Grand Strand Real Estate News - June 2024

June 2024

Volume 2024 Issue 6

Dear Gene Carter Team,

Summary

2024 is a reassessment year for 265,000 Horry County properties. Every 5 years, the county assessor’s office reassesses the market values of all real estate. If you own property here and Horry County’s “Fair Market Value” for your property increased more than $1000, you have probably received a notice. See the full article below in the newsletter explaining how our tax assessor’s office operates.

If you received a reassessment notice and want to see if the county’s new “fair market value” is really fair, our Closed Sales Histories might come in handy. We have all of the closed sales (complete with details) since 2009 concisely laid out on spreadsheets for over 190 condo developments. To request this, just visit www.beachproteam.com or click on the link below.

BeachProTeam.com/nl-ClosedSales

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Market Conditions

The big news is that earlier this week, the number of active oceanfront condo listings passed the 1000 mark for the first time since 2020 (up from 325 last March). As of today, it’s back down to 996 (compared to 990 last month). This is the 15th straight month that the number of active listings has increased. The sales pace is the real culprit. There were only 91 closed condo sales in oceanfront buildings in June 2024 vs 161 in June 2023. 

There are lots of reasons but the severe decrease in net income (due to lower rental incomes and higher insurance costs) for almost all investor condos is certainly one of the main causes. 

Please don’t think I’m suggesting that you hold off on selling until things improve in a few months. Each year at this time, I advise owners to spend a few minutes thinking about whether or not they may decide to sell in the next 12 months. From a cash flow standpoint, if it’s a rental property, this is an ideal time to sell rather than waiting until the spring as most people do.

This year, my advice is this - If you may sell in the next five years, you should strongly consider selling now. The big jump in prices which occurred in late 2021 and early 2022, as much as 50% to 80%, is reversing. You can still claim a large percentage of that equity increase if you act now. I don’t have a crystal ball and I could be wrong but I’ve been doing this for 39 years and, in my opinion, the writing is on the wall. Act now. Please contact me if you would like to discuss your particular situation.

Check out all our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, and new Beach Pro Team reviews.

___________________________________________________________________

Check out all our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, my Best Buys, and new Beach Pro Team reviews.

Please Contact The Beach Pro Team If:

You are thinking of buying or selling an oceanfront or resort condo in our area

                                                                  Or

You are considering moving to our area or know someone else who is

                                                                   Or

You are an agent who has clients thinking of moving here or buying or selling in our area

                                                                   Or

You currently own a condo in our area and want a permanent home here

Greetings from the Grand Strand!

I’m going to leave out most of my normal charts this month so I can thoroughly cover the current year's real property tax reassessment. The last reassessment was in 2019 and these are done every five years so it’s that time again.  If you own property here and Horry County’s “Fair Market Value” for your property increased more than $1000, you have probably received a notice. These started going out the second week of July. I’ll cover this in much more detail below but first a quick market report.

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Conditions

The big news is that earlier this week, the number of active oceanfront condo listings passed the 1000 mark for the first time since 2020 (up from 325 last March). As of today, it’s back down to 996 (compared to 990 last month). This is the 15th straight month that the number of active listings has increased. The sales pace is the real culprit. There were only 91 closed condo sales in oceanfront buildings in June 2024 vs 161 in June 2023. The inventory increase would have been higher if the pace of listings hadn’t slowed down as well.

There are lots of reasons but the severe decrease in net income (due to lower rental incomes and higher insurance costs) for almost all investor condos is certainly one of the main causes. There are also financing and insurance coverage issues affecting many buildings, not just condotels. Of course the high interest rates aren’t helping either. In addition to impacting the pricing, this is also affecting the cash flows of current owners. 

Please don’t think I’m suggesting that you hold off on selling until things improve in a few months. Each year at this time, I advise owners to spend a few minutes thinking about whether or not they may decide to sell in the next 12 months. From a cash flow standpoint, if it’s a rental property, this is an ideal time to sell rather than waiting until the spring as most people do. By the time the closing occurs in August, the owner has reaped the benefits of the peak rental season and avoided the generally negative cash flow of the off-season. Even for second homeowners, the sales pace has historically dropped off in the fall so now is a good time to sell.

This year, my advice is this- If you may sell in the next five years, you should strongly consider selling now. The big jump in prices which occurred in late 2021 and early 2022, as much as 50% to 80%, is reversing. You can still claim a large percentage of that equity increase if you act now. I don’t have a crystal ball and I could be wrong but I’ve been doing this for 39 years and, in my opinion, the writing is on the wall. Act now. Please contact me if you would like to discuss your particular situation.

Horry County 2024 Real Property Tax Reassessment

If you own real property in Horry County, by now you probably have received a reassessment notice if your taxes increased by $1000 or more. Here is what it looks like:

Tax Reassessment Notice

You will receive your actual tax bill within the next several months. To see if the county’s new “fair market value” is really fair, our Closed Sales Histories might come in handy. We have all of the closed sales (complete with details) since 2009 concisely laid out on spreadsheets for over 190 condo developments. To request this, just visit www.beachproteam.com or click on the link below.

BeachProTeam.com/nl-ClosedSales

Here is a primer for the reassessment

Alert - Dry (but important) material to follow!

The website for the Horry County Tax Assessor’s office is:

https://www.horrycounty.org/Departments/Assessor

Here is a link to the county’s explanation of the reassessment.

https://www.horrycountysc.gov/departments/assessor/guide-to-assessment/

The Horry County Assessor’s Office’s primary function is to “Appraise and list all real property for taxation that is located in Horry County.” 

Another department, the Treasurer’s office, actually collects taxes.

A staff of about 60 people assesses the “Fair Market Values” for over 265,000 properties.

About 50,000 sales/year. 

For reassessments, they use mass formulas (too many to individually assess every value).

The mass formulas are relatively accurate for estimating about 80% of the property’s market values, meaning that about 10% are too low (which no one complains about) and 10% too high. 

These values can be appealed for 90 days after receipt of the new assessed values. Instructions for appealing are on the assessment notice. Normally (in non-reassessment years), the deadline to appeal is Jan. 15. 

 “North Myrtle Beach”

The “Fair Market Value” does not directly determine the property tax. The property tax is calculated by multiplying this by the assessment ratio then by the applicable millage rate. Then any credits are deducted for special circumstances.

The current fair market value is important because this changes with time for all properties. Unfortunately, property values do not all change at the same rate. Some increase or decrease at a faster rate due to location, desirability of the neighborhood or property age and physical condition, etc. Taxes cannot be levied fairly unless the true present value of each property is known, not what it was worth in past years.

The assessment ratio for a primary residence (owned by a “qualified legal resident”) is 4% and for a non-primary residence, it is 6%. This, along with substantial credits for which most primary residents qualify, generally results in far lower property taxes for primary residences. 

Only a small minority of the residences in Horry County are owned by qualified legal residents. Most are second homes or investment properties. 

To be a “Qualified Legal Resident” and benefit from a lower tax rate, your cars, SC state tax return and driver’s license must all be registered to the same local address.

In South Carolina, a married couple must have one residence - can’t have two.

Millage rates are determined by the county after looking at the budget, market values and number of properties. Bottom line - need to set the millage rates so that enough money is collected to cover the budget. 

Reassessment is not intended to raise taxes, but to distribute them more fairly. Because of the five-year lapse since the last reassessment, property values are likely to increase. State law requires the local government to reduce the millage rate to what is called rollback millage.

There are around 50 different millage rates in Horry County, depending on location and individual circumstances.

Horry County has one of the lowest millage rates in South Carolina.

“Sunset over the Waterway”

“Fair Market Values” are re-assessed in years between the county-wide 5-year re-assessments whenever there is an “ATI” (assessable transfer of interest).

The most common ATI is the sale of a property.

When a property is sold (resulting in an ATI), the market value is reassessed for the following year.

Market value for any given tax year is determined as of Dec. 31 of the previous year. So if you don’t agree with the “Fair Market Value” the county assigned you for 2024, the comparable sales that would matter in an appeal are the ones late in the previous year (2023), not the sales in recent months of 2024.

As previously mentioned, this is where our Closed Sales Histories might be useful. Here’s that link one more time. If your resort is not included among these 190 sales histories, let us know and we will send you a market analysis.

BeachProTeam.com/nl-ClosedSales

That’s all for now.

Check out all our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, and new Beach Pro Team reviews.

Please Contact The Beach Pro Team If:

You are thinking of buying or selling an oceanfront or resort condo in our area

                                                                  Or

You are considering moving to our area or know someone else who is

                                                                   Or

You are an agent who has clients thinking of moving here or buying or selling in our area

                                                                   Or

You currently own a condo in our area and want a permanent home here

Here is a new review published on Google. 

• After a very long and challenging home purchasing process, I am thrilled to recommend our buyer's agent, Ms Teressa Carter, and the entire Gene Carter, Beach Pro Team. Our process took 6 years as we were living overseas and weren't even sure in what East Coast city we wanted to retire. During our extensive research process, Teressa stayed in touch with us and provided responsive support while we investigated the Myrtle Beach area. Once we finally decided on moving to North Myrtle Beach, she showed incredible patience and offered valuable guidance and advice to help us narrow down our search. Her pleasant personality made her a joy to work with, and her extensive knowledge of the Myrtle Beach and Grand Strand area was crucial in helping us find the perfect home. Teressa showed us nearly 30 properties, always with a wealth of insights. We couldn't have asked for a better agent and real estate team. Anthony. Blackwater at Dye. N. Myrtle Beach.

We just started collecting Google reviews. At this time we have over 20 Google Five Star reviews and over 150 Zillow Five Star reviews which can be seen on our website Beach Pro Team reviews. 

Grand Strand Market Report - May 2024