Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > South Carolina > Charleston area
 [Register]
Charleston area Charleston - North Charleston - Mt. Pleasant - Summerville - Goose Creek
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-02-2009, 09:11 AM
 
2 posts, read 15,161 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Hello,

We are looking to move to Charleston within the next month and would like to live downtown. Can anyone recommend any places that are A. in a safe neighborhood, and B. close to where the action is. We want to be able to walk rather than ride. We would like to stay within our $1200-a-month budget. Is it possible to do that and still live in a nice area of Downtown Charleston that is walkable?

Regards,
Gulfcore
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-02-2009, 03:49 PM
 
Location: Summerville
7,934 posts, read 17,269,745 times
Reputation: 1360
You won't find anything in a decent neighbor hood downtown for $1200.00
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 04:40 AM
 
146 posts, read 333,740 times
Reputation: 56
It depends on what you want to get out of the place- we hunted in July with roughly the same budget and found one apartment we liked in that range. The neighborhood was questionable, but the street was very nice. It went for $1200 (before we were able to put in an offer). We saw one apartment we loved for $1400 but the owner would not rent to a couple, only to a single occupant.

We were looking for either a large 1BR or 2BR. There seemed to be very few 1 BRs available. Personally, we found downtown not worth the price of admission- either you have to compromise on safety, space, or amenities, and the nightlife seemed pretty pedestrian. Anything reasonably priced was either run-down or in a sketchy neighborhood. I am from NYC, so I'm no stranger to urban rent and bad parts of town, but downtown you don't get that much convenience for the cost.

I posted other thoughts about our apartment search to this board, you might find some of the discussion around that helpful. In short, you can find a place downtown for $1200, but it won't be what you have in mind...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 06:49 AM
 
Location: Near the water
8,237 posts, read 13,454,965 times
Reputation: 3899
automated,

Did you rent on JI?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 08:11 AM
 
146 posts, read 333,740 times
Reputation: 56
CK,
Yep, we ended up settling for a boring but very nice place just across the connector. Our lease is for a year, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for something desirable downtown, but on the whole it was a very discouraging and frustrating experience.

As I understand it, the booming college population has really changed the rental situation downtown. If I was a long-term resident, I'd be a bit peeved at having a frat house start up next to me...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Near the water
8,237 posts, read 13,454,965 times
Reputation: 3899
Boring is ok with us....

We were down this weekend and looked at a few places in Mt. Pleasant. We will be back later in the month for a week and will have more time to search then. We are hoping to find a place in the late fall/winter to move.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 09:33 AM
 
2 posts, read 15,161 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I guess the question is, how much would I be paying if we moved into a decent 2 bedroom place downtown? Ive lived in some scetchy neighborhoods before (Ybor City in Tampa), but was hoping to live in a place where my neighbors werent drug dealers. I have found a couple of places on Craigslist, but when I look at the StreetView for the address on Google Maps, I havent been too impressed.

That being said, I guess, again, the question is, how much does a 2 bedroom cost in a nice neighborhood of Charleston?

Thanks Again,
Gulfcore
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 09:43 AM
 
Location: Near the water
8,237 posts, read 13,454,965 times
Reputation: 3899
Gulfcore,

As I said earlier, we are looking to relocate there as well. One thing I have learned is that
the street views on Google are sometimes way of base and the property they are showing isn't even on that street. Be careful with that....

I wish you lots of luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2009, 09:59 AM
 
146 posts, read 333,740 times
Reputation: 56
We saw two very nice places on the west end of Spring Street for $1400. Not the greatest neighborhood, but people we talked to said the block itself was OK.

You can look through the College of Charleston's off-campus housing listings for free. We looked at a couple of places south of Broad, but they were either small, too expensive, or hadn't been renovated in decades (no central air, ratty carpets, ect).

There is a ton of student ghetto housing near campus- places that are just barely livable, fine if you're in college or just getting done, but as a proper adult you don't want to live there.

Also, I think now is the most expensive time to be looking downtown due to all the students coming back from summer break. This is just based on what I learned hunting, others may have better and more informed insights.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-04-2009, 02:16 PM
 
Location: Near the water
8,237 posts, read 13,454,965 times
Reputation: 3899
automated,

did you find any apartments on JI with garages?

thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:




Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > South Carolina > Charleston area
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top