North Myrtle Beach · Trading Up
Trading Up to Your Next Home in North Myrtle Beach, 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 North Myrtle Beach, Often From a Condo
Trading up in North Myrtle Beach often means moving from a condo to a house, or from a few rows back to closer to the water. One sale funds the next purchase, and the question that comes up early is whether to sell the first place or keep it and rent it. Local to Coastal Realty works from an office here and lays out both with your real numbers.
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 home, and I will lay out all three paths.
Sell It 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 home gets the full launch: drone photography, a video walkthrough, a property website, and a targeted paid social campaign.
Keeping it as a rental. The city requires a business license for both short-term and long-term rentals, renewed each year by April 30. And once it is no longer your legal residence, it is assessed at 6 percent and pays school operating millage: on Horry County's 2026 levies inside the city, a $400,000 home goes from about $1,794 a year to about $5,309. Start with what your North Myrtle Beach home is worth.
The Next Home: Compare the Millage
For a $650,000 next home you live in, Horry County's 2026 levies work out to about $2,915 a year inside North Myrtle Beach at 112.1 mills, $2,389 in unincorporated Little River at 91.9, and $3,783 inside Myrtle Beach at 145.5, all on a 4 percent assessment, 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 North Myrtle Beach and buying a home in North Myrtle Beach, 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
- City of North Myrtle Beach, rental property quick reference
- Horry County Auditor, 2026 tax levies
- Horry County, property tax FAQs
- 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
- 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 place as a rental, what changes?
You need a city business license for the rental, and the property is assessed at 6 percent with school operating millage. On Horry's 2026 levies inside the city, about $5,309 a year on $400,000 instead of about $1,794.
What does it cost to sell my current home?
Among your closing costs, South Carolina's deed recording fee of $1.85 per $500 of value, paid by the seller.
Can both closings happen the same day?
Yes, with coordination between both attorneys and both lenders. I confirm the order in advance.
North Myrtle Beach
What trading up looks like in North Myrtle Beach
The birthplace of the shag, the Cherry Grove Pier, Barefoot Landing, and Local to Coastal Realty's coastal office.
North Myrtle Beach was formed in 1968 when Cherry Grove, Windy Hill, Ocean Drive, and Crescent Beach joined together, and it is the birthplace of shag dancing, South Carolina's official state dance.
Barefoot Landing sits on the Intracoastal Waterway with more than 75 specialty shops, the House of Blues, and the Alabama Theatre, and the Cherry Grove Pier extends 985 feet into the Atlantic.
The method
How we do it in North Myrtle Beach
Trading Up: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Local to Coastal Realty?