FHA Loans in West Ashley, SC: Older Homes Near the River, Condos and New Homes at Long Savanna

The Crescent and Windermere were laid out in 1926, the year the Ashley River Memorial Bridge opened, as West Ashley's first suburbs for Charlestonians who now had cars. Stono Park followed in 1928, and Byrnes Downs, named for James F. Byrnes, Truman's Secretary of State, came in 1943. The City of Charleston's study of Byrnes Downs counts 347 single-family homes on curving streets, with yards and driveways that were a novelty to families moving out from the city.

An FHA loan works on all three kinds of West Ashley home: an older home in Windermere or Byrnes Downs, a condo, and a new home at Long Savanna. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work with West Ashley clients by phone.

My West Ashley page covers the area itself, its drainage basins and its two local governments, and the Charleston area page covers the region. The FHA explainer covers the program basics. The FHA rules below come from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, and I checked every local fact on November 3, 2026.

FHA on an older home in Windermere, Stono Park or Byrnes Downs

On a home built in the 1920s or 1940s, the FHA appraiser pays close attention to the paint and the wood. The home has to be free of lead paint hazards, and free of termites and the other insects and organisms that destroy wood. If the appraiser calls for an inspection by a qualified pest control company, the lender gets that inspection and proof of any treatment it required.

If the appraiser reports a defect in the paint or the wood, the lender can approve the home only after that defect is corrected. A home inspection before the appraisal lets you see early what the appraiser is likely to see. Once you have it, please send me the complete home inspection report, all pages, along with any pest inspection report, please.

Sometimes the repair list on an older West Ashley home is longer than the seller wants to take on. FHA's 203(k) loan lets you fold the cost of that work into your purchase loan. For repairs and updates that are not structural, up to $75,000 in total costs, the Limited 203(k) works without a consultant. Larger or structural work goes on the Standard 203(k), which requires a 203(k) consultant on the project.

On a home 30 years old or more, a Standard 203(k) includes a contingency reserve of 10% to 20% of the repair costs. That reserve is extra money in the loan for costs that come up once the work starts. If you already own one of these homes and want to pay for the work yourself in stages, my West Ashley HELOC page covers borrowing against it.

Buying a condo in West Ashley with an FHA loan

A Post and Courier homes listing shows a two-bedroom condo on Parkdale Drive that sold for $220,000 in February 2026, and Redfin's West Ashley condo page showed 43 condos for sale at a median asking price of $275,000. FHA financing on a West Ashley condo depends on the project's standing with HUD, and listings do not show it.

If your building's project is on HUD's approved list, FHA can insure your unit, and the lender checks the project's status on that list. If the project is not on the list, your unit can still be approved on its own. Among its checks, the project needs at least five units, and your unit's certificate of occupancy, the local move-in sign-off, has to be at least a year old, or someone has already lived there.

That single-unit route also needs an Accept, the passing result from FHA's automated underwriting software, which scores your loan file. If an underwriter reviews your file by hand instead, the loan tops out at 90% of the value, so you would put 10% down.

On the single-unit route, FHA also caps how many of its loans one project can carry. In a project of 20 units or more, the cap is 10% of the units, and in a smaller project it is two loans. Over that cap, FHA can stop issuing new case numbers in the project, and a case number is the file number FHA assigns when the lender opens your loan.

If any of the project's buildings are in FEMA's high-risk flood zone, the association carries flood insurance on those buildings, and that coverage is part of the review. My article on why condos are harder to finance covers the rest of what gets reviewed, including the association's budget. The monthly dues count in the payment I qualify you on.

New homes at Long Savanna and along Bees Ferry Road

Long Savanna is the 4,500-home plan on about 3,300 acres around Bear Swamp Road, off Bees Ferry Road and Savannah Highway, and my West Ashley page has its history. Jome, a new-home listing site, showed Pulte's homes at Long Savanna from $386,990 in July 2026. Mungo Homes announced in December 2025 that its first phase of drive-under single-family homes there would be released in late summer 2026.

FHA treats a finished home that no one has lived in, less than a year from its certificate of occupancy, as new construction, and that file uses different paperwork from a resale. A builder's help with your closing costs counts toward FHA's cap of 6% of the sales price on what a seller or builder can contribute. My article on seller and builder extras explains what happens above the cap. Builder offers change often, so please send me the builder's complete written offer, every page, and I will price the same FHA loan with and without it.

A new home in FEMA's high-risk flood zone qualifies for FHA with either a letter from FEMA that takes the home out of the zone or FEMA's elevation certificate. That certificate has to show the lowest floor and the equipment essential to the home's value were built above the 100-year flood level. If the certificate shows the home is still in the zone, the home also carries flood insurance. For a new home off Bees Ferry Road, please ask the builder for the elevation certificate along with the certificate of occupancy date.

FHA's 2026 loan limit in Charleston County

HUD's 2026 limits file sets the one-unit FHA limit for Charleston County at $690,000, under Mortgagee Letter 2025-23. The limit applies to the base loan before the upfront mortgage insurance premium is added. At 3.5% down, that base loan reaches a price of about $715,000. Dorchester County, home to Middleton Place on Ashley River Road, has the same limit.

You can put 3.5% down with a credit score of 580 or higher, and a score from 500 to 579 limits the loan to 90% of the value, which means 10% down. Redfin's West Ashley market page put the median sale price for its West Ashley area at $520,000 in July 2025, well under the limit. On a home priced above about $715,000, you would put down more than 3.5% to keep the base loan at $690,000.

Every FHA loan carries two mortgage insurance premiums. The upfront premium is 1.75% of the base loan, and you can finance it or pay it in cash at closing. On the $220,000 Parkdale Drive condo with 3.5% down, the base loan would have been $212,300 and the upfront premium $3,715. The annual premium on a 30-year loan with 3.5% down is 0.55% of the loan balance, paid monthly for the life of the loan. Every loan up to the county limit is under the $726,200 line in HUD's premium chart, so that rate is the same at any West Ashley price.

Flood insurance on an FHA loan in West Ashley

The lender orders its own flood zone check on the address, a report that says which FEMA zone the home is in, separate from anything the appraiser notes. If any part of the home or a related structure is in FEMA's high-risk zone, you carry flood insurance for the life of the loan. The coverage has to be at least the lowest of three figures: the cost to replace the home, the most the National Flood Insurance Program will write, or the loan balance. A private flood policy can take the place of the federal one when it meets FHA's requirements, and the premium counts in your monthly payment.

Some West Ashley homes drain to Church Creek. Others are in Windermere, between the Ashley River and Wappoo Creek, where the City began its $12.6 million drainage project in June 2026. The basin a home drains to and its FEMA zone are two separate things, and the lender's flood zone check on the address is the one FHA uses. FEMA's Community Rating System, its program that discounts flood premiums in communities that do extra flood protection work, can give a City of Charleston address and an unincorporated Charleston County address different discounts. My West Ashley page has those figures and their dates.

Moving in and the 4% owner-occupied assessment

FHA is for a home you live in. At least one person on the loan moves in within 60 days of signing the mortgage at closing and plans to stay at least a year. FHA insures one home per client as a principal residence, with a short list of exceptions.

The same move-in sets up Charleston County's lower 4% assessment on a home you own and live in. Charleston County's exemptions page says you apply for it and show you qualify, and that the deadline is typically January 15 each year. The application goes to the Assessor's office on Bridge View Drive in North Charleston and asks the date you moved in.

Middleton Place has a Charleston 29414 mailing address and is in Dorchester County, so the parcel record tells you which county to apply with.

The St. Andrews Public Service District serves the unincorporated pockets of West Ashley, and a home there gets the same FHA loan as one inside the City of Charleston. The two differ on the millage, which sets the tax rate, on which fire department answers and on the flood insurance discount, and my West Ashley page covers all three.

Before you write an offer in West Ashley

Please have your agent pull the Charleston County parcel record, which shows the county and whether the home is in the City of Charleston or the St. Andrews Public Service District. The lender orders the flood zone check, so you will get that one from me.

If it is a condo, please send me the project's name exactly as it is recorded and the association's current dues statement. For an older home in Windermere, Stono Park or Byrnes Downs, the complete home inspection report, all pages, is the one I will ask you for. If you are buying new, please ask the builder for its complete written offer, every page, and the certificate of occupancy date, plus the elevation certificate when the lot is in a high-risk flood zone. My pre-approval page lists the income and asset documents we will need.

Once you have an address or a condo in mind, I can run the FHA payment with that parcel's tax bill, the flood premium if the zone requires one and the association's dues in it. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and the application opens from there. You are also welcome to call me and talk it through first. The South Carolina page shows where I am licensed.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The Charleston County Assessor decides whether a home gets the 4% assessment, FEMA's map decides the flood zone, HUD's list decides a condominium project's status, and a builder's current written offer governs any incentive. Please confirm each before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

Is a West Ashley home under the FHA loan limit for 2026?

Most are. The median sale price Redfin reported for its West Ashley area in July 2025 is well under HUD's 2026 one-unit limit for Charleston County. A home priced above the limit still works with FHA when your down payment keeps the base loan at or under the limit.

Can I buy a condo in West Ashley with an FHA loan?

Yes, when the project is on HUD's approved list, or when the unit passes FHA's single-unit approval on its own. The lender checks the project's status on HUD's list, so please send me the project's name exactly as it is recorded before you write an offer. The association's dues count in the payment.

Does an FHA loan work on an older home in Windermere or Byrnes Downs?

Yes. The appraisal checks that the home is free of lead paint hazards and of termites and other wood-destroying insects, and any defect the appraiser reports has to be corrected before the lender approves the home. A 203(k) loan can finance larger repairs along with the purchase, and on a home 30 years old or more it carries a required contingency reserve.

Can I use an FHA loan on a new home at Long Savanna?

Yes. A finished home no one has lived in, less than a year from its certificate of occupancy, is handled as new construction. A builder's help with closing costs counts toward FHA's 6% cap on seller and builder contributions, and I can price the same FHA loan with and without the builder's written offer.

Does living in the St. Andrews Public Service District instead of the City of Charleston change my FHA loan?

No. The FHA loan is the same in either one. The district or the city changes the tax rate, which fire department answers and the flood insurance discount, and the Charleston County parcel record shows which one a home is in.

When do I apply for the 4% assessment on an FHA-financed home in West Ashley?

You apply after you move in, which FHA requires within 60 days of signing the mortgage at closing. Charleston County's deadline is typically January 15 each year, and the application asks the date you moved in.