If you're thinking of moving to South Carolina, there
are a few things that you must know first, from property and
vehicle taxes, to hurricanes and flood zones and cost of living.
Today, we're going to cover all of that practical knowledge.
What's up everybody, and welcome back. As always, I'm your
favorite YouTubing Charleston realtor Bill Olson. And today,
we are covering practical knowledge that you need to know
when moving to South Carolina. So let's get right into it. The
first thing I want to talk about today is property taxes. Now,
I've mentioned this a lot in my videos, because it is something
that you need to know. I'm not going to go into great detail
today. But I'm going to toss a link below. Basically, what you
need to know is that while we have extremely low property
taxes, they are assessed at different rates for primary and
non primary residences. Now the difference can triple your taxes
for non primary. So when you purchase your home, you'll need
to apply for that lower 4% rate to ensure you're paying the
least amount in property taxes. Now, this isn't hard to do just
it's basically just proving that you're living there as your
primary residence. So within the first month, you'll need to
switch over your car registration, voter
registration, driver's license and anything else that's on that
application. And you should be approved with no issue. And you
can make your taxes even lower if you qualify for that
homestead exemption. Now, this is a complete exemption on the
first $50,000 in fair market value of that legal residence as
a homeowner, those who qualify are individuals that are totally
or permanently disabled, or legally blind. And if you're
making this move for retirement, you may also qualify. But we're
going to talk about that a little bit when I get into the
retirement benefits of moving here. Staying on taxes. This is
something that surprises most people, and it's the personal
property or vehicle taxes. Now while we're the sixth, in most
affordable real property taxes, we rank 48 in vehicle taxes. Now
we're one of only 27 states that does collect taxes on motor
vehicles. Now, before you can transfer your title and
registration to South Carolina, you've got to pay this tax to
the county treasurer. Now, motor vehicles are valued in
accordance with nationally recognized publications of
value. And but the depreciation of value for motor vehicles.
Unlike your real estate taxes, your vehicle taxes are likely to
go down each year. So if you're buying a new car, be prepared to
get that higher tax bill. Now, what does this look like? Well,
in an article published by the Greenville news, based on a best
selling new car valued at $24,000, South Carolina
residents paid on average around $650 a year. Other states that
collect vehicle taxes, they were just under 450. If you have a
car with high mileage, you could be eligible for a high mileage
discount. So contact your county treasurer to see if you qualify.
And this all may seem like a lot, but in my opinion, for
whatever that's worth paying a few 100 per year in vehicle
taxes to save 1000s on your home's property taxes is a
pretty good trade off. Now moving along with the vehicles.
We have the drivers of these vehicles. According to a few
studies from smart asset.com and quotewizard. by lending tree,
South Carolina was ranked in a tie for seventh with Texas on
one and 10th in the other for having the worst drivers in the
country. Now according to these studies, South Carolina had the
most fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled at 1.83.
And around four DUIs per 1000 drivers when it comes to driving
habits. We were fifth worst in getting the most citations and
forth in the most accident prone states. Now along the same
lines, and I know there are many contributing factors that go
into car insurance. But according to insure.com South
Carolina has the ninth highest full coverage premiums in the
country for automobile insurance. Let's move away from
taxes. And let's talk about living along the coast, kind of
like I am here in Charleston. The two main things we're going
to talk about are hurricanes and flooding. Now, are they both an
issue to be concerned about? Yes. Are they as big of an issue
as most people make them out to be? I don't really think so. So
let's start with the bigger one, the hurricanes. You know, I
don't like them. I'm afraid of them. And my first hurricane, I
forced my wife to evacuate, I think it was only a category one
may have just been a tropical storm when I got here. But it's
scary. Nonetheless. Though, no matter where you move, whether
it's South Carolina or another state, you've got to deal with
some sort of natural disaster. And while hurricanes can cause
significant damage, when it comes to the safety of you and
your family. The fortunate thing about hurricanes is that it's
like being stalked by a turtle. normally have plenty of time to
prepare your home or evacuate before it actually arrives. of
evacuating is the option you choose. Make sure you know your
evacuation routes. I'll put the link below to all the different
routes so you can see where those take you. And always
remember, you're not the only ones evacuating so traffic can
get pretty hairy. Just give yourself plenty of time to get
to safety. I know here in Charleston, they've been known
to reverse I 26. So that both east and west sides go towards
Columbia to ease that congestion and help ensure the safety and
quick evacuation route of residents. Now hand in hand with
hurricanes does come the flooding. Now Contrary to
popular belief, especially here in Charleston, every time it
rains, we aren't sitting on a roof waiting to be rescued by a
guy in a little boat. So with that being said, flooding is an
issue and a concern in some areas, but it's not fully
widespread. Most of what you see is downtown in the historic
district, where a simple high tide can flood some streets, but
doesn't really pose a danger to the homes, almost the entire
coast of South Carolina is in some sort of flood zone. The
most common are x an ey x is the lowest risk and flood insurance
isn't required by federally backed mortgages, where he is
the lowest risk that does require flood insurance. I mean,
just because you're in a flood zone doesn't mean that it does
flood. It just defines if there is a risk and what that risk is,
if you want to see what flood zones are in your area, or the
area you're moving to the best resource is straight from the
FEMA website. And if you want to know what zones a home or
neighborhood is in here in Charleston, just shoot me an
email or text and I can look that up for you. Otherwise, I'll
post that FEMA link down below. Now let's get into a little bit
of good news. When it comes to the cost of living, South
Carolina actually ranks about 6% below the national average, and
right in the middle of all the states. So this may be a
surprise to some especially here in Charleston and other coastal
areas. But one thing to remember, which is especially
true here, and as a good rule of thumb is the further inland and
away from the beaches you get, the more affordable homes
become. here in Charleston, just a 15 minute drive can cut your
housing costs almost in half. As a state. We have an average home
price right around $200,000. And this is due to many rural areas
and small towns throughout the state where it's much lower than
that moving towards the coast. However, we see that raised
significantly. Charleston county had a median sales price of
$427,000 in 2020 further inland in Richland County, that's where
Columbia is located this capital of South Carolina, there is a
median home price right near that national average of only
$182,000 through the third quarter of 2020. It is good to
note that only Charleston county had a median home price above
$350,000 in the entire state. Now apart from home prices,
South Carolina is also in the top 10 for the cheapest gas
prices. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to get into
retirement just a little bit. Now if you're planning your move
as a retirement move, then here's some good news. In South
Carolina, you aren't taxed on Social Security retirement
benefits. Plus, there's a $15,000 deduction for seniors
receiving any other type of retirement income on top of this
If you're over 65, and have been a legal resident of the state
for over one year, you could qualify for that homestead
exemption that I mentioned earlier. So there you go, folks,
all the practical knowledge that you need if you're planning a
move to South Carolina, if you have any other questions, drop
them in the comments, shoot me a text email, give me a call,
throw up the smoke signals, whatever your preferred method
of communication is, and I'll be happy to answer those for you.
Have a wonderful day and we'll see you on the next one. Bye.