Charleston vs. Myrtle Beach (affordable apartment, renting, crime rate)

[ampetry]

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to give advice! It really has been helpful. We have been going back and forth over this decision for quite a while and have decided that we need to go with what feels right, and if it doesn't work out, we can always move to another area. We've found that both areas have good and bad things. We just need to decide which areas "bad things" are things we can live with.

If you have any more advice please share it with us. Thank you to everyone who has already responded.

[Uptown843]

If you move to Charleston, watch for certain areas. If your downtown, if its not an ABSOLUTELY beautiful street, dont go on it, it's not a good idea. North Charelston, the north side of North Chareleston aint that bad, you have neighbor hoods such as wescot and coosaw creek. Stay away from neighborhoods such as Liberty Hill, Liberty Park, Ferndale, Russeldale, money makin, chicora cherokee...too much to name.

[ampetry]

That concerns me about Charleston! There are so many areas to "stay away from". I haven't really heard that about Myrtle Beach! But I guess that doesn't really mean anything, I'm sure that Myrtle Beach has it's own "bad" areas. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[beachmomma]

wow. For folks who never lived in Myrtle Beach, you sure have a lot of negative ideas about it. Okay, I'll admit that when I was asked to move here for my husband's job, my first thought was: "Honky Tonk. Ugh." We came down and looked, and met some LOCAL people who showed us things about the city we probably wouldn't have known by just cruising through on our own, and then we looked again, and yet again. In the end we took the job, moved to a beautiful neighborhood (Plantation Lakes in Carolina Forest -- look up the website, non-believers!) and have never looked back! We used to go into Charleston often, and a couple of our daughters looked at College of Charleston when they were choosing schools (and have several friends who DID go there -- all of whom, except for one, ended up transferring.) Between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, as a young couple, Myrtle Beach is more accessible, more affordable, has WAY less traffic and yes, even tourists (look up the stats) and the beaches are wonderful. Not so much in Charleston. The housing and cost of living in Charleston is high. The society is very have/have not and socially conscious and a bit snobbish, which is fine, especially if you are a "have" and enjoy that type of thing, but it doesn't fit too many 20-something's lifestyles. There is a LOT of crime in Charleston, don't let anyone fool you, just like in any big city. The guy that mentioned Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle is right -- it's full of 20-somethings and has i'm not even sure how many different clubs. My daughters in their 20s go there a lot. We've thought over the years about moving closer to Chareston when our littlest daughter gets to be school age, because it's true that the schools there are better, but we're not in a big hurry to get into all that at the moment. Right now we're really enjoying the quiet, friendly, smaller city here at Myrtle Beach and all the friends we've made. We love getting up and spending a few hours on the beach whenever we want, or driving 15-20 minutes down to Murrell's Inlet and eating at one of the restaurants on the water and having a drink at one of the connecting outdoor bars on the marsh walk. There's always live music and a friend or two we run into. We've got a couple of boats (one of which we dock up in LIttle River -- a nice little town someone mentioned) and we love to go out on the Inercoastal Waterway with the little boat, or the ocean with the big boat. The marine fees are probably a fraction of what they would be in Charleston, if you guys are thinking about picking up a little used boat or something. We drive the 2 hours into Charleston occassionally for a weekend getaway, but honestly, it's always EXACTLY the same as the last time, and the time before that, and as it was when we were in college...nothing ever changes, which gets frankly boring. Once you've done it a few times, you're done. The novelty wears off quickly. There's one (what's called Harley, but the locals call it "white") biker week here in May, (and a LOT of local flak about having it reduced/eliminated.) But the locals just stay away from King's Hwy and anything from 30th Ave. North heading south down to Surfside Beach during that week -- further north or west is perfectly quiet and you'd never know the bikers were here. There's also what's referred to as Black Bike Week sometime in the Spring (I forget when) but that's in Atlantic Beach (north of here) and doesn't impact Myrtle nearly as much. You'll see some bikes around, but that rally isn't as big and again, the locals just know where to avoid during that time and the noise and foolishness that accompanies it doesn't affect us. Of course, it is fun to go down during one of the ralleys to one of the hang-outs the bikers all gather at just to see all the different bikes (and people watch) and listen to live music and drink a few cold beers. Everyone seems friendly and for the most part well behaved (there's been a lot of clamping down on bad behavior over the past several years.) Yeah, the bikes are loud (The Harleys more than the big Hondas that are more prevalant during Black Biker Week.) The bike weeks just aren't that big of a deal in the scheme of things. Honestly. All in all, I'd suggest you come down and spend some time in both cities and make a point of talking to some locals. Right now, most of the people you run into in Myrtle Beach are local -- I can't say about Charleston. Do an internet search for housing prices and rentals and compare. See what the stats are on unemployment, crime, traffic, cost of living, median age (it's younger in Myrtle Beach than Charleston I'd bet) and whatever else is important to you. Look at the growth and new development in both areas. Look at job opportunities. In the end, see what FEELS right and will offer you employment and give you the best experience for your financial situation. When you've done all that, look us up when you move here -- I'll introduce ya'll to some folks your age! Good luck!

[srt4b]

Myrtle crushes Charleston 10 times out of 10.

You can makes as much money as you want during the season and the off-season the weather is still great and you can slow down and enjoy the area a 1/4 the cost of the season's prices.

The area is still massively growing despite the Housing slump. They are still pulling 25 building permits per day in Horry county.

Carolina Forest is basically a brand new city with tons of awesome housing deals and new retail opening every day, just a few minutes from everything and new roads that link to everything. Great place to start out in the Grand Strand area.

Brand new Hard Rock Theme Park opening in a few months too. More jobs, tourists, housing values, retail, etc.

The only negative to MB is the crime in the off-season. This is really only an issue in a few segregated areas where all of the new buildings have pushed the low level thugs that plague any city. Very easy to avoid they are just more visible when the tourists aren't balancing out the population. All of the new buildings have pushed out the old shady hot spots lately.



Charleston is beautiful & a great place but as the previous poster implied you might want to have a more stable financial situation to move there. Keeping a busy social life will cost you 2-3 times as much in Charleston. Housing in the City will be very expensive also unless you choose a shady area off the beating path.

[sheena]

I love Myrtle Beach but we are leaving after a short stay, no work for my husband. I agree with the above poster, it's a wonderful area. If you can afford Plantation Lakes that would be my choice. Carolina Forest has many subdivisions in different price ranges. The weather here is fantastic. Just make sure you have jobs or enough money to get you through. I've gone through a bundle.

[pvjd]

Sheena--what does your husband do for work? I want to move to Myrtle, but work is also a concern for me. I am a social worker, and though it is a broad profession it can be difficult to find long-term work if you are new to the area.

[ampetry]

It's funny how when I first started this thread everyone said Charleston is the better place and now everyone is saying Myrtle Beach is.

My fiance and I have been talking about it a lot and have decided that Myrtle Beach would be more suited to our wants and needs! We'll be making a trip down towards the end of January. Any advice before we come down? What should we see and do to get a real feel for what it's like to live there? Since we will be renting when we first move, it would be really helpful if anyone knows of some nice, affordable apartments.

[beachmomma]

There's another thread in this SC forum where the poster asked the same question: what should we be sure to see when we come down to Myrtle Beach -- you may want to check that out. The most affordable apartments in the Carolina Forest area are going to be in Cantebury. I think you can get a one bedroom there for around $500/mo. I don't know much about apartment prices anywhere else around, oh, wait, I think the ones off of Hwy. 501, if you turn at the BP station toward Carolina Forest High School (sorry, I don't remember the name of the road -- it's a double name, like a man's name or something-bay maybe.) Anyway, there are a bunch of apartments and condos back there that are good rents -- just stop in the clubhouse and they'll show you a furnished model and tell you prices. I'm thinking somewhere around $600-$650. Of course, it's off Hwy. 501 so there's a more traffic to deal with, but it's a place to look, anyway. Hope that's not too vague for you to find...
Condos are also going for pretty good rents. Try Carolina Willows, Sawgrass East and The Farm. There are some new all brick condos across from Sawgrass East that look nice, but I haven't heard what the rents are there.

[ampetry]

beachmomma-thank you for the tips. I will definitely look into to those apartments.

We are coming down for a couple days in late January, and hopefully that will result in making the move a few months later! I am just so excited. It's 20 degrees right now and I've closed myself in my bedroom with my handy little space heater!