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I've spent a lot of time on here (and other sites) researching our upcoming move. My husband and I will be moving to Charleston in mid-July for me to start at MUSC. We are extremely excited because we've heard nothing but great things about it! I just want to make sure everything I've taken in is fairly accurate so I thought I'd request some feedback. Any information is greatly appreciated.
1) We are hoping to rent a 2BR condo/apartment/townhouse/duplex that accepts small dogs. It seems like our options are West Ashley or James Island. We want to be fairly close to MUSC and live in a decent neighborhood. This move is going to be a tremendous jump in the cost of living (we pay $665 for a 2br, 2.5ba townhouse in Kentucky!). I think we could pay up to $950/month but even that's going to be a stretch.
My general understanding is: Mt. Pleasant is too expensive/too far a drive; North Charleston is a little sketchy, Summerville, Hanahan, Ladson, and Goose Creek are all too far/have bad traffic and that downtown will be too expensive. Is this correct?
2) I've been looking a lot in the newspaper and on Craigslist because I don't have a strong feeling for the complexes down there. I looked on one of the apt ratings websites and it seems most places have extremely mixed reviews about the area or management companies. I understand that sometimes only bitter, jaded individuals post on there so are there any complexes that we should not be overlooking?
3) This is going to sound like a crazy question but how do realtors work? I see that some apartments are through realtors. Do the potential tenants pay a fee to them or do the landlords? Would it be better to go through a realtor? I'm getting nervous about trying to find a place with only two real days to look!
Finally, we are driving down this weekend to find a place. Anything we "have to" do/visit this trip?
Thank you so much!! This site has been awesome!
1. You may need to go up to $1k a month.
2. Having a pet cuts your selection by over 50%. Just an FYI.
3. With the price of gas, it may be better to pay a bit more in rent than drive.
4. Most certainly read those ratings with an open mind.
5. Realtors get paid by the property owner/management/listing office. But it's typically around $50 to $100, before taxes, gas, time spent researching, etc.
In other words, we lose money on it, but some will help if they think you would be a potential future client.
Look in these places:
Concord West of the Ashley
Ashleytowne Village
Seagate
The Peninsula
The Meridian
I rent a 2 BR, 2 1/2 BA townhome in West Ashley for $960 a month and yes, small dogs are allowed. We are 10 minutes if that from MUSC and it's SO easy to get to from here it's ridiculous.
Thanks for the help! I'm just getting nervous about our trip down this weekend because we have to sign a lease on this trip. I'm trying to narrow it down as much as possible to make this as efficient as I can.
Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way that we are going to be able to go up to $1K. We already may have to take out student loans due to the huge adjustment in cost of living (I'm discovering that Kentucky is extremely cheap!).
So far we have a few appointments set up with a complex on Johns Island (The Grove at Fenwick Park) and in West Ashley (Sabal Palms, The Oaks, and Plantation Oaks) and some townhouses I found advertised (James Island and West Ashley). I will also look into the areas you mentioned. I have seen stuff for Seagate and Ashleytowne Village and liked the looks of both of those. The others I hadn't seen yet. I will feel SO much better at this time next week!
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