South Carolina Home
Buying & Selling Calculators
Work out your payment, what you can afford, the cash you'll need to close, or what you'd walk away with when you sell, using South Carolina's real taxes and fees.
- South Carolina property tax (4% vs 6%), deed fee and attorney closings built in
- Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA loans, with their real fees
- Free, instant, nothing to sign up for. Your numbers stay on your device
Our assumptions, checked November 2026: mortgage rate from Freddie Mac's weekly average (change it to your lender's rate); property tax on a primary home about 0.60% of value a year in Richland County, 0.50% in Lexington and 0.51% in Kershaw (a second home or rental roughly 2.5 times that); FHA 1.75% upfront and 0.55% a year; VA funding fee 2.15% first use with no money down; USDA 1% upfront and 0.35% a year; deed recording fee $1.85 per $500. Estimates only, not a loan offer or tax advice.
Calculator Questions
The South Carolina rules behind the numbers.
A common comfortable guide is spending no more than 28% of your gross income on housing and 36% on all debts. Many lenders approve more: up to about 45% of income on all debts for conventional loans and 50% for FHA. The affordability calculator shows both, with South Carolina property tax and insurance included.
South Carolina assesses your legal residence at 4% of its value instead of 6%, and it is exempt from school operating taxes, so you pay much less tax on the home you live in than on a second home or rental. You apply with your county assessor after you buy; it isn't automatic.
Usually about 2% to 4% of the price, before any help from the seller. That covers lender fees, the appraisal, the closing attorney (South Carolina closings are run by an attorney), title insurance, and prepaid insurance, interest and escrow. FHA, VA and USDA upfront fees are usually added to the loan.
Usually the seller. It is $1.85 for every $500 of the sale price, or $3.70 per $1,000: about $1,110 on a $300,000 home. The seller net sheet includes it.
Often not. If you owned the home and lived in it for 2 of the last 5 years, up to $250,000 of profit ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) is usually tax free. The profit calculator shows an estimate; check the details with your CPA.
No, they are careful estimates using current South Carolina figures. Your lender's Loan Estimate and the closing attorney's settlement statement have the real numbers. Call us at (803) 319-6872 and we'll walk through yours.
Want someone to check your numbers?
John and our agents will walk through them with you, free. Buying, selling, or both.