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My mom and I are both seniors. We are somewhat disabled but fairly strong physically so we know this move is PHYSICALLY possible. I was under the name MovingSouthGal, but lost access to my account. We hope to move within two months, but haven't been to MB since the 60's. We know we'd like the area and are thinking of Murrell's Inlet. Little River is another possibility. Also it does not have to be near the beach. We're not currently open to Conway. We do have a few friends there but they don't seem to know what we need to know to move there. Seems like we need a hotel room with a weekly or monthly rate for a month or two, but all the hotels have horrible reviews. We've looked as far away as Wilmington, NC. Thanks in advance for any help.
Like I said on your other post - send someone down ahead of time to find an apartment.
Don't like that idea? Skip the hotel and go with vrbo. com or airbnb.com
BTW, Myrtle Beach has changed drastically since the 1960's. I hope you know what you're getting into, cause this reads like a disaster waiting to happen.
JKhourmet thanks for the advice. I think I should explain our problems further. We are a family of three. There is also a man who can walk a little and has strong arms and hands but has a bad lower back and he doesn't have a lot of energy. We ladies can walk longer but also cannot do much heavy lifting and our walking time is somewhat limited at times. So we can take care of ourselves and load and unload our luggage on rollers. We need a place without a full set of steps (up to about 7 steps okay) and want to avoid highrises. I've looked through a couple of dozen places on airbnb and someone has a beef with something about each place we looked through so far. So if you or anyone else happen to have any other ideas, please chime in.
Someone always has a beef about something. You aren't going to find any place that has all positive reviews. You have to weigh the odds and see which ones have the most positive reviews. If the reviews are mostly positive, that's probably the best you're going to get.
As Jkgourmet stated, Myrtle Beach has changed a lot since the 60's. An awful lot. You are not going to find it to be the same at all as what you remembered. That being said, I love living in the area. Notice that I said "area." I live south of Myrtle Beach and there's no way I would ever live IN Myrtle Beach. You might consider looking south in areas like Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawley's Island, etc. Or way north of the city limits. I did see that you mentioned that you were thinking about those areas, but I wanted to reinforce that thought.
It will be next to impossible to find an actual apartment that will rent to you for a week or a month, most of them require more long term leases than that. If it is indeed a hotel room that you are looking for there are some that give a discount for multiple day stays, but you're going to find that anything decent is most surely going to be in a high rise or at least something like a Hampton Inn away from the beach that has three floors or more.
Would it really be that much more taxing to stay somewhere on a higher floor as long as there is an elevator? That would actually equate to no steps, since you could walk in at street level and get on the elevator there.
I'm afraid that since you haven't been to MB since the '60s you may have an idea that the area that was "the place to be" back then is still the same. The reality is that most of the hotels/motels from that era have either been torn down to make room for high rises or they are pretty seedy and cater to a low end clientele and your safety would be in question. That area (I'm assuming that the hot spot in the '60s was S. Ocean Blvd. near the Gay Dolphin/Boardwalk since that's where the motels from that era are concentrated) today is largely overrun with young people partying combined with some downright rough characters and the areas just a block or two away that were probably very family friendly in the '60s turn seedy very quickly.
As three older people, your best bet is to go either north or south of that area entirely and then you are into high rises unless you leave MB entirely and choose one of the communities like Surfside Beach or Murrells Inlet like others have suggested. the best area for three older people to stay if you strictly want a hotel room and want to stay in MB, IMHO, is the area of Ocean Blvd. north of 48th Ave. and up into the 70s-80s streets, the area referred to as "The Golden Mile" because of the high end homes and resorts found there. However, you aren't going to find much of anything where the ground floor is an option. Again, elevators. My FIL who has somewhat limited strength and mobility goes with us to our condo every year and it is on the 9th floor of a resort in that area. There are zero steps for him to negotiate and the elevators are very roomy. Just something to think about.
Best of everything to you, I hope your move goes well. As the others have said, you are in for a real surprise if you haven't been to MB since the '60s.
The Holiday Inn in Surfside Beach is a nice place. It's ocean front. I have several friends and family members who have stayed there in the past and they have no complaints. That being said, you would have to use an elevator to get to your room, but you could probably request to have one on the lowest level.
If you can deal with a high rise, I think you should look at both Royal Garden Resort and Water's Edge. Both are in Garden City Beach and ocean front. Both places have a kitchen, living room and balcony. They are fully equipped and also have a washer and dryer. There are options available for 1,2, or 3 bedrooms. I can't imagine living in a hotel room for a month. Are you really willing to eat all of your meals out and not have the option of cooking, having a fridge, stove, etc.? What about your laundry? Are you willing to have to go to the laundromat for that? In both buildings, you could most likely find a room on a lower level, but there are none on the actual ground level.
What is the problem you have with a high rise, if you don't mind me asking?
It sounds like you my be a retiree. Just my opinion, not trying to offend anyone here, but I don't think MB would be a good place for retirees, despite it being a popular place for them. Unless you are looking at some of the areas others have mentioned, you're going to be in the middle of major traffic, spring breakers, partiers, and all the headaches of a major tourist area from March to September.
If you are looking at a more laidback peaceful area, try the Wilmington area of NC, or areas farther South around Beafort and Edisto. McClellanville is another area I would look at, about 45 mins North of Charleston.
Someone always has a beef about something. You aren't going to find any place that has all positive reviews. You have to weigh the odds and see which ones have the most positive reviews. If the reviews are mostly positive, that's probably the best you're going to get.
As Jkgourmet stated, Myrtle Beach has changed a lot since the 60's. An awful lot. You are not going to find it to be the same at all as what you remembered. That being said, I love living in the area. Notice that I said "area." I live south of Myrtle Beach and there's no way I would ever live IN Myrtle Beach. You might consider looking south in areas like Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawley's Island, etc. Or way north of the city limits. I did see that you mentioned that you were thinking about those areas, but I wanted to reinforce that thought.
vrexy, I talked with you on here in the past when I was under MovingSouthGal and had my "Newcomers and Hopefuls to MB" thread from about 5 years ago. Thanks very much for the information. How is Garden City? Any places other than MB city to avoid? Not sure about Conway, but for now it's last on our list. Our problem is that we have not gone down ahead of time to look around. Everything must be done from the internet and a married couple we know who sent us not one but TWO rental agencies who never got back to us. We're open even to renting in Charleston, but we know even less about that area. :/ We looked for hotels even in Wilmington, NC. We just want an area in the deep south, not far from the water and not really below the Charleston area. We like being near the water but not on the water because of storms.
It sounds like you my be a retiree. Just my opinion, not trying to offend anyone here, but I don't think MB would be a good place for retirees, despite it being a popular place for them. Unless you are looking at some of the areas others have mentioned, you're going to be in the middle of major traffic, spring breakers, partiers, and all the headaches of a major tourist area from March to September.
If you are looking at a more laidback peaceful area, try the Wilmington area of NC, or areas farther South around Beafort and Edisto. McClellanville is another area I would look at, about 45 mins North of Charleston.
Distortedlogic, thanks very much for your suggestions and heads up. We know certain areas of the grand strand are crazy during the warmer months. During these months, would Murrell's Inlet be far enough away from the problems, yet be close enough to shopping and doctors? We would be open to Wilmington, but we're leaning heavily towards Charleston area for a permanent home. We want a multi-unit building with a 3 brm home for us, and 2 units to rent out. (We wonder why investors don't buy up these investment properties as soon as they hit the market.) Don't know where McClennanville is but we need within 30 minutes of the beach. I'll look up the other areas you stated. It takes an hour for us to get to the beach now, and it's really too long for us for a day trip. Husband is retired, and I will hopefully be getting started as a newbie landlord.
It will be next to impossible to find an actual apartment that will rent to you for a week or a month, most of them require more long term leases than that. If it is indeed a hotel room that you are looking for there are some that give a discount for multiple day stays, but you're going to find that anything decent is most surely going to be in a high rise or at least something like a Hampton Inn away from the beach that has three floors or more.
Would it really be that much more taxing to stay somewhere on a higher floor as long as there is an elevator? That would actually equate to no steps, since you could walk in at street level and get on the elevator there.
I'm afraid that since you haven't been to MB since the '60s you may have an idea that the area that was "the place to be" back then is still the same. The reality is that most of the hotels/motels from that era have either been torn down to make room for high rises or they are pretty seedy and cater to a low end clientele and your safety would be in question. That area (I'm assuming that the hot spot in the '60s was S. Ocean Blvd. near the Gay Dolphin/Boardwalk since that's where the motels from that era are concentrated) today is largely overrun with young people partying combined with some downright rough characters and the areas just a block or two away that were probably very family friendly in the '60s turn seedy very quickly.
As three older people, your best bet is to go either north or south of that area entirely and then you are into high rises unless you leave MB entirely and choose one of the communities like Surfside Beach or Murrells Inlet like others have suggested. the best area for three older people to stay if you strictly want a hotel room and want to stay in MB, IMHO, is the area of Ocean Blvd. north of 48th Ave. and up into the 70s-80s streets, the area referred to as "The Golden Mile" because of the high end homes and resorts found there. However, you aren't going to find much of anything where the ground floor is an option. Again, elevators. My FIL who has somewhat limited strength and mobility goes with us to our condo every year and it is on the 9th floor of a resort in that area. There are zero steps for him to negotiate and the elevators are very roomy. Just something to think about.
Best of everything to you, I hope your move goes well. As the others have said, you are in for a real surprise if you haven't been to MB since the '60s.
Thank you canudigit for your information. I think I talked with you a few years ago on another thread, possibly the one for newcomers and hopefuls. I admit I have an elevator fear. I did read some reviews saying the elevators need to be worked on or just something vague about them not being good, noisy, etc. If I do an elevator, I want a lot of other people using them so I'm not alone and isolated if it breaks down. also being disabled, it would be helpful to be on the first floor. Also parking is important. The trouble is that we have zero tolerance for a serious mistake - we're not that picky, but want someplace liveable and comfortable in terms of temperature and not many steps to drag luggage up and down. I did notice the hotels with the best reviews have up to 18 floors. People said they want a high floor, so maybe we have a chance to get that rare first floor room or suite.
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