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I am 43 years old single female. I am thinking of relocating to the Myrtle Beach or Low country in a few years. I live in Boston now but am sick of the winters and the people. Is it easy to meet people and are people friendly? What areas should I look? I like a small town feel but also like having access to stores and restaurants. I am a working professional and have an advanced degree. I am easy to get along with and love meeting new people.
You will find that most people are friendly and your ability to meet people depends on your willingness to be outgoing in new situations. The MB is area is VERY different from Boston. It's really a small but growing area and the surrounding towns are all very small compared to Boston. We are retired as are many people who live here and my 30something year old boys lived with us for a while about 5 years back. They found it challenging to find people their age because they we unwilling to get involved in things that might help them meet people. Their idea was meeting people are bars and clubs which, here, are big with tourists....not so much with people who live here. You're more likely to meet locals their age doing volunteer work, at church, at schools, the chamber of commerce meetings, volunteer organizations, etc. We met our new friends here through online meet up groups that are focused on common interests. Depending on where you live, there might even be community meetings at which you would meet people.
As to what areas to look...my suggestion is that you plan several trips to the area to explore. Hook up with a real estate agent to help show you around (DM me and I can give you someone who can help you). When we were planning to move here from CT, we made 3 trips down to specifically look around (didn't come to vacation at the beach). On the first trip, we explored everywhere from Little River down to Pawley's Island and from Conway to the beach on our own. Once we narrowed down that we wanted to live south of Rt501, we spent our second trip really diving into the different communities looking at traffic, where the grocery stores were, where shopping was, banks, etc. On out third trip, we focused on finding a rental property in the specific communities that we had selected. I strongly recommend renting before buying.
If you like a small town feel, I suggest Conway. Other than Loris (which I don't recommend), it's really the only town with a distinct downtown area. Everywhere else is more like a continuous suburban strip mall without a defined downtown area. Even Myrtle Beach itself does not really have much of a downtown area and what there is is very tourist centered. The downside of Conway is that it's at least 30-60 minutes to the beach depending on traffic and, while it was #1 on our list of places to live before our first trip here, we quickly eliminated it because of the time/traffic to the beach.
Given your age and where you are coming from and your desire for access to stores and restaurants, you might want to consider the Charleston area (Mt Pleasant, Summerville). We also explored that area and like it very much but the distance to the beach was an issue. I think you'd find more people in your age bracket and more opportunities to meet them in that area. It's definitely more like Boston than Myrtle Beach. You might also explore Savannah/Bluffton...smaller but bustling.
I hope this helps and I'm not trying to dissuade you from MB. Take some time and visit the various areas to explore and see what strikes your fancy. If you're not moving for a few years, you have ample time to do some exploration.
I am reconsidering the MB area. I am worried about the crime rate. Now I am looking more towards the Beaufort area. I am really hoping people are welcoming to newcomers. I am over the rude people in New England and the cold, dark winters.
Overall, the crime rate for the city of Myrtle Beach is distorted because it's a tourist destination. Remember, all the crime committed by or against tourists gets included when they divide the number of crimes by the number of residents (they do not count the tourists) to get the crimes per XX residents. Tourists do stupid things that they would never do at home...like walking on the beach at 2am, visiting an ATM with their new "buddy" they met in a bar, etc. I'm not saying there's not a problem with crime in the city...it's just not as bad as the statistics make it. Most crime in MB occurs in a 40 block area near the beach. There are lots of areas in the city that are good places to live...you just have to avoid the bad areas.
With that said, the areas outside of the city proper of MB have much lower crime rates. There are pockets of problems, but generally it's much better. You should visit the area (but not stay in downtown MB) to get a feel before you make up your mind. I've been to Beaufort and it's a nice area. However, just like anywhere else, there are some seedy areas that you would not want to venture into day or night.
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