Myrtle Beach

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. The city between the Bypass and the ocean is inside it — and inside that line, wind and hail can legally be excluded from a homeowners policy and bought separately, with a second deductible. 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 →

Not automatically, and this is the assumption that costs investment buyers the most here. In the City of Myrtle Beach most residential districts — the ones beginning with R — do not permit rentals under 90 days; the RMV district is the specific exception, and the city has confirmed only 24 houses in traditional residential zones are grandfathered from before current zoning. Every rental, short or long, also needs a city business license. Confirm the zoning for the exact address, and read the HOA covenants, which can be stricter than the city. Investment property on the Strand →