandler,-Arizona/170

you'll get the drift from this pic. basically a 5th wheel and a mobile home had a child..
my ex's parents had one in yuma for a season. perfect for 2 with kids as most only have a single bedroom and pullouts in the living room.
most in arizona are not mobile and have 'arizona' rooms attached. basically a screened in covered porch for added outdoor living space.

iirc they bought theirs for 20k all in and lot rent ran a few thousand a year. economical 2nd home.

[5:00]

"I find about $350K for .5 acre on big water. In a cove you are probably looking at about $150K? "

That for a lot only - no house???

That is if you want to build and it is only asking but don't rely on that. I have also seen a lot of houses with the same type of lots for not much more than what I listed. There is a real gap for some reason. Either the people there think their land is worth a lot more than it is or the houses are really cheap. I was trying to figure that out as well. If you want to get something that is built there seems to be some pretty decent deals from what I can tell. My wife wants to build which I am totally not into and I would be happy to take what is there. I just need a house, Moomba, lift, dock, lake and my skis and I am happy.

[5:00]

https://www.athensparkhomes.com/park-homes/Chandler,-Arizona/170

you'll get the drift from this pic. basically a 5th wheel and a mobile home had a child..

Those are pretty neat. We have a place on our current lake that I found that had these but I didn't know what they were. They all have an outdoor space for eating and hanging out as well. There is a cove with about 20 of these all lined up on narrow properties. There is a common parking lot, ramp and little park for the kids. Almost every one has a dock with a single metal structure boat lift at the end.

[moombaman16]

moombaman - What is a "park model setup"? - deerfield

Sandm is right it is like camper but permanently setup, mine is 2 bedroom 2 bath a very economical way to have a place at the lake for the time being until we can look more serious for a house.

[moombaman16]

Wow that is really good news all around! That is weather I can deal with. I wouldn't think of being in a main channel so that is really good.
Are there a decent amount of places to eat on the water and off?
We haven't been there yet because our friends couldn't over Columbus Day weekend but we will be there in the spring to check it out.
There are a few places on the world that are really good with plenty of docking space. There is also many good places in the Seneca and Clemson areas

[5:00]

I don't think we considered those too closely but I will add it to the list. It is a massive lake at Clemson so there has to be plenty of good places I would imagine.

[pprior]

In to follow. We are actually going to Lake Keowee in February, my wife wants a place in Florida near Venice, I'm thinking South Carolina – we've never been there but are excited to go look.

Home prices for areas we are looking at seem to be between 400 and 900,000.


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[Ed_Geary]

$900,000 would buy you a huge lake front Mansion in Central Florida

[pprior]

If I'm in Florida I want near the ocean (also considering, Venice area). No alligator problems in SC


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[Ed_Geary]

No alligator problems in Florida - unless you do something stoooooopid.

Venice & Naples are nice. So is Sarasota.

Personally, if I were to stay in Florida, I would go to the panhandle.

[wolfeman131]

No alligator problems in SC



Depends on how you define"problem" as there are gators in SC. There is even a hunting season for them:

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/alligator/drawhunt.html

[pprior]

Not to hijack thread but where in panhandle and why? Wife thinks it's too cold during winter in SC and I assume panhandle is similar


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[Ed_Geary]

I love the Destin area.

Beautiful water and beaches, weather a bit cooler in the summer, still pretty mild in the winter, closer to the northern states and not as "rednecky" as the central & southern parts of the state.

[JoelFett]

I just bought a house in Chapin SC, 3 bedroom 4 bath on .6 acres. Backs to Lake Murray, which can be busy, but also has a lot of quiet and hidden coves. The plus of this one though is the 8 lakeside restaurants and the annual fireworks shows. I did a lot of looking and found a lot of homes on the water for sub $300k if you aren't looking to be in the town. Just finished rebuilding the dock and ready for the summer to hit.

Picture is from our massive winter storm. That's real snow out there.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170119/8208855af74758316490d1344bd02ec1.jpg

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[sivs1]

Picture is from our massive winter storm. That's real snow out there.



That's too funny.....

[jstenger]

Better get your snow brush out. I would hate to get stuck in all that snow.

[Ed_Geary]

A neighbor with a ramp...Sweet!

Can you back your boat away from the dock with no issues?

I know I'd be hitting one of those.

[5:00]

That water looks REALLY low.

[JoelFett]

That water looks REALLY low.
It is. 5 feet below full pool (360), 3.5 below normal (358.5) depth . The dock is 8 feet at normal though, so I'm good.

And yes, I can back my boat around pretty well. I learned by keeping it backed into a slip for 2 years. Takes practice for sure.

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[5:00]

Waking this thread in case anyone is interested still. We have been looking for several years and three states for our next home which needs to be lake front. We finally visited Lake Keowee, SC a couple of weekends ago with fingers crossed and that is going to be our next living and retirement place. There are three decent size towns within 20 minutes including Clemson and Salem. There are plenty of larger cities including Atlanta within a couple of hours. The Blue Ridge mountains are 30 minutes away. TN and NC are very close as well. The weather is ideal for us. This is a beautiful lake with emerald green water. The reason for this is that when they clear cut the trees they removed ALL of them!!! No wood is decomposing in this lake. The water that feeds it is pristine. This also means no logs or stumps to hit. The shore drops quickly. Off the end of docks from what we saw the average depth was about 14 feet and the lake was down as far as it gets. There are two other lakes there also.

If anyone is looking for a place in that region I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. I noticed most of the boats there are pontoons, probably 80%+. Not a lot of competition for places to surf and play so I am all for that. 26 miles long, 3 miles wide at its widest, 300 miles of shoreline with room for everyone. The one thing that everyone mentioned is that the public schools suck so it would be private school for kids but ours will all be in college by that point and one is interested in Clemson so that works.

[KnoxMojo]

Be careful over there, find a list of rules and regs for each lake that you may want to explore. I say this because we bought a lift from a guy on Lake Bowen near Clemson, they have a no V-drive policy. So I would hate for you to buy a place and not be able to use your boat.

[5:00]

Thanks for the heads up. There were a few V-drives out there on the lake but I will ask. One of the places across from where we were looking had an MC on the lift and the house next door had an older Moomba. Doesn't mean it's okay though. They husband of the realtor that toured us around worked for a lift company. We told him what we had and he didn't say there would be a problem.
I hadn't heard of that rule before but some of these lakes do have a lot of them.

[kennc]

Thanks for the heads up. There were a few V-drives out there on the lake but I will ask. One of the places across from where we were looking had an MC on the lift and the house next door had an older Moomba. Doesn't mean it's okay though. They husband of the realtor that toured us around worked for a lift company. We told him what we had and he didn't say there would be a problem.
I hadn't heard of that rule before but some of these lakes do have a lot of them.Disappointing to hear about the public schools. I have two in elementary school. Was there a specific area you were or do you think that applied to the entire lake area?

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[5:00]

I am guessing it probably applied to most of the area but I would rather not assume. I put some links below and you can dive down deeper. There are good and bad schools in all counties but it mostly depends on the particular system of that county. When looking at places like this and a nice house on a lake, you have to remember you are a very small bubble where all is looking great. Once you get outside of that bubble things can be very different. I always keep that in mind when looking at places. I was really impressed with some of the towns compared to some of the other lake areas we looked at which was a big part of our decision. Greenville, SC less than an hour away was awesome and plenty of culture. We are in the Washington D.C. area so no matter where we go it will be very different. We can't wait to get out of this area though. Everyone was friendly and two out of the three towns were very nice. The third was very old but it seemed like it was on a bit of a come back trail but still a good place.

It looks like the lake straddles two counties, Pickens on the East and Oconee to the west. Here are the high school rankings respectively.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?district-id=111518&state-urlname=south-carolina
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?district-id=107111&state-urlname=south-carolina

Here is where we are now for comparison in Fairfax County, VA which is a very good system.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?district-id=109481&state-urlname=virginia

[pprior]

We looked at keowee. The lake was beautiful but homes in the nicer areas were 800-1M+ and as soon as you left that area it seemed very backwater. And taxes for out of state owners quite high.


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[JoelFett]

Well, since you woke it up, I'll throw my plug in... due to unforeseen circumstances (nuclear power plant shut down) I'm selling my beautiful house on Lake Murray so I can relocate. If interested, let me know. 3 bed, 4 bath 2200 sq ft in Chapin, with the #8 high school in the state (educationally).

[5:00]

We looked at keowee. The lake was beautiful but homes in the nicer areas were 800-1M+ and as soon as you left that area it seemed very backwater. And taxes for out of state owners quite high.

It sounds like you found a lot of the same as we did. There are some other places that aren't as high priced but can get a good place. Keowee Key might be the place you looked also? We also found some <$500K places on the water with really nice smooth slope to the water but those needed fixing up. I am pretty much DIY for the most part so a lot would be just materials cost but some pro help would be needed.

The back water part you mentioned is what I was referring to with my bubble comment. Most places are going to be like that but everyone we ran into outside of the lake seemed like good people and had good conversations. It depends on where you go though. You can go to Lake Murray near Columbia and have a decent size town. There is Lake Norman in NC and be near Charolette. We wanted to get away from the bigger towns and cities but that just us. I liked Norman but the wife wasn't into it that much.

We would be full time residents and taxes for that and retirement income taxes are really good and make a lot of sense to us. They try hard to incentivize people to retire there which is the plan. We are looking to move in 3-4 years, keep working remotely and in office once a month and retire eventually but no time soon.

[5:00]

Well, since you woke it up, I'll throw my plug in... due to unforeseen circumstances (nuclear power plant shut down) I'm selling my beautiful house on Lake Murray so I can relocate. If interested, let me know. 3 bed, 4 bath 2200 sq ft in Chapin, with the #8 high school in the state (educationally).

Damn sorry to hear that. I hope you have something lined up. Sounds like a really nice place.