Residential real estate financing for homes and single-family properties.
Residential properties on the Grand Strand exist in one of the most complex and stratified investment markets in the Southeast. Within a 60-mile coastal arc, you have oceanfront vacation-rental cottages in Garden City and Surfside Beach generating $50,000 to $90,000 in annual STR revenue; golf-course-community homes near TPC Myrtle Beach, Dunes Club, and Caledonia attracting second-home buyers from the Northeast and Midwest; long-term workforce rental properties in Conway, Socastee, and Little River serving the region's hospital, hospitality, and construction workforce; and appreciation-driven investment properties in rapidly-growing communities like Carolina Forest and the Highway 544 corridor where inbound migration is driving price growth. Each of these residential investment categories has its own economics, its own underwriting logic, and its own financing requirements — and Hard Money Lenders of Myrtle Beach understands all of them.
Our residential hard money loans provide investors with the speed and flexibility that conventional mortgage financing denies. We close in 5 to 10 business days. We lend to LLC and entity borrowers without imposing entity-seasoning requirements. We evaluate STR vacation-rental income using actual platform revenue data rather than Schedule E tax returns that systematically understate gross revenue. We finance properties in any condition — from turnkey rentals to storm-damaged fixer-uppers — because our loans are based on after-repair value rather than current as-is condition. And we work with borrowers whose income profiles — self-employed, recently retired, multiple-property portfolio, foreign national — don't fit the Fannie/Freddie conventional-mortgage template.
Loan amounts run from $75,000 for smaller single-family acquisitions in Conway and Loris to $2 million-plus for luxury oceanfront and intracoastal properties in Pawleys Island's DeBordieu Colony, Hagley Estates, and Litchfield by the Sea. Terms run 6 to 24 months depending on strategy. Interest-only payments during renovation periods and no prepayment penalties give you maximum flexibility across the loan lifecycle.
Single-family rental acquisitions represent the most active category of our residential lending. We finance buy-and-hold rental acquisitions throughout Horry County — including workforce rentals in Conway, Loris, and Socastee; upscale long-term rentals in Carolina Forest sub-villages like Berkshire Forest, Waterbridge, and Plantation Forest; and vacation-rental properties in North Myrtle Beach's oceanfront communities. Our loans close in the timeframes that competitive Grand Strand rental acquisitions require and do not limit the number of properties in an investor's portfolio.
Vacation-rental STR property acquisitions are a defining residential investment category in our market. Properties in Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, and Crescent Beach in North Myrtle Beach; in Surfside Beach and Garden City; and near the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk command premium vacation-rental revenues that support valuations above what owner-occupant comparables would suggest. We evaluate STR acquisitions using platform revenue data and Horry County seasonal occupancy benchmarks — not Schedule E tax returns — and we verify HOA STR-permission status before advancing funds on STR-strategy acquisitions.
Condominium and townhome investments in Myrtle Beach's resort-adjacent communities attract both vacation-rental investors and seasonal snowbird tenants who lease for three to six months in winter to escape Northeast cold. We finance condo acquisitions in oceanfront and golf-course communities throughout the Grand Strand, reviewing association financial health, reserve fund adequacy, and STR permissibility as part of standard underwriting.
Residential renovation and fix-to-rent projects in Conway, Socastee, and older sections of Myrtle Beach allow investors to convert below-market properties into above-market rentals through strategic renovation. We finance these combined acquisition-and-renovation projects based on after-repair value, with renovation funds held in escrow and released in inspected draws.
Portfolio acquisitions — purchasing multiple residential properties simultaneously from an investor or estate liquidating a rental portfolio — accelerate portfolio-building for active investors. We structure blanket loan financing across multiple properties with streamlined documentation and terms reflecting portfolio-level cash flow rather than individual property characteristics.
Competition from cash buyers remains the most persistent challenge for Grand Strand residential investors relying on conventional financing. In Cherry Grove, Crescent Beach, and Garden City — the most active STR investment markets — properties in desirable vacation-rental communities receive multiple cash offers within 48 to 72 hours of listing. Investors who cannot demonstrate comparable certainty of close lose consistently to competitors with pre-staged capital. Our hard money pre-approval letters provide that close-certainty equivalent to listing agents and sellers who are choosing between offers.
Coastal property-specific underwriting factors — FEMA flood-zone designations, windstorm insurance requirements, salt-air construction standards — create a complexity layer that many national hard money lenders handle poorly. A North Myrtle Beach oceanfront condo with a VE flood designation requires specific insurance coverage that affects monthly carrying costs and refinancing eligibility. A Surfside Beach cottage on pilings in a VE zone has a replacement-cost calculation that differs fundamentally from an inland structure. We factor these realities into our underwriting rather than discovering them at closing.
The SC 4% vs. 6% property tax differential affects investment property economics in a way that investors from other states routinely miscalculate. Owner-occupied primary residences are assessed at 4% of fair market value in South Carolina; non-owner-occupied investment properties are assessed at 6%. On a $400,000 rental property in Myrtle Beach, the difference between applying the 4% and 6% assessment rates translates to approximately $1,200 to $1,600 per year in additional property taxes — a cash-flow impact that must be incorporated in accurate investment analysis. We model property taxes at the correct 6% assessment rate in all investment-property underwriting.
Our residential lending process is optimized for the speed and deal-specificity that Grand Strand investors need. We provide preliminary loan terms within hours of receiving basic property information — address, purchase price, borrower overview — and formal commitments within 24 to 48 hours. This rapid-response approach is calibrated to the Grand Strand market's competitive deal timelines.
Underwriting focuses on property value, income potential (using market-rate rental analysis or STR revenue data as appropriate), and your investment experience rather than on W-2 income documentation and conventional debt-to-income calculations. We evaluate each deal individually. If a property's numbers don't work at our standard terms, we tell you why — clearly and specifically — rather than declining without explanation and leaving you to guess what went wrong.
Our goal is to be the residential hard money lender that Grand Strand investors return to for their second, fifth, and tenth deals because we closed when we said we would, disclosed all costs upfront, and treated challenges during the loan term as problems to solve together rather than pretexts for acceleration.
We provide residential hard money loans throughout the Grand Strand and surrounding South Carolina communities, including Myrtle Beach (Carolina Forest, Market Common, Plantation Point, Withers Estates, Dunes Club area), North Myrtle Beach (Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, Windy Hill), Surfside Beach, Garden City, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Little River, Conway, Socastee, Loris, and all areas within Horry and Georgetown Counties.
Yes. Vacation-rental condos in North Myrtle Beach's Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, and Crescent Beach oceanfront communities are among the most common residential collateral types in our portfolio. We review HOA financial health, reserve fund status, STR permissibility, and any pending special assessments or litigation as standard underwriting steps. Associations with adequate reserves, no active construction-defect litigation, and explicit STR permission in governing documents are preferred. We confirm STR eligibility before advancing funds on STR-strategy acquisitions.
We apply the South Carolina six-percent non-owner-occupied assessment rate to all investment property cash-flow projections — not the four-percent primary-residence rate. The difference is material: on a $400,000 investment property in Horry County, the gap between four-percent and six-percent assessment translates to approximately $1,200 to $1,600 in additional annual property taxes at current millage rates. We model taxes correctly in underwriting and recommend that investors do the same in their own deal analysis.
We typically require 20 to 30 percent down payment for residential investment properties, meaning we lend 70 to 80 percent of purchase price. For properties in FEMA Flood Zone VE or for higher-priced luxury properties in Pawleys Island and North Myrtle Beach waterfront communities, we may require 30 to 35 percent. For renovation acquisitions, we base loan amounts on after-repair value rather than purchase price, which can sometimes enable 90 to 100 percent of the purchase price when the renovation budget generates significant ARV uplift.
Yes. The majority of the most desirable investment properties on the Grand Strand — oceanfront condos, near-ocean cottages, and Intracoastal Waterway-adjacent properties — carry VE or AE flood-zone designations. We underwrite flood-zone residential properties routinely, factoring required flood insurance, windstorm insurance, and where applicable, elevation certificate costs into our collateral analysis and cash-flow projections. Elevation certificates are reviewed during underwriting for flood-zone investment properties.
We do not impose categorical limits on the number of financed investment properties. Unlike conventional lenders who cap investor financing at four to ten mortgages, we evaluate each deal individually based on property merit and your overall financial position. Active portfolio builders acquiring multiple Grand Strand properties in the same year can close sequential loans with us. We track aggregate portfolio leverage and cash-flow adequacy across your full borrowing relationship rather than applying per-property count limits.
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