I grew up in Summerville but if you forgive them for me, there's nothing wrong with it.
The first thing you need to understand is that there is Summerville and there is Summerville.
What I mean is that there is "downtown" Summervile AKA "Old" Summerville. These are houses that have been around for a century or more and have the feel of the old south. They are mostly collected together in one area of town which is why that area is known as "Old" Summerville.
There is also what could be referred to as the greater Summerville area which is where I grew up. The houses are newer and there is more commercial stuff around.
Greater Summerville extends out quite far from the town of Summerville but it (mostly) can't be claimed by any other municipalities and everyone puts Summerville in their return address. These parts of Summerville border on Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, North Charleston and Ladson for the most part. The parts that border on North Charleston are in kind of a limbo. The address says Summerville and the utility payments go to Summerville but North Charleston PD has jurisdiction and North Charleston Sanitation collects trash. I think North Charleston has been trying to annex it for a while now and hasn't had much luck but I could be wrong about that.
Is there a hospital in Summerville?
Yes. Sort of. Summerville Medical Center is a smaller hospital in the Oakbrook area (greater Summerville). It's a 94 bed acute care facility complete with a 24 hour emergency room.
If you need more than they can offer there Trident Hospital in North Charleston is about 10 minutes down the road unless you get caught by a train on Ladson Rd. From Old Summerville, Trident is about 15 minutes or less from where I-26 intersects 17-A.
Drive time to the beach depends on where in Summerville and Which beach. About the longest drive you will have from anywhere in Summerville to Isle of Palms would be around an hour. Folly will always take longer to get to but then again, I've spent 2 hours on Folly Road itself trying to get there on a nice day. Moncks Corner has beaches as well. They are on the lake and you can get to them in about 40 minutes from anywhere in Summerville (maybe more in traffic but not much).
Downtown is no more than 40 minutes with no traffic.
People who live in Summerville work in Summerville. They also work in Moncks Corner, Goose Creek, Ladson, North Charleston, West Ashley, Downtown, Mt Pleasant, Daniel Island etc...Commute times vary and kind of depend on what time of day you work, where you work, where you live, what route you take to work etc. It's not possible to give you a specific timeframe without more information.
There is a real downtown. They have shops, restaurants, a theater (for stage productions), two libraries (Dorchester County and Timrod-Timrod is supposed to be haunted), movie theaters etc.
I don't live in Summerville. I live in Goose Creek. I grew up in Summerville and will most likely move back there one day. The other areas have very inflated home values. Daniel Island is the biggest culprit with Mt Pleasant coming in as a close second. The problem with these areas is that they harp on location but offer little else. Yes location is important but it's not the most important thing out there.
Given a choice between spending say $500,000 in Summerville or spending it in Mt Pleasant I would choose Summerville every time. You might get an identical house but in Summerville, you will most likely get a pretty decent chunk of land with it.
Other places are so "desirable" that they build the houses on top of each other. You can spend well into seven figures on Daniel Island and be able to reach out your window and into your neighbors house and turn off their alarm clock in the morning. That kind of money in Summerville would mean you'd be vaguely aware that you had neighbors somewhere past the tree line that starts an acre or two from your front door.
The only thing I didn't like about Summerville is that most of my friends in High School lived far away. I went to a private high school that was downtown through my junior year and then moved to Daniel Island my senior year. Go Bishops.
Most of the people I was friends with in high school lived somewhere West of the Ashley (West Ashley, James Island, John's Island etc.) and I dated a couple girls who lived in Mt Pleasant. Actually, ALL of my girlfriends in high school were from Mt Pleasant...weird.
Anyway...if you can get over the proximity issue then Summerville is a far better investment. Trust me on this one.
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