Need Advice on Relocating To South Carolina.... (Columbia, Charleston: 2010, apartment)

[Rvaught]

My Fiancee and i and our 2 small children are looking to Relocate from Johnstown, Pa to South carolina, but our unsure about what part of South Carolina to look into.

We have 1 girl age 4 and a boy about 1 1/2

we are looking for a place that has NO snow, Palm trees around town, Good schools, Lots of Jobs, affordable living.A Nice Area To start over and raise a Family, it would be nice to be about an hour or so from the beach.

Currently I am a Operations Supervisor at a Shredding/Records Management Company and my Fiancee is a Bartender...She is looking to stay in the same field...I am Leaving my options open and will take any type of warehouse/driver work that pays good.

We have lived in Johnstown, pa all our lives and our just tired of all the snow and mountains. We have been to North and South Carolina a few Times and Love everything about the areas.

I'm also not real sure on How much the cost of living is different, In Johnstown, Pa We pay anywhere from 300 - 550 a month for a 3 bedroom Apartment Depending on the location. Currently we are in a quite Rural area and we pay about 350 a month for a 3 bedroom Apartment...Everywhere i have looked into so far in south carolina is from 650-1000 a month If i could stay in this Price range and be able to find a job to afford that much every month In a town with everything we are looking for that would be great. I have enough savings to relocate our family and live for about 6 months without a job, but hopefully could find something as soon as we get down there. we are looking to move sometime early summer 2010.

If anyone has any advice i would greatly appreciate it.

Thank-you,
Ryan

[NewYorkBorn]

Greenville or Columbia were the first cities that I thought of but they would require a drive to the beach. Charleston is another nice city that comes to mind and may be what you are looking for.

All three of those cities offers restaurants, shopping and other amenities. You also mentioned that you could take a warehouse/driver job as long as it pays good. Not sure what your definition of good pay is.....but the words good pay and SC simply do not go together. The pay scales are not good in SC.

Because of the type of work you are both seeking you may be able to find work in SC but there are no guarantees. My advice to you would be to make sure you both have jobs before you move your family to SC. With the current economic situation in SC moving there without a job you could easily find your 6 month savings exhausted. I own a home in Greenville and became tired of working low paying jobs and looking for non-existent good paying jobs so I recently closed up my home and accepted a job in NYC.

Good luck to you.

[Skyliner]

Good paying jobs are only non-existent if you are not qualified or if you do not adequately show yourself to be qualified. Due to the prolonged weak national economy, there are no guarantees (rarely are) that you will be hired where you prefer. There are a limited number of jobs in every industry and a larger supply of qualified workers looking for employment.

Given your criteria for location, I would recommend Columbia or Orangeburg.

[Rvaught]

Thank-you For all of your input... and if it helps at all Good pay to me to survive down in South carolina Would be anywhere from $14.00/hour and up. I Plan on searching for Jobs before i move But i Heard its sometimes hard to get a job when you have an out of state address.

[NewYorkBorn]

Originally Posted by Rvaught

Thank-you For all of your input... and if it helps at all Good pay to me to survive down in South carolina Would be anywhere from $14.00/hour and up. I Plan on searching for Jobs before i move But i Heard its sometimes hard to get a job when you have an out of state address.

When BMW in Greenville is hiring they pay decent at $11 - $12 an hour. However those that I have spoken to in SC were applying there through the MAU staffing agency and many of the jobs are temporary. You can check on MAU's website for jobs if you decide to move to SC. Just research each area carefully. Yes the out of state address can cause an issue, also the fact that SC has a high unemployment rate is the other thing that makes it difficult to find work. Another thing is that a large part of the state is empty undeveloped land (rural) with pockets of developments in the larger metro areas. I would say stick to areas like Columbia, Charleston and Greenville and maybe you will find something.

Good luck.

[Barbara]

For better schools, check out Summerville and Mount Pleasant if you want to be near Charleston. Carolina Forest if you like the Myrtle Beach area. Fort Mill and Tega Cay have great schools if you want to be near Charlotte.

Also check out "greatschools.net"

I find the detailed profile sites very helpful. Just type in the town or city and then detailed profile. Example: Summerville sc detailed profile

All kinds of great information comes up.

Good luck!

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by Rvaught

My Fiancee and i and our 2 small children are looking to Relocate from Johnstown, Pa to South carolina, but our unsure about what part of South Carolina to look into.

We have 1 girl age 4 and a boy about 1 1/2

we are looking for a place that has NO snow, Palm trees around town, Good schools, Lots of Jobs, affordable living.A Nice Area To start over and raise a Family, it would be nice to be about an hour or so from the beach.

Currently I am a Operations Supervisor at a Shredding/Records Management Company and my Fiancee is a Bartender...She is looking to stay in the same field...I am Leaving my options open and will take any type of warehouse/driver work that pays good.

We have lived in Johnstown, pa all our lives and our just tired of all the snow and mountains. We have been to North and South Carolina a few Times and Love everything about the areas.

I'm also not real sure on How much the cost of living is different, In Johnstown, Pa We pay anywhere from 300 - 550 a month for a 3 bedroom Apartment Depending on the location. Currently we are in a quite Rural area and we pay about 350 a month for a 3 bedroom Apartment...Everywhere i have looked into so far in south carolina is from 650-1000 a month If i could stay in this Price range and be able to find a job to afford that much every month In a town with everything we are looking for that would be great. I have enough savings to relocate our family and live for about 6 months without a job, but hopefully could find something as soon as we get down there. we are looking to move sometime early summer 2010.

If anyone has any advice i would greatly appreciate it.

Thank-you,
Ryan

I would suggest as others have mentioned are adopted hometown of Columbia except for the fact that we are about 2 hours from the beaches. You could easily find a 3 BR apartment in that $650-1000 price range you mentioned, in fact, you could probably easily rent a home of that size in most areas for around $800 or $900/month.

In the 2 winters I have lived here, there has been no more than a snow dusting in the winter, and that was one time each year. I think overall we got a couple snow flurry showers and that was it. Typically, December & January are in the low 50s during the day and 30s at night, obviously there are fluctuations to that, but that's about what to expect. Trust me, having lived in NE Ohio all my life until moving here, winter here is like late fall or early spring is in Ohio & PA! If you don't like winter and do like the other 3 seasons, I really think the Carolinas are a great place to live. We essentially get about 5 months of summer (early May until now), 3 months of fall, 3 months of spring, and a month if that of 'winter'. We do have palmetto trees in Columbia, in fact, as you drive down I-77 from Charlotte, the first ones that you will see are just north of Blythewood 20 miles or so from downtown - there might be some farther north, but I've not seen them if there are. Obviously, you are going to see more of them near the beaches, but you can have one in your yard here if you want to like we do and there are plenty of places around town that have them.

Also, be sure to land a job wherever you move as others have mentioned. Hopefully by next summer the job market will be a little better, but there isn't a whole lot as in many other areas of the country right now to be had. I think Columbia metro's unemployment rate is right around 10% currently which is lower than the state's 11.8%.

If being an hour or less from the beach is really important to you. I'd suggest Summerville or Bluffton. Both are growing areas w/reasonably affordable housing - going to be more than living in Columbia, but less than living say in Charleston/Mt. Pleasant or on Hilton Head Island. They both also have pretty good reputations for having decent schools. Summerville is the bigger of the two, you'd be about 35-45 minutes from the beach depending on where you are in the city. Bluffton is about 25-30 minutes to the beach unless you are trying to go during a busy tourist time such as a summer weekend since there is only one road onto HHI. From the limited knowledge I have, Bluffton is a little more pricey than Summerville.

So those would be my recommendations. If you can sacrifice the proximity to the beach and you are willing to be a few hours away, it will open up many more options. Besides Columbia, you could look at Greenville-Spartanburg (about 3 1/2 hours from the coast) or Rock Hill south of Charlotte (a little over 3 hours or so to the beach) or even Augusta-Aiken which is also about 3 hours from the beach.

[beachme]

We'd Love to have you move to Charleston area, but honestly prices are much too high for your income.Maybe you couldlook in Summerville (better schools) But, Mount Pleasant..No way..finding a 3 bedroom under $1,000 is impossible.

Try Columbia.

[Brandy Cobb]

I like everyone else here need to know as much as I can about Hilton Head South Carolina.. I recently considered moving there, I am trying to make an educated decision so any information such as where to live, jobs, schools, etc... Also is there an area that has more severe weather than other areas.. I def want to live somewhere in the area of a beach... Any info at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank You B. Cobb

[foxxtrot]

Originally Posted by Rvaught

Thank-you For all of your input... and if it helps at all Good pay to me to survive down in South carolina Would be anywhere from $14.00/hour and up. I Plan on searching for Jobs before i move But i Heard its sometimes hard to get a job when you have an out of state address.

This is very true and you will be asked where you are from in certain industries. It has been stated that Southern folks hire Southern folks first regardless of what you might think. Find a large company.

Another realization is that the prices for everything have increased ten fold in the last few years and may still be low compared to the Northeast...but developers have known that you all are trying to escape the cold and the draconian taxes and that some of you all have retirement pensions and savings to spend compared to your southern counterparts.