South Carolina property tax laws

[Brent Rogers]

seem to stink for real estate investors! I live in Georgia, grew up in SC and have been exploring the possibility of buying MF rentals near USC. However the property taxes seem to be outrageous for a "non owner occupied" home versus "owner occupied". I'm talking 4 times as much in some cases. If I understand it correctly the rate applied against total millage initially appears to be mildy different (4% vs. 6%). However owner occupants do not pay the additional school tax. Only non-owner occupants pay it. Additionally owner occupants get an exemption on the first 50k or 100k of value. So if you live there with kids your property taxes do not pay for schools? If you do not live there you pay for their chidren to go to school? This seems crazy.

Is this a SC thing or do other states discourage investors like this? I don't see how investors can make any money in SC.

[Chris Duzan]

@Brent Rogers

I agree, at least for Richland County. I've been looking for a property around USC myself and the taxes do kill any possible deals. If you find a cheap enough house where the taxes aren't $500 bucks a month then the rent for that area is probably not good enough to cover everything. 

If you are interested in getting in the USC student market though I would recommend looking right across the bridge in Cayce or West Columbia. It's Lexington county and while the taxes still aren't great by any means, they're a good chunk less than Richland County's. 

Here's a tool to get an estimate on property tax in Lexington County...
http://www.lex-co.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=w...

I think it's last year's millage rates but it should be close enough for estimating expenses.

Hope this helps!