Moving from Massachusetts (Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Goose Creek: apartment, to rent, homeowners association)

[BostonMedic]

Hi all-
We are looking into re locating to the Charleston area. The home market seems reasonable, Job market for my profession seems up to snuff.
Our children are into Color guard , softball, baseball and football.I am assuming that there are these activities there. Does any one know that these are here for a fact?
How are the schools in Charleston county?
Where are the best places to look for a house in the county ?

Weather I'm ok with NOT shoveling another inch of snow.
Beaches and golf are crying our names, but what else is there to do that is family oriented?

Thanks for everyones input..

[OleTomCat]

Summerville HS has the premier football team in the area, they have NJROTC, and all the other sports along with performing arts; choir, band, orchestra drama, etc...

There are a dozen or so state and county parks, two of which have water park amusements in them.

I wouldn't put my children in most of the CCSD schools even though my wife works there. DD2 has the best all around academics, there are some good schools in CCSD and Berkeley County, I am sure there will be plenty of people who will post their individual school up here as an example but for overall quality DD2 has the top PUBLIC schools in this area. The private schools are obviously better than any of the public schools.

[beachme]

Also check out Wando HS (in a Mount Pleasant) ..Wando have the best test scores in the area and an award winning band (color guard), as well as all other sports mentioned.

[moneill]

The schools in Mount Pleasant and Summerville are considered the best in the area. Seems to be a few charter and magnet schools that are quite highly ranked as well.
Do a search on this site and you will find many threads about the school systems and many opinions.

[DJShymansky]

The schools question aside, the -best- places to look for a home in the Charleston area are entirely want/need-dependent. What are you looking for specifically?

[BostonMedic]

We are looking for a family baised town/neighborhood. Good schools. Our children will be going into K , 5th and 8th grades.
The kids enjoy color guard , softball, baseball and football.

We are looking for a 4 bed 2 bath. Fenced in yard for our dog. We like between 1800 and 2500 sq feet.A larger lot would be nice too.We can afford max of around 200K .Any suggestions as to which towns, we have been looking in Summerville and Goose Creek

I'm a paramedic and will be looking into county or hospital based ems systems.
I looked at the Charleston Cty ems website and like what I read. Any other suggestions?

[Luvsdabeach]

If you are looking in the Goose Creek area I recommend Crowfield Plantation. Crowfield Plantation Homeowners Association

Stratford high has a good band program and their Winterguard have been state champs for the last three years. Stratford Bands Home

Stratford also has past state champs in softball, baseball, and football. Unfortunately this past football season was not one to brag about. Stratford High

If you live in Crowfield, with the exception of the Hamlets, the middle school that your children would go to is Westview middle. Westview Middle

[c99]

When you make your decision for neighborhood/city, I recommend that you visit the area several times - at different times of the day. I'd also recommend that you 'test drive' the commute to see if it is within your tolerance threshold.

We were ready to make the plunge in a northern subdivision, but after visiting it during different times of day and days of the week, it didn't feel like it was a good fit for our family.

Best wishes to you!

c99

[gradylydon]

hi boston medic. i wanted to say hi. my family and i moved to summerville from norton ma last august. i enjoy giving my family back home the weather reports from here we love it here. we are in the dorchester county. we chose this area for the school system and so far we love it. let me know if you have any questions. enjoy the snow

[moneill]

Definitely do the test commute. We thought we knew what we were getting in to when my husband chose to rent an apartment in Summerville. It is a great community but my normally very patient, tolerant husband is going crazy with the commute. Last week he said two days it took him over an hour.....what a waste of time. He's moving to Mount Pleasant this week.