Is myrtle beach an affordable place to live? (Florence, Little River: apartments, rent)

[Alyssa0406]

Hello! I currently live in Richmond, Virginia in the short pump area if anyone is familiar with that and it's a pretty expensive town. Just apartments alone can be as high as over a thousand and since I'm only 20 and my boyfriend is 21, it gets a bit expensive. We do have a 2 year old son together as well so all of our money seems to go pretty fast with everything. We are thinking about moving some place new and Myrtle beach is one of the places we are considering but since we are unfamiliar with the area, we were wondering if it is more affordable there and what are the good areas that are pretty family friendly? What is the average price range for apartments or even small family homes?

[Clempson]

Originally Posted by Alyssa0406

Hello! I currently live in Richmond, Virginia in the short pump area if anyone is familiar with that and it's a pretty expensive town. Just apartments alone can be as high as over a thousand and since I'm only 20 and my boyfriend is 21, it gets a bit expensive. We do have a 2 year old son together as well so all of our money seems to go pretty fast with everything. We are thinking about moving some place new and Myrtle beach is one of the places we are considering but since we are unfamiliar with the area, we were wondering if it is more affordable there and what are the good areas that are pretty family friendly? What is the average price range for apartments or even small family homes?

It is pretty pricey there and not a lot of employers there, mostly restaurant kind of jobs.

You could live in Florence an hour away and it is real affordable. You won't have to put up with all the traffic and tourists either.

You should check out Zillow website and search different areas to get idea of price ranges. Just put in rent range you want to pay.

[CTyankee54]

I don't know what you do for a living in Richmond, but DO NOT move to Myrtle Beach without a job in hand. Most jobs are in the service industry and quite a few are seasonal. Do your research before moving.

[lizamy]

Its true, you need to have a job lined up first. I live in Little River, which is very close to MB, ocean, shops and hgwys. I live in Stones Edge. Several moderate priced houses here, no HOA. Good luck.

[nova21]

Yes, cost of living is much cheaper here. I moved to Myrtle Beach from Virginia about 8 months ago. I love it. Just make sure you have a job lined up. I work the same job that I did in Virginia, but I had to take a significant pay cut.

[jmjfud]

Hi Nova21,

Would you mind expanding a little on the cost of living? What would you expect to pay for utilities, cable and food? Depending on which website I look at I get very different answers. For example, in NY our home is 3400 sq ft and we paid $270 this month for electric, typically we spend about $800 per month on groceries and our cable bill for TV, Phone & Internet is $200 per month, we are a family of 4. We keep our gas bill pretty low since we burn a lot of wood & coal to heat the house. But in the winter it can still be as high as $200 per month.
Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
thanks!

[SC here I come]

Fud,

Your biggest savings will be your property taxes. What part of NY are you from??

Groceries are about the same as up north.

Electric depends on how cold you like to keep your house. Though, it's still cheaper than up north.

Cable (HTC) is about the same as up north.

Some neighborhoods don't have gas, so your only utility bill will be electric. .

[Hamiltonjoe1950]

Alyssa0406

When we decided to seriously look for where we wanted to retire (we had already narrowed it to two basic areas) I found a couple of web sites where you could do tons of comparisons on weather averages, insurance costs, crime, demographics, average income, cost of living, etc.

For example we looked at MB Vs Cincinnati. Avg july temps were virtually identical, although MB humidity was higher...but come January, big difference. This may not be important but I share it to give an idea of what you can find. (I don't know if it was this one but one of them you could be as specific as the cost of a gallon of milk or a pound of ground beef.

The below link is one of them but there are a number of such sites that can be found through Google.

I fell in love with MB and we built a house which we closed on in September and will move permanently next July. Living in NY State....Major difference in the cost of living!


Compare Two Cities, City Profile Report, City Comparison Tool

[jmjfud]

SC here I come,

We are coming from eastern LI on the North Fork. We will miss the gas for sure...not sure how to cook with electric!
But as we have been seeing in all the listings, everything in SC is all electric. I just found this website that compares electric rates and thankfully shows that the rates in south carolina will be LESS (thank goodness) than in NY. But like you said we will be using it for everything so our bill may be the same overall but we will eliminate our gas bill. Hopefully there will still be some savings when all said & done!!

EIA - Electricity Data

Thanks for the feedback!!

[CTyankee54]

If you are considering moving to the MB area be careful when comparing average SC rates to other states. Much of MB electric is supplied by Horry Electric Coop which has no power generation capabilities of its own...it purchases all of its power from outside entities...primarily SCE&G. This results in per kwh costs higher than the SC average. They also vary the rate depending on the season (higher in the winter).

This past winter, we were paying 14 cents/kwh. This is significantly higher than we were paying in CT (10 cents/kwh) when we moved here 4 years ago.

The source of your power is one factor to consider when looking for a house. There are a few areas that are serviced by SCE&G and power is usually 3 cents/kwh cheaper in those area. But, SCE&G areas in Horry County are few and far between so finding a house serviced by them takes some digging.