Georgetown · Trading Up
Trading Up to Your Next Home in Georgetown, SC
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 Georgetown: Inside the City or Out
Trading up in Georgetown often means choosing between a larger house inside the city, maybe one of the older houses near the harbor, and more land or a river lot in the county. The tax bill, the services, and the rules for any changes you want to make all differ between the two. Local to Coastal Realty lines up both sides of the move with those differences in hand.
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.
Sell the First House, or Keep It
Selling. South Carolina's deed recording fee is $1.85 for every $500 of value, paid by the seller, so a $300,000 sale carries $1,110. 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.
Keeping it. Once it is no longer your legal residence, it is assessed at 6 percent with school operating millage: inside the city at the county auditor's tax year 2025 rates, a $300,000 house goes from about $2,726 a year to about $6,250. If you rent it inside the city for stays under 30 days, the city requires a Short Term Vacation Rental permit, which runs through your own business license, zoning approval, and building and fire inspections. Start with what your Georgetown home is worth.
The Next Home: City or County
For a $500,000 next home you live in, the county auditor's tax year 2025 rates work out to about $4,544 a year inside the city at 227.2 mills and about $2,666 in county districts 1, 2, and 3 at 133.3 mills, both on 4 percent once you apply for the legal residence rate. If the next house is in the Historic Buildings District, plan any exterior work around a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Architectural Review Board. Lenders require flood insurance on a federally backed loan for a building in a Special Flood Hazard Area.
Two Closings, One Calendar
Closings in South Carolina run under attorney supervision, as the state Supreme Court held in Doe v. McMaster. When both close the same day, I confirm the order with both attorneys and both lenders in advance. Read selling your home in Georgetown and buying a home in Georgetown, 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.
- South Carolina Code, Title 12, Chapter 24, deed recording fee
- Georgetown County Auditor, millage rates, tax year 2025
- South Carolina Code, Title 12, Chapter 43, Section 12-43-220, assessment ratios
- South Carolina Code, Title 12, Chapter 37, Section 12-37-220, property tax exemptions
- City of Georgetown, Short Term Rental Permit
- City of Georgetown, Architectural Review Board
- FEMA, flood risk and lending requirements
- IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home
- Doe v. McMaster, South Carolina Supreme Court (2003)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rent my first Georgetown house short-term after I move up?
Inside the city, stays under 30 days need the city's Short Term Vacation Rental permit, which runs through your own business license, zoning approval, and inspections.
What happens to my tax if I keep the first house?
It is assessed at 6 percent with school operating millage. Inside the city at tax year 2025 rates, a $300,000 house goes from about $2,726 a year to about $6,250.
Can both closings happen the same day?
Yes, with coordination between both attorneys and both lenders. I confirm the order in advance.
Georgetown
What trading up looks like in Georgetown
South Carolina's third-oldest city, where four rivers meet, with a waterfront Harborwalk and more than 60 antebellum homes.
Georgetown is South Carolina's third-oldest city, behind Charleston and Beaufort, and sits where the Black, Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Sampit rivers meet. The city has more than 60 antebellum homes.
The Harborwalk runs four blocks along the harbor, between the Kaminski House on one end and the Rice Museum on the other.
Trading Up: keep exploring
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