First-Time Home Buyer's Guide to Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand

Most first-time buyers I work with on the Grand Strand arrive with two beliefs that cost them money. The first is that they need 20% down. The second is that first-time buyer assistance is a rumor — something that exists somewhere else, for someone else.

Neither is true, and the gap between those beliefs and reality is usually worth thousands of dollars. South Carolina runs a real state housing finance agency with real forgivable assistance, and three federal loan programs will each let you buy with far less than 20% down. What nobody hands you is a map of which one fits you, or what a coastal county does to the monthly number afterward.

That's this article. If you want the full transaction start-to-finish rather than the first-time-buyer slice of it, my complete guide to buying a home in Myrtle Beach covers the whole arc.

Start With SC Housing — Not With a Rate Shopping Site

South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority — everyone calls it SC Housing — is the state's housing finance agency, and its homebuyer programs are the single most underused resource for first-time buyers in this state. The agency describes its own product plainly: "a competitive and affordable interest rate that is fixed for the life of the loan," plus "assistance for down payment and closing cost with no hidden fees or other surprises."

You do not apply to SC Housing directly. The agency's own step one is "Contact one of SC Housing's approved lenders," and step two is "Choose the program that's right for you." That ordering matters — if you get pre-approved through a lender that isn't an SC Housing partner, you have quietly closed the door on all of this before you ever saw a house.

Here's what's on the menu as SC Housing describes it:

Two of these deserve a closer look if you're buying here.

Made It Home! is the largest number on the page. SC Housing describes it as "up to $25,000 in forgivable down payment and closing cost assistance," structured as "a zero-interest second mortgage that is fully forgiven after ten years, provided the buyer remains in the home." The catch that changes how you shop: "the first step is to contact one of the participating builders directly." This is a new-construction program, and the agency also states the assistance "cannot be combined with other SC Housing down payment programs."

One caveat decides whether it's any use to you here. The participating builders SC Housing lists are in Columbia, Darlington, Sumter, Rock Hill and Spartanburg — none of them on the Grand Strand. So despite how much new construction goes up in Horry County, this program currently buys you nothing in it. Ask SC Housing whether the builder list has expanded before you plan around it; that list is the whole program.

Its stated eligibility, per SC Housing's Made It Home! page: annual income of $135,000 or less (or the county income limit, if lower), the home used as your primary residence, and financing through an SC Housing-approved lender. Buyers using the Homebuyer Bond program alongside it must also meet the first-time homebuyer definition.

Palmetto Home Advantage is the one to ask about if you don't meet a first-time buyer definition — SC Housing says it carries "no first-time homebuyer requirements."

The income and price limits nobody looks up

SC Housing publishes a limits sheet that decides eligibility before anything else does. On the 2026/2027 Income and Home Price Limits chart — the one used for the SC Housing Homebuyer (Bond) Program and the SC Mortgage Credit Certificate Program, effective for reservations on and after 06.01.2026 — the agency names twelve non-targeted counties and six targeted ones. Horry and Georgetown are not among the named counties, so a Grand Strand purchase falls under the sheet's "any county not listed above" line:

Palmetto Home Advantage runs on a separate, simpler line on the same sheet: $140,000 statewide, with a 10-year forgivable DPA term (the Bond program's chart is marked 15-year).

The sheet carries its own warning in capital letters — income and home price limits can change with or without notice, and these remain in effect until 2027 limits are released by HUD. Pull the current sheet before you rely on a number, and have your lender confirm it. These are also the limits I've seen surprise people in the good direction: buyers who assumed they earned too much often don't.

The Three Federal Loan Types, Honestly Compared

Underneath whatever SC Housing program you use sits a conventional, FHA, VA, or USDA loan. Each has a different core trade.

VA is the standout for anyone who qualifies. The VA's own purchase loan page states there's "no need for private mortgage insurance (PMI) or mortgage insurance premiums (MIP)" — on this coast, where insurance is already a live budget item, that's not a small thing. Given how many veterans and military families settle along the Grand Strand, this is the loan I ask about first.

FHA's floor comes straight from HUD: "Your down payment can be as low as 3.5% of the purchase price."

USDA is a real option here — and people miss it

Buyers hear "USDA" and picture farmland. In practice, eligibility is decided by the property's location, and inland Horry and Georgetown County addresses are worth checking before you assume otherwise. Conway, Aynor, Loris, and the areas west and north of the beach corridor are exactly the kind of geography this program was written for.

The mechanics live in federal regulation, not marketing copy:

• The loan can cover the whole purchase. Under 7 CFR § 3555.103, the loan may not exceed the lesser of the appraised market value plus the up-front guarantee fee, or the purchase price plus eligible acquisition costs. That structure is what "no down payment" actually means here. A newly constructed dwelling that can't meet the program's inspection and warranty requirements is limited to 90 percent of present market value.
• Closing costs can be financed. 7 CFR § 3555.101 lists eligible costs including title exam and title insurance, transfer taxes and recordation fees, appraisal and inspection, homeownership education, prorated real estate taxes due at closing, and escrow setup for taxes and hazard and flood insurance.
• It's for people who will live there. 7 CFR § 3555.151 requires applicants to "agree and have the ability to occupy the dwelling as their principal residence," and states plainly that "Rural Development will not guarantee loans for investment properties, or temporary, short-term housing."
• The ratios are specific. The same section sets a PITI ratio of 29 percent of repayment income — including homeowners' association dues and other real estate assessments — and a total debt ratio of 41 percent, with documented compensating factors allowed to exceed them. Note what's inside that 29%: HOA dues count. On the Grand Strand, that's decisive more often than people expect.
• Household income must not exceed the applicable moderate income limit at the time of loan approval.

If the address qualifies and the income fits, USDA is frequently the cheapest way into a first home in this county. Ask your lender to run the address before you rule it out.

What Actually Decides Your Budget Here

This is where a national first-time buyer article stops being useful and a local one has to start. Four line items on the Grand Strand routinely move the monthly payment more than a quarter-point of interest rate does.

Property taxes turn on one form. South Carolina assesses owner-occupied property at a 4% ratio and everything else at 6%, and the 4% rate is not automatic — you apply for it. New owners get caught by this constantly. I wrote the whole mechanism up in Myrtle Beach property taxes, including the application and the deadline that catches new owners. Read that before you build a budget from the seller's current tax bill — that bill may not be the one you'll get.

Wind and hail may be a separate policy. Coastal South Carolina is one of the places where wind coverage can be carved out of a homeowners policy and written separately, with its own premium and its own deductible. Wind insurance in coastal South Carolina explains where that line falls on the Grand Strand and what to ask a quote for.

Flood is a zone question, not an opinion. Whether your lender can even close without a flood policy depends on the property's mapped zone. Understanding flood zones covers how to look up a specific address before you write an offer.

HOA dues are a monthly payment you can't refinance away. Whether it's a small single-family association or a condo regime, dues belong in your affordability math from day one — and, as noted above, USDA counts them inside its 29% ratio. If you're looking at condos, financing a condo works differently than financing a house, and that difference has ended more than one first-time purchase.

My mortgage calculator will let you model principal, interest, taxes, and insurance together. Run it with real numbers for a specific address rather than averages — on this coast, averages hide the thing that matters.

Two South Carolina Rules Worth Knowing Before You Start

An attorney will run your closing. This isn't optional or customary — it comes from the state's Supreme Court. SC Bar Ethics Advisory Opinion 05-16 quotes State v. Buyers Service Co. holding "that real estate and mortgage loan closings should be conducted only under the supervision of attorneys, who have the ability to furnish their clients legal advice should the need arise," and In re Lester, that a "licensed attorney should have been physically present to conduct the actual real estate transactions and closings." For a first-time buyer this is genuinely good news: someone with a law license is obligated to explain the documents to you. Ask them everything.

The same opinion also confirms something out-of-state buyers ask about constantly: "There is no legal requirement that a client attend the closing," and an attorney may conduct a closing by mail so long as competent representation and supervision are maintained and the client can reach the attorney. That has to be arranged in advance — never assumed.

Federal law puts a clock on your paperwork. Under 12 CFR § 1026.19, your lender must deliver or mail the Loan Estimate no later than the third business day after receiving your application, and you must receive the Closing Disclosure no later than three business days before consummation. Those two documents are your comparison tool. What to bring to closing walks through the timing rules and what resets the clock.

A Realistic First-Time Buyer Sequence

1. Talk to an SC Housing-approved lender first. Not a rate site. Ask directly which SC Housing programs you qualify for, and get the current income and price limits confirmed for Horry or Georgetown County.
2. Get pre-approved, not pre-qualified. Understand exactly what your approval assumes about taxes, insurance, and HOA dues — the coastal versions of those numbers are usually bigger than the software's defaults.
3. Ask your lender to check USDA eligibility for the areas you're considering. It costs one conversation and can change your whole search.
4. Narrow the geography before the listings. Best places to live on the Grand Strand is built for exactly this step.
5. Price the carrying costs for the specific address — tax ratio, wind, flood, HOA — before you write an offer, not after inspection.
6. Line up your closing attorney early, and read the buying guide's team section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I really need 20% down? No. HUD puts FHA's minimum at "as low as 3.5% of the purchase price," the VA allows no down payment when the sales price doesn't exceed the appraised value, and USDA's guaranteed loan is structured to cover the full purchase within its own limits. What a smaller down payment does change is mortgage insurance and your monthly payment — have your lender show you the same house at two different down payments before you decide.

Does "first-time buyer" mean I've literally never owned a home? It depends on the program, and the definitions aren't identical. Several SC Housing programs — Palmetto Home Advantage and the SC Housing Homebuyer Program among them — are explicitly open to move-up borrowers too. Ask your lender which definition applies to the specific program you're using.

Can I use down payment assistance and still buy new construction? Made It Home! is built around it — SC Housing directs buyers to contact participating builders directly — but as of this writing every participating builder is inland (Columbia, Darlington, Sumter, Rock Hill, Spartanburg), so it doesn't reach a Grand Strand purchase. Note the agency's own restriction too: that assistance can't be combined with other SC Housing down payment programs.

Is the assistance a loan I have to pay back? The programs SC Housing describes as forgivable are structured as second liens that are forgiven if you stay. Made It Home! is described as "a zero-interest second mortgage that is fully forgiven after ten years, provided the buyer remains in the home." Read your specific note — the term and the forgiveness conditions are the two things to confirm in writing.

Can I buy a condo as a first-time buyer here? Yes, and plenty of first purchases on this coast are condos. But condo financing has its own approval layer at the building level, and insurance and dues work differently. Start with my condo buying guide before you fall for a unit.

How much are closing costs? That depends on your lender, your loan type, and the property — which is exactly why the Loan Estimate exists. Get one from more than one SC Housing-approved lender and compare them line by line.

I'm buying from out of state. Do I have to fly in to close? Not necessarily. EAO 05-16 says there's no legal requirement that a client attend the closing, and permits a closing by mail under the conditions described above. Arrange it with the closing attorney and the lender well in advance.

Let's Find Out What You Actually Qualify For

The most useful hour a first-time buyer on the Grand Strand can spend is the one with an SC Housing-approved lender, asking which programs apply and what the current limits are. The second most useful is looking at real houses in the areas you can actually afford, with the coastal costs already priced in.

I'm happy to help with both. Get in touch and tell me where you are in the process — my client resources page lists the lenders, closing attorneys, and inspectors I work with, and you can browse current listings whenever you're ready.

One note specific to this topic: assistance program terms, income caps, and price limits change without notice, and SC Housing's own limits sheet says so in capital letters. Confirm current details with SC Housing and an approved lender before you rely on any figure here.

Thinking about making the move to the Grand Strand?

Whether you're relocating from up north or planning your retirement on the South Carolina coast, I'd love to help you get there. Follow me on Facebook for more local tips, search Grand Strand listings right here on my site, and join one of my Facebook groups built specifically for people making this move:

• New Yorkers Moving to South Carolina
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