Ready to leave after 10 years, REALLY ready to lea
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5/31/2013
We have been here 26 years and we are trying to move back to the Northeast. We came here for jobs and have had to stay due to the economy. I will try to make this as unbiased as I can.
If you are from the "North", or as they say here, a "yankee", they will never fully accept you.
Southern hospitality is largely a myth. There are some people who genuinely welcome you, but most do not. People here also do not treat their dogs as they should. The shelters are very busy; the dogcatchers are very busy. People do not keep their dogs safe in a fence or indoors.
That southern accent that sounds cute at first will start to drive you crazy. You will get very tired of hearing people use terrible grammar, and the worst part is, you will hear it so much that you almost start to do it yourself. If you have kids and you don't want them to sound ignorant, move someplace else or plan to home-school them. I don't have children but I hear the schools are pretty bad. Lots of people home-school or send their children to private school.
Warning: the summers are brutal. Be prepared to spend 3 months inside in the air conditioning. I am talking 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. I get cabin fever in the summer. Another thing they don't tell you is that you will probably need to replace your A/C unit every 10 years, which will cost around $7,000 each time.
There are some decent things to do, but if it is in the summer, will you be able to go out in the heat to participate? I cannot.
The Aiken mall is empty and dying. They are building way too many things on the south side of town and traffic is getting really bad.
Positives: the cost of living is low, taxes are low. The winters are good. If you are a horse person and will live in a horse community, and will be able to go someplace cooler in the summer, then this may be a good place for you, SEASONALLY. Thanks to the Savannah River Site and some other larger industries, there are people here from other parts of the country, thank goodness. They tend to get involved and definitely make things better. These people will be your friends.
Good service is very hard to find. Stores and fast food places mostly employee teens or people who do not care. Good service from craftsman is also hard to find. So many times we've had things done to our house that required a second or third visit to get the job right.
Be careful if you live in the country as we do. You tend to get neighbors who drag race, speed, let their dogs run and drive a big noisy truck. Most people in Aiken live in subdivisions where you will have restrictions against such problems, but you will have lots of neighbors.
Come for a visit first if you can, in July or August. You should see the place at its worst before you decide to live here. I think it would be ok as a place to retire to as long as you can leave in the summer.
KC | New Ellenton, SC