Located in Oconee County
Fair Play is a hotspot for outdoor recreation. Residents often move there to be near Lake Hartwell, which offers striped bass fishing and boating. The community has modern homes, and students attend the highly rated School District of Oconee County. The area is less than an hour from cities like Anderson and Greenville.
Many homes in the Fair Play area were built after 1990 and sit on lots ranging from a quarter-acre to a full acre. These houses are often traditional or New Traditional in style. Prices for homes with three or fewer bedrooms usually go from the lower $200,000s to the upper $600,000s. Houses with four or more bedrooms can run from the mid-$600,000s to $1.2 million. Lakefront properties tend to be more expensive and typically come with private docks or boat launches. The area’s home values are above the Seneca metro area average and are roughly in line with the U.S. average. Around 80% of residents are owners.
Fair Play is a lake community, and residents often move there as a getaway. The rural area’s median age is close to 50, and its population over 65 is slightly above the national average. Residential roads in the car-dependent community can be hilly and are surrounded by tall pines and other trees, as well as farmland. There are a few businesses in the center of town, but most amenities are far apart. “It’s a small community with a post office, but it doesn’t have a red light,” says Gwen Fowler, a Realtor with Gwen Fowler Real Estate who lives in the county. Fowler says the area gets around 300 days of sunshine as well as its fair share of showers. “There are a lot of mornings when the rain gauge is full,” Fowler says. “But [the area] is green and has a lot of hardwood trees, which makes fall pretty because the leaves change color.” Fowler says the fall season usually runs from Labor Day weekend through the week after Thanksgiving.
The area’s biggest attraction is Lake Hartwell State Park, where the lake straddles the South Carolina-Georgia border. It is especially popular with anglers for its striped bass fishing, though catfish, walleye and other fish can also be caught. The park has a hiking trail and allows swimming. There are two public boat ramps but no boats for rent, so visitors must bring their own or rent one from a place like Harbor Light Marina, which is less than 10 minutes from the park on the Georgia side. Campsites and picnic areas are also available. Tickets are $3, or $1 for kids age 6-15. Younger children get in for free.
Other local green spaces include Fair Play Beach Park, which has a boat ramp, and Fair-Oak Baseball Field, which hosts youth games. Nearby, Chickasaw Point Golf Course offers public tee times for its 18-hole course.
Students are zoned for the highly rated School District of Oconee County, which serves more than 10,000 students across three attendance zones. Fair Play is in the district’s West-Oak area, which includes the highly rated Fair-Oak Elementary School. South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund provides more than $7,600 to eligible students from families of low to moderate income. Applicants who meet the requirements are selected on a first-come, first-served basis. Foothills Christian School, a private kindergarten through 12th-grade academy, is in the community.
Fair Play residents can easily commute to a number of larger metro areas, Fowler says, because Interstate 85 runs south of town. The city of Clemson is less than half an hour from the area. It’s home to Clemson University, which enrolls nearly 30,000 students. Anderson is about 30 minutes away with usual traffic, and Greenville is roughly 45 minutes out, while Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport is around a 50-minute drive. Residents can even take a day trip to Atlanta, which is close to 100 miles away. The nearest emergency room is at St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital, which is about 15 minutes out in Lavonia.
Fair Play is not home to many restaurants, but there are a few local favorites. Dining options include:
Interested in learning more about homes in this area? Reach out to , an experienced agent in this area.
Traverse Foster
Common Wealth Realty, LLC
(864) 581-3865
94 Total Sales
2 in Fair Play
$89K - $296K Price Range
Debra Cummings
ERA Kennedy Group
(864) 539-4318
28 Total Sales
2 in Fair Play
$39K - $230K Price Range
Shannon Todd
Founders Real Estate LLC
(864) 712-7725
46 Total Sales
2 in Fair Play
$12K - $21K Price Range
Amber Crain
Keller Williams DRIVE
(864) 633-3779
138 Total Sales
1 in Fair Play
$5,500 Price
Hannah Hart
Casey Group Real Estate - Anderson
(864) 581-2681
112 Total Sales
1 in Fair Play
$835,000 Price
Lynnette Niskanen
EXP Realty, LLC
(864) 528-4078
19 Total Sales
7 in Fair Play
$40K - $155K Price Range
On average, homes in Fair Play, SC sell after 67 days on the market compared to the national average of 53 days. The median sale price for homes in Fair Play, SC over the last 12 months is $645,000, up 9% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
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