Calabash · Trading Up
Trading Up From Your Calabash Home
Selling your current home and buying the next one, planned together so both closings line up.
A Quick Note
This page is general information, not legal, tax, insurance, or lending advice. Loan, tax, and insurance rules change and depend on your situation, so please confirm what applies to you with your lender, your CPA, your insurance agent, and your closing attorney. I am a real estate professional, and my part is pricing your current home, finding the next one, and lining up both sales.
Trading Up in Calabash Can Mean Changing States
Trading up in Calabash sometimes means staying in town and sometimes means a bigger house across the line in Little River or North Myrtle Beach. If the next house is in South Carolina, you are selling under one state's rules and buying under another's, with two different contracts, two different tax systems, and two attorneys. Local to Coastal Realty is licensed in both states and runs both sides, so no one is handed off mid-move.
Buy First or Sell First
Selling first gives you a firm number and a strong offer, and you may need a short rental or a negotiated stay after closing. Buying first lets you move once, but you have to qualify for both payments or have the cash to bridge them. A contingent offer protects you but competes against offers that do not depend on another sale. Ask your lender for a pre-approval that covers both owning and having sold your current house, and I will lay out all three paths with your real numbers.
Selling the Calabash House
North Carolina's excise tax is $1 for every $500 of the price, paid by the seller, so a $350,000 Calabash sale carries $700. The IRS lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain on your main home, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and lived in it for two of the five years before the sale. Your house gets the full launch: drone photography, a video walkthrough, a property website, and a targeted paid social campaign. Start with what your Calabash home is worth.
The Next House, on Either Side
Staying in North Carolina. On a $550,000 next home, Brunswick County's 2026 table works out to about $2,420 a year in Calabash at 0.44 per $100, $2,431 in Carolina Shores at 0.442, and $2,761 in Sunset Beach at 0.502, and the county revalues all property effective January 1, 2027.
Moving to South Carolina. Apply for the legal residence assessment as soon as you move in. South Carolina law taxes an owner-occupied legal residence on 4 percent of fair market value instead of 6 percent, and you have to apply to the county before the first penalty date for the tax year you first claim it. The South Carolina REALTORS contract uses a due diligence period with a termination fee rather than North Carolina's due diligence fee.
Two Closings, One Calendar
Closings in both states run under attorney supervision, and in North Carolina the settlement agent cannot pay out closing funds until the deed and loan documents are recorded. When the sale and the purchase close the same day, I confirm the order with both attorneys and both lenders in advance, so the money from your sale is where it needs to be. Read selling your home in Calabash, then call me.
Sources
The rules and figures above come from these sources, checked in October 2026. Confirm the details for your situation with your lender, CPA, insurance agent, and closing attorney.
- North Carolina G.S. 105-228.30, excise tax on conveyances
- IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home
- Brunswick County, tax rates
- Brunswick County, 2027 revaluation
- South Carolina Code, Title 12, Chapter 43, Section 12-43-220, assessment ratios
- South Carolina REALTORS residential purchase contract, 2024 edition of the form (copy hosted by a brokerage)
- Doe v. McMaster, South Carolina Supreme Court (2003)
- North Carolina G.S. 45A-4, disbursement of closing funds
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell in Calabash and buy in South Carolina with one agent?
Yes. I am licensed in North Carolina and South Carolina and run both sides of the move.
What should I do first after buying in South Carolina?
Apply for the 4 percent legal residence assessment, before the first penalty date for the tax year you first claim it.
Can both closings happen the same day?
Yes, with coordination between both attorneys and both lenders. I confirm the order in advance.
Calabash
What trading up looks like in Calabash
The Seafood Capital of the World, a fishing village on the Calabash River that gave its name to Calabash-style seafood.
Calabash calls itself the Seafood Capital of the World. In the 1930s, fishing families opened restaurants by the river serving lightly breaded fried seafood, and that style of cooking took the town's name.
Before the state line was set in 1735, Calabash was considered part of South Carolina and was known as Pea Landing. It sits in Brunswick County, and deep-sea fishing and golf are close by.
Trading Up: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Local to Coastal Realty?