Irmo vs. Summerville (Columbia, Charleston, Mount Pleasant: insurance, houses, luxury)

[pminct]

I will be a new transplant from CT to SC shortly. Have looked at the houses in the IRMO/COLUMBIA area, but I feel it is too far from the shore for me (being from Fairfield, CT, right on the shoreline).

So was perhaps thinking of Summerville, as it is much closer to the shore.

What are the pros of Summerville? The cons? How are the schools? What type of special services do they offer if your child is "not up to par"?

I absolutely love where I live, but prices of everything (taxes, insurance, and all utilities) have just raised every year, higher than my salary can afford now, so it's time to leave New England and head south, where the cost of living is just lower.

So, where???? I am tending towards SC and have a few towns scouted out. Please tell me what makes Summerville such a great town to live in?

What other towns are close to the beach?

Right now, I live in Fairfield, CT, which is right on the water on a map, but water houses are $1M or more---I'm about 1.5 miles to beach/water, although CT beach where I live is pathetic, as the waters are tame due to Long Island!

Want to move south, SC in particular, but it's a major move!!

Patty in CT

[DJShymansky]

Patty, you'll find that many people on this forum love Summerville. It has great public schools, excellent private schools, and is about 40 minutes or less to the beaches. You can generally get much more house for your money out towards Summerville than you can closer in to downtown Charleston or Mount Pleasant.

That said, Mount Pleasant is much closer to the beaches, and generally has more amenities locally than many parts of Summerville. Both areas have traffic concerns around rush hours/lunch (Mount Pleasant more so) but are excellent areas of the lowcountry to look into.

Depending on your price range and wants, I'd also recommend Daniel Island, West Ashley, and if you're really looking for a beach house, then Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island would certainly be as close to the beach as possible, though prices are extremely high for that luxury, as well as insurance.

[Jim3310]

Hi Patty,
Are you fighting the salt water vs fresh water dilemma? You're used to the 'salt water lake' of the Long Island Sound. So am I, I grew up and fished the eastern LI Sound. I found I needed the waves instead of the Sound, so I moved to the south shore of LI. The I moved to a lake in New Jersey. So I have something to compare it all to.

Taking it all into consideration, we moved to Summerville. There is a major lake, Lake Moultrie, 1 hr north of us, and the ocean is within 1 hour away as well. We picked Summerville for three reasons: schools; proximity to both waters without being directly effected by hurricanes; and home values.

The Summerville area has some of the best public schools in the state. Reading and writing help for your son are readily available.

Are you looking for any type of property in particular?