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Does anyone know anything about Mercom Corporation? Are they a stable business? Do they have a large # of employees? I saw a posting for a job opening there that fit my resume.
The culture that the employer tries to portray is fun and innovative but I would like to hear something other than PR stuff pushed out by the company.
I have been looking to move to the Grand Strand area for 5 years now, and with this job opportunity I am thinking of making the move. Is it possible to live on a $50k a year salary in the area? It would be just me and my wife... We have no credit card bills and both our vehicles are paid off, we would like to buy a house within 20min commute to work.
Thanks for any help you can provide, and if you need more info I'd be glad to provide it if it helps.
From outward appearances, they are doing well. In the not too distant past, they moved into a larger facility. The new facility no longer has sufficient parking space for their current employees, so another move would not be surprising. Both the CEO and COO have established permanent residence in PI, which is always a good sign. They are a small, growing high-tech company, so I don't think "stable" is the right word to describe them. There's a lot of risk/reward in this type of environment. The recent numbers I found put their employee base at less than 100. At one time, gov't contracts accounted for a large percentage of their business, which can be good or bad. I'm not sure whether that has changed significantly or not.
It would not be hard to find a home within a 5-10 min commute of their current location. $50K? I know a lot of folks enjoying life on a lot less, but there are also many here where that wouldn't cover their shopping and dining out tabs. There are others who probably have better insight into that question.
Thanks for the info. What about flooding in the area? I realize that it is an island and near the beach, does typical storm surge cause issues? I know the Grand Strand has been spared from any major storms over the last decade or so....
The island itself is primarily vacation rentals and a few permanent $2MM+ residences. The rest of us po' folk and all of the commercial area is "mainland" PI, which is actually an unincorporated part of Georgetown County. Still, if you look at a map, it is a long, thin, flat peninsula between the ocean and the Waccamaw River, all of it lying a few feet above sea level. Astronomical high tides periodically cause road flooding on the island and on other roads directly on the ocean. Hard rain storms can bring some minor, short-term flooding on the mainland that has been known to close roads for a few hours and float cars into ditches.
There's no such thing as a typical storm surge or typical hurricane. NY/NJ is the best recent example of that. As you said, we've been spared for a long time. The next time a Hazel or Hugo comes calling on us, it will be ugly. We all have to either accept that or find another place to live.
Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is sold by FEMA. Even if your mortage provider does not require it, many folks down here feel it's a wise investment.
Most newcomers are shocked by the cost of homeowners insurance - those arriving from the NE cannot believe how cheap it is, and those from the lower latitudes cannot believe how expensive it is. Most companies also require an additional "named storm" deductible that kicks in when damage is related to a named storm - tropical storm or hurricane. Unless you're almost directly on the coast, it's not usually a major factor in moving. I doubt that many folks find homeowners insurance to be a deciding factor whether to move or not, but I might be wrong.
I live on Pawleys Island MAINLAND - not the island and my homeowners insurance is astronomical. The 3 combined (wind/hail, flood, and regular homeowners) comes to just a few dollars shy of $6000 a year! That's over 3 times what I pay in property tax.
I have a 3000 sqft home smack in between the ocean & the river on PI mainland and pay $3500 in homeowners & wind/hail insurance. Which is also 3x what I pay in property tax, as well. Hmmm, wonder if there is a correlation?
I think it may be helpful to point out to the op to get an rough idea ,a full time residents property tax would be roughly $1000 a year for a house around 300,000 and $2500 for a house in the $700,000 plus range. A quick look at zillow can provide the last few years prop taxes for most homes. The a few things that can make the insurance more costly are homes with higher values , homes in flood zones, a history of claims. I found the cost of insurance and taxes a non issuse. If you come from an area with high or very high prop taxes you will view the taxes as incredibly low. If you are moving from the coastal gulf or Florida you will view the wind/hail as very reasonable . Just like just about every other place a water view will come at a cost.
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