On the same $400,000 home, a qualifying 65-and-older primary resident pays roughly $900-$1,200 a year in property tax. A second-home buyer or investor on that identical house pays roughly $4,200-$4,800 — four to five times more. That entire gap comes from stacking three distinct benefits, and each one requires its own separate application. Miss one, and you're paying meaningfully closer to the second-home rate than the resident rate.
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Talk to a Specialist →Each piece depends on the one before it. A buyer who closes on a home, moves in, but never files the legal residence declaration is taxed at the 6% second-home ratio by default — and that single missed step also disqualifies the school mill exemption, since it's contingent on legal residence status. The 65+ homestead exemption is a third, entirely separate filing on top of both. None of the three happens automatically just because you're over 65 and living in the home.
File the legal residence application with the Horry County Assessor's office as close to closing as possible — the ratio doesn't apply retroactively to the period before filing. Apply for the 65+ homestead exemption separately, typically requiring proof of age and residency. Confirm both are on file before your first full tax bill arrives, since correcting a missed filing after the fact can mean paying the higher rate for the better part of a year while the correction processes.
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| Owner type | Assessment ratio | Annual tax, $400K home (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| 65+ primary resident, all 3 filed | 4%, minus $50K homestead | ~$900-$1,200 |
| Primary resident, under 65 | 4% | ~$2,300-$2,700 |
| Second home / investor | 6%, no exemptions | ~$4,200-$4,800 |
This math applies whether you're looking at Del Webb Grande Dunes near the Intracoastal, Seasons at Prince Creek West in Murrells Inlet, or Myrtle Trace inland near Conway — the filing requirement is a Horry County mechanic, not a community-specific one. It's also worth checking against Brunswick County, North Carolina, just across the state line near Sea Trail and Brunswick Plantation — Horry County's stacked structure tends to win clearly for primary residents 65 and older, but confirm the current comparison before assuming it by default.
The honest way to shop this market: file the legal residence declaration and the 65+ homestead exemption as separate, immediate tasks at closing — don't assume either happens automatically just because you qualify by age.
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