Buying a Home in the Columbia, SC Area: Lake Murray, Fort Jackson, Blythewood and the Midlands Towns

When the Saluda Dam closed in 1930, it was the largest earthen dam in the world, and 5,000 people and 193 graveyards had been moved out of the way of the water (Wikipedia: Lake Murray). The lake it made is Lake Murray, and almost a century later the power company that owns the dam still sets the water level and signs off on every dock.

The Columbia area is the state capital and the University of South Carolina downtown, Fort Jackson inside the city limits, Lake Murray and the towns around it, and Blythewood, where Scout Motors is building its plant.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943. I have been a mortgage broker since 1996, I'm licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I work out of Bluffton in Beaufort County. I have written the same kind of guide for the Charleston area and for Hilton Head and Bluffton. Everything here about Columbia comes from public sources read in September 2026, cited beside the facts that matter most.

Lake Murray, Irmo and Chapin

Lake Murray covers about 50,000 acres of what was farmland, runs 41 miles long and 14 miles wide, and borders Lexington, Richland, Saluda and Newberry counties (Wikipedia: Lake Murray). Bomb Island, in the middle of the lake, is one of the largest purple martin roosts in the country. Irmo's motto calls the town the gateway to the lake, and Chapin, named for Martin Chapin in 1889, calls itself the capital of Lake Murray and has "Fish Away" for a motto (Wikipedia: Chapin). The nearest arm of the lake reaches within half a mile of Chapin's town limits.

Irmo was chartered in 1890, when the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad opened, and its Okra Strut festival started in 1973 as a library fundraiser (Wikipedia: Irmo). On the Lexington side of the lake, Hooked on the Water, a 19,000-square-foot waterfront dining and music venue inside The Retreat at Lake Murray near U.S. 378, is set to open in late 2026 (Post and Courier, September 15, 2026).

Dominion Energy owns the dam and runs the lake. Any dock, boat ramp, retaining wall or other shoreline work at or below the line at 360 feet of elevation needs Dominion's written approval first, and you apply online (Dominion Energy). Locals call it the 360 line, so when a listing says the lot is dockable, ask whether the dock already has Dominion's approval.

Right now the lake is being drawn down. Dominion will lower it to about 350 feet by December 2026 and hold it there through January 2027. It plans to bring the lake back to the 358-foot summer level by late spring 2027, and the purpose is to control aquatic vegetation (Post and Courier, September 9, 2026). The last drawdown to 350 feet was in January 2023. If you walk a waterfront property this winter, the shoreline you see will be a long way from the summer shoreline. Full pool, the level the lake is built to hold, is 360 feet, and the normal summer level is 358 (Dominion Energy), so I'd ask what the water looks like at those levels.

Scout Motors and the growth of Blythewood

Blythewood had 170 residents at the 2000 census, 4,750 at the 2020 census and 7,233 in 2025, a 52.3% increase over those five years (U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025; Wikipedia: Blythewood). Scout Motors is building a $2 billion plant next door in the Blythewood Industrial Park, with more than 4,000 permanent jobs planned, plus a $300 million supplier park with about 1,000 more. As of July 2026 the paint shop was near completion and the assembly conveyors were going in (Scout Motors, August 6, 2026). The company had hired 100 production and maintenance workers by April 21, 2026, and the first consumer vehicles are planned for 2028 (Post and Courier, April 21, 2026).

The Blythewood submarket has taken delivery of 1,428 apartment units since the second quarter of 2025, and two large neighborhoods are approved near the plant (Post and Courier, September 11, 2026, citing Colliers). A 600-home neighborhood on Mount Valley Road, less than a mile from the Scout site, got final county approval in July 2025 (WIS). Haven, a 255-home plan between Blythebrook Road and Fulmer Road, got its first County Council approval on May 19, 2026, with construction expected in summer 2028 (Post and Courier, May 24, 2026). County planning staff noted that the plan does not match the 2015 comprehensive plan, and that Fulmer Road carries about 1,750 trips a day against a capacity of 8,600 (Richland County Planning Commission, May 4, 2026). No road improvements are planned on Fulmer Road while Haven is built, so drive that road yourself at the times you would commute.

For everyday care, Lexington Health opened a medical park at 230 Red Hawk Way, near the Scout site, in December 2025 (WIS). The town spans Richland and Fairfield counties, and I cover what that means for the tax bill in the property tax section below.

Fort Jackson and Northeast Columbia

Fort Jackson opened in 1917 as Camp Jackson, covers more than 52,000 acres, and has been inside the Columbia city limits since October 1968. It trains half of all soldiers entering the Army each year, and it is home to the Drill Sergeant Academy, the Chaplain Center and School and the Soldier Support Institute (Wikipedia: Fort Jackson). If you are relocating on orders, how VA loans work in South Carolina covers entitlement, the funding fee and what an attorney closing changes here. South Carolina also has a property tax exemption for veterans rated 100% permanently and totally disabled, and I explain it in the property tax section below.

The neighborhoods between the post and I-20 are where the new single-family building is. Ross Village, 42 homes on almost 18 acres on Jacobs Mill Pond Road, went to the city Planning Commission in August 2026. The Spears Creek Church Road corridor nearby has added hundreds of homes in recent years (Post and Courier, August 13, 2026). Prisma Health opened its $128 million Northeast Medical Park at 1120 Roberts Branch Parkway, near I-77 and Killian Road, in November 2025, with cancer care on the fourth floor following in early 2026 (Prisma Health). The Wm. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center at 6439 Garners Ferry Road has 24-hour emergency care (VA).

Richland Two, the school district for the Northeast, redrew the lines for ten elementary schools for 2026-27 to relieve crowding along I-20 and Two Notch Road. The final plan moved 660 students, and rising fifth graders and their siblings were allowed to stay (Post and Courier Education Lab, October 29, 2025). If you are looking at a home in that corridor, pull up the district's current map for that address rather than going by the school named in the listing.

Downtown Columbia, the Vista, Five Points, Shandon and BullStreet

Columbia became the state capital in 1786 and was laid out as one of the first planned cities in the country, where the Broad and Saluda rivers meet to form the Congaree (Wikipedia: Columbia). Its nickname is Soda City, from the short form Cola. Downtown, 1,014 apartments were under construction in September 2026, a 26.4% increase in the downtown inventory, with 222 Main View, Silver Hills and oLIV Columbia due in the first half of 2027 (Post and Courier, September 11, 2026). The former nightlife block on Senate Street in the Vista is becoming a seven-story, 221-unit building at 931 Senate Street (WIS, June 26, 2026). Vista property owners will also start paying into a new business improvement district in January 2027. It runs ten years and pays for ambassadors, litter and graffiti removal, landscaping and wayfinding (Cola Daily, August 6, 2026). If you are looking at a condo or a townhome in the Vista, ask whether that charge applies to it.

Five Points, where Harden Street, Devine Street and Santee Avenue meet, was Columbia's first neighborhood shopping district and the streetcar stop between downtown and Shandon. It was listed on the National Register in 2019 (Wikipedia: Five Points). Buildings in the district are held to a 75-foot height limit (Post and Courier). Next door, Old Shandon was laid out in 1893 as the city's first suburb, and the Shandon Neighborhood Council describes a Community Character Overlay for the neighborhood. Tearing down or moving a structure that is 50 years or older, and building on a newly split lot, both go through review first (Shandon Neighborhood Council). If you plan to buy an older Shandon home and rebuild, that review is part of your timeline.

In Rosewood, Seawell's sold the 5.17-acre event venue it had used since 1946, and 71 three-story townhomes are planned on the site at 1027 and 1125 Rosewood Drive (Post and Courier, September 3, 2026). The University of South Carolina enrolled about 41,650 students on the Columbia campus this fall, the largest enrollment in its history (USC, September 1, 2026). It is building The Commons at Carolina, more than 1,000 beds on Sumter Street between Blossom and Greene, to open in fall 2028 (USC, July 22, 2026). Both matter if you are buying near campus and thinking about renting a room or the whole home out later.

BullStreet is the 181-acre redevelopment of the former State Hospital grounds, zoned for 3,558 homes and 3.3 million square feet of commercial space. The Babcock Building holds 208 apartments, Page Ellington Park opened in 2021, and the Gather COLA food hall opened in December 2025 (Wikipedia: BullStreet District). Two big buildings are going up there now. AMAROK is building a $69 million headquarters at Freed and Boyce streets, with about 300 jobs, to be running by the end of 2028 (WIS, March 24, 2026). USC's 16-acre Health Sciences Campus has its interior framing complete and is targeted to finish before fall 2027 (USC, July 22, 2026). Segra Park, home of the Columbia Fireflies, is inside the district as well.

Forest Acres and the Richland Mall redevelopment

Forest Acres is its own city, with Columbia wrapped all the way around it, and it has its own council (Wikipedia: Forest Acres). Richland Mall is fully demolished. Southeastern Development's plan for the site comes to more than $100 million. It includes a Kroger Marketplace, about 50,000 square feet of retail, more than 350 apartments and a six-acre city park, with delivery in late 2027 to 2028 (City of Forest Acres, May 4, 2026). In May 2026 the city approved design changes that moved buildings for engineering and floodplain requirements (WIS, May 26, 2026). MUSC Health broke ground in February 2026 on a primary care office at 5213 North Trenholm Road (Post and Courier).

New homes and projects in Lexington, Cayce and West Columbia

The Town of Lexington reached 25,729 people in 2025, up 8.9% since 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau). On January 5, 2026, the town annexed 191 acres in the 300 block of Barr Road, where Meritage Homes plans 299 single-family homes with one entrance. Because the land is inside the town, the builder has to fund the traffic studies and road improvements (WIS, January 7, 2026). The town has charged impact fees for transportation, parks and municipal facilities since February 1, 2020 (Town of Lexington), and a second-phase update to those fees passed first reading on May 4, 2026 (Town of Lexington). An impact fee is a one-time charge on new construction, and it reaches you through the price of a new home.

A court also ordered the Town of Lexington to pay West Columbia $5.7 million in a three-decade dispute over which utility serves water to six subdivisions near Lake Murray, Settlers Point among them (Post and Courier, September 11, 2026). If you are buying in one of those neighborhoods, you'll want to ask which utility bills the water.

Sewer is the same kind of question in Chapin. New homes there that connect to the town's sewer system depend on how much room that system has left. The mayor paused new permits on the town's water and sewer system after his election in November 2025. He has said the town can extend sewer to only about 170 more properties before its treatment plant is close to full (Post and Courier, September 6, 2026). That is the backdrop to Palatin, a plan for about 600 homes, a technology incubator and a library branch on the former Brighton technology park. Lexington County voted on August 11, 2026 to sell that land to a homebuilder, and it has sued the town over sewer connections (Cola Daily, August 26, 2026). If you are looking at a new home in Chapin, ask the builder which utility will serve it and whether the home's sewer connection is already approved.

Prysmian is expanding its plant at 700 Industrial Drive in Lexington: $80 million and about 135 jobs, online in May 2028 (SC Governor's Office, August 13, 2026). Lexington Medical Center, at 2720 Sunset Boulevard in West Columbia, has 557 beds and opened in 1971 as Lexington County Hospital (Wikipedia).

Cayce was incorporated in 1914, it holds Dominion Energy South Carolina's headquarters, and its paved riverwalk runs 12 miles along the Congaree. Columbia Metropolitan Airport is just west of the city limits (Wikipedia: Cayce). On September 1, 2026, the city gave final approval to rezoning 45 acres on Lybrand Street from industrial to residential for 70 to 80 homes (Post and Courier, September 2, 2026). The city is also writing a unified zoning ordinance that would limit where data centers can go and add licensing, occupancy and parking rules for short-term rentals (Post and Courier, September 14, 2026).

West Columbia was incorporated in 1894 as Brookland and took its current name in 1936 (Wikipedia: West Columbia). Since September 7, 2026, the $7.5 million Meeting Street project has been cutting four lanes to two between Sunset Boulevard and 9th Street, just under a mile. It adds medians, turn lanes and 63 parking spaces (Post and Courier, September 10, 2026). The city also tightened its short-term rental rules on September 1, 2026. Overnight guests are now capped at the permitted occupancy, which is double the number of bedrooms, and the zoning exceptions were narrowed (Post and Courier, September 2, 2026). If you are counting on rental income from a West Columbia home, read the new ordinance before you make an offer.

Kershaw County growth in Camden, Elgin and Lugoff

Camden was laid out in 1732 and founded in 1733, which makes it the oldest inland city in South Carolina (Wikipedia: Camden). It is a steeplechase town, with the Carolina Cup each spring and the Colonial Cup each fall at Springdale Race Course. MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center is the hospital there. Kershaw County grew 11.9% between 2020 and 2025, to 73,166 people, the largest increase among the six counties in the metro (U.S. Census Bureau).

Elgin was named Blaney until residents voted to rename it in the 1960s, when the Elgin Watch Company opened a plant. Blaney Elementary, Blaney Baptist Church and the Blaney Fire Department keep the old name. The town has about 1,000 residents, and about 25,000 people live around it (Kershaw County Chamber). On July 22, 2025, Kershaw County Council adopted a 255-day moratorium on new subdivisions of more than five lots in the unincorporated county, plus an impact fee ordinance that took effect the same day (WIS, July 22, 2025). The moratorium was written to run into spring 2026. The county's planning office can tell you whether it was extended and what the adopted fee came to, and I'd ask before you count on a new lot there.

The school district has bought land at Highway Church Road and Steven Campbell Road in Elgin for an elementary school of about 700 students. It has also bought nearly 130 acres on Fort Jackson Road in Lugoff for a future middle or high school. Opening dates for the two schools are still a question for the district office.

Malfunction Junction, the Penny and the road projects that change a commute

Malfunction Junction is the I-20, I-26 and I-126 interchange, it carries more than 134,000 vehicles a day, and SCDOT's Carolina Crossroads project is rebuilding it. The project is $2.69 billion, 14 miles widened, 43 new bridges and seven rebuilt interchanges. SCDOT expects substantial completion, which means the new roads are open and only finishing work is left, in the mid-2030s (SCDOT Carolina Crossroads). Phases 1 and 2, at I-126 and Colonial Life Boulevard and at Broad River Road and I-20, are complete. Phase 3C, the I-20 bridges over the Saluda River and the widening at Exits 61 to 63, was 25% complete as of September 2026 and is targeted for 2029. The interchange itself, Phase 3E, along with the St. Andrews Road and Bush River Road work, begins in 2030, and the I-26 and Harbison Boulevard interchange work begins in 2027 (SCDOT phases). If your commute crosses that junction, those dates tell you which part of it changes when.

The Penny is Richland County's 1% transportation sales tax, approved in 2012 and capped at $1.07 billion. It has paid for the Elmwood and Bull Street work, Garners Ferry at Harmon Road, the Greene Street bridge, the Three Rivers Greenway and North Main Street. The county expects the full amount to be collected in late 2026 (Richland Penny). It is a sales tax, so it has never been a line on a property tax bill.

Two smaller road changes are described above: the Meeting Street project in West Columbia, and Fulmer Road in Blythewood, where no road improvements are planned alongside the Haven neighborhood.

School changes this year in Lexington-Richland Five, Richland Two and Lexington One

Lexington-Richland Five reorganized on July 1, 2026 and did away with its intermediate schools. Chapin Intermediate became Chapin Middle at 1130 Old Lexington Highway, the old Chapin Middle became Spring Hill Middle at 11661 Broad River Road, and CrossRoads Intermediate became a middle school academy. Bell times changed too: elementary 7:40 to 2:30, middle 8:00 to 3:15, and the Chapin, Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools 8:20 to 3:40 (Lexington-Richland Five). The work is paid for by the $240 million bond voters approved in November 2024, which also funds a new Dutch Fork Elementary on Hollingshed Road (Post and Courier).

Richland Two's ten-school rezoning is described in the Fort Jackson section above. Lexington One was studying a new career and technology center and either a new middle or high school in the Gilbert area as of February 2026, with no referendum date set (WIS, February 28, 2026). And C.R. Neal Academy, a charter school authorized by Voorhees University, is set to open in August 2027 on Atlas Road between Bluff Road and Garners Ferry Road, starting with about 260 sixth and ninth graders (Post and Courier, September 16, 2026).

Columbia-area hospitals and emergency rooms

MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown, the former Providence Hospital, opened its expanded emergency department on July 30, 2026. The $30 million renovation doubles the department's capacity, with full completion in December 2026 (MUSC, July 30, 2026). Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, Prisma Health's Northeast Medical Park, Lexington Health's Blythewood medical park, MUSC's Kershaw Medical Center in Camden and the Dorn VA Medical Center are in the sections above. If you are comparing two addresses, time the drive from each one to the emergency room you would actually use.

The six counties of the Columbia metro, and the towns that cross a county line

The Columbia metro is Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, Saluda and Calhoun counties, and the local papers call the whole area the Midlands. By the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates, Richland County has 434,956 people, Lexington County has 317,588, and the City of Columbia reached 147,035 (U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). The county, town and school district a home is in each change its property tax bill, and a mailing address alone will not always tell you which county you are in.

Three towns cross a county line. Irmo spans Lexington and Richland counties, Cayce is mostly in Lexington County with a rural eastern part in Richland, and Blythewood spans Richland and Fairfield (Wikipedia: Irmo, Cayce, Blythewood). The City of Columbia charges the same city levy, 89.6 mills, whether the home is on the Richland or the Lexington side of the line. Cayce does the same at 62.1 mills (SC Association of Counties, 2025 Property Tax Rates by County, February 2026 revision). A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

School districts do not follow the county lines either. Lexington-Richland School District Five, which serves Irmo, Chapin and Dutch Fork, crosses the county line, and its levies appear in both county tables. The Saluda County table lists a Lexington district's school levy alongside Saluda's own, so a Saluda County home can be in a Lexington school district (SC Association of Counties, 2025). So when you are comparing two properties, find out which county and which school district each one is in before you compare the tax figures.

Property tax on a Columbia-area home

South Carolina assesses the home you live in as your legal residence at 4% of its value, and every other property at 6%. You have to apply for the 4% rate, because the county does not apply it on its own. Richland County takes the application online or in person, and its deadline is "by the first penalty date of the current year's tax notice." Every owner and spouse needs four things. Those are a South Carolina driver's license, a South Carolina vehicle registration at the address, a Social Security card or birth certificate, and redacted income tax returns (Richland County Assessor). Lexington County takes the application online, and it did a countywide reassessment in 2025 (Lexington County Assessor).

South Carolina exempts the home and up to five acres from property tax for a veteran rated 100% permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected condition. The home has to be the veteran's legal residence at the 4% rate. You apply for the veteran exemption through the Department of Revenue on form PT-401I or through MyDORWAY, and it takes 10 to 12 weeks (SC Department of Revenue). Richland County's list of documents for the 4% application includes a category for military status, so a household arriving on orders should ask the assessor what applies before filing (Richland County).

A 4% home is exempt from the school operating levy and still pays the school debt levy, the part that repays construction bonds (SC Association of Counties, 2025). That is where the districts differ. The 2025 school debt levy is 55.0 mills in Richland One, 96.0 in Richland Two, 90.0 in Lexington One, 79.5 in Lexington Two, 69.5 in Lexington-Richland Five, 64.2 in Kershaw County and 20.6 in Fairfield County. So two homes of the same value, one in Richland One and one in Richland Two, do not pay the same school tax.

The rest of the bill depends on where the home is:

• The county levy is 132.0 mills in Richland, 88.3 in Lexington, 97.5 in Kershaw, 199.9 in Fairfield, 182.8 in Saluda and 157.3 in Calhoun. Blythewood spans Richland and Fairfield, so on a Blythewood home, find out which side of that line the parcel is on.
• The town levy, if the home is inside a town, runs from 12.4 mills in Camden and 16.7 in Chapin to 89.6 in the City of Columbia. Forest Acres is 53.6, Cayce is 62.1, and West Columbia is 66.2 plus 6.6 for debt. The 2025 table lists no town levy for Blythewood or Irmo, so the county auditor can tell you what either town charges on a given parcel.
• A sales tax credit comes off the bill in Richland, Kershaw, Fairfield, Saluda and Calhoun counties. The credit is the home's appraised value multiplied by a factor the county sets: 0.001600 in Richland County, plus 0.002292 inside the City of Columbia, and 0.001660 in Kershaw County, plus 0.003000 inside Camden. The 2025 report lists no such credit for Lexington County.
• Flat fees are added. Unincorporated Richland County charges a $399.46 solid waste fee per home and a $20 road maintenance fee per vehicle. Irmo homes carry a $356 sanitation and maintenance fee plus the Irmo Fire District's levy. Kershaw County bills carry a $151 solid waste fee and a $97 county fire fee, and homes in the Lugoff Fire District pay $83. Some Forest Acres and Arcadia Lakes bills carry a dam-rebuild charge, which I cover in the flood section.

With a made-up $300,000 home in the City of Columbia and Richland One, the arithmetic looks like this:

Appraised value (invented)                          $300,000
Assessed at 4%                                       $12,000
County 132.0 + city 89.6 + school debt 55.0       276.6 mills
$12,000 x 0.2766                                      $3,319
Sales tax credit: $300,000 x (0.002292 + 0.001600)   -$1,168
Before special districts and flat fees                $2,151

The 2025 report prints the Town of Lexington's levy at a figure far above every comparable town, which looks like a printing error, so please confirm a Town of Lexington home's levy with the Lexington County Auditor. South Carolina also gives a homestead exemption on the first $50,000 of value on the legal residence of an owner over 65, totally and permanently disabled, or legally blind. You apply for that one at the county auditor (SC Department of Revenue).

A purchase also resets the home's taxable value, and that reset shows up on your second bill after you buy. The tax on a listing reflects the seller's value and the seller's classification, so a home that was a rental at 6% can look expensive, and a long-held home at 4% can look cheap. I explain the timing in what happens to your property taxes after you buy.

Flood history, flood zones and the dam-rebuild charges around Columbia

The flood that still shows up on some tax bills here came on October 3 to 5, 2015. Gills Creek crested at 17.08 feet against a previous record of 9.43 feet, 18 dams breached across the state, including the Semmes Lake dam at Fort Jackson, and Forest Lake failed too (Wikipedia: October 2015 storm complex). The Richland Mall redesign moving buildings for floodplain requirements is one lasting result.

The dam-rebuild charges are another. After the 2015 flood, several of the small lakes in Forest Acres and Arcadia Lakes had their dams rebuilt. The 2025 county report lists flat "Rebuild Dam" charges for Rockyford Lake, Cary Lake, Upper Rockyford, Beaver Creek in Wildewood and Lake Dogwood, running from $850 to $3,500. It also lists a small levy for the Windsor Lake dam in East Richland (SC Association of Counties, 2025). The report does not say which parcels carry each charge, so if you are looking at a home near one of those lakes, the seller's actual tax bill will show whether that line is on it.

Richland County has been in the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and unincorporated Richland County has earned a 10% discount on flood insurance premiums through FEMA's Community Rating System. The county names Gills Creek, Reeder Point Branch, Bay Branch, Eightmile Branch, Stoop Creek and Crane Creek as its local flood hazard areas, and it will verify the flood zone for an unincorporated address for free (Richland County). The City of Columbia, Lexington County and Forest Acres each carry their own rating, so the discount on a given property depends on which one it is in, and a flood insurance agent can tell you which applies.

For a property in FEMA's high-risk flood area, called the Special Flood Hazard Area, the lender will require flood insurance, and that premium becomes part of your monthly payment. On a creek or lake lot, get a flood insurance quote before you make an offer, so the payment you plan around already includes it. On Lake Murray, Dominion Energy sets the water level, and the lake is built to hold water up to 360 feet of elevation. The height of a lakefront lot above that line is the starting point for any question about water reaching it. A flood insurance agent can tell you whether the lot is in the high-risk flood area and what flood insurance would cost there, and that is a conversation to have before the offer.

Columbia-area taxes, flood insurance and your monthly mortgage payment

All six counties carry the same 2026 conforming and FHA loan limits, and they are in the box below this article. The conforming limit is the largest loan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy in a county, and a loan above it is called a jumbo loan.

Taxes, insurance and any association dues are part of the monthly payment a lender measures against your income, so the facts above feed straight into your monthly payment. The 4% rate and the school debt levy set the tax line, and the town levy and the flat fees add to it. A creek or lake lot can add flood insurance to the payment, and a builder's impact fee reaches you through the price of a new home. Pre-approval in South Carolina covers what the letter is based on, and the South Carolina page covers attorney closings and the rest of the state's rules.

Once you're ready, you can see your rates and payment for a purchase anywhere in the six counties: rates for your scenario and South Carolina closing costs, with no credit pull and no account. You choose the rate option that works best for you, the selection can change later, and the application opens from there.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The value the county uses for a specific property, and whether it gets the 4% rate, are set by that county's assessor, so please confirm them with the county office.

Common questions

Is Blythewood in Richland County or Fairfield County?

It is in both. The Town of Blythewood spans the Richland-Fairfield county line, and the county a home is in decides which county levy and which school levies are on its tax bill. The 2025 county tax report also lists no town levy for Blythewood, so ask the county auditor what the town charges on the parcel you are considering.

Do I need a permit to build a dock on Lake Murray?

Yes, you do. Dominion Energy runs the lake, and any dock, boat ramp, retaining wall or other shoreline work at or below the line at 360 feet of elevation needs Dominion's written approval before anything else. You apply online, and locals call that line the 360 line.

Why is Lake Murray so low this winter?

Dominion Energy is drawing the lake down to about 350 feet by December 2026, holding it there through January 2027, and bringing it back to the 358-foot summer level by late spring 2027, to control aquatic vegetation. The last drawdown to 350 feet was in January 2023.

How do I get the 4% property tax rate in Richland County?

You apply to the Richland County Assessor, online or in person, by the first penalty date on the current year's tax notice. Every owner and spouse needs a South Carolina driver's license, a South Carolina vehicle registration at the address, a Social Security card or birth certificate, and redacted income tax returns. Lexington County takes its own application online.

When will Malfunction Junction be finished?

SCDOT expects Carolina Crossroads to be substantially complete, with the new roads open and only finishing work left, in the mid-2030s. Phases 1 and 2 are done, Phase 3C on I-20 at the Saluda River is targeted for 2029, and the rebuild of the I-20 and I-26 interchange itself begins in 2030.

Is Fort Jackson inside the City of Columbia?

Yes, it is. Fort Jackson was incorporated into the city in October 1968, and it covers more than 52,000 acres. It trains half of all soldiers entering the Army each year.

What is replacing Richland Mall in Forest Acres?

The mall has been demolished. The plan for the site is a Kroger Marketplace, about 50,000 square feet of retail, more than 350 apartments and a six-acre city park, with delivery in late 2027 to 2028. The city approved design changes in May 2026 that moved buildings to meet floodplain requirements.