Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So my wife and I from NY (and 3 young kids) have been strongly considering moving to the Charleston area. I still have some questions below if anyone can help answer.
We've taken a few trips, saw some houses, but still want to take a couple more trips to make sure we know where we want to live. In the meantime, I figured since I've found other people in similar positions to me posting things that are very helpful - I figured I'd share my experiences as well. But first I still have questions if you can help out =)
Question 1: Does anyone have the slosh map for charleston? I've searched through the forums and it seems the links no longer work OR I'm directed to fema maps where I honestly am having a lot of trouble finding the maps I want to research flood elevation and storm surge info for the mp area. I remember the red/pink slosh map was very helpful but i can't find it anywhere.
Question 2: Insurance rates...would anyone living in the MP or Summerville area be so kind as to let me know what your premiums are for flood insurance and regular homeowners? I called an insurance broker to give them different addresses to get quotes on but they were too busy =(
Question 3: Has anyone on here lived through Hugo? We just lost most of our house to Sandy - so I know I want to live west of 17, but wonder how much flooding goes on with the Wando and DI area? I'm assuming Summerville doesn't flood much.
Question 4: Kids sports and activities. Are most sports activities run through local districts or through private places? Expensive? My boys love baseball =)
Question 5: Summerville...I'm still not sold on what I've seen there only because it didn't seem as new (obviously) and clean (my opinion). I obviously like the amount of house and property you can get compared to MP prices, but it just feels too rural to me. Do any new transplants have any words of wisdom from their move there? Is it really not as rural as I'm thinking? I know the schools are good there generally. Are the amount of things to do for kids as much as it seems in MP?
Question 6: Taxes...I know there is a car tax under property tax?. Are there any other taxes I wouldn't be used to from NY that they have in SC?
Question 7: Anyone care to share where they live...specifically what development and what the like about it compared to others?
Ok - so my observations.
We love downtown charleston. It feels like a clean version of the village in manhattan. Love the pier. The kids love the pineapple and water fountains.
Like the food there. We've eaten at a few different places and I may be a food snob from NY, but I haven't found anything im in love with yet. Thats only based on eating out about 7/8 times so take it for what its worth. Had a good pulled pork sandwich a few weeks ago down there, but other then that I definitely think NY has the edge of tastier and more selections of food.
Love the arthur ravenel bridge. So clean and good lookin. I dunno, I just like it =)
Love the people...everyone we have met seems very friendly.
Love how gas is about 50cents cheaper on average then NY.
Love the sense of community I've seen.
Love how everything is kept clean. Again, w ashley and summerville feel and look older to me which sometimes relates to looking dirtier or run down? I dunno, but my impression is downtown and MP seem cleaner.
Love the look of the houses we've seen.
Love the idea of giving my family an opportunity to live a better quality of life in a place full of history and kind people. Definitely hoping things go our way to move down.
Just search by street address. Look on Google Maps for an address if you're curious about each area. The maps are split up. I think Mt. Pleasant has 25 different ones.
I can only speak for Mt. Pleasant and Daniel Island (I live on DI). The recreation dept. for both places is phenomenal. Any sport, activity, that you can think of and it's offered. My oldest does swim team and it's wonderful...year round. If you live on DI, you can still participate in the Mt. Pleasant recreation dept as well (slightly higher fee). I think the prices are great compared to what we paid up north (and nowhere up north the I lived had recreation depts like down here IMHO).
Flooding: I just know on DI we don't get nearly the flooding as downtown gets.
I don't have time for a long reply, but I grew up on Long Island (Nassau County) and Manhattan (divorced parents) and I now live in Summerville. I lived in Mount Pleasant for a year and a half prior to moving to Summerville, and while they are different, they both have their pros and cons. I will say that I love living in Summerville and I don't find it to be too rural at all.
There's plenty of sports here for kids. My friends sons have played both rec and travel baseball for years. I live close to Gahagan Park and there's always little league and travel ball games going on.
As for the cars. You'll get a vehicle tax bill once a year that's based on year/mileage. I paid the tax on my last vehicle just before trading it in, but so you get an idea, it was a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 125,000 miles on it and the taxes were only $90. In SC you won't need to get your vehicle inspected, which is kind of nice.
Question 1: Does anyone have the slosh map for charleston? I've searched through the forums and it seems the links no longer work OR I'm directed to fema maps where I honestly am having a lot of trouble finding the maps I want to research flood elevation and storm surge info for the mp area. I remember the red/pink slosh map was very helpful but i can't find it anywhere.
Rory provided you with that, called the flood zones.
Question 2: Insurance rates...would anyone living in the MP or Summerville area be so kind as to let me know what your premiums are for flood insurance and regular homeowners? I called an insurance broker to give them different addresses to get quotes on but they were too busy =(
Find a good agent, I can recommend the one I use in Summerville if you choose that area, Most of Summerville is outside of the major flood areas and does not require flood insurance. Our Anual insurance for a 4br 2ba house is just over $1k.yr.
Question 3: Has anyone on here lived through Hugo? We just lost most of our house to Sandy - so I know I want to live west of 17, but wonder how much flooding goes on with the Wando and DI area? I'm assuming Summerville doesn't flood much.
I arrived here the Spring before Hugo, I remember what things were like before but only vaguely since I was only here about six months and those were pretty busy ones at the shipyard. The one thing that really stands out in my mind is that before Hugo hit there were over 300 portapoties on the Navy Base, afterwards they were all gone, Daniel Island hadn't been built up yet so it hasn't seen a major huricane yet.
Question 4: Kids sports and activities. Are most sports activities run through local districts or through private places? Expensive? My boys love baseball =)
Summerville, West Ashley, Wando and Fort Dorchester are the four major Governement High Schools that are the major players in the sports arena, with Summerville having the longest history as a real power house...
Question 5: Summerville...I'm still not sold on what I've seen there only because it didn't seem as new (obviously) and clean (my opinion). I obviously like the amount of house and property you can get compared to MP prices, but it just feels too rural to me. Do any new transplants have any words of wisdom from their move there? Is it really not as rural as I'm thinking? I know the schools are good there generally. Are the amount of things to do for kids as much as it seems in MP?
Not sure where in Summerville you were but there are some shady areas, but alot of that is changing with lots of new development...
Question 6: Taxes...I know there is a car tax under property tax?. Are there any other taxes I wouldn't be used to from NY that they have in SC?
Automobile taxes are not that bad, unless you have a fleet of brand new cars or very high end luxury cars. We have both income and sales taxes here along with the other taxes, automobile sales tax is capped at $300.00...
Question 7: Anyone care to share where they live...specifically what development and what the like about it compared to others?
I live in one of those older not so clean looking subdivisions, Waring Hall, out home is about 30 years old and in need a good bath and make over, but it is home for now...
For flooding purposes, remember, in Mt P, Hwy 17 is the highest elevation and things go down from there. So you aren't necessarily going to be out of a flood zone just because you're north of 17. I'm a 26' but my house is awfully close to 17. Neighbors just down the road a piece in the same neighborhood are required to buy floor insurance and they're further up than me.
Also, the worst flooding for Hugo wasn't in this area, it was up near McClellanville. They had about 22' of water, if I'm not mistaken. IOP was overran completely by water. Sullivan's not so much because it's got some high spots. Highest elevation in Mt P is the Old Village.
So my wife and I from NY (and 3 young kids) have been strongly considering moving to the Charleston area. I still have some questions below if anyone can help answer.
We've taken a few trips, saw some houses, but still want to take a couple more trips to make sure we know where we want to live. In the meantime, I figured since I've found other people in similar positions to me posting things that are very helpful - I figured I'd share my experiences as well. But first I still have questions if you can help out =)
Question 1: Does anyone have the slosh map for charleston? I've searched through the forums and it seems the links no longer work OR I'm directed to fema maps where I honestly am having a lot of trouble finding the maps I want to research flood elevation and storm surge info for the mp area. I remember the red/pink slosh map was very helpful but i can't find it anywhere. The FEMA maps are best - storm surge maps will change each time. They depend on way too many factors to make a general map for.
Question 2: Insurance rates...would anyone living in the MP or Summerville area be so kind as to let me know what your premiums are for flood insurance and regular homeowners? I called an insurance broker to give them different addresses to get quotes on but they were too busy =( There are a LOT of factors for flood insurance, including that the ground can be at flood grade but the actual house may be above it. That's the story with our place. That said, I think ours is around $1,500. IIRC the insured value of the house is around $600K and homeowner's insurance is a bit over $2K? I haven't checked in a year or two.
Question 3: Has anyone on here lived through Hugo? We just lost most of our house to Sandy - so I know I want to live west of 17, but wonder how much flooding goes on with the Wando and DI area? I'm assuming Summerville doesn't flood much. Our neighborhood has been through Hugo and Gracie. Neither flooded the crawlspace under our house - I've seen no evidence of water down there, and the old lady behind us who owned her place since the early '70s confirmed it. That said a LOT of trees came down during Hugo, and this happened pretty far inland. She said that caused more trouble than anything else. Maybe the place will fare better next time. The loblolly pines are nearly gone, replaced with big oaks, pecans, and some longleaf pine.
Question 4: Kids sports and activities. Are most sports activities run through local districts or through private places? Expensive? My boys love baseball =) No kids, no worries. The neighborhood pool is PACKED though. I hear they have a pretty good swim team with regular meets throughout the summer.
Question 5: Summerville...I'm still not sold on what I've seen there only because it didn't seem as new (obviously) and clean (my opinion). I obviously like the amount of house and property you can get compared to MP prices, but it just feels too rural to me. Do any new transplants have any words of wisdom from their move there? Is it really not as rural as I'm thinking? I know the schools are good there generally. Are the amount of things to do for kids as much as it seems in MP? Dunno much about Summerville
Question 6: Taxes...I know there is a car tax under property tax?. Are there any other taxes I wouldn't be used to from NY that they have in SC? Our car property tax isn't bad. The bill for my car came in at $11. The wife's was under $20 and I think it was in the $20s for my other car.
Question 7: Anyone care to share where they live...specifically what development and what the like about it compared to others?[b]I'm in Northbridge Terrace. I like that it's a solid, older neighborhood that's able to keep up well without a HOA getting on everyone's back. I don't pass three copies of our place + 2 reversed ones when I walk around the neighborhood. The neighborhood backs up to the Ashley River / Charles Towne Landing so it's REALLY quiet at night. It's a safe area, close to downtown and work.
1 - not at the moment sorry.
2- insurance is expensive here like taxes are in NY.. think of it as reversed. taxes are cheaper here (much) but insurance is high. For a $500 k home plan on spending $4000/year total for Earth quake, hurricane, flood & normal hazard.
Insurance brokers only care if the house is yours.. sorry man, I'm a Realtor and they won't help anyone on a maybe basis.
3. Got here after Hugo, but I know that IOP was under water and Mt P was pretty good. Honestly it's more about individual elevation and even if you have a house on the E. side of 17 (like we do) our flood insurance is still only $400/month since we are in AE.. Just stay out of the V zone (down by old village & seaside). We got a raised house to make us feel better.
4. Since I'm a Realtor I can't specifically tell you about schools, but look at great schools.com and check out the middle & high schools. You can get good elementary anywhere but after that it's a MESS in some places. Coming from NY you will expect more than you will get here. Seriously, please look at the schools before you buy.
Summerville has Earthquakes but does not flood as much, DI is unknown as it was not developed before Hugo.
I LOVE Mt. P personally.
4. Sports go through the Community Rec Departments.. google mt pleasant sc recreation
5. I'm not sold on Summerville either, I heart Mt. P and I'm from the North... and I'm close to the beach now. ;-)
6. Yep car tax.. not horrible really, ours is around $150/year for a 2009 Mazda van
If you want to email me directly I will share more info. from a Northern family moving down South. Like I said Husband is from the Upstate of NY so I can guess wheat you'd be looking for as I am from up North too (MI). Just don't want to post where I live on the net. :-) Kristy@intercoastproperties.com
First point
I paid in NY $5400 for property tax on our home
Moved here and for our home here 1/2 the price of what I sold the NY home for (bigger home, 3 door garage space that can hold 5 cars, more property and I pocket the extra money) I pay around $1700 for taxes
Yes add in HOA for $800 and 2 car property taxes at $170 for the both combined
I save $2700./yr and NY taxes are always going up so I save more and more each year.
Any increase in insurance is well under that... it is all win-win here.
Second point
A realtor looking for business on here.. please at least try PM
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
