Relocating to Beaufort (Charleston, Summerville, Myrtle Beach: real estate, to rent, houses)

[lattedah]

Family is hoping to relocate to Beaufort area soon . I have done some research online and read through the forums but have a few questions.Also lived in Myrtle Beach for several years and am familiar with the humidity, waterbugs, and tourist traffic. Have family in Charleston area but have never visited the Beaufort area. Any information would be appreciated.

Does the area have the summer tourist traffic like Myrtle Beach or rush hour traffic like Charleston/Summerville area ?

Is there alot of public beach access....such as Folly Beach or Edisto ?

How long does it take to get to the beach from north Beaufort area ?

In the forums Beaufort is described as a quaint, small town and the sidewalks roll up at 5. We presently live in a small Wisconsin town (pop. 3000) school sporting events are about the only activities available for the youth...we have alot of churches and alot of bars...a dairy queen,subway,hardees, closest movie theater is 20 miles away. We are not looking for the charleston or myrtle beach metro environment but really need more than this small town has to offer.

is it possible to get a list of neighborhoods or subdivisons that are middle income range ?

thanks for all the information ~~

[djc2e]

Originally Posted by lattedah

Family is hoping to relocate to Beaufort area soon . I have done some research online and read through the forums but have a few questions.Also lived in Myrtle Beach for several years and am familiar with the humidity, waterbugs, and tourist traffic. Have family in Charleston area but have never visited the Beaufort area. Any information would be appreciated.

Does the area have the summer tourist traffic like Myrtle Beach or rush hour traffic like Charleston/Summerville area ?

Is there alot of public beach access....such as Folly Beach or Edisto ?

How long does it take to get to the beach from north Beaufort area ?

In the forums Beaufort is described as a quaint, small town and the sidewalks roll up at 5. We presently live in a small Wisconsin town (pop. 3000) school sporting events are about the only activities available for the youth...we have alot of churches and alot of bars...a dairy queen,subway,hardees, closest movie theater is 20 miles away. We are not looking for the charleston or myrtle beach metro environment but really need more than this small town has to offer.

is it possible to get a list of neighborhoods or subdivisons that are middle income range ?

thanks for all the information ~~

I was born & raised in Beaufort. Why are you hoping to relocate to Beaufort? There aren't many jobs there except for military & tourism.

Traffic is not so bad, although it can come to a standstill when the drawbridge downtown opens up to let boats pass through. That doesn't happen too much though.

The public beach is 15 miles from the city of Beaufort. It is a state park, Hunting Island State Park, and very nice and peaceful. It costs a couple of dollars to park your car there. There are no touristy commercial strips or anything like that. There are also private beaches on Harbor Island & Fripp Island.

Beaufort is definitely bigger than 3,000 people but also significantly smaller than Charleston & Myrtle Beach. The city has 12,000 people, but if you combine all the other communities surrounding and dependent upon Beaufort it comes to about 40,000 people. This total includes the areas of Shell Point, Ladys Island, St. Helena Island, Burton, Port Royal, Laurel Bay, etc... This does not include Hilton Head or Bluffton.

Nice middle income neighborhoods surrounding Beaufort include Ladys Island, Port Royal, Shell Point. In Beaufort, the area along Battery Creek Road is nice.

Hope this helps.

[lattedah]

Thank you for the information, it was very helpful. we are hoping to move back to SC for several reasons. I lived in MB for 20 yrs. , relocated to Texas with the military, husband retired we moved to Wi to be close to his family.
Now that the kids are older and life isnt so rushed..the homesickness for SC has really hit hard the last 2 winters. I miss the sunshine and the beach and hubby misses working with the jets. I have family in Charleston but we like the feeling of community you get from a smaller town....not quite 3000 small though.lol.
Beaufort sounds wonderful. Love knowing there are not any touristy stripmalls like MB. and being close to the beach to me is heaven !
thanks again for the information

[lolagranola]

Beaufort has gotten very tourist-y, but not in a cheezy way, and certainly less so than MB. It is very pretty. Very condusive to a water-sport lifestyle. Everyone has a boat (even people who are broke seem to have a boat of one sort or another!). Lots of boating, canoeing, fishing, jetskiing... and very swampy. Water everywhere. Great seafood.

IMO the beach seems far, for a place surrounded by water! In part this is because there is just one road to the beach. Takes about 40 min from Beaufort town, assuming there are no open bridges or one-lane due to road work (hopefully this will make the beach more accessible!). The Hunting Is beach if fabulous! Expansive, woods come up to the beach, nature walks, cabins to rent. But in recent years it can be a WAIT to get into the parking lot...one one holiday last summer (memorial day or the 4th?), my mom said they were turning people away, the parking lots were at capacity.

Other than the humidity, IMO Beaufort's worst quality is the intense racism.

[nygina]

Originally Posted by lattedah

Family is hoping to relocate to Beaufort area soon . I have done some research online and read through the forums but have a few questions.Also lived in Myrtle Beach for several years and am familiar with the humidity, waterbugs, and tourist traffic. Have family in Charleston area but have never visited the Beaufort area. Any information would be appreciated.

Does the area have the summer tourist traffic like Myrtle Beach or rush hour traffic like Charleston/Summerville area ?

Is there alot of public beach access....such as Folly Beach or Edisto ?

How long does it take to get to the beach from north Beaufort area ?

In the forums Beaufort is described as a quaint, small town and the sidewalks roll up at 5. We presently live in a small Wisconsin town (pop. 3000) school sporting events are about the only activities available for the youth...we have alot of churches and alot of bars...a dairy queen,subway,hardees, closest movie theater is 20 miles away. We are not looking for the charleston or myrtle beach metro environment but really need more than this small town has to offer.

is it possible to get a list of neighborhoods or subdivisons that are middle income range ?

thanks for all the information ~~

DONT DO IT!! There is nothing there. We were stationed there for 3 years I was lucky to find a good job but besides that the drivers are terrible and that damn bridge oh how I hated that bridge. And if you want to do anything or go shopping you have to go to Savannah or Myrtle Beach. Those are places to move. The houses and rent are VERY over priced and I say that because I worked in real estate while I was there. The weather was nice (bugs bad but thats the south) but the beaches there are terrible. You could go to Port Royal but thats a mud pit (thats the local beach) or Hunting Island which can be quite a drive, they charge to get in and you have to walk from the parking area to the beach. Personally, I hate that when you have kids and a lot of stuff it doesnt make it for a fun day. I couldnt stand Beaufort, but the locals loved it. But then again a lot of them probably have NO idea what else is out there. Everybody knows everybody there so watch what you say and do.