Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Folly Beach on vaca and scouting the Charleston area as a potential place to settle in retirement. We are officially retired now but family responsibilities are holding us to SE PA for the foreseeable future so our plan, thought is to buy a place in SC (or we also like Wilmington NC area) and use it as a 2nd home, using 3 months or so each year, then settle permanently there when we can.
Is it true that, in SC, taxes are ~4X higher for a non-resident/2nd home over a full time resident home? Are there exceptions, ways to bypass that, basic rules around it?
We found a few nice communities we can easily see ourselves buying in, fwiw The Ponds in Summerville (too far from Charleston and beaches though?) and Stonoview on Johns Island. We got in nice long conversations with local residents who were very happy with each place but after we heard about the tax situation it probably doesn't matter.
Not judging the tax situation, perfectly understandable, just disappointed.
The taxes on non-Owner Occupied single family homes are calculated at 6% of Assessed Value, as compared to Owner Occupied Homes at 4% of Assessed Value. The Assessed Value is a convoluted formula, and there is a Senior Citizen Tax break.
You can estimate RE Taxes on a $280K - $300K home to be about $2K for Owner Occupied and about $4K for out of state owners (both plus/minus 10% or so).
That's a small difference to pay for owning a piece of Paradise.
The taxes on non-Owner Occupied single family homes are calculated at 6% of Assessed Value, as compared to Owner Occupied Homes at 4% of Assessed Value. The Assessed Value is a convoluted formula, and there is a Senior Citizen Tax break.
You can estimate RE Taxes on a $280K - $300K home to be about $2K for Owner Occupied and about $4K for out of state owners (both plus/minus 10% or so).
That's a small difference to pay for owning a piece of Paradise.
If Pennsylvania doesn’t have different taxes, you could just claim residency in S.C. to get the cheaper tax rate.
Why do I think PA thinks like SC? Meaning if one owns a home but does not reside there, they are probably renting it which means making a profit (hopefully) thus being a business and tax differently.
I have lived and owned property in at least 6 states and in the end, they all get their taxes. As an example. MA has a yearly vehicle tax they call an Excise Tax. SC has a yearly vehicle they call a Property Tax. Bottom line, no matter what the call it they both get to tax your car.
Once got in a discussion with someone in another state. They vehemently denied paying a tax on their car. I searched and showed them while not a state tax, there was a county tax on their vehicle. They agreed and apologized.
Just spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Folly Beach on vaca and scouting the Charleston area as a potential place to settle in retirement. We are officially retired now but family responsibilities are holding us to SE PA for the foreseeable future so our plan, thought is to buy a place in SC (or we also like Wilmington NC area) and use it as a 2nd home, using 3 months or so each year, then settle permanently there when we can.
Is it true that, in SC, taxes are ~4X higher for a non-resident/2nd home over a full time resident home? Are there exceptions, ways to bypass that, basic rules around it?
We found a few nice communities we can easily see ourselves buying in, fwiw The Ponds in Summerville (too far from Charleston and beaches though?) and Stonoview on Johns Island. We got in nice long conversations with local residents who were very happy with each place but after we heard about the tax situation it probably doesn't matter.
Not judging the tax situation, perfectly understandable, just disappointed.
Thanks.
Taxes on a second home/investment property are roughly 3x what they are for a primary residence. It varies a bit by county so if you're looking in Summerville, you would be in Dorchester or Berkeley County (The Ponds would be Dorchester) while on Johns Island it would be Charleston County. The tax estimators can be found here:
Or, you can just ask your Realtor to figure this out for you. The figures will be estimates based on your purchase price and 2018 taxes, but they should be pretty close.
I will echo what the others have said...the taxes will not be quite as high as 4 times. Owner occupant homes are taxed at a 4% rate and non-owner occupied properties are taxed at a 6% rate. This translates into a rate of 2 times more than the owner occupancy rate. The only way around this is to declare the SC property your primary residence, which it may be beneficial to do dependent on the PA laws.
To talk about the other part of your message...I bought a house at The Ponds a couple months ago when I visited back in March. New construction. I won't be moving there til November. The neighborhood is absolutely beautiful. The farmhouse is gorgeous as well as the pool. Has a very nice YMCA in the neighborhood with all sorts of classes and fitness groups. Very quite, clean place to live. I believe it took me about 45 minutes to get to the ocean from there. Not too big of a deal for me. If you have any questions about The Ponds feel free to hit me up.
To talk about the other part of your message...I bought a house at The Ponds a couple months ago when I visited back in March. New construction. I won't be moving there til November. The neighborhood is absolutely beautiful. The farmhouse is gorgeous as well as the pool. Has a very nice YMCA in the neighborhood with all sorts of classes and fitness groups. Very quite, clean place to live. I believe it took me about 45 minutes to get to the ocean from there. Not too big of a deal for me. If you have any questions about The Ponds feel free to hit me up.
Thanks for that info, it's good to hear. We thought The Ponds was very nice. We also checked out Summers Corner and Pines at Gahagan which we're both nice too. Corner might be too family oriented (?) and Pines too retired for us. We do want our family and friends to be able to use our home when we're not there (not rent) and don't want to fight HOAs or nosy neighbors.
We only plan on going to the beach one day/week but 45 mins might be a bit too much. We didn't get a chance to see "downtown" Summerville though, maybe it would lure us out that way. Our main wish, though, is to get another boat and get out enjoying and fishing inshore waters. Any place we set-up would have to be reasonably close to water for us to get out a few weekdays/week (we don't fight the boat traffic on weekends).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
