If I remember, we can't link City-Data but I'd check out their SC forums, particularly the Charleston area forum and Myrtle Beach & Conway area forum. Do a search for 'retirement' or just browse. I found a few posts with just a cursory look.

Also look for County forums. The County we live in has a large forum accessed through their website. It has a many sections, and one for citizens (or tourists) to start threads.

I know nothing about retirement communities in SC, but if you are wanting coastal, lush foliage, gated community, golf, I would check out areas near Charleston, such as Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island, James, John and Daniel Islands (sounds like brothers LOL). I believe there MAY be a place near Summerville, SC - it is a neat area with many lovely old homes. Also check near the Hilton Head area.

I think there are several down near HHI…I know there is one called Latitude Margaritaville, which is founded by Jimmy Buffett, if that appeals to you. 😊 I think there is a Sun City down there also. There is also a Sun City just over the NC line in upstate SC, but just driving past it makes me think it wouldnt be up your alley…it doesn’t look particularly lush and i am not even sure if it has a golf course.

My father and his wife lived in Sun City, Bluffton, SC. Advertises itself as Hilton Head, but it’s not. It was built around a golf course and there were loads of acivities . I think it leans right politically. They had a one level, two bedroom house with garage and looked out over a pond that had its own resident alligator.

Id say it does not meet your requirement for woods and pretty views. My stepmother ( couldn’t stand her), liked it and made friends there. Id have a hard time in a community like that, but that’s just me.

My niece lives in Oak Island, NC, which if you go directly inland, you’re in SC. It’s lovely, lots of retirees and a golf course. She rides her bike a short distance to the beach, which is beautiful. The house are not brand new so there are many large trees. Its not a planned community but I think you would meet people.

I will just second or third the suggestion to also use city-data forums .

Also, I seem to be noticing several of our old neighbors who had means to live almost anywhere seem to be gravitating to Bluffton SC. I think there are many "developments" or communities and my guess is each one might be quite different.. I've never been so I am just pasing along what I observed.

I forgot about city data - I will check that out - good idea.

Look into Dataw Island, which is located in beautiful Beaufort, SC. Dataw is a very, very special place.

@rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 I wondered if Dataw or Daufuskie Island was where @3katz4me visited.

I have no interest in moving, but if I did, I’d look at the Charleston SC area or Asheville NC. We loved Asheville when we visited and my SIL’s friend retired there and is loving it. Of course I have no idea what it’s like to actually live there, but I love the fact that both have proximity to lots of nature as well as art, good food, etc.

Daufuskie is beautiful but I admit, I would have concerns. @Sueb20 we are about 2 hours from Asheville, and have been visiting their all my life. It was a favorite area of my family as a child and once my husband and I started dating, we often visited a relative of his family. It's a beautiful place. They actually lived in Brevard, which I would prefer living in a suburb as to the actual city of Asheville. (They moved to the coast of NC.) I'm thinking 2katz is wanting more coastal. Asheville area winters would be worse than Charleston area.

@Tina Marie - I'm actually NOT necessarily looking for coastal but would like water - inland lake/reservoir would be fine. Or if everything else about an area was ideal I could give up the water. I don't want to be in the mountains - would love to have a view of them but I want to live in a relatively level area. I'd prefer to not be in a flood/hurricane zone though that's certainly what we were looking at. We need to be in an area warm enough to play golf year round so I haven't looked at NC. Maybe I also need to see about Georgia.

You are in TN - right? Can you play golf year round there? If so maybe I should look there too.

Along the lines if Ded, you can get a list people on a particular street and get info on their voter’s registration.

We visited Sun City in an Austin suburb when we were considering moving a few years ago. The development was huge, and there were some real pluses like proximity to Austin, a hall with visiting speakers, etc. Overall, the amenities and opportunities to meet and gather were truly incredible. For example, there was a huge center for crafting and studio work, a large woodworking center, etc. But after wandering around and visiting some of these centers over the course of a day, I realized the people I met, while very nice, were about ten years older than me mentally. They were just in a different place in life. (I had just turned sixty.) Some of them may have been the same age as me, but they seemed older. I was glad I spent a good amount of time there because I would have been disappointed had we moved to that community. We moved to Texas from California twenty-five years ago, and that move was also a bit of a square peg in a round hole situation, mostly because we are more liberal than the very religious, conservative people I met after we settled in here. Over time, I have found people with whom we are very comfortable and love to be around. But it took years, and at this age, I don't want to move somewhere and feel lonely and disconnected for years.

I have family in Wake Forest, Durham areas. They leave for the summer months because the heat and humidity is unbearable. Ok, they are northerners who relocated so maybe others are accustomed and "weather" it just as northerners deal with winter. I don't know for sure.

2katz, would you be concerned about moving to a prime area for hurricanes? I get the year-round golf attraction - both DH and I are golfers and that would be not only an attraction but a requirement.

@3katz4me oops! Sorry about that. For some reason, I thought you wanted coastal. Yes, I am in TN. We have some mild winters, but then we have some cold times too. We got that snow this past weekend, although yesterday we were in the 60's. The south can be very temperamental! January, February and March could be hit or miss for golf. We have a view of the mountains from our front. : ) There are many lakes around here. We do get pretty warm summers and humidity, but I guess I am used to it. I will take it over cold.

ETA I was going to ask you about Georgia. I would check there too.

We will keep one of our places in MN so we would be able to leave the summer heat and humidity of the south and come to the heat and humidity of MN. It's not constant here - we get some breaks but also a lot of uncomfortable days.

@Bestyears - I know what you're saying about not fitting in with the people in the community. I think it depends on the nature of the place. Both of our homes are currently in golf communities and we seem to fit in well with retired golf people - people considerably older than we are seem to be pretty vital and active.

@Arapaho-Rd - yes I have concerns about hurricane/flood zones. Really the only reason we considered it is because of the unique nature of Daufuskie/Haig Point. Now that I'm also looking at other options I'd prefer to find something in a "safer" location. We talked about this with DH's cousin who lives on John's Island and she said you just leave which is what we'd probably do - head to MN for a visit. The cost of insurance and cleanup from an a devastating event would be my concern.

Who knows if we'll ever do anything like this. It's fun to explore though.

2katz, have you thought to explore Lar's area of Palm Springs?

Arapaho - I have not as I'm not interested in having a place in California. Among other reasons, we have several good friends who either live full time in FL or go there in the winter and though we also aren't interested in having a place in FL, it would be nice to be within driving distance of our friends.

I live in the triangle area of NC. There are some good golf days most winters, but I would not say you could golf even weekly. Weather is so variable. But there are a lot of other things to do being in a vibrant growing area with several large universities. With that you get world class medical care nearby. There is a golf community near me called Governors Club with a wide range of homes. I will say this area is more expensive than SC or GA but maybe more diverse.

PRO TIP: look for a community that includes "continuum of care." That way, you do the big move only once. These communities include independent living, assisted living, and memory care. You start out in a house or apartment on your own, then opt in/move to services as you need them.

2Katz and her husband are nowhere near the lifecare option, in age or mobility. If I am not mistaken they are looking for completely independent living in a golfing community with weather warm enough for year round play, in an area within relatively easy driving distance of their friends in Florida. There are lots of options in both South Carolina and Georgia. Probably a driving tour of communities that meet the first cut would be a good fall trip.

With respect to the ages of people who live in such places, I can only speak from my own experience. We moved to a 55+ community a couple of years ago. DH was almost 61 and i had turned 63. The average age here is constantly fluctuating. More than half the residents here still work full time, many remotely or as consultants who travel. And at any one time there are a fair number of 30 and 40 year olds who have gotten divorced and are staying with their parents to regroup, who may be recovering from an illness orr have moved in to be caregiver for a parent. The owner(s) of the home must be 55 or older but residents may be younger. There are also a fair number of older people with younger spouses. And if you build a new home you can be 51 when you start that process.

With respect to activities, I have noticed that the interest groups skew older. Our community has three or four knitting groups and for some reason the participants are all much older. Same with veterans groups. People who might join those affinity clubs later on are busy now with more active pursuits and still help out with grandchildren.

Our street is one of the first in the whole development. More than half of the 25 homes are occupied by the original owners. If they moved here in their middle to late sixties that means they are now in their late seventies to early 80’s. Of the four homes that sold in the past two years, includibg ours, all have been sold to couples in their late 50s to early 60s. Every neighborhood goes through a similar turnover. It’s not unlike the natural history of a new subdivision populated by very young families. Those compleyely turn over in about 25 years. Here that turnover is about 14 or 15 years at the most.

2katz, if you have specific questions about living in a 55+ community please feel free to message me through Houzz. We never even considered living in this kind of community, but it’s been a good move for us both.

It's good to be checking all this out, and I thank you for sharing it here. We are are few years younger but everyone needs to have a plan. We plan to stay where we are. At this point, we are both healthy and active, but we all know that could change overnight. We've never had children so when we built this house, we downsized on acreage (we have a little over an acre) and built a house suitable for the two of us to age in. No steps other than 3 off front porch and one coming down to patio. We do have an entrance with no steps. If it gets to where we can't manage outside (or inside) we would hire help. We hope to stay in a community with varied ages, including children. Amenities such as pool, golf course, meeting rooms/groups, etc. are not high priority for us. We have our own activities/friends/groups although I realize we will get to the point where we can't be as active. We do have a close "tribe" that we hope to go through old age with! It sounds like your community is a good fit @Kswl and with the number who are still there, it sounds like most are happy there. : )

We are obviously not in retirement community phase of life, but while we are waiting to build our "real" vacation house in FL when the construction market settles, we moved into a resort/golf community with amenities (It's called Champions Gate). We are in the residential country club section, there are also resort sections with rentals.

It is tolerable for visits but I would under no circumstances EVER want to live there full time. The amenities are nice, but I've found that almost all these types of communities have houses that are tightly packed together which I hate hate hate. And when we've walked through the areas where rentals are allowed, it is always loud and seems dirty, despite very good security.

The on-site restaurants and stuff are fine, but not up to the quality we prefer. We're required to spend $900 per year at the golf club for food. We will do it as an obligation, not because we want to. And the rules for what you can and can't do with your property are strict which I also couldn't stand if we didn't have another house or lived there full time. Bastian has enjoyed some of the stuff, like Breakfasts with Santa, but if he wasn't a toddler, I can't imagine we'd attend much.

So, consider whether you like the feel of the communities, and the rules, carefully. And see if the activities appeal to you. Even for visits, we are very eager for the construction world to settle so we can get back into a community that has more acreage and less of a "planned" cookie-cutter feel to it.

@beaglesdoitbetter - I know exactly what you're saying and it's one of the things I didn't like about a lot of what I saw in FL when we visited friends - everybody packed in tight. I can't stand that either and that is one of the things we found appealing about Haig Point along with the fact they don't allow vacation rentals. Every time I go off on one of these tangents I have a hard time finding what I want because we don't seem to want what most other people want; i.e. what is offered for the masses. I've found a few interesting places but backing off for now as I do think we're going to have a recession in the not too distant future and the current real estate bubble is going to pop.

2katz4me - We live (part time) in Bluffton, SC - have for 20 years. It's a gated, golf community (2 18-hole courses) - and we escaped back to Wisconsin for the summer months. We are NOT a "sun City" or considered a retirement community. There are a few (very few) school age children but their parents drive them to school. Yes, there are strict building rules and HOA rules, but we considered that as 'protecting our investment'. There are a select number of such communities and I can attest to the fact that some are more friendly and inclusive than others. In all our years, our area has only been hit by one hurricane (Mathew) and it was something like 20 years before that when this area experienced one. ~ Any questions,,,,,just ask.

@sc_irish - thank you VERY much for the offer. I think that would be quite helpful. I looked to see if I could send you a private message but it doesn't look like it. You should be able to send me one and then I can reply.

We visited Pinehurst several years ago. You may want to take a look there if you haven't already. Just a thought.

@Arapaho-Rd - I would like to visit Pinehirst but I don’t think it would meet our needs for a home where we might spend the majority of our time. Surprisingly DH seems to be quite interested in leaving MN - to the point of possibly selling both homes. Hmmm…..

Pinehurst and Southern Pines are so pretty! And I think there are some lovely custom home neighborhoods.

My parents have friends who are avid golfers who moved there when they retired.

Ccofnc.com

Pinehurst looks nice! I wonder if it would be warm enough in the winter.

2katz4me - I sent you a private message. ~ You're right.....I don't feel Pinehurst would fill your winter golf needs. It's pretty, tho.

We also have great friends who built a custom home on one of the Pinehurst courses several years ago. He is an avid golfer and very proud of how his handicap has improved! Not as cold as your northern winters but not FL either. Her bigger "issue" is the lack of retail close by. Raleigh and Durham are over an hour away. Not a deal breaker, but something to consider in your ruminations. Good luck with your journey!

We live about an hour or so away from Pinehurst, and have the same climate basically. You can golf all through the winter, but of course there will be days you won’t want to (cold rain, anyone?😂) January is the coldest month, but even then the highs are usually in the 50s on a sunny day. Today we are 70 and sunny.

Now, I will say, summer can be hot. Dh & I went to the US Open there about 15 years ago…wow. We had a blast but good glory it was hot!

Honestly, the weather isn’t incredibly different than coastal SC as far as winter golf. The average temp might be slightly higher down there but neither are like South Florida in the winter. Spring and Fall are glorious here.

Thank you Nini and Maggie - I will peruse that area some more. We would probably spend some of the summer in MN though it can be very hot and humid here as well. I volunteered at the 3M Open last year and seriously regretted ever doing so because it was blazing hot and humid. We do usually get some breaks from the heat though.

2katz - for your viewing if you haven't already seen

Georgia: Reynolds Lake

Georgia: Sea Island

SC: Spring Island

SC: The Cliffs

SC: Palmetto Bluff

@Arapaho-Rd - well thank you so much - very kind of you. I have seen some but not all of those online.

@sc_irish - did you get my response to your messages? I wasn't sure if I couldn't send directly to you though houzz if you would be able to receive my reply.

No response received. I sent you another message. Let me know