Myrtle Beach Condo Market Drives Rental Rates Up

These kinds of articles will certainly be very common in the years to come. The availability of even medium cost rentals close to the beach is so bad right now.

I live in Little River, about 4 miles from the beach, in one of the least expensive condo projects here. Our condos rent for $750 a month for a one bedroom! I don't know how any regular working stiff here could pay that much. And cramming many people into a one bedroom apartment will end up damaging the units in the long run.

I asked one of my clients who is a developer if they couldn't build some inexpensive condos on this big stretch of land beside us on Hwy 17. He did the addition, and with the cost of the land, he said you couldn't BUILD a 2 bedroom condo complex and sell them for under about $160,000.
That is amazing. With condo insurance rates rocketing this year, this is going to be such a problem for everyone.

Here's an article I found on WPDE Tv's website...

Rents could rise in Myrtle Beach
2/5/2007 6:37:47 PM

Myrtle Beach is the most expensive city for renters in South Carolina according to one local marketing analyst, and he says the prices could get even higher.

An article in USA Today says landlords are expected to raise apartment rents this year by 5%."No matter where we go, we want to hide," said Seymour Cass.

Seymour Cass left New York to escape the high cost of living. And now, he's not thrilled rent could go up."For people like us, who live on a fixed income, it's difficult, and it's only going to get worse," said Cass.

Market Analysis Tom Maeser says we're not seeing a hit right now, but rising insurance costs could change that and really affect the workforce.

"Our average rent for a two bedroom is around $712," said Maeser. "That takes an income of $13.65 an hour, but our main income in the area is $8.65 an hour, so there's quite a big step."

Right now, state lawmakers are considering increasing minimum wage from $5.12 an hour, to $7.25. But even if it changes, Maeser doesn't think it will be enough to handle the high cost of rent.

Newschannel 15 called several apartment complexes, and most haven't raised their prices as of yet. Lisa Brown is the property manager at Alexander Springs. She doesn't expect an increase greater than 10%. She says many apartment communities are waiving security deposits and keeping rates down to steer people away from condos.

"Last two years, we've had 11,000 condos and 2 or 3 apartments go through a condo conversion," said Brown. "We thought that would help us, in turn, investors have them on the rental market, and that hurt us."

But when apartment complexes must compete for business, it can mean a lower cost of living for renters, like Seymour Cass. Tom Maeser says a special task force was recently formed in Horry County, to look at making myrtle beach homes and apartments more affordable.

It's made up of people who live in the area, county council members, realtors, and developers.
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