Melanie Hyatt and Pamela Strong chatted in Hyatt's driveway near their Greer SC home while their children played nearby. The afternoon was sunny and breezy, the setting serene, the conversation light-hearted.

Strong and Hyatt described the friendly feeling of their Greer SC home neighborhood, Mahaffey Plantation. "It's not clique-ish," said Hyatt, a mother of three. "People go out of their way at the pool to introduce themselves. It's a very sociable community."

The Greer SC homes for sale and Greer SC real estate in Mahaffey Plantation are located off Circle Road and Riverstone Way in of course Greer SC . It's less than a mile from the intersection of Anderson Ridge and Batesville roads, not too far from Greenville SC

The Greer SC neighborhood was named for the Mahaffey family. A working farm since the 1700s, the Greer SC real estate and property once was owned by John and Leah Mahaffey. One of the islands in the Greer SC neighborhood contains an old gravesite where the Mahaffeys, along with a sibling, are buried, said John Wolfrom, broker-in-charger for Providence Real Estate and Marketing LLC selling real estate in the Greer SC and Greenville SC area.

"A family named the Griffiths acquired the Greer SC real estate at the Mahaffey plantation in the early 1900s and they had horses, and I think, at that time, they put some concrete coping around the gravesite," Wolfrom said.

Today, Mahaffey Plantation's Greer SC homes for sale and Greer SC real estate is convenient to main thoroughfares, such as Pelham and Woodruff roads which give you easy access to Greenville SC. At the same time, residents get an up-close view of horses grazing on nearby farmland as they drive along Circle Road in Greer SC.

In the Greer SC neighborhood, some lots and homes for sale back up to the Enoree River and Griffith Creek. Amenities at the Greer SC neighborhood include a pool and cabana located near the entrance.

So far, 100 of the neighborhood's 106 planned Greer SC homes have been completed or are under construction, Wolfrom said. All the Greer SC homes for sale and Greer SC real estate, which sit on half-acre lots, have custom features, and many are equipped with walk-in basements.

The Greer SC homes for sale in the neighborhood have a mix of traditional styles, with brick, stone and concrete planking, Wolfrom said. The square footage ranges from 2,500 to 4,500.

"We liked the fact that there were basement lots available," said Lisa Begley. She and her husband, Phil, have lived in Mahaffey Plantation for 18 months. "We were looking for basement lots because with three children, we wanted to be able to have a place for the kids and their friends to play."

Wolfrom said because housing construction is almost complete, residents are scheduled to take control of the homeowners association in the Greer Sc neighborhood this spring (2006).

Resident Mary Ann Ulle said she likes the fact that Mahaffey is a smaller Greer SC neighborhood located off a suburban road with wonderful Greer SC real estate and Greer SC homes for sale.

"I like the rural scene," Ulle said. Plus, there's only one entrance, so there's no cut-through traffic, she said.

The Greer SC neighborhoods size also makes it easier to socialize with neighbors, residents said.

And that's a good thing, since many of those living in the subdivision are from other parts of the country, Strong said.

"We moved from Pennsylvania. For us, it was really neat that people are from all over in this neighborhood. They're from Michigan, from Illinois and they're from California. So you kind of become each other's support system," she said. "You're not going to your parents because they're 700 miles away. You're going to your neighbor because that's who you have, so we were looking for a neighborhood that had people from all over, who would have the same basic needs we had for support.

"We've been in this neighborhood since Christmas," Strong said. "But we built here, and so we used the pool over the summer and we started meeting people last year, so we've been involved in the community for about nine months. We were included before we moved in."

Strong, who has daughters ages 6 and 12, said she has met families in both of her children's age groups. "So my older one has gone off to the movies with a group of kids today, and my younger one is here playing."