- So you're making the move to South Carolina.
Well, here are 10 things that you must know
before you get here.
(upbeat music)
What's up, everybody?
I'm Bill Olson, your favorite YouTubing realtor
here in Charleston, South Carolina.
And today, we're talking about all the things
that you must know before you move here.
A lot of these are things
that I had no clue of before I got to Charleston.
Now, before we get started, please, don't forget
to subscribe, ring that bell, like this video,
share it with your friends.
Drop me a comment on what you learned
when you first moved here as well.
So let's get started.
The number one thing that you need to know
is that the state of South Carolina
is separated into four geographical areas.
We've got Upstate,
which is around the Greenville, Spartanburg area
and into the Appalachian mountains.
This is where Clemson University is.
We have the Midlands.
The Midlands runs from about Charlotte in North Carolina,
down to Augusta, Georgia, right in the middle of the state,
just like the name says.
And in there is our capital of Columbia.
The Pee Dee region is going to be
your northeastern part of the state
where the cities that people most know there
are Florence and then Myrtle Beach.
And then you have the Lowcountry,
which is the southeastern part of the state,
where I live in Charleston.
Other cities in here you may have heard of are Summerville,
Mount Pleasant, Hilton Head and Beaufort.
Number two is that our winters are generally pretty mild,
depending on where you live in the state.
Now, most people, because it says South Carolina,
they think, oh, it's southern
and the winters are gonna be super mild.
Well, here in Charleston, they are
because we are further South.
And Hilton head and Beaufort,
they're gonna be a little bit more mild.
It still gets cold,
but we're not gonna really see snow often, if ever.
Now, when you get up into the Upstate areas
and the northern parts of the state, you know,
it is common to see snow in the winter,
and it does get cold, but they still have the warm summers.
Number three is that college football is huge.
It is king here in South Carolina.
Technically, we do have an NFL team, the Carolina Panthers,
because they're in Charlotte right on the border,
and they're supposed to encompass both states.
That doesn't take away from the fact
that if your plans don't include college football
on Saturdays in the fall,
you're probably not going to see your friends.
Most people here are either Clemson Tiger fans
or University of South Carolina Gamecock fans.
And when those teams play,
pretty much the whole state just shuts down for a few hours,
except for the bars, which are incredibly busy.
Number four was a huge pleasant surprise for me,
and the barbecue sauce in South Carolina is mustard-based.
Being from up north, to me, when I heard barbecue,
it was a bottle that we got off the shelf
from the grocery store,
and we put it on anything that was on the grill,
most likely chicken.
Now, if you're not a mustard fan, that's fine.
Most, if not all barbecue restaurants
that you go to, there's going to be a sauce caddy
on the table with all different kinds of sauces
that you can put on there from the mustard
to vinegar-based to tomato-based.
Some even have the white barbecue sauce.
Sticking with the food theme,
number five is that South Carolinians
love a good oyster roast.
In the colder months, they can seemingly be every weekend,
whether it's about big organized event
or just going over to a buddy's house.
One thing that could shock you about these oysters
is it's not gonna be the oysters
that you get at a fancy restaurant
where you go and you get six of them.
No, our oysters here come in clusters,
and they are steamed over an open fire
and dumped onto a wooden table
with a big hole in the middle,
and everyone just stands around, shucks and eats oysters,
throws the shells in the hole.
Grab your favorite cold beer,
your shucker, some hot sauce and some crackers,
and you've got yourself a party.
Number six is that you better get used to your tea sweet,
so much so that one town right outside of Charleston here
claims to be the birthplace of sweet tea.
And that is Summerville.
Through the town, they even have a sweet tea trail,
and one of the stops is Mason,
the world's largest sweet tea,
which can hold 2,524 gallons of sweet tea.
Number seven is our housing costs
can be lower than the national average,
depending on where you live, of course.
South Carolina as a whole has housing costs
that are below average for the entire United States.
But again, it all depends on where you live.
The closer you get to the coast,
the higher this cost of living is going to be.
Here in Charleston, we're seeing a cost of living
above the national average.
Some of the bigger cities,
if you want more affordable living,
you can find that in Columbia, Florence,
Greenville, and Spartanburg.
Going along with the housing costs comes number eight,
and we are one of the top 10
most property tax-friendly states in the country.
Now this is only for primary residences
where our effective tax rate across the state is
about a little over half of 1%
of your property's value.
Number nine is something I learned the hard way,
and that is that the term "Bless your heart"
is not a compliment.
Here in South Carolina,
southern charm and hospitality is alive and well.
So basically saying bless your heart to someone,
pretty much calling them an idiot, but in a nice way.
And finally we have what I think
is the most important thing to know,
and that is you should buy your bug spray in bulk.
Here in South Carolina, we have a ton of bugs.
One of the biggest pests
that's often referred to as the state bird is the mosquito.
And let me tell you,
you only need to forget your bug spray once
to never forget it again.
And then there's the no-see-ums,
or officially named biting midges.
They're called no-see-ums because you can't see them.
They're so small,
but they'll just land on you and bite you and pester you.
They are the worst on the coast and the salt marshes.
I hope you enjoyed this video, folks.
Here's a couple more videos for you,
and don't forget to subscribe right here.
If there's anything that I forgot
or you think people need to know,
drop that down in the comments below
so that they can know everything
before they move here to South Carolina.
Have a wonderful day, thanks again for watching,
and don't forget to subscribe, like, ring that bell
and share this video with your friends, bye.