To beach or not to beach?? (Columbia, Charleston: sales, real estate, rental)

[Stephaj]

I ahve been given the following suggestions for places to live in South Carolina...Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston. I'm in my mid-20's and single. I'm looking for tons of stuff to do, but somewhere beautiful and safe too. I love the idea of living on the coast (Charleston) but am curious how much there will be for me to do. Also, are these cities safe to live in...right downtown?? Can you even live downtown?? Most of the apts. I've found have been a few miles outside. Any suggestions/input would be greatly appreciated!!!

[scjj]

Most of the younger crowd that lives in downtown Charleston are students living near the college. Living in downtown Charleston is extremely expensive in the affluent areas. If you cannot afford to live in this area then living in downtown Charleston is not a very good idea. There really is no middle ground, you either have it or you don't. As far as things to do, there should be no problem there. Charleston is a popular tourist destination. There's lots to choose from.

[anonymous]

i'm also in my mid 20's. my opinion, in order of "Stuff to do"
1. Charleston (by far)
2. Columbia
3. Greenville

I don't know what your financial situation is, but living in downtown Charleston is expensive. $1000+ per month for pretty much anything in a decent neighborhood. my brother rents a 2BR dump for $1200 a month, near the medical university.

if you want to know where the best place to find a job, and the lowest cost of living is, just reverse the order of that list.

[Stephaj]

How about Mt. Pleasant or Summerville?

[Captain Ed]

Originally Posted by Stephaj

How about Mt. Pleasant or Summerville?

Both are nice, but I wouldn't choose Summerville if I was a single twenty-something.
Perhaps you should investigate James Island. It's only minutes to downtown and Folly Beach. Rents are more affordable as well.

[scjj]

Originally Posted by Captain Ed

Both are nice, but I wouldn't choose Summerville if I was a single twenty-something.
Perhaps you should investigate James Island. It's only minutes to downtown and Folly Beach. Rents are more affordable as well.

Yeah, Captain Ed is right. Summerville is more family oriented. Not much here for the young singles crowd. My daughter goes to downtown Charleston for any kind of night life. You might want to see if you can find something around the West Ashley area too.

[carolinajack]

stephaj:

depends on what you enjoy doing! Heck, Mt Pleasant and Charleston Area has so much to do. From water sports, fishing, to golf and lots of tennis, to spectator sports(charleston is named one of the top cities for sports0. To Arts with great museums and Spoleto festival which is international, to History, lots of that, to night life, great restaurants, to great shopping, to beaches, and trails. heck i could go on

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by Stephaj

How about Mt. Pleasant or Summerville?

Well, those are both close enough to Charleston, that people in those areas typically go downtown for their 'fun times'. I know plenty of people my (our) age that live in James Island, West Ashley, Mt. Pleasant, and Folly Beach. I don't know anyone who lives in Summerville. I think Summerville would be a better choice if you had kids to raise, b/c of the cheaper living and good schools.

For a single person in their 20's, I think James Island and West Ashley are better options than Summerville or Mt. Pleasant. Although there's probably not a big difference, I think Mt. Pleasant is a touch more expensive.

[carolinajack]

mt pleasant has the best schools in the area and the private schools are great as well. My wife and I will be moving back to my hometown of Mt Pleasant SC in a few years when our child reaches school age, because we cant fathom the thought of letting her go to a school in the Northeast US, dangerous and academically inferior and wack jobed teachers.

mt pleasant is right on the water and perfect for families, singles, and retirees. It has a wonderful recreation facility, great parks, awesome and stunning neigborhoods, reasonable rent, natural areas, close to beach, awesome shopping and restaurants, museums and historical sities, great schools.

my mother went to Jennie Moore school in the 40s and it is rated now as one of the best elementary schools. Wando HS is good.


Of course you can live downtown, have you not noticed the housing around downtown esp near Cof C.

google Charleston real estate sites and see what is available in rental and sales

[tony123]

I don't know how Greenville got to the bottom of that list??? I suppose it depends on what you consider "activity" to be.

In my 20's, I was interested in the outdoors, mountain biking, hiking, camping, water skiing, snow skiing, whitwater rafting and kayaking, etc. If these are your interests then Greenville would easily be at the top of the list.