Charleston neighborhoods (Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palms, Folly Beach: transplants, spring break, real estate)

[timbrennan]

This weekend I am taking my family - wife and kids ages 6 and 4 - to Charleston to get a taste of the city. Within the next year, we are moving somewhere in the southeast - Charleston, Jacksonville, FL etc. We already visited Jax and want to get a sense of Charleston, but the realtor we talked with knows James island well. We want to see more.

We love walking/running trails, swimming, sailing, kayaking, rollerblading, and anything else outside. We are a bit "crunchy" in that we do not put on airs, we like crafty stuff, and live music. I still play in original and cover bands from time to time.

My kids thrive in their private school as my 6 year old loves her Chinese and Spanish classes, swimming lessons taught by an Olympic swimmer trainer, music, etc with a 12-1 student to teacher ratio.

I work out of home, so no worries about office space, but proximity to a small airport would be great.

We also gravitate toward planned communities with swim pools and such amenities.

Our budget for a house is under $1mm, and do like easy to care for newer construction. We'd rather live around our house than live to fix our house.

Any suggestions out there? Where do people like us live in Charleston?

[SCBeaches]

I live on Johns Island but teach on James Island and lived there for 10 years.
I can name many subdivisions like the one you are looking for on James Island....Parrot Creek, Bayview Farms, Harbor Woods, Stiles Point Plantation, to name a few. I teach at a wonderful public elementary school on James Island - Stiles Point Elementary - where many parents have opted to send their children in lieu of private schools...Harbor View Elementary is the other really good public elem. school on the island. There are several nice private schools downtown also. James Island is a very active community: pools, tennis courts, a wonderful recreation program on Quail Drive (baseball, soccer, etc.) and more soccer fields on Ft. Johnson Rd. Most kids are involved in sports and of course, surfing down at Folly Beach. Hot Wheels is the island skating rink, then there's Ready Set Jump where a lot of the kids go. James Island County Park has all kinds of things to do including Splash Zone, a nice water park.
I should be a PR person for James Island, now that I think of it! ha
If you need any more info., let me know....I've lived and taught school here for 23 years.

[lorismith]

Hi,

Mount Pleasant is a very nice "pleasant" place to live. There is lots to do here like shopping at our outdoor mall "Towne Center", Ready Set Jump jump castle place (15 minutes away), Palmetto Islands Park which includes a water park, kayak rentals, bike rentals, etc., & Mount Pleasant Recreation Center which has many camps, programs for kids!! There are excellent schools in this area. Real estate is pricey since this is a high end place to live!

Lori

[winston2000]

Two areas you may want to investigate are:

ION- in Mt.Pleasant- built to replicate old downtown Charleston. It is one of the prettiest new communities I have ever seen.

Daniel Island- right over the bridge from Isle of Palm.

Good luck!!

[Goose]

Originally Posted by RobertBallard

If I lived in Charleston and had the cash I'd definitely live in I'on.

Oh, me too. A friend of ours who lives in Mount Pleasant took us there, and it's lovely. Check out its website. High-end but gorgeous.

[GoCubs]

Check owut Dunes West & Park West in Mt. Pleasant. Both newer, Dunes West has a gated area. Both are adjscent to each other and on the north side of Mt. Pleasant where aminities are getting better monthly. Houses there are well within your range. Beach is 10 miles & Wando River is in Dunes West backyard.

[timbrennan]

Well we just got back from our weekend down there and are leaning heavily to Charleston over Jacksonville. We arrived on Saturday and spent a good part of the afternoon walking around, looking at the all the boats on the water, visited the aquarium (which is one of the better thought out aquariums we have seen), ate at an oyster bar across from the flea market, visited a few shops and let the kids play in the big fountain. The first night in downtown Charleston was fantastic. Lots happening with the festival and jazz music in the distance, but not so many people out that it became troublesome. We were out a bit late with the kids and once my son asked, "Daddy, why is taht lady sleeping on the sidewalk" we knew some of the drining revelers were going over the edge and it was time toget to the hotel. I could see my wife and I enjoying a night out in downtown if we lived in the area. The realtor we met knew James Island very well and showed us three homes there. Also drove through West Ashley. Nice, but older. That's all she had time foron this busy, busy weekend.

We do like the new construction to avoid too much maintenance. Anyway, after doing the tour thing with her. We drove through John's Island because we heard that is the place to "invest" in and there is a school called Charleston Collegiate we heard was great. Found a few homes that set our hearts fluttering - nice size, dockage through the march, sunset views. It did feel a bit rural, but you can see how it may be poinsed for an explosion when the home market gets robust again. It was a bit more promising for us.
Then on to Folly beach. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and that is probably not the best example. But there were drunks in the streets at 1pm and baachelorette parties gathering - so it felt a bit like a dirty Key West. The pool at the hotel was rowdy to a fault. By that I mean several revelers accidentally poked their cigarettes into my daughter's hair and face as she went by them, then one family of about 8 kds got out of the pool quickly after one who could not swin sank to the bottom and pulled a toddler down with him. My wife dove down and pulled them up and got them to the side of the pool(none of their parents were to be seen), but then one of this family announced he had fouled his pants and the whole group got out and left quickly. So, not a great Folly Beach moment. Definitely a Spring Break feel.

We were not too thrilled with all of Charleston at this point. Nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there was our feeling.

Anyone we talked to told us to live in James Island because there is nowhere else to live there. But the more we asked these people, they did not seem to know much about anywhere else in Charleston for living - very similar to the East Side vs West Side thing we have in Cleveland. James Island seems great, but there was something that said "not for us". As transplants, we are looking for communities that have centers of activities, walking patsh or sidewalks, anything to get people together. And from the locals we talked to, we got the sense that those communities are not part of James Island and you have to know someone to get to know others. Which is not off-putting, but at the same time, it is not inviting. There does not seem to be a whole lot of outsiders moving into the area.

We did finally get a chance to see Mt. Pleasant area. The I'On area was very interesting. Beautiful to say the least, but also the homes are right on top of each other. Others along that area had more land and were very attractive. But pricey. We drove through Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms and were taken aback. That is the kind of beach community we wanted. Also a wider access on and off the islands - easier access than Folly. Then we took another drive through Mt. Pleasant and we found a small area in a development (The Sound? a John Weiland community? - I'm doing this from memory) which had homes we loved, and a small city center. This made my wife feel right at home as she could imagine the kids able to bike all over the development and feel safe. The community amenities looked great too.

We needed to get on the road back to Cleveland, but we felt like we may have zeroed in on something that fit us. My wife got on the computer while we drove (love this wireless internet) and found Park West, which looked perfect for us. I know - it is a pre-fab community and some people look down on that. But for us the rec center, shopping, health care, nearby schools (Wadoo looked fantastic) and proximity to Sullivan's Island, Isle of Palms, and downtown was everything we wanted. We did not have time to find it or drive through, so while evrything looks good on the internet, we have yet t see the reality. Also, I'm a pilot and would keep our plane at nearby Mt. Pleasant airport. The only things missing would be major sports teams, but I can deal with cable subscriptions.

So we will be heading back in a few weeks, try to find a place to rent for a month or so and test the waters. If anyone here knows of good places to rent in the Mt. Pleasant area, please let me know. If there are any other freshly transplanted northerners in the area who would like to tell us more, please please send us your comments.

Thanks

[gamecock1982]

"Nice place to visit, but wouldnt want to live there" - Amen to that. Check out John's Island. Charleston Executive (smaller airport) is located there and the land is pretty.

[timbrennan]

Yeah, we did check out John's Island. Seems beautiful, but almost too rural at this time. Or we were lost in the rural areas of it. And the beach access is to Folly, which seemed more of a party and surf beach instead of a family beach. We may be pretty focused in the northern areas around Mt. Pleasant.

[USCJoe]

It does not surprise me that in the price range in whcih you are looking that the town of Mt. Pleasant offers most of what you are looking for. You mentioned Park West, I'On and "The Sound." The homes in I'on are lovely ,but as you found quite close together. "The Sound" you mentioned is the upper end sub-section of Hamlin Plantation. You will find homes in Hamlin Plantation built by John Wieland Homes, Sintra Corp. and custom builders. For the most part, homes in "The Sound" have been built by various custom builders. There is no small city center in Hamlin Plantation. You may be referring to Park West or I'On. There are a number of sections of Park West. Some "cookie cutter" areas and other custom communitiews such as Tennyson, Masonborough,Andover and others. Other communities that I think you would like are Rivertowne CC, Rivertowne on the Wando, Dunes West and many more. I would highly recommend continue looking on the internet at various real estate web sites that provide information such as maps, photos,pricing, school information and other relocation information to get a better feel for pricing and community options.By "googling" subdivision names and subsections, you should be able to obtain informative information of many of your options.