North Charleston water is municipal and treated, so the honest position is that filtration here is about taste, odour and older pipe — not the hardness problem the outer suburbs have.
What people actually complain about
Chlorine taste and smell, and discoloured water in older homes. The second one is worth separating out, because if your water runs rusty first thing in the morning the cause is usually corroding galvanised supply inside your own house. A filter treats the symptom; repiping addresses the cause.
We will tell you when you do not need it
If you are on municipal supply in a newer build and have no taste or odour complaint, whole-house filtration is not a purchase we will push. A drinking water filter at the kitchen tap is often all that is genuinely useful.
Where it does earn its place
Sediment filtration protects fixtures and appliances in homes with older supply lines, and point-of-use filtration meaningfully improves drinking water taste. Both are modest, sensible installations.
Test before you buy
Anyone recommending equipment without testing your water first is selling from a catalogue, not solving your problem.