We Like Conway........I think. (Columbia, Charleston: real estate, HOA, condos) - Myrtle Beach - Conway area - South Carolina (SC) -Horry County - City-Data Forum

djlen · 10-19-2017, 06:37 PM

My wife and I are going to retire this coming year to So. Carolina and really like the affordability and what looks like a small town atmosphere of Conway. Also, we are looking to live within easy driving distance of the beach, in this case Myrtle Beach.
We would be open to detached homes or 55 and up communities. She is a gardener and so we'd like to find something with room for a garden, so we are pretty much ruling out condos/townhouses etc.
Since we know so little about the area any feed back we could get on this area would be appreciated.

Regards,
Len

tmozer · 10-20-2017, 06:52 AM

About the "easy driving distance to the beach"...... Conway is not very close to the beach in my opinion. And driving to the ocean during the peak seasons you would face a lot of traffic. I would suggest a closer community like Murrells Inlet.

djlen · 10-20-2017, 09:58 AM

Thanks for the reply and info. We are currently living about 50 miles from the beach so 15 - 20 miles doesn't seem too far....LOL. I see many folks here recommending Murrells Inlet. We'll have to check out that area as well.
Because we'll be on a fixed income we are looking for something manageable from a house payment perspective. Your house prices are very reasonable from what we've seen.

Regards,
Len

vrexy · 10-20-2017, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djlen

My wife and I are going to retire this coming year to So. Carolina and really like the affordability and what looks like a small town atmosphere of Conway. Also, we are looking to live within easy driving distance of the beach, in this case Myrtle Beach.
We would be open to detached homes or 55 and up communities. She is a gardener and so we'd like to find something with room for a garden, so we are pretty much ruling out condos/townhouses etc.
Since we know so little about the area any feed back we could get on this area would be appreciated.

Regards,
Len

You don't say what your price point/range is for housing. If you could post something about that, it would probably help us to guide you in the best direction for what you're looking for. For the most part, living here near the Myrtle Beach area is very affordable IMO. Even without knowing what price range you're looking at, I can still say that there's a good chance you will be able to find a place you'd like that would be much closer to the ocean than Conway.

I agree with tmozer about the drive to the beach from Conway. It will most likely take longer than you think, especially during tourist season. I live in Surfside Beach and can walk to the ocean from my house, which I absolutely love being able to do. In the actual town of Surfside Beach, there probably isn't much that would work as far as having a large garden, but it's still a possibility. The other side of Rt. 17 business, however, might work for you. And as tmozer said, Murrells Inlet has lots of very nice areas where you could probably find something with room for a garden.

Are you working with a real estate agent? I think that would be a good place to start. Find a good one who has lots of experience in this area and they can help you out by sending you emails with current listings, etc. If you don't have one and would like a recommendation, send me a PM and I'll be happy to recommend a few people that you can consider. I was very pleased with the one we used. She has since retired, but has a younger woman who she now refers people to. I also have several friends who are RE agents and brokers - all with lots of experience and who I would highly recommend.

We moved here about 8 years ago from NJ and we think it's the best move we ever made. We'd never consider living anywhere else. I hope you find exactly what you're looking for and that you love it here as much as we do.

Where are you moving from?

djlen · 10-20-2017, 05:45 PM

Thanks a lot for the reply. We are seeing houses in 55+ communities in the $100 - 115,000 range that we find very appealing to us. We could not touch similar homes in that price range up here in New Jersey. We had no idea the taxes were so low in So. Carolina. Since we will soon both be on fixed incomes this is very important. We are not bound to 55+ communities, BTW. We're just thinking that for a reasonable HOA fee, lawn cutting and maintenance would be alleviated and possibly other amenities would be available.
So far we've looked mainly in the Conway - Myrtle Beach area, but are re-thinking due to tourist crowding and traffic in the summer time. Now we're looking in the Murrells Inlet area and will also check out the Surfside Beach area as well.
I will probably PM you for suggestions on real estate agents as we have questions that are not answered on sites like Realtor.com.
Just to clarify, she is most interested in planting flowers/shrubs around the house as opposed to vegetables which would require larger plots.
Interesting that you are from New Jersey.

We are living in south jersey......the Haddonfield - Cherry Hill area. And we anticipate a peaceful retirement in your area.

Regards,
Len

leetchy2 · 10-20-2017, 07:02 PM

You may also want to check out Little River (SC) and Calabash (NC). Murrells Inlet as mentioned earlier is also very nice. Just providing other options. I also agree with the other poster that Conway isn't a convenient "commute" to the beach in season.

tmozer · 10-20-2017, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djlen

Interesting that you are from New Jersey.

We are living in south jersey......the Haddonfield - Cherry Hill area. And we anticipate a peaceful retirement in your area.

Regards,
Len

I grew up in Cherry Hill and my father in Haddonfield. About to attend my 50th Cherry Hill HS West reunion..........

http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...-20171020.html

e66330 · 10-21-2017, 07:08 PM

Longs might be a possibility as well . Housing prices are reasonable . Cherry Grove Beach and North Myrtle Beach are right down Rt 9 .

djlen · 10-21-2017, 08:02 PM

Funny how small the world is. My wife's family are all "Cherry Hill West" folks. It always amazed me of the absolute dislike the Ch. west and Ch. east people have for one another. Two of my wife's daughters graduated from West and still live there.
BTW, Philly.com is my homepage. I'm basically a Philly guy myself and follow the pro sports avidly. A quick question....are you able to get the Eagles games down there? LOL, I hope so. I'd miss them terribly.

I will be checking all of the other locations you other folks mentioned above. I think we've already checked out a few homes in Longs......lots of ground up there. We're kind of looking for a home with a small area around it but big enough for her to plant roses and other flowers and shrubs around the house. I like to bike, fish and kayak while as I mentioned she's more of a home gardener type.
We've been looking at the 55+ communities and also regular single homes as well. The nice thing about the 55+ places is that there's a minimum of maintenance that the residents are required to perform. We're kind of getting past the lawn work at this point in life.
I really want to thank you all for the welcome you've given us. I spent some time (mostly in the Charleston and Columbia areas) while traveling on a job I had at one point. I remember the people at that time being very welcoming too.

Living 400 miles away will present a challenge for us in our search but we'll ask questions here and stop down there in the Spring with a list of prospective locations in hand to check out. Some of you have mentioned that when you moved down there, you too were from other states. I'm thinking we might try to find a place, centrally located to park our butts for a couple of weeks and check out the available (at that time) home in the area. Any experience in that regard would be helpful too.

Regards,
Len (and Mary)

djlen · 10-21-2017, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrexy

You don't say what your price point/range is for housing. If you could post something about that, it would probably help us to guide you in the best direction for what you're looking for. For the most part, living here near the Myrtle Beach area is very affordable IMO. Even without knowing what price range you're looking at, I can still say that there's a good chance you will be able to find a place you'd like that would be much closer to the ocean than Conway.

Actually we are open to single, one story houses or 55+ communities. We do want to find a place that is move-in ready. We are not looking to start repairing or painting. I guess in a nutshell, size is not important but quality is.
When we moved into the house we now occupy, we worked for months painting and fixing things. She is not amenable to going through that or anything like it again.
We are seeing 55+ homes in the $40,000 - 60,000 range that are very attractive and regular single homes in the 90,000 - 120,000 range. That's pretty much where we are at this point. As you say vrexy, living near Myrtle Beach and the surrounding area is very affordable. I tend to agree.