Isle of Palms

THE LOWDOWN

Ah, Isle of Palms, it brings back the memories. My first address when I moved here full time was 623 Ocean Boulevard, Isle of Palms. This was back in the day when people actually wrote letters and put their return address on the front of the envelope. I don’t think I’ve ever written so many letters to my friends back home, just so they’d see that my address was OCEAN BLVD, ISLE OF PALMS. To those I didn’t really like, I sent them the letters in the midst of the Irish winter, just to really rub in it.

The island is as beautiful as it sounds. It doesn’t need much of a sales pitch from me, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets on the beach, it’s a narrow island so you’re never far from the beach and there are also some houses on the back side overlooking the intra-coastal which have some stunning views too.

I lived on IOP for 3 years and never had a key for my house, that says a lot.

It has a small commercial district with beach bars and restaurants but it’s not tacky like some of our other beach towns further to the north. It’s tasteful.

If I had one issue with Isle of Palms, it is that there are a lot of vacation rentals, so when I’d be walking the dog during the winter, it would feel very quiet because they weren’t rented out. Having said that, on the more northern side of the island, it’s nearly all full time residents and it’s a great community back there.

There are still some small beach houses, but gradually they are being demolished for the larger, newer houses. There are a number of condo communities too so you can have the lock it and leave no maintenance beach life. As you’d expect, beach living doesn’t come cheap, but if you can afford it, it’s a fabulous place to live.

Wild Dunes on the very north end of the island is a gated community that has a lot of vacation homes, but there are good number of full time residents there too who enjoy all the golf, tennis and other amenities that they have. I’m not an expert in Wild Dunes to be honest, but a good friend of mine is the broker there, so I can always put you in touch with him if Wild Dunes is what you’re looking for.

PRICE RANGE

Single Family Homes : Median Price $930,000

Condos & Townhomes : Median Price $545,000

PROS

  • You get to write “Isle of Palms” as your address.

  • There’s lots of palmetto trees

  • If you buy in the right part, there is a genuine community feel

CONS

  • Some parts of the island have more vacation rentals than full time residents

AREA FAVORITES

  • A gig at the Windjammer, come early to watch the sunset

  • Golf at Wild Dunes, as scenic as it gets

COMMUTE TIMES

Airport/Boeing : 25 minutes

Downtown Charleston/MUSC : 20-30 minutes

SHOPPING

There is one grocery store on the island. Mt Pleasant has everything else you need.

BEACHES

Right on your doorstep.