Uncategorized | Myrtle Beach Homes | Carolina Forest Homes

Feb 12 2020

Essential Guide For Moving To Myrtle Beach

Have you been thinking about how nice it would be to live the dream life in beautiful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina? Myrtle Beach offers a wide array of affordable residential homes, retail shopping, dining, entertainment and the most scenic views along the east coast. While many may think of Myrtle Beach just as a great place for a vacation, those who live in this beautiful coastal town enjoy mild weather and beaches that extend for miles with plenty to do all year round.

Myrtle Beach is popular for retirees who are seeking nice weather, affordable housing and plenty of activities to keep them busy. It’s also a great place for families and individuals to live who want to find employment opportunities, entertainment, shopping and more. Myrtle Beach offers the best for those who want a quiet, calm lifestyle with beautiful oceanic scenery but it also much for those who want to live in a place where there is always something fun to do.

Housing In Myrtle Beach

If you have not yet taken that leap and hauled all your worldly belongings to Myrtle Beach, you will want to take time to look for housing in the area. Home pricing for family homes in the local area can range anywhere from around $100,000 to several million. This opens a wide array of homes for families including condos, townhomes, houses and more to choose from. Property taxes for a primary residence in Myrtle Beach are only 4% and secondary homes and vacation homes are taxed at 6%

If you plan to rent rather than buy, rental housing can be found with rental rates ranging from $500 a month to several thousand dollars. It’s best to work with a licensed real estate agent to locate rental or sales property not only so you have someone who understands the local market, but also to help you avoid real estate scams and to find you the best properties that fit your budget.

Moving Everything to Myrtle Beach

Once you pass the hurdle of finding a new home in Myrtle Beach, you will want to work with a professional moving company to have your furniture and other household goods relocated. Prior to the move, take time to carefully go through your belongings, one room at a time to determine whether you will need everything once you arrive to your new home in Myrtle Beach. You may also want to speak to a professional auto transport company, especially if you and your family have more than one motor vehicle to relocate. Having a vehicle shipped rather than driving can cut down on wear and tear while getting the vehicle delivered safely.

Myrtle Beach is not just a beautiful beach town. There is so much to do in this beautiful region of the state and no matter the age, you can stay busy year-round.

Things To Do Outdoors in Myrtle Beach

You already know that the beach is perfect no matter the weather, but there is so much more to do in the great outdoors when you live in Myrtle Beach. Water sports are always fun for all ages and with plenty of Intracoastal waters, you can head off on your own, take a charter boat or even a casino boat for a little winning action on the sea. Jet Ski’s can be rented at various rental shops along the waters edge and surfing, wakeboarding and more is just a quick walk in any direction down the sandy shoreline.

For a romantic day or a family excursion on a private beach, you can take a horseback riding tour at Inlet Point Plantation where you can catch glimpses of the majestic water, stop for a picnic on the beach and catch an incredible sunset over the ocean. You can have fun on a ziplining course, playing ball at the local parks and rec or picnicking in the park.

Myrtle Beach is also home to the best places to catch a good game of golf and with courses designed by Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones you will find incredible golf courses and resorts to enjoy any day of the year.

Things To Do Indoors in Myrtle Beach

If you prefer to stay indoors you will find many things to do all around the area. Shopping is often at the top of the list for things to do and if you are a shopaholic you can spend quality time at shopping centers including:

The Market Common
Barefoot Landing
Coastal North Town Center
Tanger Factory Outlets
Broadway at the Beach

After a long day of shopping, be sure to stop by one of the local spas or nail salons to be pampered and relax for a little while before heading out for a night on the town. You may even want to check out one of the local wineries and enjoy a tour or a wine tasting with friends.

When hitting the social scene at night, you can find dancing and good times at one of the many hot clubs or lounges near the shopping districts and all along the coastline.

For a fun family day indoors, Myrtle Beach offers incredible art galleries, museums and more.

Transportation in Myrtle Beach

If you plan to stay close to home, you can always take a walk or ride a bicycle, but for those who want to go from North Myrtle Beach to other areas you will need to have a personal car to get around easily or an Uber. During tourist season which runs from March through November, traffic can be heavy so be prepared to wait in heavy congestion during peak hours in the morning and evening in areas near the beach.

Luckily though, with the openings of new roads like SC 31, you can now easily get from the southern end of the beach to the northern end fairly easily. This road is a 6 lane highway where the speeds are 60+ Mph and zero stop lights.

Beach Rules

Before heading down the beach, you should be aware of some of the rules.

Alcohol- Alcohol is not allowed on the beach. You can also not have glass containers or bottles.
Litter– Littering is illegal and you can be fined if caught littering.
Dunes- It is prohibited to walk on the dunes or to damage them in any way.
Fire- Fires are not allowed at all on the beach. This includes bonfires, barbecues and other open flame.
Pets- Dogs are allowed on the beach from Memorial Day through Labor Day only from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM. After Labor Day, pet owners can walk their dogs on the beach anytime if they are on a leash.
Bathing Suits- Bathing attire can be worn on the beach, but thongs or other swimwear showing off your rear-end is not be allowed.
Umbrellas- Umbrellas must be seven and a half feet circular or smaller.

Annual Climate

The climate in Myrtle Beach is mild and you can expect temperatures ranging from the mid to upper 70’s in the spring and fall, upper 80’s to mid-90’s in the summer and mid 50’s in the winter. Hurricane season is June through November, but hurricanes are very rare in Myrtle Beach and a significant one has not struck the area since Hugo hit in 1989. Tropical storms are typical and can bring heavy rain and winds to the area.

Employment in Myrtle Beach

If you are new to the area and did not transfer with an employer, work can be found in many industries. The hospitality, tourism, and retail sales industries are always booming and seeking employees. Myrtle Beach is also a great location for small business owners as the local tax rate is low and the community is very small business oriented.

Myrtle Beach is home to nearly 33,000 people in the city limits but hosts more than half a million visitors annually. Spending time walking along the boardwalk next the Atlantic Ocean is a dream come true for many people. When you’re ready to take steps to a new life in Myrtle Beach, try to plan a few days to explore the local area and see the sights and check out the atmosphere and then, sit down with a Myrtle Beach REALTOR® and discover everything that Myrtle Beach has to offer.

This was a guest post by Melissa Villalobos.

Sep 17 2019

Carolina Forest Playground- Palmetto Adventure Land Playground

My main job each and every day is selling Myrtle Beach homes, but when I’m not busy with real estate, I am a father to my 3 three children. Right now, their ages are 11, 9, & 5. The other day after the storm, my wife needed some peace & quiet in the house for an hour or so to do some work, so I loaded the kids into the car.

Now that we live in The Farm at Carolina Forest, we have started to explore all types of new experiences of things do do around this area of Carolina Forest & Myrtle Beach. The first thing that came to mind for a fun outing was a trip over to the Carolina Forest Playground officially known as the Palmetto Adventure Land Playground.

This playground is located in the heart of Carolina Forest behind the Library & Recreation center off of Carolina Forest Blvd. This is literally right in the middle of the area with The Parks Subdivision on one side, Plantation Lakes on the other, and Indigo Bay, The Farm at Carolina Forest, Summerlyn, & Waterbridge across the street.

For fun, I decided on this trip to the playground to take along the camera and let the kids have fun capturing memories and helping me make a video of the playground. Here’s what they came up with:

My kids love running all over this playground on all the different ramps, slides, swings, and more. Some of their favorite parts these days are the tire swing, the climbing wall, and the large slide.

When our children were younger, we always loved going to the Carolina Forest Playground because we could let our children play in the toddler area that is sectioned off from the more intense and larger sections and they could play in a safe environment on things designed specifically for their size & age.

Outside the playground area is a digital game which is also a favorite of my children to play when visiting the Carolina Forest Playground. There are also some covered areas which can be reserved for private events. These areas are covered and would be perfect for a small birthday party.

Here’s a few images:

So in closing, if you are looking for something fun to do with the children, I would definitely check out the Carolina Forest playground!

Sep 19 2017

Professional Photography Now Added To Listing Services

When it comes to selling a Myrtle Beach Home, it’s important to hire an agent that can deliver the best chance of selling your home for the highest price in the quickest time possible. Statistics show that now more than 92% of all buyers & sellers go online to shop before ever contacting a Myrtle Beach REALTOR®. To help deliver even more value to my sellers, I have recently began hiring a professional photographer to help give my listings a huge advantage over the competition.

Now, my clients that have hired me in the past have done so because of my ability to expose their home online to over 40,000 people within the first 24 hours of listing their home for sale. They like the fact that I have all the professional equipment needed to take professional photos, and to also create awesome videos like I did for the Waterbridge community. I have to admit, I really enjoy doing these sorts of things and find it a lot of fun to get in touch with my creative side and take the photos. I really enjoy spending the time editing the images, cropping, straightening them, and all the other fun tech side of taking photos. Honestly, I can do a pretty decent job with the photos too. Here’s one I recently took for a recent listing.

So, while ability isn’t the reason for me giving up taking my photos, what is the actual reason for me hiring someone? At the end of the day, I simply am getting to the point in my business that I do not have the time to spend doing these items. On average I was spending anywhere from 3-4 hours getting my gear together, going to the listing, taking the photos, and then editing them after. Instead, I need to focus that time & energy on finding prospective buyers for my listings and getting them under contract. So about 4 months ago, I started hiring a professional photographer to take images of my listings. While it is an expense to me as the listing agent to hire someone, I have found that I would rather focus my time on doing everything possible on exposing my listings to as many people as possible.

Since hiring a professional photographer to take images of my listings, I have been able to really focus on getting my listings under contract and sold for my sellers. In just the last two months I’ve been able to sell all of my listings but one. By hiring a professional real estate photographer, I’ve been able to free up several hours each month that gives me more time to work on reaching out to prospective buyers and find clients interested in purchasing my listings.

Not to mention, the professional photographers have even better equipment than I do. While I have a lot of gear, I don’t always have the proper gear for each situation and usually would have to improvise to get the right lighting by bringing along large work lights and reflector shields and all other types of equipment, whereas a pro will come with their camera on a tripod, and some external flashes to get the job done. I used to waste hours loading gear in and out of the car and and & out of the properties.

If you are thinking of selling a home in Myrtle Beach, contact me at 843-222-9402 and we can discuss in greater detail how my marketing plan can get your home exposed to my database of over 40,000 people online within the first 24 hours of listing your property for sale. We will discuss how to price your home properly to get it sold for the most amount of money in the quickest time possible.

Listing Update

Remember the property I mentioned in the video above being listed? Well, the photos turned out great, I shared with an agent in my office and we were able to put the property under contract in less than 24 hours with a cash offer site unseen. Professional photography works!

Jun 24 2014

Plantation Lakes Home Market Report June 2014

Plantation Lakes is one of the more popular home communities in the Carolina Forest area of Myrtle Beach. Currently, Plantation Lakes has over 40 homes for sale ranging in price from a low of $329,500 up to $1,150,000. The current average listing price is $512,016 and median listing price in Plantation Lakes is currently $459,000.

Of the current 40+ homes for sale in Plantation Lakes, surprisingly only four of the listings are 3 bedroom homes. In contrast, there are currently twenty-five listings in Plantation Lakes that are 4 bedroom homes. In addition, there are ten 5 bedroom and two 6 bedrooms currently for sale.

Here are the 6 most expensive homes currently for sale in Plantation Lakes:

Plantation Lakes Homes That Have Sold

While it’s great to see so many Plantation Lakes homes for sale, the question sellers want answered is: What Plantations Lakes Homes Are Selling & For Home Much? According to the MLS, in the past two months, eleven homes have sold in Plantation Lakes ranging in price from a low price of $285,000 to a high sold price of $600,000. The average price for homes sold in Plantation Lakes is $404,008 and the median price is $395,900.

One thing I found interesting about the data I reviewed on homes in this community was the Days on Market (DOM). There was a huge range in days DOM that went from a low of 30 days to a high of 877 days! The median DOM however was still rather high at 230 days.

If you would like more information on homes for sale in Plantation Lakes, I’ve already done some custom searches to help make your job easier on finding the perfect home or lot for sale in Plantation Lakes below:

If you are thinking of selling your Plantation Lakes home and would like more information on the current value of your home, fill out this form to find out what your home is worth and receive a free market analysis for your home in Plantation Lakes.