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I should be retiring in the next 2 years and I'd like to relocate to charleston from NYC. Now just to convince the wife.
Our kids will be 7 and 5 so schools are important. My price range is anywhere from 400k to 800k. Can afford the higher but obviously would rather not go that high if I dont have to. Looking for a 4 or 5 bedroom with atleast a quater acre. Close to the beach but not too far from downtown.
Been looking on Zillow for a bit now. Seems I'd like folley beach mount P. John's and james islands.
I played college baseball and my oldest loved his first year playing this year. Are there little leagues in the area? Are there mens softball leagues?modified pitch preferred.
I've read the traffic heat and bugs can be quite bad. Coming from NYC I doubt the traffic will bother me. Especially seeing as I wont be working. The heat I can deal with. The bugs on the other hand may scare the crap oitta my wife. How bad are they?
I've also read that there are gators. Seeing as ther are many smaller canals and water ways and also many lakes,are gators an issue? Able to swim in the lakes without worry? Same for poisonous snakes? We dont have either of those and the worst bugs we have are mosquitoes.
I'm not really an artsy type. Pretty sports oriented in my social life. Would prefer to live in an area of like minded people. . Not some snooty rich folk.
The bugs aren't all that bad. I moved here from MA, so it did take a little time to get used to the palmetto bugs. We get one in the house every so often, but I have learned not to scream and just kill it. I see them mostly outside at night in the warm weather. If you get one in the house, it doesn't mean there is an infestation.
Yes, there are alligators. People do swim in lakes, but I would rather take my chances with a shark in the ocean. I have never gone swimming in a lake here and never will. There are also venomous snakes, but I have never seen one except at the aquarium and Magnolia Plantation in enclosures. I don't freely walk anywhere in the woods, areas with heavy leaves, areas with straw mulch, or anywhere they might be hiding.
We also have lizards, but those don't bother me and I think they are kind of cute.
I don't have kids, so I will let others let you know about good places to live that have good schools.
It’s pretty rare to hear about gators biting people here. The places gators hang out like retention ponds and marshes I wouldn’t want to swim in. As far open lakes, gators don’t really hunt in open water and they’re generally afraid of humans and loud noise.
As for bugs, most of them don’t bite except for mosquitos and biting gnats and that’s really only dawn and dusk certain times of the year.
I’ve only seen one poisonous snake in the wild ever, and I’ve lived in Texas, Florida, and here most of my life.
With your budget, you should be able to find something on James Island or in Mt Pleasant. Those two towns and the associated beaches are a bit different so you should visit first to see what feels better to you.
I spend time in the woods regularly and I do come across poisonous snakes on occasion. Not that often, but they're there. If you're in a neighborhood, you're much less likely to find them unless your property butts up to a freshwater river/creek.
How bad the bugs are is a pretty personal thing. I'm not bothered by an occasional Palmetto Bug (super-sized cockroach) but I am by anything that bites me and we do have plenty of mosquitoes and gnats. Again, it depends on how and where you spend your time outside. There's rarely an issue on the beaches.
There are gators and you do need to be aware of them in certain situations. It's not unheard of that they would attack a human but it pretty rare. You're pretty safe in any salt water and as Ziggy said, they tend to avoid people and aren't generally aggressive. The biggest worry I see with gators is with dogs. I wouldn't let a dog swim in any freshwater unless I was certain it was gator free and that's not always easy to determine.
The schools and rec centers have sports leagues. Someone else should comment on that since I've been away from the kids sports scene for a long time now.
Mt Pleasant has a reputation of being snooty but there are plenty of down to earth people there too. James Island is often considered the more "local" population. You'll find that there are more restaurants and shopping opportunities in Mt P than on James if that's important to you.
1. MtP probably has more Northeastern transplants than JI. Your choice of who you want to be around.
2. In fresh water I'm always more concerned by the cottonmouth snake than gators. As others have posted, humans have little to be concerned with gators.
As for public beach access....pathways between homes or large spread out entry points? Any areas you can have s fire on the beach or drive a truck on ?
No fires or vehicles allowed on Charleston's beaches. All three of the close in beaches have numerous public access points. Some of them have parking connected to them and some are just a pathway/boardwalk to the beach.
I see a lot of the mount pleasant homes are in developments. That means HOAs I'm assuming.
I know they all probably differ some but are any known for being intrusive overbearing douchenozzles? Such as not letting me fly my flag or put in a cutting from my grandmother's toes bush?
Any newer subdivisions in Mt Pleasant will have HOAs and associated restrictions. How oppressive they will seem is going to be subjective and can change for better or worse. You just have to read the covenants and restrictions for any neighborhood you're interested in. On top of that, it's always helpful to talk directly to the neighbors when you're viewing the property.
Typically the HOA maintains landscaping in common areas but not individual properties.
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