Little River

The test is statutory: § 38-75-310(5) draws Horry County's coastal area as everything east of US 17 or Bypass 17, whichever runs farther west — and by this end of the Strand the Bypass has rejoined US 17. Little River straddles the line: the waterfront side is east and inside, where wind and hail can legally be excluded from a homeowners policy and bought separately, and much of the rest is west and outside, where wind stays inside the homeowners policy. A specific address can sit on the far side of that road from the rest of its street, so the declarations page and your insurance agent settle it — not the town name. How wind and hail coverage works here →

That is a per-parcel question, not a per-town one — zones change block to block and sometimes lot to lot. What decides it is the FEMA flood zone for the specific parcel: inside a Special Flood Hazard Area (the A and V zones) federal law directs a regulated lender not to make, increase, extend or renew the loan unless the building is covered for the term of it. Zone X carries no federal mandate, though a lender may still require coverage as a matter of its own policy. Pull the zone for the actual address before you write an offer, never a neighborhood-level impression. Flood zones, decoded →

South Carolina assesses an owner-occupied legal residence at 4% and everything else — second homes, rentals, land — at 6%, under S.C. Code § 12-43-220. Those ratios are state law, so they apply the same in Horry and Georgetown counties. The 4% is not automatic: you have to apply for it, and the Horry County Assessor's guidance is blunt about the consequence of not doing so — an automatic 6% assessment. The rest of the bill depends on the taxing districts the parcel sits in, so ask the county assessor for the real figure on the real address before you rely on any of it. Horry County property taxes, explained →

The recorded set is the real set. Under South Carolina's Homeowners Association Act, a community's governing documents must be recorded to be enforceable, and its rules and amendments must be re-recorded by January tenth of each year following adoption to stay enforceable. Pull the recorded documents from the county Register of Deeds and compare them against the packet you were handed. If a rule that would change your purchase — a rental restriction, a vehicle rule, an architectural standard — is in the packet but not in the county record, that is a question for your closing attorney before you close. Buying in an HOA here →