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For years now I have been on and off this forum, waiting less than patiently for our hopeful move to Myrtle Beach. Once we clear one hurdle, however, another arises in its place. The frustation level for me is nearing breakdown stage. But on to the point.
I hear of several who have moved to MB and regretted it, others who tolerate but wished they had gone elsewhere. If you were me, what other option would you seriously explore before commiting to MB?
It'd be my wife, currently 10 year old son and 15 year old daughter (I say currently because by the time we clear our last hurdle it could be another 3 years) and myself. We love making friends, yet have none here in Michigan. We are Christian conservative (sorry PawleysDude and Neece, I still like you both ), love the beach (lived in Virginia Beach for 4 years), enjoy major/minor league/college sports, shopping, good selection of restaurants, despise yankee winters, fun areas with plenty to do and love the south (TN, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL etc.)
We'd be open to anything from returning to VA Beach to going as far south as Jacksonville FL. Here's my issues after years of researching all points in between these cities. VA Beach: cost of living has skyrocketed to the point we might not even be able to afford it. Wilmington NC: Not much choice of shopping, restaurants, have heard over and again they are not friendly to northern transplants. Charleston SC: We'd likely have to purchase a house at least 1/2 hour from the beach and depsite many growing tired of the beach, we went once a week for 4 years in VA Beach and never tired of it. Other than that, Charleston is a close 2nd. Hilton Head SC: Just too small. Savannah GA: See Hilton Head. Jacksonville: So spread out, crime (not the MB tourist stuff), have heard not very nice to transplants.
So, is MB still our best option, am I missing an area, am I being too critical of an area mentioned above? What would you do?
If I had it to do all over again I would have got a house in Mt. Pleasant for my stint here. Close to the beach (isle of palms), plenty of shopping and restaurants, Charleston is just over the bridge. The town has new and polished feel rather than the run down, neon, tourist trap feel I get from MB. Seems like the opportunity to find work would be better down there around Charleston. I would rather drive an hour to MB when I wanted to go there than drive an hour from MB every day to a decent job in Charleston.
We are Christian conservative (sorry PawleysDude and Neece, I still like you both )
LOL ... It's all good TNKY. I can assure you that you would not be the one standing out like a sore thumb.
I really can't contribute all that much to this thread because I know nothing of the other places you are considering. I can tell you that our move to the area was motivated by money (or lack of it) and we have never regretted it for one second. We love it here and wake-up feeling like the luckiest people in the world every day! That being said, I am not blind to the downsides of the area, they just don't play all that big of a roll in our daily life. If you have more $'s to play with, though, there may be better options for you.
I hope you find the perfect place, whether it be Myrtle Beach or somewhere else. You have being waiting for so long. Hang in there TNKY!
...We are Christian conservative (sorry PawleysDude and Neece, I still like you both )...
No need to apologize. I'm a Christian - raised Southern Baptist (aka Great Commission Baptist), now an active Methodist for the sake of matrimonial harmony. My family and friends would tell you I carry a conservative philosphy, but after the Repubs butchered that word the past decade or so, I avoid it like the plague.
I don't think anyone can tell you what's right, and from personal experience, I suspect we all tend to ignore advice that conflicts with any dreams we are holding on to. All I can say is don't ignore all the folks that tell ya' living at the beach is very different from vacationing at the beach. I don't think we regret moving here, because we would always have wondered if it was right for us. We just regret staying too long at the party and getting caught up in the housing mess down here. And forget what the newspapers are saying, our housing market is still a disaster. Our "back home" friends still wonder why we ever considered it. They feel like the beach is only a few hours away, so they have the best of both worlds. I have come to accept they are right. We are retired and brought our money with us, so we're fine. On the other hand, I simply cannot imagine having worked and raised our family here.
My only advice is to try to separate your top priority - living at the beach or escaping cold weather. If it's the weather, I recommend checking out some of the very nice inland cities and towns. In SC, they're even more conservative than MB. If your top priority is the beach, may be force be with you.
Thanks guys. I owe both Pawleys and neece reputation points, but I must spread them around I'm told.
Mt. Pleasant is an area I have thought about. While we are leaning toward MB, anything can happen. Especially if we're still waiting for a few more years, if I survive that long. We almost ended up in Chattanooga, but the coast is where we belong. Thanks again.
I am kinda with you on this one....if not MB then where??? I want to move to MB/CONWAY to experience the small town feeling/southernness......CCU sounds like a good school.....if not MB then where??? lol
We are in a very similar situation, however, we are looking for a place to live after retiring which is still about 10 years away.
My wife and I visited Myrtle Beach last year for the first time and loved it. We have decided to go back this year and do some scouting around to get a better feel for the non tourist areas.
In my research so far, it appears that Myrtle Beach would be a great place to live. We visited Charleston a couple of years ago. It seems more expensive plus with the interstates it seems like there is more traffic and it is tougher to get around. We really liked Charleston and Mount Pleasant is certainly on our radar, but so far Myrtle Beach is our leading choice.
We also visited Chattanooga about 3 years ago. We were impressed with the city plus Tennessee is an inexpensive place to live. The winters are a little cooler than I would prefer but Chattanooga is still in USDA growing zone 7a which means Palm Trees could grow there, and some people do have them, although they are few and far between.
So far our retirement list includes:
Myrtle Beach (or surrounding area)
Charleston (or surrounding area)
Chattanooga
Cookeville, TN (on list because it is extremely inexpensive)
Yulee, FL
We prefer to be on or near a beach. Our second choice would be in the mountains. It depends on what we will be able to afford when we retire.
I am kinda with you on this one....if not MB then where??? I want to move to MB/CONWAY to experience the small town feeling/southernness......CCU sounds like a good school.....if not MB then where??? lol
Small town feeling in MB? Have you visited yet?
"Southernness" might be a little hard to come by as well, considering that there are probably more Northern transplants in the MB/Conway area than native Southerners.
You really need to visit this area if you are picturing it as a little "Mayberry" type of place. MB/Conway is a great place, but it is very large and congested, and does not have a small Southern town type of vibe at all. Conway and MB kind of sprawl together into one big, touristy place, and the traffic can be a nightmare. You would probably have to go inland away from the coast to find the kind of town that you are looking for, because the coast is pretty much owned by wealthy Yankees now...
IMHO, downtown Conway has that small town feeling/southernness. If you go out on 501 in Conway, obviously that's not the case but as long as you stay closer to downtown, it's rather quaint. But, I agree that anyone wanting to move here needs to visit in "place to live" mode...not "vacation" mode before deciding to move. We originally were going to move to Conway when we moved here but determined it was further away from the beach than we wanted. So we ended up in Forestbrook which we absolutely love...easy to get to just about anything but also easy to avoid traffic and tourists if you want. And we can be on the beach in 15 minutes.
As far as other SC places...we also considered the Charleston area (just absolutely loved Summerville) but decided it was too far from the beach especially with traffic which seemed very heavy to us. And we looked in Greenville which is obviously not near the beach. We liked it there as well but one of our top priorities was beach access so we ended up in MB.
There are areas of the Grand Strand that are quite rural especially if you stay west of the Intercoastal. But, if a person wants a small town, there's not much except Conway unless, as was stated above, you go further inland.
Best advice is to visit several times and look around. We made 3 trips to MB to explore before we moved here. And we didn't go near the beach on any of the 3 trips...just stayed inland and explored everything from Little River to Pawley's Island. We ate in small restaurants where we talked to waitresses and owners about the plusses and minuses of their area...we stopped and talked to people walking the neighborhoods we drove through...we looked for libraries, churches, schools, shopping areas, grocery stores, etc. to see how they looked and how far away they were from potential neighborhoods that we were considering. It was exhausting but well worth the effort because we had first hand information before we moved. Anyone planning to move should go through a similar process.
Greatly appreciated, CTyankee54. I have also explored Summerville/Goose Creek areas of Charleston and have come to the same conclusion as you: Very nice, but too far from the beach. I leaning toward areas around Socastee and Murrell's Inlet.
I can hardly wait until my first Pelicans game, ordering the first of many pizzas from Ultimate CA Pizza to my house and not having to get up early to snowplow the driveway for months on end. But as my status says, I'm still waiting for a miracle. So I'll just keep researching until said miracle arrives.
On a side note to Pawleys and neece, I have repped 3 people now and I'm still not allowed to rep either of you yet.
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If your top priority is the beach, may be force be with you. 
