A Seattlelite heading to Hilton Head Island (Beaufort, Bluffton: real estate, house)

[deastri]

Hello everyone,

I recently received a job offer at Hilton Head Island. I really love the "laid back, west-coast, city life" feel of Seattle. It's not too big but it's not too small either and the people are so friendly. However, I am ready to look forward and move to HHI. If anyone can help me in getting the real scoop about life in Hilton Head---which area would be affordable to live. Should I buy a property, How's the cost of living? I am still young (23), so any advice would help. Thank you so much for your kind help, I look forward to all of your responses

[Cws05]

I have the same questions as deastri... one of my other questions is that is HHI a "fun" area? Is the area completely empty after tourist season? Will a person moving from a major city (Chicago in my case) be bored?... Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated...

[Kacy]

I live in Hilton Head and am leaving. Some young people love it others don't. We have a pop. of about 33,000 but have much more than most places that are bigger because of the large upscale tourist business. Summer is families but the rest of the year we have golfers coming!
Not very many places of this size have over 200 restaurants, 2 Starbucks, good medical care and fairly decent shopping.
Unless you are going to be making good money you will find "affordable" housing might be a little difficult to find.
Our realtor told us the median house price is now $1M for the island. No not every house is a $1 but a large number are.
Cost of living is not cheap.
The big attraction here is beach and golf, some "funky" bar type places that the younger people hang out at, but I can't help you out there much.
We call this Paradise and in a way it is, it is not like most tourist type places, hokey and tacky, everything is is very green lots of trees. No billboards are allowed and all signs have to be low, even McDonalds Golden Arches are at ground level. People are friendly. Lifestyle is casual.
It's just very expensive here.

[Kacy]

I forgot to say that a large number of people who live in Hilton Head are retirees. I am one of them, and most of them are not your stereotypical "senior", but we do out number the 23 yr olds! :-)

[anonymous]

deastri, check out Bluffton, SC. It should be more affordable. If you live in Seattle, you're used to high prices (whether or not you know it!)

Like Kacy said, unless you have a ton of money, you probably won't be able to buy property on HHI.

[Lisa05]

Hilton Head is has serene beauty, but you will find that the state run poorly. Real Estate prices are commensurate with Seattle.

People have heard of recycling, but it's a rare practice. Don't drink the water, it is not safe. An off shore oil drilling bill has passed and, coming from Seattle, you might now what that will do to the sound here. The sound here is full of incredible marsh and wildlife, also beautiful beaches... soon to be full of tar babies. We just had our first oil slick, believe it or not the media reports say they don't know where the 50,000 gallons of oil came from.

People are pouring in from all over and the time to buy is now before interest rates go up and while development isn't saturating quickly. It will peak and real estate is always a good investment.

There is a huge division between blacks and whites. It is alarming when you first get here.

Most 23 year olds in the area are in the service industry or you will find many coming out of SCAD, in Savannah. The Creative Coast is a good organization to become affiliated with.

Hope this helps.

[SavvyDaze]

Lisa, I was forewarned by many regarding the race division upon moving to the Beaufort area. So far, I haven't encountered anything of the sort. Perhaps things will be different once the kids start school

As far as Hilton Head...We've only been there once and that was to go to the beach. Had a great time...beautiful beaches, busy area/streets, and encountered friendly people.