georgetown s c (Charleston, Myrtle Beach, North: crime, buying a home, unemployment rate)

[maggiekate]

does anyone have any idea of living costs of living in Georgeown. Is there alot of crime etc their. Also are there many bad areas.

judy

[bluebird78]

I grew up there about a decade ago. Drug use and dealing was rampant. There were extremely high rates of alcoholism and prescription drug abuse. There are several large families who have ongoing blood fueds. Four of my childhood friends died violently, two shot by enemies, two shot by cops. Many, many of the kids I went to school with have since done jail time for felonies. Most of Georgetown is a bad area. I would not raise children there. I have heard that the schools are better now, but when I went the violence was inescapable. There were fights every day and there were even race riots at one point. There are a lot of house and field parties because there is nothing else to do in town. It doesn't matter if there are adults there, because they are drinking and doing drugs, too. It is not uncommon for the parties to have kids as young as ten to twelve there drinking, fighting, toking, and having sex. As you can imagine, the teen pregnancy and highschool drop out rates are through the roof. Take my advice, avoid Georgetown like the plague. If you move there buy a house in Wedgefield or Belle Isle, neither of which are cheap areas. Stay out of the bars and stay off of the logging roads

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by maggiekate

does anyone have any idea of living costs of living in Georgeown. Is there alot of crime etc their. Also are there many bad areas.

judy

SC is a perennial leader among the US States in crime.

Have not been in Georgetown for about 3 years, but the steel mill (Georgetown was a steel town) was closing down at that time.

On the brighter side, the corporations plan to create an unregualted metro area on Debideu Island was shot down- though not by the SC state government, who is determined to turn the joint into northern NJ (with palmetto trees, and an aristocracy), but by the Feds, who would not allow their lands in Hobcaw Barony and the Cape Romain to be plundered.

[PawleysDude]

Take my advice, avoid Georgetown like the plague...

IMO, that's unfair to Georgetown, as a whole. There is no question that there are areas of Georgetown that has drug problems, but there are also some very nice areas. In the past 4-5 years, the historic area, near Front Street has been going through a significant resurgence and property values in that area are going up significantly. Prior to implosion of the economy, Georgetown was on the verge of a population explosion, since much of the land area just north, up toward Myrtle Beach is grossly over-developed. There are/were a number of large developments in Georgetown that had been approved by County Council, but have been put on hold by the developers, awaiting a stronger economy that will allow further migration of retirees from Northern territories.

The job situation in Georgetown is very poor, with a county-wide unemployment rate in excess of 12%. The local steel mill, the third largest employer in the area, closed indefinitely about 2 weeks ago. Commercial development in Georgetown has been slow to come about. Lowe's and Home Depot have both taken a close look, and backed off. There's a Walmart, but not a very nice one. Other than that, most businesses are local-owned.

Cost of living is always relative. As compared to Charleston or Myrtle Beach, Georgetown's cost of living is not bad. Buying a home in Georgetown is not for the uninformed. IMO, having a good, reliable local realtor would be essential.