Murrells Inlet · Trading Up
Trading Up to Your Next Home in Murrells Inlet, 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 Murrells Inlet, Sometimes Across the County Line
Trading up in Murrells Inlet can mean moving closer to the marsh, onto a creek with a dock, or simply into more room, and sometimes it means moving from the Horry side to the Georgetown side or back. The county decides the next tax bill and, if you keep the first house, its rental rules. Local to Coastal Realty lines up both sides of the move with those numbers 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 $400,000 sale carries $1,480. 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. On the Georgetown side, tax district 41's tax year 2025 rates take a $400,000 house from about $2,061 a year to about $5,971. If you rent it short-term, Georgetown County charges a 3 percent local accommodations tax; on the Horry side, the county's hospitality fee outside city limits is 3 percent, with a county business license. Start with what your Murrells Inlet home is worth.
The Next Home: Compare the Sides
For a $650,000 next home you live in, the Georgetown side's tax district 41 works out to about $3,349 a year at 128.8 mills on 4 percent, and the Horry side to at least about $2,343 at 90.1 mills before waste management or other district levies, once you apply for the legal residence rate on the new home. Lenders require flood insurance on a federally backed loan for a building in a Special Flood Hazard Area, so the flood zone of the next house matters as much as its tax line.
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 Murrells Inlet and buying a home in Murrells Inlet, 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
- Horry County Auditor, 2026 tax levies
- 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
- Georgetown County, local accommodations tax FAQ
- Horry County, hospitality fee
- FEMA, flood risk and lending requirements
- IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home
- Doe v. McMaster, South Carolina Supreme Court (2003)
Frequently Asked Questions
If I keep my first Murrells Inlet house as a rental, what changes?
It is assessed at 6 percent with school operating millage, and short-term guests bring the county's rental tax: 3 percent in Georgetown County, or Horry's 3 percent hospitality fee outside city limits with a county business license.
Is the next home's tax lower on one side of the county line?
For a home you live in, the Horry side's 2026 levies come to at least about 90.1 mills before waste management or other district levies, and the Georgetown side's tax district 41 to about 128.8 mills at tax year 2025 rates.
Can both closings happen the same day?
Yes, with coordination between both attorneys and both lenders. I confirm the order in advance.
Murrells Inlet
What trading up looks like in Murrells Inlet
The Seafood Capital of South Carolina, a half-mile boardwalk over the marsh, and Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park nearby.
Murrells Inlet is known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina. The MarshWalk is a half-mile wooden boardwalk over a saltwater estuary, lined with seafood restaurants and known for live music.
Brookgreen Gardens holds the largest collection of American figurative sculpture displayed outdoors anywhere in the world, and Huntington Beach State Park is home to Atalaya, the Moorish-style winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington.
The method
How we do it in Murrells Inlet
Trading Up: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Local to Coastal Realty?