Posts by : Scott Vansant

Move right into this lovely updated home that is ready to be made yours. This beautifully decorated 3 bedroom, 2 bath home is situated just a short golf cart drive to the beach in the Sun Community of Ocean Pines 55+ community in Murrells Inlet . This home is decorated beautifully with neutral colors and LVP flooring throughout. Conveniently located near the Marsh Walk, shopping, fine dining, beach and other local amenities including state of the art healthcare services. Professionally landscaped back yard boasts a cozy sitting area and dock on the pond. Enclosed Carolina room leads to an additional screened backyard entertainment area with outdoor bar . Garage with driveway allows for am...

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased in April 2023 to its highest level since May 2022. All six of the HPSI’s components increased month over month, most notably the component associated with consumers’ expectations of mortgage rates. 

The HPSI is constructed from consumers’ answers to six of the National Housing Survey (NHS) survey questions regarding consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions.  These 6 questions ask consumers their opinion on it being a good time to sell or buy a house, their opinion on changes in home prices and interest rates, and their opinion about their job stat...

Single-family home prices increased at a non-seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.7 percent from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, down from the previous quarter's revised annual growth rate of 8.6 percent, according to Fannie Mae's (FNMA/OTCQB) latest Home Price Index (FNM-HPI) reading, a national, repeat-transaction home price index measuring the average, quarterly price change for all single-family properties in the United States, excluding condos. On a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent in Q1 2023, above the 0.0 percent growth seen in the prior quarter. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, home prices also increased by 1.0 percent in Q1 2023.

NOTE: The Fannie Mae Ho...

This important Myrtle Beach road construction project will complete 6-lane widening and signalized intersection improvements on U. S. Hwy. 501 from SC Hwy. 31 to the SC 544 interchange.

Phase 1 of this project – U.S. 501 Southbound from Gardner Lacy Road to SC 31.

Phase 2 of this project – U.S. 501 Northbound and Southbound from Gardner Lacy Road to SC 544.

This road construction project is on schedule with construction to be completed in the fall of 2024.

RIDE 3 Dashboard - Horry County SC.Gov

South Carolina Association of REALTORS (SCR's) Form 310 Agreement/Contract: To Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential) and Form 311 Agreement/Contract: To Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential/Condo) transitioned to a strict Due Diligence contract with regards to repairs effective June 13, 2022.

Changes were made to Paragraph 8 which is currently entitled “REPAIRS”.  Previously there were 3 selectable repair options: (1) Repair Procedures, (2) Due Diligence and (3) As Is.  Repair Procedures and As were removed – leaving only the Due Diligence clause.  Due Diligence verbiage did not change.  Due Diligence Expiration Date and Termination Fee are the two primary Due Diligence fields required...

Renaissance Tower is one of the accommodations within the Myrtle Beach Resort.  Renaissance Tower was evacuated in October of 2022 after the building was deemed to be structurally unsound due to the deterioration of steel and the concrete foundation.

Since that time, multi-phase work has been ongoing to remediate the concerns, including but not limited to shoring up the three east columns to make them structurally sound. 

Once the engineers have achieved a point where they feel that the building has been remediated and comfortable to be occupied, the next step will be for them to notify the Horry County Building Inspection Branch of the Code Enforcement Department to continue the conver...

New listing in Cherry Grove!

308 36th Avenue North, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582

$649,000

MLS# 2224792

Come and see this Magnificent completely renovated 4 bed/2 bath channel front home in Cherry Grove. Totally updated with new kitchen cabinets, granite counter tops, fresh neutral paint colors throughout. Bathrooms updated to include new vanities and accessories and new LVP flooring throughout. All appliances are brand new to include a stackable washer and dryer along with stainless steel oven, dishwasher and refrigerator. This lovely home is in move in mint condition and would make a wonderful family vacation property or a lucrative rental property for short rentals. Very close to th...

Penny Tax Approved

On November 8, 2022, Horry County voters approved to renew the 1% sales tax (Penny Tax) beyond March 2023 for another 15 years. The Penny Tax vote was passed 68.23% in favor of retaining the tax and 31.77% in favor of discontinuing the tax. Of the 125, 978 votes cast by Horry County voters, 48,670 were cast prior to voting day – nearly 40% early voters!

The tax money is planned to be used to help fund future building needs and capital improvements of Public Schools (80%), Coastal Carolina University (13.3%) and Horry Georgetown Technical College (6.7%). Since this has been approved, it will be less likely for significant increases in taxes for houses, business, vehicl...

SayeBrook is a new home community in Surfside that is currently being developed with Phase 1 homes set to release in early 2023.

The first phase of this community will consist of approximately 155 single family homes.  Construction in the new home community of SayeBrook is rather unique in that the completed homes by the builders are intermixed rather than each builder having its own dedicated section of the community.  This lends itself well to result in a community with a nice diversification of homes along each street - with different models from different builders along the way!
Pricing will likely start in the $400's.

Pulte, Toll Brothers and Saussy Burbank are the 3 builders in th...

Penny Tax - On November 8th, Horry County voters will decide whether or not to renew (past March 2023 for another 15 years) the 1% sales tax that has been in effect when voters last approved it in 2008. The tax money would be used to help fund future building needs and capital improvements of Public Schools (80%), Coastal Carolina University (13.3%) and Horry Georgetown Technical College (6.7%). If not approved, an increase in taxes for houses, business, vehicles, land and personal property would be used to cover the aforementioned school expenses.

See Horry County Schools (https://www.horrycountyschools.net/penny) for more information.

Roll-Back Taxes are applied when all or a portion of a property that has been receiving the Agricultural Use Value changes classification. An example would be when a property owner of land that is in Agricultural use builds a new house that is for residential use. The appraiser must determine the amount of the property that must be changed and then roll-back taxes are applied.

Effective January 1, 2021, rollback taxes are to be assessed over a three-year period rather than the previous five-year period.

Roll-back taxes are the difference between Agricultural use value and the property’s actual market value. The difference is multiplied by the millage rate in the appropriate district and...

• The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) regulates all public water systems (PWS) and is responsible for ensuring that these public water systems are in compliance with all state and federal regulations.
• Local municipal, county, and other government entities, along with private water suppliers, are directly responsible for the quality of water that flows to your faucet.
• Water systems test and treat their water, maintain the distribution systems that deliver water to consumers, and report on their water quality results to DHEC.
• States and EPA provide technical assistance to water suppliers and can take legal action against systems that fail to provide w...

A Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) is an IRA held by a custodian that allows investment in a broader set of assets than is permitted by most IRA custodians.  Custodians for SDIRAs generally disclaim most duties to investors (i.e. custodians will not research, investigate or recommend investments), and may allow investors to invest retirement funds in alternate assets such as real estate.

Real estate as an asset in a retirement portfolio can serve as a good way to diversify the investment portfolio and provide another avenue for a good rate of return.

There are many rules regarding having real estate as part of the SDIRA investment, including but not limited to having this asset be purely an in...

Generally speaking, a capital gain occurs if you sell an asset for more than the adjusted basis, with the capital gain being the difference between the adjusted basis in the asset and the amount you realized from the sale.  A capital gain can be realized from the sale of real estate.  The Internal Revenue Code defines the complete set of rules regarding the taxation of capital gains.

You may qualify to exclude from your income all or part of any gain from the sale of your main home. Your main home is the one in which you live most of the time.

Ownership and Use Tests

To claim the exclusion, you must meet the ownership and use tests. This means that during the 5-year period ending on th...

The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) routinely collects water samples at more than 120 locations along South Carolina’s beaches.

Water monitoring samples are taken to test for enterococcus bacteria – to indicate presence of bacteria in the water. Elevated levels of these bacteria in the water can indicate possible contamination by fecal waste. Enterococcus is a type of bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals, including humans, pets and wildlife. Enterococci are typically not considered harmful to humans, but their presence in the environment may indicate that other disease-causing organisms may be present.

If high numbers of bacteria ...

The community name of Berkshire Forest in Carolina Forest is commonly used to describe both of the following:

• Berkshire Forest is the name of the “Master Planned Community” off of River Oaks Drive in Carolina Forest. Pulte has completed this Master Planned Community
• Berkshire Forest is also the name of the “Subdivision” that Pulte is building. This Berkshire Forest Subdivision continues to expand, resulting in the Berkshire Forest Subdivision being actually contained within 3 different Master Planned Communities:
  1. Berkshire Forest is part of the Master Planned Community of Berkshire Forest (development completed)
  2. Berkshire Forest is part of the Master Planned Community of Villages ...

As you peruse real estate opportunities in the MLS you will come across listing opportunities defined with the property classification of “Interval Ownership”.

Interval Ownership is a fee simple ownership and contains the same rights as any other property conveyed by deed.  Interval ownership is technically a system of timeshare ownership in which the owner acquires title to a specific property for a certain period of time each year (typically certain week or weeks).

Interval Ownership, also commonly referred to as “Fractional Ownership” – has an investment approach in which the real estate asset is split between the individual shareholders.  All of the shareholders will then split the ...

Effective July 1, 2022, Captain’s Cove is now Oceanside Landing.

This Murrells Inlet active adult 55+ community began development in the late 1980's.  There are approximately 225 single family home sites.  Oceanside Landing is now owned by an investment group that has properties in other states across the US including Florida and Arizona.  Oceanside Landing is located close to the beach, the marsh walk, restaurants, shopping, and more!  Oceanside Landing has a community pool, clubhouse, and so much more!  This Murrells Inlet 55+ community is located within a mile of the Atlantic Ocean!

Current homes for sale in Oceanside Landing.

Contractors for the Surfside Beach Fishing Pier say they are now looking at mid-December to February/March to complete the more than $18-million project.

In a meeting, Wednesday, July 27, about the construction of the town’s pier, the town council and the public heard from contractors and engineers about the pier’s status.

Representatives from Consensus Construction, Collins Engineering, LS3P and consultants from Leitner Management Group answered questions from town administrator William Shanahan and council members.

As contractors continue to extend the length of the pier, now on eight of 13 pile bents, other crews are at work on the buildings that will house businesses on the pier pl...

Myrtle Beach Bicycle Map and Routes

Bicycles are allowed on the beach before 10:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. from May 1 through Labor Day.  Bicycles are allowed on the boardwalk only between 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. from May 1 through Labor Day.  There's no afternoon window for bicycles on the boardwalk during the peak summer months.

Many of the city’s public beach access points have bicycle racks.  Bicycles do not need parking decals and parking is free.  The following beach access locations offer bike racks:  Anderson Park, Breakers Park, Cameron Park, Gardens by the Sea Park, Hurl Rocks Park, Plyler Park, 14th Avenue Pier and the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk at First through Ninth Avenues No...