Where to begin in Charleston? (Mount Pleasant, Summerville: for sale, to rent, house)

[DannoCO]

Hi All!

I'm looking at a job possibility in Charleston. We're in the research phase and are planning a trip out in the next couple of weeks. Can you help me narrow the areas to begin a home search?

We have five kids, so we need good schools and amenities not too far away. We are open to private/Christian schools. We may choose to home school, so a community that supports that to any degree would be nice. As far as a house, we can afford up to 600k, but would like to stay under 500 if possible. We like to spend time outside in the yard playing and gardening, so a bigger lot or even acreage would be great. Being close to the ocean is not a priority.

Resale is important, as we may only be there 3-5 years due to the nature of my work.

Can you nice folks kind of steer us in the right direction? Your help is greatly appreciated!

[USCJoe]

It is difficult to get a home on acreage in a good school district in the Charleston area. Even in the Summeville area where housing is less expensive than areas closer to Charleston, most of the homes are on lots less than an acre in size. In your price range you have many housing options in nice Charleston area communities. As has been pointed out many times in this forum, each area has many things good to offer as well as giving the home owner/resident a different feel. You did not mention where you would be working and whether the time in commuting to your place of employment was important and if so how close to work you would want to be. You will encounter heavier traffic during rush hour in most parts of Charleston. The housing market in most areas of Charleston has been quite soft the past year and a half. I suspect that it will stay so through the rest of the year and I think begin to turn around in the Spring of 2008. If you will be in the Charleston area for 3-5 years I think that you will get reasonable appreciation on your home almost where ever you were to purchase. There are a number of good Christian and private schools in the Charleston area although with 5 children you would have quite a yearly expense. There are also many excellent public schools in the area. You might want to look at the " SC State Report Cards" to see which ones have been graded "excellent" over the past few years.They can be found on the SC State Education web site. If you are in the research stage and planning a trip to the Charleston area you should certainly consider exploring the Summerville, Mt. Pleasant, James Island and "West Ashley" areas to get an overall feel for the communities and available amenities. If you have or will have high school age children, you might want to visit some of the area high schools such as Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant, West Ashley HS and Summerville and Ft. Dorchester High schools in Dorchester County. If you are not using a Realtor on your "research trip", you might want to consider looking for homes for sale on line that look of interest on one of the many Realtor web sites and drive through some of the neighborhoods in which the homes are located to get a feel for some of the subdivisions and their relative location to where you would be working.

[Darcysells4u]

It sounds like you need to start in Summerville. It's really the only choice for a bigger lot or any acreage and good schools. However, if you do home school you might also consider John's Island area or some of the other more rural areas. Mount Pleasant does have great schools but, you said you'd like to stay under 600,000 and that won't get you much of a lot here..

[USCJoe]

Summerville is an excellent area to consider. Keep in mind that even with the cost of housing less expensive there than in some other closer communities ,that in the under $500,000 you will pretty much be restricted to a home on an acre or slighly larger lot. At the same time, many of those homes may be older than you would prefer, ie. 10+ years and possibly in need of at least some updating.
I have found that many out of town buyers who come from areas of the country in which you find homes on large lots, start out looking for a home in the acre+ range and settle on a smaller lot in order to get a newer home or one with an open floor plan that seems to be popular with many buyers. Most families find that a home on 1/3 acre leaves enough room to garden and play while at the same time giving the family time to enjoy the outdoor activities found in the Charleston area year round. There are many parks and recreational areas found throughout the Charleston area either public or connected with individual subdivisions. I only mention this as I think it important to take other things into consideration in a home, subdivision, community,schools and location that may be just as important as the size of lot on which your home sits. Just as important for many home owners is that they have a feeling of privacy in their backyard which can be found on homes sitting on less than an acre.The "whole package" is important when it comes time to sell your home in 3-5 years.

[DannoCO]

Thank you all for your replies. You've given me alot to look at and think about.

I guess I should have been a bit more specific in regards to lot size. I meant bigger than what we have now, which is a quarter acre lol. We have owned up to five acre lots in other places, and would love that, but that is not practical in most places if you are looking at resale. Anything more than a half acre would be great. I didn't know if the standard lot size there was like it is here, where a quarter is a "larger" lot.

I would be working near the airport, and would like a commute of 30 min or less if possible, but could do more if I needed.

Thanks for the info. You are a nice bunch of folks on this forum!

[margaritapickett]

Hi All,
I saw your posting this morning and was just curious if you have found a home of your dreams. My husband and I bought a house in Charelston this January and it is in a gated, one of the nices communities-Coowas Creek.
Currently we would like to rent the house cause we live and work overseas and we would not be back to the States for another 3-5 years.
Anyone interested in taking a look at the house may go to the Moderator cut: website removed and check it out. It is an all brick house, with a social membership access to a golf course, swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts,BBQ area etc.
I wish you all the best in Charleston and would like to hear from you about your impressions once you get there. We have four kids and were very carefull with planning our life there. On the other hand, we fell in love with Charleston and cant wait to be able to move in.

Best,
Margarita

[Darcysells4u]

DannoCo,

I might suggest Wescott Plantation it's very close to the airport, very close to the schools for the kids, in a great school district, shopping and a kid filled community. Homes are very affordable too.

[DannoCO]

Thanks for the info folks. After checking some of the realtor sites, it looks like Summerville and Mt. Pleasant and possibly the West Ashley areas would be good to start. I'm concerned about some of what I'm reading here about the schools in West Ashley, but will look at those myself. Also from what I can tell, it looks like the commute to the airport everyday would be easier from Summerville than Mt. Pleasant...is that true?

A few of the neighborhoods that came up were The Summit, Walnut Farms and Tea Farm. Any opinions on those?

Can you grow tea in SC? Gardening will sure be different

[scjj]

The commute to the airport from Summerville will be closer, but I don't know about easier. Those neighborhoods you mentioned above are nice, but they are a little far out and not really convenient. Coosaw Creek is a very nice gated neighborhood and close to a private Christian school and the homes are on good sized lots. Coosaw Creek would be a good choice because it would give you a head start on the morning traffic and you would not have to deal with the back-ups in the afternoon on Dorchester Road returning into Summerville.

[charlestonhart]

I would have to agree that Coosaw Creek would be a very nice option. The homes are on decent sized lots, and plenty of them would fall into your price range.

Another area of Charleston that you might want to look at would be James Island or Johns Island. These areas seem to have not fallen prey to the housing slump as much as others. With traffic, I'd say that the absolute longest commute to the airport would be around 40 minutes, but this is not the average. I live on Johns Island and can get there in about 25 minutes.

And as far as growing tea, The Charleston Tea Plantation is located just past Johns Island on Wadmalaw Island. They have been producing most of the tea for the US for many years. I've never tried to grow any myself, though.