White picket fence around home with red door If you’ve chosen to move to Charleston SC, the #1 City in the World, then you’ve undoubtedly made the right choice. Relocating to a new city may feel overwhelming and you may not know where to start, but the diverse nature of Charleston landscapes and lifestyles makes it easy. When searching for your new home there are many factors to consider, but first you need to find the right neighborhood. With countless neighborhoods to choose from, there’s something to fit everyone’s needs in Charleston.

Moving to a new city is almost like starting with a blank canvas. You should start by envisioning the type of lifestyle you desire. Prioritize your everyday needs first  – such as the location, the cost of living, and local schools. Then imagine the kind of amenities you want to have access to – easy access to a golf course? Gated community? Beach front property? Walking trails? If you’ve narrowed your search to a particular area in Charleston, we recommend you visit at different times of the day, observe traffic patterns, as it will give you a good idea of your commute times (say, for example, if you’re headed toward Johns Island via the Stono Bridge at 5pm you’ll notice it takes a little longer to get home). Visit your targeted neighborhoods at different times during the day too, to get a feel for the community life. Do you have kids?  This is a great way to see if there are kids out playing in the neighborhood.

For a suburban, family-oriented neighborhood, there are plenty to choose from. Located just east of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, one of Charleston’s most iconic landmarks, is Mount Pleasant SC. A southern suburb lined with palmetto trees, freshwater wetlands, and true lowcountry saltwater marsh. Situated within all of its natural beauty are South Carolina’s top award winning schools and nostalgic village neighborhoods tailored towards family values. One Charleston neighborhood growing in popularity is Park West. Offering a blend of privacy and convenience, Park West includes six miles of biking and jogging trails, multi-sports complex, a swim club, child care facility, and both an elementary school and a middle school. Take an afternoon stroll through the neighborhood and you’re sure to see families taking their dogs out for a walk, children playing cornhole in the front yard, and a fresh squeezed lemonade stand a block or two away. Just a 20-minute drive down Highway 17 is downtown Charleston, full of world-class shopping, 5-star restaurants, and hundreds of years of history hidden in plain sight throughout the city. Other neighborhoods in Mount Pleasant with similar qualities are the Old Village, and I’On

If you’re looking for a private, upscale community, there are multiple to choose from. Daniel Island, just north of the city, Dunes West to the east or, tucked away 45 minutes south of downtown Charleston is the gated community of Kiawah Island. Nationally known for having five of the finest golf courses in the world, the exclusive neighborhoods within Kiawah Island offer a resort-like lifestyle, full of amenities. For example, homes in the Ocean Park neighborhood were designed to discreetly blend in with the untouched natural surroundings. In the backyards of these homes you will find spectacular Oak trees, winding rivers, and miles of ocean shoreline. The vast majority of the residents here are retired or vacationers, and embrace the serene, luxurious and private lifestyle that Kiawah Island has to offer.

A great way to learn about a neighborhood before settling on your dream home is to spend quality time at the local restaurants and parks in the area. When it comes to downtown Charleston, each neighborhood has its own distinctive heartbeat – from the French Quarter to the Eastside to the trendy, up & coming Elliotborough.  At the outermost point of the peninsula lays the most desired location in the city – South of Broad, where historic exclusivity conveniently meets an elegant urban lifestyle. The most dynamic of the neighborhoods downtown is the Harleston Village. Just a brief walk from King Street’s shops and restaurants, residents of Harleston Village often socialize with their neighbors in a friendly match of tennis or jogging around Colonial Lake. The diverse nature of the neighborhoods that make up the downtown peninsula offer a “close to everything ” pedestrian lifestyle, suitable for all types of people, from working professionals, to families and everything in between.

Note: With your ideal lifestyle in mind, you can find the right neighborhood almost anywhere in Charleston. Once you have narrowed down your thoughts on lifestyle and pin-pointed your price range it’s time to start looking for the perfect neighborhood to call home. 

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