Need info. on Mt. Pleasant

[USCJoe]

There are really no areas of Mt. Pleasant that you need to avoid. You will often find an "upscale" neighborhood right next to a low income community such as "River Reach", one of the highest end subdivision in the Charleston area. Dunes West is also adjacent to older and low cost single family homes which has had no impact on the property values or local crime rate to my knowledge. If you have been through any of the neighborhoods in Mt. Pleasant you can generally tell from the appearance of the community and common areas whether the community home owners association is having any problems meeting their expenses and enforcing or not enforcing the covenants and restrictions. Your Realtor should be able to give you some guidance in identifying those communities which she or he likes for one reason or another and would meet you requirements.
All of the schools in Mt. Pleasant are becoming more crowded with the increase in popualation. However, this is the case in any of the desirable communities in the Charleston area that are experiencing population growth. I have not heard from any of my clients, with school aged children, that the student-teacher ratio has had any impact on their child'd ability to learn. The new Wando High school is quite large, but is a "state of the art" facility.The origional Wando High School is now being used as a temporary middle and elementary school, while new schools are being built. Both of my daughters received an excellent education in older and more crowded Mt. Pleasant schools when they were growing up. I suspect that the newer schools, with their improved classrooms and equipment, would have made their educational experience even better.
Would I consider sending my child to a private school in the area ? Posssibly, but the public schools in Mt. Pleasant as well as many others in the area certainly are more than sufficient to prepare them for college or a technical career.

[wynettam]

IS Mt pleasant Sc a nice place to live I have 2 kids one is 3 and the other one is 11

[buzbee]

Dear Bailey, While I (as a native Charlestonian) wonder when we will stop being bombarded by northern transplants, I must figure it can only be good for all the growth to continue recruiting fellow mid-upper class families with strong work ethics to off-set the many pockets of rampant poverty our beautiful lowcountry is renowned for having. Yes, there is a traffic problem-even in Mt Pleas-that the worst of is from Ashley Phosphate Rd on up I-26. So if you plan to live and work in Mt Pl with trips up Hwy 41 (only, is my recommendation!), then I would highly recommend not living on Daniel Is. because the Clements Ferry Rd traffic would probably be horrible (but short-lived each day-but I do my best to avoid any traffic jam areas due to the rude nature of most of the driving crowd around town). A few other wonderful neighborhoods not listed by the real estate agent are Hamlin Plantation (but new building around the corner will make that area a bit of a nightmare for some time), Seaside Farms, and if you have really full pockets: Isle of Palms (Wild Dunes is their premier subdivision) or Sullivan's Is for full-fledged beach living. Raven's Run is a gated air strip community if you are a pilot or just like that scene. Good luck with the search-what we remember has been a huge mistake in home-buying thus far is not thoroughly scoping each potential site ourselves for the downside details of important times of day for our specific family's needs. So I'd like to suggest renting out own of the many hotel suites available along Isle of Palms connecter or you could even get a pretty good deal for a winter rental in a beach house on the IOP that I noticed are being advertised now while you could meticulously research your areas of interest. A few months from now would be a great time for good deals with all the newly built higher priced homes.

[buzbee]

Bailey, I forgot to respond to your school question: Any Mt Pl school you should be happy with but size is fairly overwhelming from what sounds like a fellow parent/student who likes it smaller. If that is an important factor, then you will want to take it slow with researching the schools during school days to see size factors first-hand. We shy away from big crowds and, therefore, opted out of the big-crowd Park West school scene because of the sense of feeling the overcrowding there at Pinckney ES and Cario MS.

[bailey]

Buzbee,
Thank you for your response. I would have to travel to several locations during the week. Mt. Pleasant, monck's corner and downtown. We like the Rivertowne and Dunes West communitites because of the amenities, similiar people and rec. programs for our children.

Bailey