renting vs buying in Myrtle Beach area (Georgetown: real estate market, apartment)
Myrtle Beach - Conway areaHorry County
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We are looking at relocating, selling our current home sometime this fall. Wondering how many newly retired folks are choosing to rent and not buying homes. We don't want the same maintenance issues, tax and insurance costs (storm and flood quite high). Don't like HOAs, some are expensive. We are looking at the pro's and con's. We thought we would want to buy but now not so sure. So I'd like to hear from those who are renting and considering not buying a house... if there are any of you out there. Also anyone who has rented for a while and decided it wasn't for them. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks
We are looking at relocating, selling our current home sometime this fall. Wondering how many newly retired folks are choosing to rent and not buying homes. We don't want the same maintenance issues, tax and insurance costs (storm and flood quite high). Don't like HOAs, some are expensive. We are looking at the pro's and con's. We thought we would want to buy but now not so sure. So I'd like to hear from those who are renting and considering not buying a house... if there are any of you out there. Also anyone who has rented for a while and decided it wasn't for them. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks
Put most of your furniture in storage and rent for a year. Myrtle Beach is a small part of the 60 mile long stretch of beach called The Grand Strand from Cherry Grove to Georgetown.
You may find what you think is important where you live now, is completely insignificant in Coastal South Carolina.
For example a basement. You will be at sea level and a basement is close to impossible. Instead you may find an air conditioned garage is much more valuable. Mature trees keep your house cooler in the summer and protect your property if a storm rolls through.
I agree with blueherons regarding renting for the first year. It's the best way to determine where you want to live and what's important to you.
We, personally, have rented (when we first moved here), owned a house (currently) and also own rental properties. Keep in mind that when you rent, you are probably going to be in an HOA and as a renter you are subject to the same rules as the owner and the owner is passing the cost of the HOA to you as part of the rent. The same applies to taxes and insurance...those costs are embedded into the rent and if they go up, the rent will increase as well.
One of the issues that folks who are renting long term experience especially in a hot real estate market is that the owner sees that the value of his investment has dramatically increased and decides to sell instead of continuing to rent. This leaves the renter scrambling to find another place to live and pay for a move that they were not planning on. I've had several potential tenants look at my rentals in this exact situation. It's not a pleasant place to be and usually the tenant only has a couple of months to find a new place which can sometimes result in settling for a rental which one may not have selected if given more time.
Generally, house payments even with taxes and insurance are less than rent on a comparable unit. If maintenance is an issue (cutting grass, trimming bushes, etc.), simply hire someone else to do it for you with the savings between the cost of rent vs mortgage with taxes, insurance, etc. Believe me...you don't want to be cutting grass in the summer heat here anyway!!!!
After experiencing all three scenarios (renter, owner, landlord), my preference would be owning after renting for a year or so to get the lay of the land. Renting leaves you at the mercy of the landlord deciding how much rent will increase and/or when he wants to make you move. Plus, some landlords are not pleasant to deal with. I'd much rather be in control of making moving decisions. You have no control over taxes anyway and you have some control over insurance (shopping around, raising deductible, etc) rather than leaving it to the landlord.
Thank you both for your input. When we make the move we intend to rent for a while, but I was just curious if someone may have decided to continue to rent, rather than buy. If we do rent for a while it would be apartment living and not a privately owned house or condo, wouldn't want it sold forcing a premature move. Still in the planning stage and hope to put the house on the market later this fall.
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