Good Areas? Looking at Mt. Pleasant and James Island (Charleston: rental, low crime)

[fishacadiana82]

I am from the South, born and raised.

However, I have never lived in South Carolina. My wife did her basic at Parris Island for the Marine Corps. Yet, we've never been to the area.

We have two younger children and a dog. Ideally we would like a safe area with community oriented people, if that still exist. I want to try to avoid all the high school and college kids. Our rental budget is $1,700 - $2,100 a month.

I really enjoyed Sullivan's Island, beautiful place. The area kind of reminds me of parts of Louisiana. My wife and I love to fish and shoot at the range. We're very right wing conservative minded individuals.

Initially we would like to rent and eventually buy. My work location is irrelevant as long as it's under a twenty-five minute commute to Charleston.

All help is appreciated!

[OleTomCat]

Sulivan's Island is expensive...

MtP would work though....

[fishacadiana82]

Originally Posted by OleTomCat

Sulivan's Island is expensive...

MtP would work though....

Yes, we're finding that to be true! Wow!

Is there any truth to the crime statistics on Trulia about Mt. Pleasant? Showing lots of auto-theft and burglaries in the area for 2010 and 2011. I compared to Texas and some other places and it just seemed really high. Although, those statistics might be incorrect.

[OleTomCat]

Yes it is true, but don't talk about it too much you may get band like someone else who will go unnamed.....

[fishacadiana82]

Originally Posted by OleTomCat

Yes it is true, but don't talk about it too much you may get band like someone else who will go unnamed.....

Get banned? Why would I get banned?

Sounds like the mob or something. Guess Mt. Pleasant really is bad from the sound of things?

[MINIcoopKJG]

Originally Posted by fishacadiana82

Get banned? Why would I get banned?

Sounds like the mob or something. Guess Mt. Pleasant really is bad from the sound of things?

OTC is kidding. There was a prior poster that hated Mt. P and made it sound like Harlem or something.

I used to get the crime reports emailed to me (they haven't come in a while since they changed their website), and I noticed it was mostly cars being broken into. Just like anywhere in the world, don't leave anything valuable in plain sight in your car.

[DJShymansky]

Mt.P. is a target area, generally because of higher priced homes, higher priced autos, etc. It doesn't take much for someone looking to commit property crimes and theft in a down economy to find out that Mt. P or some more affluent section of the low country is a target rich environment. Mt. Pleasant is a great, family friendly section of the lowcountry. I wouldn't classify it as crime-ridden or dangerous in my personal opinion, but I always caution people to tour the areas for themselves to determine if they're a fit.

[southbel]

Originally Posted by MINIcoopKJG

OTC is kidding. There was a prior poster that hated Mt. P and made it sound like Harlem or something.

I used to get the crime reports emailed to me (they haven't come in a while since they changed their website), and I noticed it was mostly cars being broken into. Just like anywhere in the world, don't leave anything valuable in plain sight in your car.

Originally Posted by DJShymansky

Mt.P. is a target area, generally because of higher priced homes, higher priced autos, etc. It doesn't take much for someone looking to commit property crimes and theft in a down economy to find out that Mt. P or some more affluent section of the low country is a target rich environment. Mt. Pleasant is a great, family friendly section of the lowcountry. I wouldn't classify it as crime-ridden or dangerous in my personal opinion, but I always caution people to tour the areas for themselves to determine if they're a fit.

Something to note. Most of the auto-related crimes were because so many people were leaving their cars unlocked. I remember the cops going to the neighborhood HOAs and start an informational drive that people shouldn't leave their cars unlocked and their garage doors open (they would do this even when not home). There's very low crime in Mt Pleasant but no place is perfect and a little common sense goes a long way.

[fishacadiana82]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I know every city has its crime but some do better than others. I think we're going to look at Johns Island. I grew up in Cajun country fishin' the bayous. I feel like country people are a little more community oriented for the most part. We also like our guns and space.

I like structure and organization but not too keen on the suburbs. It seems like they try to organize too much and it feels like you're living on a movie set or something. Just sayin'

[12pointbuck]

John's Island is great, but the area is growing rapidly and if you stay there for a long time you will probably have less space as time goes on. But it's a great area if you like to fish, boat, kayak, etc. The only problem from what you've expressed is that it's a long drive to the best gun shop/range in the Charleston area, ATP in Summerville.