Jeremy | Myrtle Beach Homes | Carolina Forest Homes

Jan 09 2020

10 Most Expensive Homes Sold in Myrtle Beach Area in 2019

That’s right! It’s time for my annual Myrtle Beach luxury home wrap-up where I share with you the 10 most expensive homes to sell along the Grand Strand in this past year. I’ve done this several times in the past few years, however last year I was a slacker and didn’t do this post.

To make up for it, this year I’m going to go above & beyond in sharing not only the 10 most expensive Luxury Homes in Myrtle Beach, but I’m also going to include a video near the end that will summarize how our luxury real estate market is doing here in the area.

If you really love this and want to see more about some of the other luxury properties that have sold in the area in the past, you may want to check out previous years which you can see 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017 here. Below you will find listed the 10 most expensive homes to sell during 2019 along The Grand Strand from least expensive to most expensive.

10– 9553 Bellasara Circle Myrtle Beach, SC 29579– $2,200,000 This 5 Bedroom 4 Bath home sold in gated homes section The Grande Dunes Members Club section and was a Mediterranean style home on the Intracoastal Waterway with a spectacular pool overlooking the waterway.

9- 1087 S. Waccamaw Drive Garden City, SC 29576- $2,250,000- The only home to make the list this year in Garden City, was this large 3 story, 5 bedroom, 5.5 bath oceanfront home that was over 10,000 square feet under roof with an elevator was a unique masterpiece.

8- 904 N. Ocean Boulevard North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582- $2,285,000 This oceanfront gem was found in North Myrtle Beach and was a 5 bedroom 6.5 bath fully furnished home that was located in the Tilghman Estates section of North Myrtle Beach.

8802 N. Ocean Blvd Courtesy of The Hereda Team RE/MAX Southern Shores

7- 8802 N. Ocean Blvd Myrtle Beach, SC 29572- $2,321,425 At number 7 was another fully furnished oceanfront home that sold in Dunes Ocean Forest section of Myrtle Beach. It was a 7 Bedroom, 6.5 Bath home that had amazing oceanfront views and a lot of recent upgrades throughout.

6- 804 N. Ocean Boulevard North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582- $2,445,000 This is second home to land in the top 10 list of most expensive homes sold from North Myrtle Beach. Also found in the Tilghman section, this was a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath home with parking for 7 vehicles underneath.

The final 5 most expensive homes of 2019 all come from the southern end of the beach in Georgetown County.

5- 1065 Norris Dr Pawleys Island, SC 29585 $2,715,000 with over 5,500 heated square feet, this 6 bedroom home was located at The Peninsula at Inlet Point South. Each bedroom had it’s own private bath. There was also a shared dock on the creek so you can catch the flounder for dinner!

4- 44 Eastland Way Georgetown, SC 29440- $2,850,000 This 7 bedroom oceanfront home was in Debordieu Colony this home was in a very unique location with 2.5 miles of deserted beach leading to the North Inlet. This home was over 8,300 heated square feet and had a rooftop deck to enjoy the spectacular views.

3- 629 Beach Bridge Rd. Pawleys Island, SC 29585- $2,850,000 The number 3 most expensive home sold in 2019 is beautiful 5 Bedroom home with a custom pine dining room table that seats 10. The home had beautiful cypress walls and book shelves in the study. There was also plenty of space for vehicles with the 4 car garage.

2- 102 Atlantic Avenue Pawleys Island, SC 29585- $2,875,000 Another oceanfront home with 7 bedrooms, 7 baths, and a nice half acre lot in Pawleys Island helped this property to sell quickly.

1- 560 Myrtle Avenue Pawleys Island, SC 29585- $3,501,013 And the most expensive home to sell in 2019 belongs to this magnificent home in the Caledonia section which is known as America’s oldest seaside resorts. This home was 6 Bedrooms, 5 full baths and had a double lot that could be divided for another home. This home was unique in that on one side of the lot is a bulkheaded seawall where you could pull up your boat, and the other side you can enjoy fabulous ocean views.

So now that I’ve share the most expensive homes sold, what does this mean for the Myrtle Beach Luxury Homes market in 2020?

Market Crash Ahead?

In 2019, less luxury homes over 1 million sold in the area than in 2018. Some might start to panic and think we are heading towards a crash, but I wouldn’t start to panic yet. There were only 5 less homes to sell during the year from the banner year of 2018. In terms of total volume, it was only around $4.5 million less.

Days on the market also grew during 2019, but it was very minimal by increasing by only 5 days which is also a very minimal amount of days. These two items could mean either that there is a softening in the luxury home market, or it could simply just mean there is less inventory of properties available for consumers to purchase.

Breaking the Sales Down

When you break down the top 10 list for 2019, I found it interesting that more than half of the properties were purchased with cash. Even more interesting, the top 6 on the list were ALL purchased without financing. That shows me people see the value in investing into our local real estate market.

Also, all of the luxury homes sold this past year had some sort of water feature attached to the home. Most had a view of the ocean, or marsh, and one even had the intracoastal waterway. Once again proving that waterfront properties remain in high demand in our Grand Strand Market, especially when it comes to luxury home buyers.

When you break down the sections of the beach, more luxury homes were sold in Pawleys Island than any other section of the beach again this year. The 5 most expensive homes to sell this year were all int eh Pawleys Island/Georgetown area. Garden city had one property, two in North Myrtle Beach, and two were in Myrtle Beach.

What’s Available For Sale Now?

Below you will find all current luxury homes for sale in Myrtle Beach that are over one million.

Pawleys Island Luxury Homes

If you found this post interesting, would you do me a favor & share it with your friends? Also, if you are interested in purchasing a luxury home along the Grand Strand, feel free to call me at 843-222-9402 or contact me through my site.

Obviously, not everyone can afford a luxury home like the ones listed above. Did you know that the average property I sell in Myrtle Beach this past year was $205,000 While property values continue to rise in Myrtle Beach, there still are plenty of options out there to find affordable housing in Myrtle Beach. I’d love the opportunity to help you find your perfect home that fits your needs in any price range. Do not hesitate reaching out to me today to discuss.

Jan 04 2020

Gated Homes in Carolina Forest

Gated homes in the Carolina Forest area are a rather popular option to people looking to purchase in the Myrtle Beach area because of their added advantages. The gates provide added levels of security for your home and are a perfect option for those looking for a second home in the Myrtle Beach area.

Surprisingly, the Carolina Forest area or the 29579 zip code of Myrtle Beach is filled with several gated home communities. When I last checked, there were over 20 different subdivisions in Carolina Forest that are gated.

Now, you might think that in order to have a home in a gated community in Myrtle Beach, you would have to spend top dollar. But that is not the case. You can actually purchase a home in a gated community for as low as the mid 200’s and they can range up to some of the most expensive homes in Myrtle Beach at close to 4 million.

Here’s the current most expensive gated homes for sale in Carolina Forest:

There are plenty of gated home communities that showcase new construction homes. Some of these neighborhoods include Waterbridge, which is not only gated, but also has amazing Waterbridge Amenities has, which we have talked about in the past. Some other amazing communities that are gated & also have great amenities include The Bluffs On The Waterway, Grand Dunes, Carolina Waterway Plantation, & Waterway Palms which are also on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Here are the newest gated home listings in Carolina Forest:

Make sure to bookmark this page as it will update daily as new listings come onto the market and others sell.

Gated Community Benefits

So why would you consider a gated community? The biggest reason people choose to live in a gated community is to give an extra level of security to your home. Some of the neighborhoods have simple gates where you can click a button and enter on your own, others have keypads where you enter a code & others have a bar code scanned to access. There are even some that have 24 hour monitored gates with guards.

By there being a gated entrance, it limits who can and cannot enter a community to just those with the correct access. That is why it is really important to make sure you do not give out access codes to those who shouldn’t have it or you have lost that extra level of security.

This has been an ideal feature for several clients who were purchasing a second home in the area and do not live here year round. They feel more comfortable having more security when out of town. I’ve also had some elderly clients and single parent clients who feel much more secure knowing there is a gate to help protect their dwelling.

Why Wouldn’t You Want Gated Home Communities

So while in Atlanta recently visiting family, I had a conversation with one of my brother-in-laws regarding gated homes to which he simply told me, he wouldn’t want to live in one, so I obviously asked him what the reasons were. He simply responded, it’s too difficult. So as we continued to talk, it became apparent the reasons why he did not want to live in one which I will share below.

Extra time entering or leaving neighborhood. He said he didn’t want to have to open his window every time he was entering his neighborhood just to get in and the idea having to do this in freezing gold weather, rain, or other ugly weather situations had zero appeal to him. Also, the fact that it would increase his time in the car was a turn off.
Access for friends. I had never thought about this one that much, but after he explained the reason it did make some sense. He is constantly having friends over to his home and didn’t want to always have his phone in his hand during a gathering to page in people trying to come over to visit, or the need to have to call a guard gate ahead to add friends onto a list with their make & model of vehicle.
The “Exclusivity” status. He also felt that some that live in gated home communities feel that because they live in these neighborhoods with gates that they are “better” or more “exclusive” that those not living in them and that he did not want to ever be given this type of label.
H.O. No Way! He also then shared that the other main reason a gated neighborhood would not appeal to him is that he knew if he lived in one it would be a neighborhood with some sort of HOA that would limit what he could or could not do with his home. As I’ve shared in the past, there are benefits & disadvantages to an homeowners association.

I hope that you found this information on Gated Homes in Carolina Forest valuable. If you need additional information, do not hesitate to contact me.

Dec 18 2019

3 Mistakes To Avoid In A Real Estate Transaction

Whether you are buying or selling a home in Myrtle Beach, there are some mistakes that you want to avoid during the transaction that can make the purchase or sale of a home more difficult. Check out this video below to watch quick video of what these three mistakes are:

Vacation

Everyone needs a vacation right? Yes, we all definitely need time away where we can simply relax unwind and disconnect. One of the best ways to do this is to take a cruise. Unfortunately taking a cruise on the week before buying or selling a home is not a good idea.

When buying a home, there are several times throughout the process the lender will need more documentation for the underwriters to clear the conditions placed on the loan. If you are unable to deliver these documents in a timely manner, it could make it impossible to close on time.

Or, say you are in the process of buying a home and the week before closing you are on a boat when the lender is trying to get in touch with you to review the closing disclosure and sign off. Due to the laws established by TRID in 2017, buyers must sign a disclosure and there must then be a 3 day waiting period before the loan can be funded and the sale recorded.

If you are out of the country on vacation or on a cruise ship without access to your email when the lender sends you the disclosure, you will not be closing the day after you return from your trip because the time period will prevent it.

Or, if you are selling a home in a gated community in Myrtle Beach like Waterbridge and you out of the country without any way to communicate with your REALTOR® for the weeks leading up to the sale of your home and a repair request comes in for the buyer. As I’ve shared in the past, one of the items your agent helps you negotiate after the contract is the home inspection repairs. If this communication does not happen, it could cost you the sale of your home.

So while you think a vacation is something you have to do right then, it can be a very bad idea to take during a real estate transaction.

Get The Right Attorney

To buy or sell a home in Myrtle Beach, you need to have an attorney to represent you in the process and to get the transaction recorded at the court house. So whether you love or hate attorneys, it is a necessity in order to do any type of real estate transaction here.

Too many times I run into clients who want to use a high school friend who is an attorney now to try & save a few dollars in the transaction. The issue is that normally this can end up causing more problems then the little amount of money you will save.

When buying a home in Myrtle Beach, the attorney is responsible for reviewing the chain of title on the property you are purchasing to make sure it is clear and that you are able to be issued a clear title on the property. While with some properties that isn’t that big of a deal, on others it can be much more work as they may have to go back through 30-40 years of research and look through a chain of ownership that could be very long.

Having an attorney that does this type of work every day is crucial to make sure you have no issues during the purchase or an issue come up when trying to sell. This past year I had issues come up more than once on transactions with title issues and all of them came from when the person purchased the home and used an attorney that doesn’t specialize in real estate.

In one situation, it was for a client of mine trying to purchase a house had a title issue that was found when the property was sold 2 owners prior and required weeks of work tracking down heirs of the previous owner to have them sign documents in order for my clients to be able to purchase a property with an insurable title. So when buying, always pick an attorney that handles real estate transactions on a regular basis.

Living Life

This one is kinda obvious, but if you were to pass away during the transaction, it will make it almost impossible to buying a property or sell one. Now, selling a home can still happen if one of the sellers passes away, but you would definitely want to have all the correct types of documents in place.

This includes owning the property as joint tenants with rights of survivorship so that if one of the owners passes away their ownership rights automatically pass to other owners. This is the quickest way to keep the property transaction in place.

If you don’t own it with rights of survivorship, then it is really important to have some sort of will in place stating who inherits the property. I had a client who was trying to purchase a condo this year where the seller had passed away and it was an estate property.

The representative for the estate tried to probate the property, but there was no will in place so they had to get documents signed off by all the heirs of the deceased which are currently located all around the world and not local. So we have now been waiting over 6 months on these items to be completed so that my buyer can eventually purchase the home.

If there was a will in place that was properly executed in South Carolina, none of these issues would be present. The executor would have been able to take the notarized will to the court house, process the estate and we would have been able to do the transaction with no problems. But because this wasn’t in place, we unfortunately are now months into this with no idea when we will be able to actually purchase the condo.

Avoiding the Mistakes

So avoid these three mistakes when you are either buying or selling a property and the transaction will be able to happen much faster. In our market, the average days from contract to closing is around 30-45 days. But, if you make one of these mistakes, the transaction could take considerably longer if it is even able to be done.

Nov 20 2019

Getting The Final Amounts For Closing on a Myrtle Beach Home

Congratulations! It’s almost closing day and you are excited to purchase that fantastic home in Myrtle Beach! Your agent has helped you through the search process, connected you with a lender for the loan, helped you find the right closing attorney, negotiated repairs on the home, and we are now only a few days from closing!

But, you are stressing out because nobody has given you a final amount you will need for closing to transfer yet. Unfortunately, here in Myrtle Beach, it is fairly common for the final figures to not be ready until just a day or two prior to closing.

There are a lot of things that factor into when the final amounts are calculated and each and every thing gets figure down to the day. So things like taxes, HOA dues, interest, all are calculated to the day. This means if you close on the 31st of a month versus the first can alter those numbers greatly that are due on the day of recording. That being said, attorneys & lenders do not have the final amounts calculated until there is a clear to close notice given from the lender.

Once that is given, everyone can then plan for that day, start calculating and give you final numbers of how much will be needed for the day of closing.

So, if you are stressed about not knowing how much just yet, do not stress, it is normal, and nothing to worry about. You will get that number and then be able purchase that awesome Myrtle Beach Home.

Nov 07 2019

The Parks of Carolina Forest- [VIDEO Tour]

The Myrtle Beach market is still going strong and DR Horton recently released a new neighborhood in the Carolina Forest Section called The Parks Of Carolina Forest. This is an awesome new neighborhood that when completed will have over 800 residences in it.

I recently helped some buyers looking at homes in Carolina Forest discover The Parks of Carolina Forest and I was able to help them be one of the first buyers to purchase a home in this neighborhood. We were actually the second to closed in the neighborhood. So, the other day I went back to visit the models and sit down with an onsite agent there to discuss things in The Parks of Carolina Forest.

Here’s a quick video tour of the neighborhood:

The amenities in this neighborhood are going to be amazing and the fact that the Huger Park is nestled right in the middle of the neighborhood makes it even better.

The Parks of Carolina Forest is located just a few minutes from just about anything you could want including shopping, golf, restaurants, the intracoastal waterway, & the beach. You can jump on the easily accessible highway 31 and go north to little river or head south to Murrells Inlet in no time.

If you would like to view current homes for sale in The Parks of Carolina Forest, go here. To learn more about The Parks of Carolina Forest, please contact us.