- Kathie Zucker, 57, has lived in New Jersey her entire life, but is now moving to South Carolina.
- After visiting her daughter, who attends college in Charleston, South Carolina, she discovered she loved the area.
- She especially enjoys the warmer weather, activities and lower cost of living around Charleston.
This essay as told is based on a conversation with Kathie Zucker, 57, and her decision to move to Charleston, South Carolina from Butler, a New York suburb, New Jersey. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I started seriously considering moving to Charleston in the fall of 2023.
Before that, my husband and I were talking about it and driving to different areas. Then we determined which areas we liked.
It’s a difficult decision to make. You simply say to yourself, “My husband and I are entering the second phase and, eventually, retirement. I am the director of an insurance agency. I’m too young to retire right now, but New Jersey is where I eventually want to be. ?”
And the answer was no.
Added to that was the cost of living in New Jersey. The property tax situation at the time of retirement is still important. I mean, you’re talking $9,000 a year – just increase after increase.
I went to Charleston often to stay with my daughter. She transferred there from another school in Virginia. But it wasn’t really on my radar as a place to retire – more so Florida, or somewhere like that.
But the more I visited and the more I saw what it offered, the more I could visualize my husband and I retiring there.
We considered Florida, but ruled it out. For maybe a minute, we looked at North Carolina and ruled it out. But we definitely wanted something on the coast here in the east.
I wanted to be closer to my daughter – and the beach
My family had vacationed in Isle of Palms, near Charleston, for many years. But until my daughter went to school there, I never really went there and had that experience. Funny, that’s where I ended up.
I wouldn’t say my daughter living there was the only reason for moving. Out of 10, I should probably say it’s a seven. Wanting to be near your adult children was important to me and my husband since she is our only child. But I think if she was in a place we absolutely didn’t want to be, we wouldn’t move.
If she had been in Virginia, where she began her studies, we probably would have looked in that area. But if she was in Ohio, there’s no way I’d go there.
She loves it here, so it’s a great place for her to live.
I wouldn’t say I immediately felt like it was a place I could live. Being from New Jersey and living outside of New York my whole life, it’s very diverse and there are a lot of different things to do.
Although it’s obviously not as big as New York, there are things to do in Charleston too. You can go hiking, there are cultural events in the city and also outside of the city there is a neighborhood called Summerville that also has this stuff. I could very well imagine myself there because of the variety of things the area has to offer.
Also the weather – no snow, nothing like that to deal with. The weather and being outside all year round. When I was younger, I was a winter person where I loved skiing and stuff. But now I like being able to enjoy life and be outside and in a mild climate with lots of activities.
Our South Carolina house isn’t cheaper, but we get what we pay for
I was born and raised in New Jersey and lived in this house for 27 years.
Opendoor bought the house from me for free and clearly for around $493,000. The company then put the house on the market a few weeks ago and it sold within a week to another buyer. (Editor’s note: The Zillow listing indicates the home’s sale is pending for $540,000.)
We purchased the house for $143,000 in 1997. It was approximately 1,300 square feet, ranch style, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Our house in South Carolina is in a suburb called Moncks Corner, about 30 miles from Charleston proper. The town’s vibe is a lot like Butler’s, except with the nice weather and palm trees. There is a very large lake three kilometers from where the house is being built. I can get to the beach easily – the beaches are free – and I can get to town easily.
Obviously it’s not New York, but it’s still a city and a more relaxed life. You have good food and entertainment.
In general, the cost of living is lower and property taxes and wages are much lower.
But it’s not as much a savings as you might think. This field is really booming. It’s growing and building like crazy.
The house we bought in Charleston cost $433,000, but the square footage is more than what we had in New Jersey. This is a brand new construction in a brand new development, which aims for quality of life. We could not have afforded construction like this in New Jersey.
In total there are three bedrooms and two full bathrooms on the first floor, then a loft space makes it four bedrooms. So if we have guests or my daughter comes home to live with us, it’s almost like an extra self-contained space away from the main parts of the house.
It’s really nice to have this part of the house that we didn’t have in New Jersey, and the yard is actually a little bigger than what we had in New Jersey.
Would we have moved here if our daughter was here? Probably not, as I hadn’t been to the area. She is now a senior and an athlete, so I go to Charleston at least four or five times a year to see her events and stay with her or in a hotel.
But I’m not sure that, if I hadn’t had those experiences and been there, Charleston would necessarily have been on my list.
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