Downtown Charleston neighborhoods to avoid? (renting) (apartment, rentals, high crime)

[dgatl]

My husband and I are looking to move to the downtown area later this year. We've visited a few times but without living in town, I was wondering if anyone had advice on what neighborhoods we should avoid when looking for a place to rent? All these districts just run together for me. Any advice? We are probably looking to spend between 1200-1500/mo for a 2 bdrm. Thanks for any help!

[automated]

Originally Posted by dgatl

Any advice? We are probably looking to spend between 1200-1500/mo for a 2 bdrm. Thanks for any help!

We hunted in June with a max budget of $1500 and didn't find anything worth that price downtown. There were acceptable places at $1500, but not worth the money in our opinion- we either had to compromise on safety or on features. Anything in the $1400 range in a good neighborhood was poorly maintained, lacked central air, or had other problems that might have been acceptable at $1100, but were intolerable for us at that cost. Good luck, but it was very frustrating for us. We were given a map that broke downtown into color-coded neighborhoods, and this was very helpful, as the college's housing office told us which ones to stay away from due to reports of high crime from the campus safety office.

[CharlestonHelp]

In the MLS, there are 24 rentals downtown that are $1500 and less. Out of the 24, I found 7 to be in a safe location for a daughter.

[Currie McCullough]

I am a realtor and I live in Elliotborough, sometimes finding a good area requires street by street knowledge of downtown. Feel free to call me or check out my blog 53 Cannon for info and apartment listings.