Murrells Inlet

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 Bypass 17 splits from Business 17 here, so Murrells Inlet straddles the line. The inlet and Business 17 side is inside it, where wind and hail can legally be excluded from a homeowners policy and bought separately; the Highway 707 side is west of the Bypass 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 →

Either one — Murrells Inlet straddles the Horry-Georgetown county line. That is not a technicality on a closing file: the county an address falls in is the county that assesses and bills its property taxes, and it decides which Register of Deeds holds the recorded HOA documents you should be reading. Confirm the county for the specific parcel rather than for the town. Best Places to Live on the Grand Strand →