South Carolina Nesties
IrishSara
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Moving to Charleston...help!
DH and I are planning a move to Charleston area in the next year or so. Having only travelled there for touristy stuff, I thought you ladies may be able to help me! We have noticed that home prices in Summerville are pretty affordable. We have an almost 2 yr old, and hopefully another on the way soon, so we'd like kid friendly, larger/newer house, good school systems, but not too far out.
Where do you think we should maybe narrow our search? Can you tell me about the different areas around Charleston briefly? Would you recommend? Not? Family-friendly??
Thanks!
Ethan Ryan 7/29/2006
Jack William 10/12/2009
Baby #3 4/20/2012
Re: Moving to Charleston...help!
I would personally really recommend renting for 6 months - 1 year first, to get to know the area. Charleston is really spread out for its size, and the different areas have very different characters/amenities. Especially since your kiddo(s) aren't in school yet so you wouldn't be switching them around.
Summerville is a very nice area, but it's VERY far out from downtown/Mt Pleasant/West Ashley. I'd be concerned about where you'll be working and what kind of commute you'll have.
I have some friends that have bought recently in the Hwy 61/Bees Ferry Road area (between Summerville and West Ashley, near the plantations). Again, that seems WAY far out to me.
Some areas of North Charleston are not really family friendly (I think it was recently rated 9th most dangerous city in the country ...) but some areas are being developed with nice houses and schools - I've had some friends buy there.
I know nothing about schools though, except that downtown schools are in sad shape and most people go private
The Buist Academy is a GREAT school right downtown, K-8 I think, that is very competitive to get in, but it's free.
I'm pretty much in agreement with what everyone else said, and I've lived in Charleston my entire life. There are newer, nicer, safer areas of North Charleston, so don't let the 9th most dangerous city stuff completely dissuade you. Also, anyone living in Summerville and working closer to the peninsula will tell you that the commute is HORRENDOUS! There are few routes and a lot of people taking them. From what most people who live there and commute say, plan for the commute to take upwards of an hour to an hour and a half.
One area not mentioned is Hanahan. I grew up there and it's a wonderful place to raise a family. The community is family-friendly, the schools are fantastic, and it's close to everything. There are new neighborhoods going up in Tanner Plantation and Otranto.
I live in Mt. Pleasant now and for the most part, love it. I'm much closer to work, so that has made my life a lot easier. The schools are great for Charleston County, and the area I'm in is working towards keeping everything you need (doctor's, vet, grocery, rec center, schools, etc.) within a few miles of your home - but, you pay for it in home prices.
All in all, I agree that renting first may be a good option so that you'll know exactly what will work for you and what won't. Good luck!
We live in North Charleston. The cost of housing is a lot less than other areas like Mt. Pleasant and West Ashley. I like it here, however I am very picky about grocery stores, so that is the only thing I would change. We have lived in North Charleston for 3 years and feel our neighborhood is very safe. Areas like Hanahan are nice and have a pretty good school system.
We used to rent an apt. in West Ashley before moving to N Charleston. I loved West Ashley because of convenience to things and nice grocery stores like Earth Fare, but traffic is a pain, just like Mt. P. I guess it would depend on where you work and your commute. One day I would like to either move into the Hanahan area or back to West Ashely and find a house along the river.
I would agree with one of the previous posts. Rent for 6 mo, scout out the area, then make your call. You don't want to get stuck with a house or location you hate. You need to find the place in Charleston that you feel comfortable raising your family and one in which you feel safe. We could all tell you where the best/worst places are, but in the end it is your life.
We visited this past Friday and Saturday to check out apartments. We decided on Summerville because IMO, it had a bit more character than other places, and the commute was 15 minutes for my DH, who will work in one of the nicer parts of N. Charleston - hardly a long commute, and we tested this in morning and afternoon rush hour. I hear that their public schools are among the best in the state (though, that might not be saying much).
Mt. Pleasant was horrible for some reason - all of the apartments we saw had bugs - in the MODEL apts that have no food in them. At 1pm, we were stuck in 45 minutes of traffic on the bridge into Mt. Pleasant - then we decided to visit Isle of Palms to see the beach, and we were in over an hour's worth of traffic leaving Mt. Pleasant. The roads (I think one was named Johnnie Dodd's) were in a constant state of traffic, even in the middle of the day - I suppose they are always servicing tourists. There are only three (with one being off the beaten path) bridges out of Mt. Pleasant, and having commuted over bridges before, I can't see myself buying there.
Either way, I would recommend a six month rental.
we live in west ashley, in the newly developed areas on bees ferry, just outside I-526. there are a lot of great developments to live between hwy 17, main road, bees ferry & 61. it was within our price range & we think it will be an even better area in few years, making resale an easier thing (hopefully). with the easy access to 526, the commute to north charleston is easy (20 min for DH during morning rush). it takes me 30-45 min to get to downtown during morning rush hour. it's longer than i'd like but its not bad traffic if you time it right w/ what time the schools start. otherwise its about a 15-30 min drive to downtown from this area.
if i were to move, i'd look into the avondale area of west ashley (closer to downtown & more character) or winderwere on james island. if you like the PPs idea of living in an apartment for awhile, i've heard good things about concord park on magnolia. its easy to get to downtown, james island & folly from here.
we looked at locations near dorchester in summerville. wescox had some nice homes. at the time i didn't know where i'd be working but with the possibility of me having a commute to downtown we nixed that area. we have a lot of friends up in this area that really love it. some of my co-workers manage of the hour plus commute everyday.
mount pleasant was way out of our price range for our first home. it has the best public schools in charleston county so unfortunately there is a big trend of families moving there when their kids reach schooling age. part of me dislikes mt p because everything has the same look, whatever the building committee feels is "lowcountry". the subdivisions here have a lot of ordinances about how your house has to look & what you can build, which can be a good & bad thing.
March 2011 moved to WA from Charleston, SC
live in Mill Creek, work in Seattle, DH works in Mt Vernon
I'm on the rent-and-see bandwagon myself. DH and I are moving with our fur-child to Charleston next month! (27 days and counting!)
We've got a similar deal to a PP with a good sized 2 bedroom for just at/under $800/mo. We'll be in North Charleston (north north) just down the block from Wannamaker park. We wanted to buy, but decided that even though we may be able to pick a region (West Ashley, Summerville, Mt Pleasant, Goose Creek, etc) that we'd rather get to know areas, then take time picking a desirable neighborhood in whichever area we chose.
Take a look a James Island...15 mintes from downtown and still affordable.
I grew up there...very family friendly. Plus, its 10 minutes to the beach
Dh lived in in Charleston for 2 year. First in an apartment in N.Charleston(Peppertree-YUCK) and then in a cute older complex in W. Ashley (Castlewood) He since moved back to PA to be with me, but we had wanted to move back down becuase we love it there and often vacation in Charleston. We actually honeymooned there
Anyway, If we had moved back down, Dh ultimately wanted to live in Mt. Pleasant. Though he wasn't opposed to West Ashley again.
When he lived there he worked on James island. It would take me only about 30 minutes get there from his apartment in N.Chase during lunch hour. But as with anyway, there are main routes that get clustered and full of traffic.
Personally, I'd rent in W. Ashley which is relatively central until you find where you think feels like "home".
Have fun and enjoy.