Where should we start our coastal community search?

[Palmetto55]

Sounds like Wild Dunes is right up their alley! I personally love it there and everything is in walking or biking distance: tennis, golf, restaurants, 25 mins to downtown.. etc. The tennis is great with 17 clay courts, its easy to get court time. They also have daily clinics and a couple of team leagues. The rental market is very strong in Wild Dunes. Definitely do your research on a good property manager....many of them have astronomical hidden fees

[johngolf]

Wild Dunes can get hectic during the tourist season. A lot of rentals and loud partying as can Folly Beach.

[NorthofHere]

Why not look around Savannah? There are several nice 55+ communities that have golf and tennis. https://www.privatecommunities.com/georgia/savannah.htm For a "turnkey" type of house I would think they would want a condo rather than their own home so that upkeep is done by the condo association. A quick search on one of these shows rentals on VRBO. The first thing I would do is locate several communities of interest be they near Charleston or near Savannah and do a rental to see if it is a fit for both of them.


Most around Charleston is very congested and might not suit your father in law. In the summer, even a 30 mile drive can turn into 45 min to an hour.

[unbalancedwood]

I think you have some pretty 'hard to hit' requirements. You may have to give up on ONE of them to achieve ALL of what you're looking for.

You'll have to give up on the STR possibility with this one. Though, because you're only looking for 20% (~2 months) of rental income; I would look for a few friends, kids friends, etc, to rent out a few weeks throughout the year (gift a week)?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...4_M66152-02710
Close to downtown & beach, great area good HOA managed, tennis, pool, well kept development, elevators, and below budget.

I live in the proximity - let me know if you have any questions; also if you need a reliable RE that's very well known in the IOP/Seabrook/MtP area (and works on Holidays)

[LocalHero]

There has been a lot of good advice in this thread and I'd have to agree with unbalancedwood that you're likely to need some compromise on one or two of your wish list items. Do they need to be in one of the beachfront communities? Folly and IOP are the only two that are likely to work to check most things on your list. Kiawah/Seabrook are ~1 hr drive into Charleston and would probably feel too "remote" for your MIL anyway. Everywhere else has rules against short term rentals. They might not be enforced entirely at the moment, but they probably will be eventually. For the most part, unless it's in one of the resort areas, STR's are only being allowed in owner occupied houses. It might make more sense for them to spend less on the condo and not worry about the short term rental idea.

If they don't need a beachfront community, I'd think about Daniel Island. It's a tennis mecca for Charleston and there's a feeling of more "elbow room" out there. It's not that far into Charleston (under 30min) as long as you can avoid rush hrs and it's less into Mt Pleasant which has a lot to offer in itself. It would mean driving on a busy interstate to get anywhere off the island but again, it's not so bad in the off hrs.