Is Charleston becoming NJ/NY south? (Goose Creek, Summerville: transplants, real estate, HOA)

[84 Camaro]

My wife and I work in healthcare so it appears that we can move to a new state and find jobs relatively easy?

Some of my co-workers have told me with so many NJ people and NY people moving to N.Carolina and S.Carolina that those areas will be "just like NJ/NY in 10 years!"

God I hope that isn't true? I'm expecting some natives to weigh in here and kind of agree with that statement but I'm coming from a different perspective. I hate the extremely high cost of living, property taxes, car insurance, rampant government corruption, generally accepted rude behavior, and the cold that is NJ!

I want to "escape" to a warmer climate where the pace is a bit slower and the people a little less huried so that they take the time to get to know each other and be neighborly. I can't stand the rude behavior of drivers on the road and the rude behavior is seems generally accepted in day-to-day life here in NJ.

Will I find what I'm looking for in the Charleston area or am I searching for a place to live and a quality of life that doesn't exist??

[NCN]

Charleston has always been uniquely a different part of the South since its beginning. You may want to check out its history. They came here by ship and not by land.

[84 Camaro]

Originally Posted by NCN

Charleston has always been uniquely a different part of the South since its beginning. You may want to check out its history. They came here by ship and not by land.

I'm looking into Charleston's history but I'm not sure i understand your comment? Are you saying that Charleston won't be the haven I'm looking for?

I've already checked national stats as of 2007 I'm aware that the city of Charleston was higher than the national avg in murders, rapes and auto thefts but I don't plan to live inside the city. Most big cities, IMO have problems.

I'm basically looking for someplace nicer than NJ to raise my son that is within driving distance to the beach!

[wildwoodflower]

i have lived in NYC and can say i really truly do not think so. not even close. sure there are transplants. just like everywhere else around the country. but in NO WAY does it feel like or compare to NYC on any level!

[jesposito]

Charleston is nothing like up North...its an amazing place to live, and all those crime stats come from N Charleston and Charleston just outside of downtown...its deceiving when people look at those numbers. Mt Pleasant, West Ashley, James island, Daniel Island, Summerville, Goose Creek, Hanahan, are all great places to live.

[PawleysDude]

so many NJ people and NY people moving to N.Carolina and S.Carolina that those areas will be just like NJ/NY in 10 years...

Wrong. We reached that stage quite a few years ago along the SC coast. Most residential developments are 70+% yankees, with HOA boards 90+% yankees. The few contented Southerners are those who have inherited or found isolated land far removed from the numerous developments that have over-paved and over-crowded the coastal areas, destroying much of the natural beauty, culture and heritage that once made this area so desirable. The only thing Southern along the Carolina coast is the latitude.

Hearing a Southern accent in coastal areas is a rarity these days, deserving of a double take. Our newspaper recently printed a letter to the editor from a new resident who moved here because it "reminded him of NJ without the snow." Ten years ago that would have been laughable. Today, it makes perfect sense.

I always get a kick out of Southern Living's poll, naming Charleston the most polite city in the US. Obviously, the authors have never driven I-26 in downtown Charleston at rush hour. The honor may be deserving for those enjoying high tea down on the Battery, but the charm has been overrun in other areas by the unstoppable invasion of northern humanity.

You can still find what you think you're looking for in small inland communities within the Carolinas, but realistically, don't expect to be accepted there, particularly if you bring along liberal leanings. You'll be tolerated, treated politely, and even smiled at if you're spending money, but these communities are very closely knit. Outsiders from anywhere, even other Southern states will always be outsiders. Don't mean to rain on your party, and don't mean to be negative. Just a candid answer from a Southerner who has watched my state change over the past five decades.

[84 Camaro]

Pawley's Dude thanks for your candid comments. Although I don't doubt some of what you have said, the part about Southerners "smiling while I'm spending money but will never truely accept me" is disturbing. Such behavior strikes me as dishonest and close minded. Is is not?

Hasn't the outcome of the civil war been decided? Isn't it time for people of both "Northern" and "Southern" communities to look past it?

Ironically I have friends from NJ who own real estate on Pawley's Island and like me, they are fairly conservative in their leanings.

And by the way, someone who leans toward the conservative side(and by that I mean believes that the Constitution is NOT a living and breathing document and should not be changed or interpreted by some judge) is NOT widely accepted in NJ. The "Garden State" is widely known for supporting liberal ideas in many elections but that doesn't mean that everyone who resides here thinks or votes that way.

My expectation is that Carolinians would evaluate me based on my principles and ideas and not merely based on where I happened to be born??

[lagoon7]

I don't think it will be as bad as PD makes it out to be, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people get irritated with the waves of migration. I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, and the natives of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho feel the same way about flocking Midwesterners and (especially) Californians as PD is describing the swarms of people from the northeast and Florida that have set their sights on the Carolinas.

I will say, having worked in a hotel from a number of years, there are more and more people coming through with Carolina drivers' licenses and northeastern accents.

[KerryB]

Hey, guys. Newsflash. This isn't the 1800 & 1900s anymore. We live in a connected & transient world now where people move around a lot, fly in planes, communicate via internet, etc. So that means you're gotta get an influx of different cultures & people nomatter where you live, so I really dont know what to say other than to try to shake that old "this is my place & you cant have it" southern attitudes & get over it. People move down here just like they move up north, out west, etc. So your place isnt any more special than anywhere else. Everyplace means something to someone.

[RiWrites]

I don't think it is as much the this is mine and you can't have it attitude as much as the attitudes of people coming into the community. Rather than adapting to how life is in Charleston, people want it to be like it is back where they came from and that is the problem. I have lived all over the US and have seen this attitude over and over again. People need to get over this attitude of that isn't how it is done where I come from.