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We are a couple years from a permanent move to either SC or NC. We favor SC due to warmer winters and are considering a secondary residence. Is SC currently considering any change to the tax code that would eliminate and or reduce the tax burden on secondary homes?
Not that I'm aware of. There was a pretty big issue within the Isle of Palms where they tried to limit "secondary homes" from being used as rentals that was narrowly defeated in the last election. I have a feeling that they'll probably take another run at it.
Not for the foreseeable future. A permanent move would indicate making your SC home a primary residence, as suggested by IsNull. I assume you'll be looking to move to the Tri-County area (Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester) by posting in the Charleston thread? Depending on where you live, you may be able to short-term rent your home out to offset the 6% rate if you decide to maintain your residence out of state. There are a lot of people in my network personally that are always looking for temporary furnished rentals. So, the demand is here year-round.
Taxes will still run around triple on a residence in Charleston county that is not your primary residence. I know of some couples that manage to each claim a different home as their primary residence but of course that involves a bit of finagling and may come back to bite you in the end.
I have both long-term rentals and 30-day plus/midterm rentals and they definitely can pay the bills but they're not so easy to manage if you're not living here.
Do I understand correctly that you are thinking to buy in South Carolina now and make it your primary residence in a couple of years? Or are you thinking it would never be your primary residence
While I am not justifying it, the reasoning has been if it is not one's prime residence then it is an income producing property thus a higher tax rate.
While I am not justifying it, the reasoning has been if it is not one's prime residence then it is an income producing property thus a higher tax rate.
But the same holds true for vacant lots and homes that are only for owner/family use. In theory siblings holding onto a family vacation/hunting cabin or a farm that has been in the family would be walloped as hard as someone who bought a beach front mega home as an investment.
Thanks everyone. Some very interesting options to consider. For us though, we don't have the desire to be landlords. We may purchase and use as a home away from home until permanent move by year end 2025.
Thanks everyone. Some very interesting options to consider. For us though, we don't have the desire to be landlords. We may purchase and use as a home away from home until permanent move by year end 2025.
That being the case, then there is no change in the property tax code upcoming that I'm aware of. You may have found this already but for Charleston County you can estimate taxes on a newly purchased home here:
You would need to input the tax district based on where your target property is located, the purchase price and then set the appraisal value at 6%.
If you have cash now might be a good time to buy though inventory is low. If you'll be getting a mortgage, you might want to wait to see if rates drop as we go into 2024 as is widely expected. It wouldn't surprise me if that's not until June but hopefully earlier. There will be more inventory to consider as we get more into the spring as well.
I did the estimator on a $300,000 home in Mount Pleasant.
Prime residence at 4% is $1,186,80
Secondary residence at 6% is $4,425.60
I first faced this difference when I was having a house built in Columbia (Lexington) while living in my house in Mount Pleasant. I owned both for about 4 months. The house in MTP was more expensive so we left it as our primary residence even after we had moved to Columbia. I did have the homestead exemption so I did not get bit to bad.
I did the estimator on a $300,000 home in Mount Pleasant.
Prime residence at 4% is $1,186,80
Secondary residence at 6% is $4,425.60
I first faced this difference when I was having a house built in Columbia (Lexington) while living in my house in Mount Pleasant. I owned both for about 4 months. The house in MTP was more expensive so we left it as our primary residence even after we had moved to Columbia. I did have the homestead exemption so I did not get bit to bad.
The second point to be addressed there is that you would have a hard time finding a house for $300,000 in Mt Pleasant...
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