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Hello all,
I am relocating to the Charleston area effective October 1.
I am going down ahead of my family who will be joining me in a month or two. We are kind of torn on where to live. Ideally we would like Mount Pleasant but price wise that won't work out for us. It will be a family of four with two small kids (3 and 6). The most important thing to us is probably schools and finding an affordable house (250ish - 3+ BR, 1750-2k sq ft). We visited a couple of weeks ago and looked at houses in Summerville and were very impressed with what we could get; the downside is obviously the commute (I will be working close to MUSC). The other area we have considered is West Ashley (though we didn't have time to check out any houses there).
So, with that said, I guess I have two questions. What is a realistic commute time from Summerville to MUSC (during peak traffic hours)? Is it realistic to find a good house with good schools in W Ashley for around my price?
Thanks in advance for any insight into this!
I'll let someone else answer the commute time to MUSC but I know it's not good.
The most house for the money in the prized school districts is going to be Summerville but depending on what you want in the way of a house, James Island might come up with something. There are some top rated schools and it's much closer to MUSC. The issue is that James Isl is considerably more expensive than Summerville and you would probably be looking at an older home and maybe even a fixer upper. If that's ok, then JI is within your reach.
West Ashley is also a possibility though the nicer homes in your range will be a bit out rt 61 or 17 which are both jammed at rush hr. It might still be faster than the Summerville commute though. Elementary schools in WA have to be assessed on a case by case basis.
You should be able to find something decent in West Ashley.... but I would add James Island to your search area .... the James Island connector over the Ashley River Bridge basically dumps you onto the MUSC campus when it enters Downtown Charleston. The commute from S'Ville can be brutal since youll be going as deeply into the city as one can to get to MUSC.... its bad now and frankly will only get worse going forward.
There are a number of real estate brokers active on this site that will surely be helpful to you in narrowing down your search area.
Whoops ... Hero beat me to it ...he is a good source of info ...
Last edited by cynic1; 09-08-2016 at 09:44 PM..
Reason: Hero beat me to it ..
Thank you both! JI was very high on my list but I couldn't seem to find much online that would work for us. I will keep looking though and maybe the timing will work out for us and we can find a good house, in a good district. I love Summerville but that commute scares me.
Thank you again!
I would not live in Summerville if my job was at MUSC. You are looking at 60 minute drive times on average and probably once every week or two traffic stops and takes 90 minutes to 2 hours to get home or to work. I would look at James Island, West Ashley or Johns Island. Probably Johns Island schools are bad though.
I would not live in Summerville if my job was at MUSC. You are looking at 60 minute drive times on average and probably once every week or two traffic stops and takes 90 minutes to 2 hours to get home or to work. I would look at James Island, West Ashley or Johns Island. Probably Johns Island schools are bad though.
I agree with this. Had to drive from downtown (near MUSC) to Summerville a few fridays ago and I wanted to die. Took about 1:20 and I was directly in downtown Summerville, not one of the further out developments.
Part of the issue isn't just the length of the drive either. I commuted about 45 minutes each way for several years (in a different state). It wasn't bad as the drive was 'easy': very little traffic, lots of nice wide roads with pleasant views, never actually 'stuck'. The drive to Summerville was the complete opposite...
The rage you'll develop going from downtown to Summerville will not be worth it
However, if you are into head banger / rage music it could be a perfect fit. Driving home in stop and go traffic, screaming in your car, other drivers look over and shake their heads like "yes, we agree".
Thanks guys. This is why I ask. Hopefully I can find something closer in that works for my family.
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