Relocating from New York, to Charleston area (Mount Pleasant, Summerville: transplants, house)

[eyedaman91]

Hi all.. My fiance and I are cosidering making the move from NY to SC. I have family in Mount Pleasent and they love it there. My fiance is a bit hesitant on making the move. She comes from a very small family and her mother lives close to where we live now. I am mostly looking for advise from people on this topic..

We want to be near the coast line. We would love to be somewhere within bike riding distance to the beach. Does that pretty much limit us to Mount Pleasent or Charleston? And are the school systems good in the area? We don't have any children, but we would plan on having kids in the future.

As for the weather.. I love hot weather. She isn't a big fan of the heat. I told her how it can get very hot and humid at times in SC. Has anyone made the move from up northh to down south and experienced the weather change? I am thinking your body gets used to it and makes the adjustments.

I am not a big fan of the area I live in now (albany NY area.) we do enjoy good food, being near the water, a decent night life, good job opportunity, and things going on. Forr example, farm shares, community events, etc. What area or places would you all recommend? Our combined income would be roughly 75K to start. Thanks for any input!

[kingping]

Hi,

We moved from Kentucky to Mount Pleasant. Been here for over 5 years and I am still not use to the heat. The humidity has a lot to do with it because I sweat very easily. It seems to get hotter each year.

It was my wife's idea to move here and I like it a lot for the most part. Unfortunately she still gets homesick.

As far as schools Mount Pleasant and Summerville have great public schools. If you want to be closer to the beach Mount Pleasant is probably your best bet.

[MinkeyM]

Re the heat and humidity...
"At times" is not how I'd word it.
Just take the hottest most humid day you can think of ever experiencing up in NY, and multiply that out over 4 months straight, every single day, with few exceptions. Then add in nights that rarely go below 75 degrees. That's late spring thru early fall, no kidding.
I'm not trying to scare you off, but this pretty much sums it up. We moved here from NYS and are fine with it, but it certainly isn't for everyone.

[IsNull]

To be bike riding distance to the beach... what's your budget for housing?

[Qtopplings]

It's not that bad, really. We moved from NJ...and I hate humidity, so was nervous about the move. But made it through an abnormally hot and wet (wettest year EVER in the Charleston area this year) summer no problem. You learn to go out early and seek AC in the heat of the day. Yes, its hot, and humid, but really only from June through September. It's glorious March-May, and Oct-Dec.

In my opinion, the BUGS are way worse and annoying than the heat. Those freaking no-seeums are unreal.

[LocalHero]

Originally Posted by Qtopplings

In my opinion, the BUGS are way worse and annoying than the heat. Those freaking no-seeums are unreal.

This.
Most people get used to the heat but I don't know anyone who gets used to being bitten. We have beaches, AC and bug spray though so it's not debilitating.

Bikeable to the beach? How long a bike ride is acceptable? Mt Pleasant is a good choice but it's not cheap. A bit less expensive and still close to the beach is James Island. Schools there are not consistant though so you would have to be aware of the choices there.

It's rare that people move here and don't like it.

[mikeb29456]

We been here two years now and love it here. Kinda retired here from Woodbridge VA. I am originally from Albany. I have relatives in Colonie, Clifton Park and my Mom and brother lives in Rensselaer. I left when I was 18. Joined the military. My assignments were cold then hot then cold then hot and so on. As I said we love it here. Any further questions, please let me know at my email address mikeb22026@gmail dot com.

[Rocky21]

I find the bugs and traffic worse than the heat. Although I'm not a fan of my AC bill

There are no beachfront bargains here. The housing market is very strong. I find this a common misconception. If there was a house on Sullivan's Island for $300K, I would have already bought it. (I'm sure everyone on this board would be in for one as well)

[driftaway123]

You will get over the climate shock, heck it's the Deep South after all! It's really hot in the summer, shockers ;-)

So I get stuff done before midday and AC from then until evening, plus if you are near the coast a nice breeze kicks up in the aft usually.

Everyone has a different tolerance level but to me it's really only oppressive from June to Oct and pretty nice outside of that.

[vanguard cycle]

Although it is pretty here and the people are generally nice it's tough to survive and get ahead as opportunities are few and far between and wages are low despite housing and general living expenses being on the high side.
As many have stated, it's pretty much constantly miserable from late May until early Nov, no kidding.
There is no relief at night, and we never get any kind of a break from it with any of those typical NY slightly cooler weeks, just full on 90+ degrees with insanely oppressive humidity for half of the year.
some acclimate to it, most just seem to incessantly complain.
the two months of winter are decent though, if not rainy. There's no snow ever and rarely any ice so that's a plus obviously.

The housing market is strong here due to all the wealthy transplants retiring here and sending their kids to college downtown. Unless you have a decent job lined up (no manufacturing here, mainly just f&b and service industry low paying jobs) or your well off already or like the idea of being a sort of margaritaville beach bum type i would honestly go somewhere else.

Traffic is pretty bad here as infrastructure hasn't typically been much of a priority with our local and state governments and our DOT gets the 2nd lowest dollar amount per mile of any state so much needed improvements get pushed further back on the priority list while politicians get kick backs. To make matters worse we have the 2nd highest amount of road fatalities, accidents (failure to yield) and drunk drivers in the country ranked by the NHTSA, only succeeded by Montana. Forget about riding a motorcycle here as it seems like everyone is in lala land and will make a left in front of a semi without bothering to glance up from their phones/lunch/radio/etc.

All that said you could definitely do worse as it has it's bright side; compared to NY state property and income taxes are low, like very low. People are mostly courteous, restaurants are plentiful and affordable options are out there if you know where to look, the downtown area is surprisingly progressive, etc.

You should most definitely come spend a few weeks here before you decide though, and do it in the summer so you get a feel for what it's really like during the worst of it.
I compare this place to Japan in the sense that everyone loves a visitor but no one wants another resident, especially one with the stigma of being a 'yankee' attached to it.

whatever decision you and your family make i wish the best of luck to you