Seeking Advice About Relocating to Charleston

HI D.,

I moved to Charleston 1996 to attend college from Connecticut and never left (not even for the summer breaks). I absolutely love it down here and it is my home. There are many great areas to live here - it really depends on what features are most important to you. When I first moved down here I lived downtown Charleston and loved every minute of it. After school, I moved to James Island and lived there for many years. Most of our friends (who are married with children live in James Island). We actually moved to Mount Pleasant last year (actually this time last year - time really flies) because my husband works on Daniel Island and I am real estate agent and my office is in Mount Pleasant. We bought a home in the Belle Hall Commuunity and love having all the playgrounds for our 10 month old daughter, we can walk to Starbucks, grocery stores, restaurants, and shops and the interstate is right down the street. You really have many different options in the Charleston area depending on what fits your lifestyle the best. Please feel free to email me at: ____@____.com or call me at ###-###-#### if you would like any additional information. I am really so proud to live here and I would like to help you out as much as possible. Best of luck!
M.

Hi D.,
Charleston is a beautiful place to live! With that said, be very careful about where you are going to live in Charleston. There are great areas and then the NOT so great! Sadly enough, SC recieved one of the highest criminal rates in the country again this year and a good percentage of that ratio comes from Charleston and North Charleston. I personally would not put my kids in public charleson county schools. I have heard nothing good from them. I have heard excellant things of the Mt Pleasant ones which would not be a long commute for you. Summerville would also not be very far. Dorchester District 2 is considered 'best' in the area for public schools too. I'm not sure about the playgroups. You will be close to the beach and public play parks which are nice. There is great shopping and restaurants are everywhere. Hope this helps a little, just please get a realator before buying a house! They will help you find the right area. Just my 2 cents... Good luck!

Hi D.!
I moved to CHS for college in 1990 and never left! I have lived on James Island for 13 years and absolutely love it! I live in Seaside Plantation, which is so close to the beach you can actually hear the surf! My surfer husband will not live anywhere else...my daughter is 2 1/2 and in daycare, so I'm not sure about the schools just yet, but I hear they are good. Maybe not as good as Mt. Pleasant, but I'm not fond of that area (my coworker lives there and calls it Mt. Plastic!). I assume your hubby will work in downtown CHS, which is a very close commute from James Island. If this is indeed where he will be working, I would not move to Summerville or North Charleston...the commute is hellish. I pass by all the poor souls sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic every morning because I work in N. CHS! Also, good thing your hubby is getting a pay increase because CHS is not the cheapest place to live...housing costs can be very high compared to other areas in SC. We have lots of county and city parks on James Island, Mt. Pleasant, and N. CHS. There are other smaller playgrounds around town too. My dentist is awesome and located in downtown CHS...Dr. Everette Crotts at ###-###-####. You could give him a try...good luck and hope this info is helpful. CHS is a great place to live and raise a family! Take care, D. H.

I moved to Charleston 3 years ago from ND as my husband is in the AirForce. I love it here! Except for the traffic, but since you live in Boston I am sure you are use to it. I live in Ladson which is very close to Summerville. We live in Dorchester 2 school district which is the best district here to be in so keep that in mind while looking for a place to live and be sure of the county as they run wierd here. Part of my neighborhood is Charleston County and part Dorchester County. Mt Pleasant is nice but I must warn you that it is very expensive for housing there. My house there would run about double of what we paid in Ladson/Summerville area. Please feel free to email me with any thing else I can help you with. Also as far as playgroups, there are a lot around here. I don't belong to any since I work full time but meetup.com is a good place to look for some or through a church. Good Luck and I am sure you will love it here!

Hi. We live in West Ashley and we really love it. However, if you are looking for play groups for your children Summerville and Mt P are the places to be. They are supposed to have the best schools in the area but I wouldn't know how good the schools here in SC really are. In Summerville the prices are much lower and have a ton of play groups, but you have to deal with terrible traffic on your commute to and from work. Plus, you are sooo far from downtown if you want to go and do tourist stuff in the weekend or go to the beach. Mt P is a lot more expensive but there is less traffic, it is safer, and play groups. We have a great neighborhood in West Ashley and it is priced well but there are good and bad neighborhoods kind of intermixed with one another. The lack of playgrounds and mom groups are disappointing. We do like to go to Charlestown Landing and walk around and that is in W.A. and it is so nice and peaceful. You should really go and visit there one day and take a packed lunch for you and your family for something to do. I wouldn't recommend N. Charleston, not all of it is bad, it is just you can never be too sure. If you don't have to worry about money I would move to Mt P.