bigkahuna - 20-7-2011 at 03:08 AM
My company may be moving me to the Charleston, SC area. What's Charleston like for surf (is it crowded?), kitesurfing (ocean and flat water?), real
estate (any cheap(er) areas near the beach?), other jobs (in case my current job dries up down the road)? I've read that Charleston is one of the
nicer US cities, but I've never been there. I know it's dead center in the "red neck / bible belt" (kinda like where I'm at now) any other tidbits I
should know? How often do you guys get hit by hurricanes? How bad was your winter last year? How bad has the recession hit you guys?
Thanks!
PHREERIDER - 20-7-2011 at 05:19 AM
crowded at popular spots, FLAT at 28.5 sand bar/ tidal pool, very nice but LOTTA targets. i always have fun no matter the crowd, just different
than what i'm use to.
tridude would be more local and details on surf.
fun spot, folly seems less crowded unless its west wind .
cool city, i lived for five years. i like downtown on the peninsula. IOP(isle of palms) is nice. can get pricey but its premium SC spot.
hurricanes rare, bunch of flybys though and thats what you want! 89 hugo ...
health care/ education is big their(for the area), shipping, Boeing just opened
best kite SC
bigkahuna - 20-7-2011 at 05:49 AM
What do you mean by "targets"? Fishing boats? Other kiters?
I took a quick look at real estate prices and it's a lot more expensive than where we're at now. We'd have to take a big hit neighborhood and
proximity to the beach if we were to move there. The job market here is non existent, otherwise we'd just stay put. I suspect we've got some hard
decisions ahead.
Might make an "exploratory" trip down there sometime. We've never been to Charleston or any of the beaches there. Probably aren't any cheap / clean
places to stay at this time of year? I know the motels and rentals are pretty much booked solid up here.
PHREERIDER - 20-7-2011 at 07:54 AM
people, boats, swimmers, kiters. outside of the sandbar its all good.
close in, could be 20-30 kiters few windsurfers, couple boats on the deep end of sandbar.
to get oriented
down town on the pennisula(chas proper $$) its a walk about scene , francis marion hotel best bang for the buck. weekend specials, kinda makes
nice. its downtown valet and all that kinda stuff nice central spot. TRAFFIC /PARKING are negatives get a bike!
mt. pleasant (across the cooper) a good place to look in general right next to SULLIVAN island, and IOP, just few minutes drive. lotta range in real
estate.
west ashely (across the ashely) next to james island, johns island then out to folly beach. commercial mix and residences. bargains to be had
there, but the beach is haul folly is fairly close though.
choice for me probably dowtown if not on the beach maybe IOP . once the parking at the beaches is a habit, its easy and timing makes a difference.
further out from the coats... maybe 20min huge difference in cost for sure.
mt.pleasant is nice spot , as well good access to everything ,beach quick into downtown, traffic flow is well paced the new bridge and connectors
really can get you around easy. multiple marinas and boating scene, lotta condos and stuff , a good place to start.
bigkahuna - 20-7-2011 at 08:02 AM
Thanks PHREE, sounds like we need to make a trip down there to check it out. I just checked, and it looks like it's about a 5.5 hour drive. Might
make it for a weekend, although I bet it gets real busy then doesn't it? I could take off a couple days in the middle of the week if I had to.
PHREERIDER - 20-7-2011 at 08:19 AM
weekend crowds are heavier for summer , the rest the year is lighter in general .
tridude - 20-7-2011 at 07:07 PM
great location BK for water sports................
great surf spots, Folly Beach being first choice.....................
kiteboarding.......... well Phree hit the nail on the head....................Folly/3rd St IOP are the least crowded spots, Sullivans (station 28.5)
gets crowded on the weekend,,,,,,alot of fair weather kiters....once the water/ambient temps drop alot disappear till spring............
Mt Pleasant, downtown Chaz, and James Island are great locals to buy a home depending on where your company locates.. .........If you and your wife
make a trip down let me know............................
bigkahuna - 20-7-2011 at 11:06 PM
Thanks Tridude. My wife has been looking at real estate prices there and it appears to be considerably more expensive than where we're at now. I've
got it pretty good, 3 bedroom house on a 1/8 acre of land in a quiet neighborhood 5 minutes from the beach. Looks like we'd have to take a
considerable drop in housing if we made the move. She's seen some older houses in our price range, but no idea what the neighborhoods are like.
Guess we'll have to check it out and see for ourselves.
One question comes to mind, are there lots of public accesses and is beach parking free? This summer they started charging for beach parking here,
and that totally sucks. Fortunately, I know a couple secret spots to launch to get around paying, but otherwise it's $10 to park your car here. Adds
up pretty fast if you do downwinders 5 times a week like I do. :P
Jakeb826 - 29-7-2011 at 08:20 AM
I'm also considering a move there in a few years. I've been looking at the Summerville area. It is about a 30-40 min haul from the beach but housing
is considerably less from what I've seen. You might check that area. If any of the locals would add their opinion, I'd greatly appreciate it.
tridude - 29-7-2011 at 01:35 PM
Summerville is a nice area..............their taxes (Dorchester County) run a tad higher than Berkeley County...................West Ashley/James
Island area has nice properties and is the most centrally located in the area along with Hanahan....................