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Hello everyone and Welcome to another
episode of Selling Greenville your
favorite real estate podcast here in
Greenville South Carolina I'm your host
as always Stan McCune realtor right here in
the upstate of South Carolina and you
can find all of my contact information
in the show notes if you need to reach
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of that from you guys today we're going
to be talking about Greer in our
minseries that I'm doing here about
overviewing the upstate and the various
areas of the upstate of South Carolina
and I I thought about doing this in a
few different ways I thought about doing
you know just Greenville like I did last
week and then having a show that did
basically all of the other Metro areas
around Greenville but as I started
getting into it I realized really most
of these areas need their own individual
treatment and Greer for sure needs its
own individual treatment so here we are
I'm doing an entire episode just on
Greer and for those of you who didn't
know I just moved from the Greer area
I was living in the Riverside School
District part of Greer which we'll get
into here in a little bit so I know
Greer quite well I've lived in
several different parts of the upstate
and obviously I'm a realer so I know
all of these areas pretty well but
there's no area that you ever know quite
as well as the areas that you live in so
I'm very familiar with with Greer and
I would say just for starters for
those who don't know anything about
Greer it is a unique s by the way the a
lot of the locals call it g you'll
that's kind of a running joke that
that people will call G G but I will
try to avoid doing that in the show
but Greer is a is a really unique City
And for those that don't know m that
aren't from around here Greer is
actually where our International Airport
the Greenville Spartanburg International
Airport is located and that's due to the
fact that Greer is literally half in
Greenville County and half in
Spartanburg County and actually that
was the that Riverside School District
area where I said that I lived in I
literally lived right by the airport
in fact there were sometimes where the
planes landing or taking off would
kind of almost not rattle our house but
it would there was a definite impact
from it you got used to it though
it's kind of like that phenomenon where
you no longer hear trains if you live
near trains it was kind of the same
thing with the planes as long as they
weren't exceedingly loud but Greer
aside from the fact that that's where
the airport is located and which is a
piece of trivia that most people don't
know when they come to Greenville
Greer is also much larger than you would
think most people think of Greer is just
a small little town but actually the the
land mass that is a that constitutes
Greer addresses is actually really
really large with some parts of Greer
if you're looking at Google Maps and
like I said last week I do think that
for those that aren't familiar with the
up state that it would benefit you to
listen to the show with Google Maps
pulled up but some parts of Greer go
all the way down and brush up against
Five Forks and and Reedville which
Five Forks is in Greenville County
Reedville is in Spartanburg County
and then other parts All the Way North
brush up against Campa belloo in
Spartanburg County and tigerville in
Greenville County so it's it it is a
huge area of geography that that
constitutes those Greer addresses and
this is why we're having to take a whole
show just to talk about
Greer now the medium price point for all
of Greer was
$315,000 last year which is right on
track with the rest of the upstate
that's very similar to what we've been
seeing recently for the medium price
points for the upstate the lowest
sale in and again this is the entire
area of Greer any any address that had
Greer in it the lowest sale was
35,000 and the highest was
2.75 million so there are very cheap
homes in Greer there are very expensive
homes in Greer depending on where you go
so to make this more helpful I'm
going to split Greer up into a few
different categories kind of like what I
did with Greenville last week we've got
downtown Greer we've got Riverside
School District we've got the BMW area
of Greer because BMW if you don't know
is one of the major corporations that
has a major presence here in the upstate
we've got the or honory depending on
how you pronounce it River area and Blue
Ridge now again as I said last week some
of you might not like how I've split
this up and to you I just say get your
own podcast and you can split up the
upstate however you want all right now
I'm just joking by the way m
obviously you can get way more specific
than those categories but that is going
to be how I split it up for the purposes
of the show now downtown Greer is
arguably the best downtown in the
upstate and really one of the best
secrets of South Carolina one of the
best kept secrets of South Carolina once
you leave downtown Greenville obviously
everyone loves Downtown Greenville it's
incredible there right you've got a
waterfall going straight through the
middle of a city with all these
incredible buildings so and extremely
walkable all these shops all these great
restaurants nothing compares to Downtown
Greenville but some people will ask me
well besides Downtown Greenville what is
there and one of the first things
that comes to mind is downtown Greer
which is a much much smaller version of
what you get in Downtown Greenville it
doesn't have any stunning features like
like Falls Park where the waterfall
goes through but it has a fantastic
great little Main Street area kind of
brick streets and and sidewalks
and there are several very good
restaurants coffee houses art galleries
Etc there's even a small little food
court or I guess food Hall is is what
they're called now the Hipster food
courts that we call food halls now
I've been in some big food halls in some
big cities this is not that this is a
small this is almost like a glorified
coffee shop imagine a a a large coffee
shop that has restaurants a handful of
restaurants and a brewery Winery in
it that's what the food haul and Greer
is like but it's it's Greer sized and
that's what is really appealing about
Greer is that you get this really small
town Vibe but it's it's not small
town from the ameni standpoint like
there are some legitimately very good
restaurants and very good shops and good
things to do in downtown Greer there are
multiple fantastic Parks both in and
near downtown Greer and it's
extremely walkable it's extremely
manageable you're not going to have a
ton of traffic there's pretty much
always Street Park
unless there's a major event going on
and and and for some people this is
actually way more interesting than
Downtown Greenville and interestingly
really the the past couple of years I've
had multiple people moving to the
upstate from outside the upstate that
when they go into Greer they're like
this is where we want to be we want to
be near downtown Greer this is where
we find this to be most appealing as
opposed to being you know closer to
Downtown Greenville because they just
like that small town charm that downtown
Greer has and it borrows heavily from
downtown Greenville I mean if you go
into downtown Greer it will feel in a
lot of ways like downtown Greenville but
just on a much smaller scale and much
more relaxed Greer does plenty of
events although having been a
Greer resident I feel like it's safe
for me to say that they generally lack
the Polish
that the events in in Greenville have
but again that is part of the small town
appeal it's just more relaxed than
Greenville there's not as much intensity
when it comes to you know making sure
that these events are completely
buttoned up and very exclusive and all
of that like the events in Greenville
like Fall for Greenville Artisphere and
whatnot that we have in Downtown
Greenville Greer doesn't have any events
to that scale it just can't can't
support it but the events that it
does have usually they're going to be a
little clunky just because this is a
small town now as far as shopping
goes downtown career only has Boutique
type of shopping options but you're
extremely close to Wade Hampton
Boulevard where shopping options
bound and again Greer is still very
close to really everything like it's
not that far away from downtown
Greenville it's not even that far away
from downtown Spartanburg so you have
a lot of options for just kind of
navigating it it's kind of a nice
Central hub for just navigating the
upstate in general housing wise
downtown ge's options are somewhat
limited you can find housing within
walking distance to downtown but they
are generally smaller older houses so
you just have to be prepared for that
most people moving to the upstate
from from outside the upstate they want
to take advantage of the affordable
housing more generally more affordable
than the areas that they're coming from
that we have in Greenville and usually
they want homes that are you know
somewhat of a decent size downtown Greer
doesn't have homes that are generally
speaking above 2,000 square ft you're
you're just not going to find that
usually they are smaller homes and
that's just the reality of the situation
in downtown Greer now if you get outside
of walking distance to downtown Greer
then there are a lot more options but if
you're looking for options that have
that within walking distance to the
little Main Street downtown it's
generally speaking going to be a smaller
home or a condo or something like that
now as you get further out there are
obviously an abundance of of other
options once you go outside of downtown
Greer one of the most desirable areas
in Greenville for families is the west
side of Greer that that side of Greer
that I have Loosely referred to as
the riversid School District area that's
locally that's just kind of what people
know it as it's not to be confused
with I've heard some people there's a an
area of the west side of Greenville
called Riverside I I've only heard
Outsiders refer to that that's not
really something that local say usually
when we say when we talk about Riverside
we're talking about that west side of
Greer that brushes up against the east
side of Greenville that we discussed
last week and this is the area that I
I said that I used to live in it is
the reason why we talk about the school
district is so much is because it's
an award-winning School District it's
it's one that a lot of people are are
clamoring for at the end of the day you
hear a lot of people that are looking to
try to get into Riverside School
District and the simplest way to do
that is to live in the district there
can sometimes be options for school
choice when you're outside of a
district but generally speaking in the
upstate you need to be in the district
in order to get in the school at least
to guarantee that you get in the school
now this section of Greer was completely
rural up until the past 20 years so a
huge portion of the housing is
subdivision HOA cookie cutter types of
homes on small lots that have been built
in the past 20 years that is really the
identity of this area it's designed
it was built and designed to be
really that classic Suburban feel
that developers have tried to create
from the past 20 years with these you
know HOA cookie cutter type of
communities and I mentioned that it's
an area that has been desirable for
families and that's in large part
because these developments have made
housing fairly affordable I mean just
three years ago I bought a basically
4,000 ft home in this section of G for
$3
$440,000 that's less than a dollar a
square foot and obviously prices have
gone gone up substantially since then
but it's still an area where reasonable
reasonably priced housing can be found
now similar to Eastside Greenville
because this does butt up against
Eastside Greenville this area abounds
with options for Parks grocery shopping
Etc and is extremely accessible if
you're looking to be in position to
get to both Downtown Greenville and
downtown Spartanburg as I've already
said they're both less than 30 minutes
away because of of how close you are to
Interstate 85 Interstate 85 connects
both of those cities and it connects
basically the entire Upstate and so this
section of Greer and really all all of
rear is accessible to Interstate 85 but
this section in particular you've got
several ways to get there that are
really simple you also have proximity to
Way Hampton Boulevard obviously on the
North side you've got pump Road you've
got Highway 14 so you can get from this
part of Greer you can get anywhere in
the upstate really quickly so these are
all reasons why this is a very very
desirable area for families you've
got reasonably priced housing great
accessibility great amenities and
award-winning schools now as you get
near if you're looking at Google Maps or
if you just know the area really well as
you get near Deer Road this is where
you'll see some of the pricier homes in
the Greer area in neighborhoods like
Deerfield Thorn blade Etc that
routinely have sales in excess of a
million dollars but out of the over
2,000 homes that sold in Greer in the
past year only 37 exceeded a million
dollar there's not a whole lot that are
going to be up in that price point
when you get into this
area now south of here you have the
enery or honory river depending on
what persuasion you have it's it's
spelled e n o r e so I personally don't
see how you can pronounce it honory but
I have heard a lot of locals pronounce
it that way so you've got that River
going through Greer and and this area is
kind of wedged between Five Forks and re
bill so this is the next area I'm
going to overview here this is a very
rural area but it's also an area where
you'll find some of the most expensive
housing in Greer there are a ton of
Custom Homes not built in subdivisions
sitting on large Lots U but then there's
also some very nice and expensive
subdivisions like ledg Stone for
instance that's in this area so this
is really the area if you're looking for
Rural generally speaking bigger Lots
price of your homes this is the area
that you might consider in Greer now
as I mentioned this is a rural area so
you don't have a lot of shopping you
don't have a lot of parks people don't
need Parks when they've got you know
multiple Acres or or very large Lots
so you don't have that in the IM
immediate vicinity and quite frankly it
is a little bit bit of a drive to get to
just about anywhere which ju isn't going
to appeal to everyone interestingly
there is a house for sale right now in
this area that I was once under contract
for back when I was a very young
adult and I was not able to get it
because my financing fell through
because of my employment situation
during the Great Recession I just didn't
have enough employment history I didn't
have enough credit history all that
kind of stuff and it was a very sad
moment because that resulted in us
having to rent for longer but I
recently saw this house go go up for
sale for the first time since it had
been up for sale during the Great
Recession when I lost out on it so that
was very interesting I almost lived in
this area and the big downside for me
when we were looking at this area was it
was it just felt like it was going to be
a hike I worked in Downtown Greenville
at that time it just felt like it was
going to be a hike to get down there
because of of just you have to take you
know the road you have to take in order
to get to the major highways and whatnot
it just takes a few minutes at the end
of the day so that's not going to
appeal to everyone it didn't appeal to
me but for some people they really like
kind of being off the beaten path so
that is that section of Greer the
section that I'm Loosely calling the eny
honory river section of Greer North of
Wade Hampton we have what I'll broadly
call the Blue Ridge area of Greer and
and locally people refer to this as the
Blue Ridge area but they might not
call the entire area that it it just
kind of depends you hear different
things from different people but I'm
going to include for the purposes of
this discussion Lake Robinson which
is a really nice Lake for picnicing
picnicking kayaking Etc but it also
has some mountainous regions in this
Blue Ridge area the further you go north
to go back to Lake Robinson by the
way I said good for kayaking
picnicking this is not going to be a
a lake where you're going to be taking
high horse power types of Motors onto we
do have a few lakes in the upstate that
allow that Lake Robinson is not one of
them I've gotten that question a few
times now most of the homes in this area
are going to be homes that generally
speaking were custom built and not in
subdivisions there are subdivisions but
generally speaking in this area when
home come for sale they're generally
whoops sorry I bumped my desk here
generally speaking they
are going to be custombuilt homes now
when I say custom built that can mean
that someone custom built a 1200t ranch
so don't necessarily think in your mind
oh custom built these are all really
fancy homes no not necessarily some of
these homes were custom built and are
just small little brick ranches and
we do also have the very very expensive
Custom Homes as well particularly around
Lake Robinson and in some other areas
but there's plenty of smaller cheaper
homes that were built custom 40 50 years
ago and and in addition to that the
the more expensive ones as well so it's
really a diverse area you're you're
going to run into you know you you'll go
past mobile homes plenty of mobile homes
in this area and then you'll see very
very expensive homes sometimes they're
right next to each other so it it's
kind of unique in that regard
now in addition to Lake Robinson
there there's actually multiple other
lakes rivers plenty of parks in this
area plenty of options for people
looking to do things outside but from
a shopping standpoint again as I keep
saying you've got to come back to weight
Hampton Boulevard and obviously you
probably picked up on the fact that
weight Hampton Boulevard is a very
crucial Street for this area just as
it is for Greer in general
but some parts of the Blue Ridge
area it's it's going to take you a while
if you're in those Northern regions of
of the bluid area of Greer it might
take you a while to get down to any sort
of shopping so you just need to be aware
of that if you're kind of south of Way
Hampton sorry south of Lake
Robinson it's it's not as bad but I
have been to some of those mountainous
parts of Greer and it's it's beautiful
up there I mean I love that section of I
love the drive up there but it's a
little bit of a hike that's not for
everyone now east of the GSP airport
and and this episode obviously Greer is
a lot smaller than Greenville so this
episode thankfully is going to be a lot
shorter than than the Greenville episode
because I'm almost done east of GSP
airport you have the BMW area of Greer
by the way michelin's headquarters I
should mention are are very close to
Greer as well that's another major
corporation in the upstate and so
this is why a lot of people like Greer
as well those that are looking to work
at Michelin really Greer is a very
affordable place generally speaking to
move to and Michelin is not far from
from any of these areas with the
exception of maybe some of those really
Northern Blue Ridge parts of
Greer but you've got the the BMW area
of Greer just east of GSP airport I'm
only mentioning this because I didn't
really include it in anything else
but this is really a commercial area
it's a very interesting Little slice of
of geography for the upstate there's not
a whole lot of housing in this area
if you're wanting to live near BMW you
will ultimately end up in one of the
other areas that we've talked about
you're you're not going to be able to
live within biking distance for instance
of BMW it's almost impossible there are
a handful of houses in this area but
there's very very few it is very very
commercial a lot of
warehouses some stores auto shops
things like that not a lot of houses
residential houses to to purchase that
come on the market in a given year so
that is Greer in a nutshell again as
I already said I have lived in Greer I
highly recommend it a lot it's gaining a
lot lot of traction with a lot of people
it's changed a lot over the years
you've got some of the most recently
built housing in all of Greenville
because that was an area that developers
wisely targeted that used to be just
all Farmland just 20 30 years ago
you could get a USDA loan out there just
like 10 years ago which is insane
like on in the Riverside area of Greer
if you don't know a USDA loan is
designed for like Farmers but you
don't have to be a farmer to qualify for
one it's a it's a good Loan program you
don't have to put anything down there
there's a variety of other benefits to
it and it's crazy when you go through
these areas of Greer now you know it
just feels like you're in the suburbs
and of course they don't qualify for
USDA loans anymore most of these
areas don't there there still are
some areas of Greer that do when you get
into those more rural areas but but
really a lot of good things has happened
to Greer over the years you wouldn't
have wanted to go to downtown Greer 10
years ago now it's a really cute little
thriving downtown that's only going to
continue to get better and so I am
very bullish for Greer as a whole of
course you guys know I'm bullish for all
of the upstate but I really like what
they're doing in Greer and I'm very
supportive of anyone looking to move
there and if you are looking to move
there let me know my contact information
is in the show notes if you need to
reach out to me for anything please rate
review subscribe download episodes to
the show do all of those things to
support it and I will talk to you guys
again next week
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