My husband and I are moving to Charleston in August and would like to start looking for a house to buy. Can anyone give us an idea of nice areas to live in? My husband will be working at Charleston AFB, and I will be working in downtown Charleston. Can anyone recommend nice areas to live in, that are somewhat close to the beach? Thank you.

I would think it would behoove you to go for a long week-end, hook up with a real estate agent and look for yourself in your price range.

Welcome to Charleston!

It really does depend on your budget. Mt. Pleasant and Daniel Island are great places to live but VERY EXPENSIVE. The old houses in the downtown area have a lot of charm but again, pretty pricey and you generally have street parking (I looked at a 600 sq ft condo with no parking and it was listing for $500K plus $385 monthly association fees).

West Ashley is pretty good but could be a drive for your husband depending on where in West Ashley...esp if you're out by the beach.

While there are parts of North Charleston that you should avoid, there's a couple nice subdivisions near the Air Base that you may want to consider...The Park at Rivers Edge (gated community) and Archdale. I live in The Park and there's a 1300 sq ft home going for $170k...pretty average for homes in both sudvisions. Both subdivisions are only 5-10 minutes from the base and only about a 20 minute drive to downtown. Again, only about a 20-25 minute drive to the beaches.

But as Gretchen suggested, spend a long weekend here looking around with a relator to get the lay of the land and see what fits within your budget.

Good luck with the move!

What is your budget?

Top end:

Isle of Palms/Sullivan's Island
James Island
ION Village

There are so many great places in Charleston.

The first thing is your housing budget.

Before you actually visit Charleston, do your homework on the Internet. There are many sites like Realtor.com where you can plug in the amount you are willing to spend and see what you can get. When we were moving to Ohio, I contacted the local newspaper and spoke at length to the Education Editor because we wanted the best school system for our kids. Figure out what your requirements are and do some research, there are smaller local type newspapers you can contact as well. Understand what you can comprise on and what you can't. That way, when you actually go to Charleston, you can really make your time there count.

Thank you all for your input.

The Summerville area is lovely, but a fairly short drive from Charleston. Home prices are probably a bit less than closer to the water.

We are also going to Charleston in after the 4th of July to see if we want to move there from Ann Arbor, MI area. We love it here, but was wondering if anyone knew of nice suburban areas with homes in range of 375k-400k? Near beaches would be nice...we have three children with pets...any ideas?