Moving to Charleston South Carolina

HomeNoWork723 · May 28, 2006

Hi Nikki, I was hoping to find some of the same info on one of the forums. I am also going to relocate to Charleston. I don't know the area or the cost of living, and I am unsure of what kind of pay to expect or how much house we can afford there. We are leaving Monday to go check out Charleston and look at real estate and hospitals. I spent two days redoing my 13 yr old resume and wrote a cover letter and all....I was looking up addresses to mail them and wouldn't you know...ONLINE APPLICATIONS! Wow- who knew. At the top of this page you can go to "links" and follow under Boards till you get to SC - they will explain how you don't need to get another license to practice in SC - it's called compact. So, I would say you should get your license in WV and then "compact" to SC. Doesn't look like it works the other way around, as your state isn't in the list. I'm not 100% sure how it all works...good luck. If I can bring back any good info I'll let you know.

AuntieRN · May 28, 2006

I live in SC. I can tell you that Charleston is very expensive to live in. It is a college town as well as very touristy. There is however a big university hospital there that I would love to work at. MUSC. I have heard that they love to hire new grads. Now my instructor just told us this week that SC has a new license ( I forget what its called now..sorry) but, that we can practice in something like 12 other states with our licenses from here. I believe you could go to the SCBON to find out this information. Now let me tell you one more thing so hopefully yall won't be as shocked as I was when I got here a few years ago...if yall are from the North...the pay here in the south does not compare. They say its cheaper to live here but I can not see it...food and everything costs just as much...well except ciggarettes they are cheaper...LOL...figures something that is no good for ya...but anyways...this state and area has some lovely places...and its warm. I love Charleston. But get really lost there because it seems like all the streets are one way..you can see where you are trying to get...but...getting there is a problem for me anyways...good luck and hope you enjoy yourselves here.

libbylaroux · May 30, 2006

I agree, the wages in Charleston are ridiculously low compared to an ever increasing cost of living. Also: 7 percent state tax. It really IS a shock when one moves here.

The prevailing cultural attitude is that it is NORMAL to work overtime and/or 2 jobs to barely scrape by. I don't think this state has fully recovered from having all that free labor they had back in the bad old days. They seem to think it still should be free :confused: ... nursing wages are low, and every other job's wage is lower than low.

Real estate just went through the roof here. They also have a property tax on houses and cars and boats and things like that, which is another little shocker when one moves here.

But it is warm. And I can grow camellias and gardenias in my garden!!

Many different areas here-- Downtown Charleston, Mount Pleasant, James Island, Folly Beach, North Charleston, Summerville, Hannahan, and on... take a real good look at a map when you are pondering... MUSC and Roper Hospital are downtown, which is on a peninsula, which can get hairy to get out of or into at certain times of the day (if you work 12 hour shifts might not run into that as much as if you do 8's)

East Cooper Hospital is in Mt Pleasant, Trident Hospital in North Charleston and I think the one in Summerville is associated with them. Roper St Francis is in West Ashley. They all come up when you search for hospitals in this area, but there are commute issues you ought to think about as the town spreads out and there are big rivers on both sides of the peninsula and elsewhere that make getting from point A to point B not as straight forward as it would seem. I definitly recommend looking carefully on map... get addresses and mapquest directions and all that. The real estate gets more affordable the further you get away from downtown and the beaches, but you have to think about what is attracting you to this area... might be worth paying more rent in exchange for not having to drive for an hour to get to the beach, if the beach is important to you.

Hope your relocation goes well-- and: Welcome to Charleston!

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jun 2, 2006

The one in Summerville is associated with the larger North Trident. I was pleased with the way they treated my MIL there. She had to be taken to the main facility for any big procedure.....greenfield filter.....but otherwise they were very professional. The housing is very expensive from Summerville on down to the tip of Charleston. There are 2 other main areas.....looking at the map to the right of the peninsula is James Island....expensive but quite nice. To the left is Isle of Palms and Mt. Pleasant. Also very expensive.

Frankly if it were me I'd look at MUSC for a job.....it is downtown and fairly near the College of Charleston. I have no idea about pay as all my connections there are several years old. If you are just looking for a SC place to live there are several main areas that are equal to Chas in ambiance-Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Columbia (not so much ambiance but home to my alma mater USC) little plug there. Good luck..... and you can grow camelias, gardenias, yellow jessamine, pecan trees, and oh so many kinds of azaleas!!!!

Nikki22 · Jun 3, 2006

Thanks for all the help so far...

To make a long story short...I dated a guy that lived in Hampton Virginia...and I fell in love with the beach. I had been to Chas SC several times and never thought about moving there until we split. Honestly I just wanna live close to the ocean!! LOL and far enough away from my family to where they won't visit every day!! Just kidding!!

I have looked at places online in West Ashley, and I have requested things from tourist guides and MUSC. All of which have responded and been very helpful!! I am planning a trip in July and am beside myself to come back to check it out for my future this time!!

Plus I am already really good at saying y'all!!!

Thanks and keep the comments coming!!

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jun 3, 2006

My son and his now ex-wife lived on James Island for about 4 years. Their house backed up to what I called a canal, but they claimed it was a lake.....anyhow it was about 1200 a mo and that was 6 yrs ago. The could walk to the harbor and launch from a neighbors dock. It was a huge house 4 BR built in the 50's. It was about 5 mi from Folly Beach that's lovely to look at but too expensive to even dream about. Anyway you might consider looking at Pawley's Island, N. Charleston, Edisto Island (quaint nothing but a few stores and houses.) Have fun looking. Remember down south in the summer it's HOT and HUMID. And I love it.

They also had to "evac" 3x for hurricanes in the 4 years they were there. That's another no-no for me. I live across the state. It took him 16 hours to get here for one that turned out to be nothing at all but better safe than sorry.

NURSESAREGUIDEDBYGOD · Jul 8, 2006

Hi Nikki22,

I too will be graduating next year (July), and I am planning to move to Columbia SC. I have been looking into buying my first home there. If anyone has any insight that they can share on Columbia please feel free to tell all. I am so excited to start fresh. I have lived here in Miami all of my life. Well Nikki good luck.

:nurse: :mortarboard: :yeah:

Nikki24 · Jul 8, 2006

Thanks and same to you!!! Good luck with everything!!

cookie102 · Jul 8, 2006

getting close to retirement, well at least my husband is, and we are considering the charleston area, i am currently working in home health as i have been for nearly 20 years, anyone know of any home health agencies in that area. thanks!!

malman2100 · Jul 28, 2006

Hi, I am a Registered Nurse in the CCU at MUSC. I think you will love Charleston, it is a great place to live.

Let me see if I can help you some with a little information/opinion.

Where to live. Depends on the person. Your age, what you like to do, if you have kids and so on. If you have children and want them to go to public school you have limited options. You need to stay in the Mount Pleasant area or Dorchester County District 2 (Summerville) There are some schools here and there in the other areas that are ok but you really need to do your homework there. If you are young and single and want to be close to the fun as much as possible, consider living downtown. It will definately be more expensive but you will be right in the middle of everything (the bars, the market, the parks, the shops, the college etc). Single and want to be more frugal? West Ashley is your best bet. Lots of apartments available on hwy 61 in West Ashley.

Many of the local apartment complexs have recently been sold and converted to condos. Property values in the Charleston area have been increasing rapidly and buying a condo may be a good investment instead of throwing money away in rent.

Where to work? This again depends on the person and what you are interested in. I personally have only worked at MUSC so I can not speak for the other area hospitals. I can say this: after working in a private hospital for 7 years I will never go back. The atmosphere in a teaching hospital is much more team oriented. The RN is a valued part of the team and their opinion is important. You will find that in most areas it is a give and take with hospitals though. What I mean is that usually the place that you will want to work the most will not have the best benefits/pay. I think that holds true in the Charleston area.

I hope this info helps some. I only found this forum tonight so if you have any questions or anything you can just email me if you like.

Good luck.

PS....dont worry about having to evacuate for a storm, just sign up to be on the "disaster team" and get paid time and a half to sleep in the nice safe hospital the whole time.(I say this somewhat tongue in cheek but I am serious about staying instead of leaving) All of the patients are evacuated ahead of the storm except for the most ill. (I know you are having visions of Katrina in your head, we had our 100 year storm in 89 with Hugo and the hospital did not encounter the horrible circumstances that those poor Drs and nurses did in N.O.

AuntieRN · Jul 28, 2006

I have lived here almost 6 years and we have never had to evacuate. Seems the storms always go around us. I am in Myrtle Beach. Someone mentioned Pawleys Island, this is a lovely quaint community. It is only a short drive to Myrtle Beach where we have a few hospitals. Someone else mentioned the pay. The pay here is low but some of the perks are worth it. We do not get snow...for the most part it is warm year round other than those few days in Jan. or Feb. every few years. The pace is much slower down here, but I find for the most part the people are friendlier. Especially if they have lived here all their lives. I would also reccomend MUSC. I know from a patient's perspective they are absolutely wonderful. If it were not such a long ride for me I would consider it myself when I graduate. I think real estate all along the coast here has gotten outrageous. Good luck with whatever you choose and I hope you enjoy SC.