Bluffton, SC FHA Loans: New Riverside Builders, HOA Dues in the Payment and the Town Line

On November 2, 2026, K. Hovnanian's page for The Lakes at New Riverside listed a three-bedroom, two-bath floor plan called The Clyde from $375,990, one of four plans in a community inside the Town of Bluffton.

You can buy a home in Bluffton with an FHA loan, and the 2026 limit of $638,250 is well above the typical sale price in the Bluffton ZIP codes, though most of the gated club communities sell far above it. 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 from Bluffton.

My page on Bluffton covers the history, the May River and the communities, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area page covers the region. The FHA rules below come from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, and I checked the local facts on November 2, 2026. If you want the program basics first, the FHA explainer has them.

Bluffton neighborhoods under the FHA limit

The whole Town of Bluffton is in Beaufort County, and HUD's 2026 limit for a one-unit home there is $638,250. The loan limit applies to the base loan, before the upfront mortgage insurance premium is added. At the 3.5% minimum down payment, a base loan of $638,250 corresponds to a price of about $661,400, and a larger down payment raises the price you can reach.

The Hilton Head Area REALTORS report for 29910 and 29909 puts the August 2026 median sale price at $531,225. The same association publishes nine neighborhood reports for the Bluffton area, and its August index links all of them. Only two had a year-to-date median under the limit:

Example: year-to-date median, HHAR August 2026 reports	Median
Bluffton General	$469,820
Sun City / Riverbend	$475,000
Hampton Hall	$885,000
Hampton Lake	$999,000
Belfair	$1,237,500
Palmetto Bluff	$2,695,000

Rose Hill, Berkeley Hall and Colleton River are also above the limit, so seven of the nine neighborhood medians are. I am glad to look at any one home on its own, because a single sale can be well under or over its neighborhood's median. For a home priced above the limit, FHA still works if the base loan stays at or under $638,250.

FHA payment on a Bluffton median-priced home

The Handbook says the minimum required investment is at least 3.5% of the adjusted value, which is the lower of the price and the appraised value, with a credit score of 580 or higher. Appendix 1.0 of the Handbook sets the upfront premium at 1.75% of the base loan, which you can finance, and the annual premium at 0.55% for this kind of loan, paid in monthly installments.

The tax lines use the 4% owner-occupied rate and the FY2026-27 millage on the Beaufort County Auditor's card, assessed at the purchase price. The next section explains the two districts.

Estimate: FHA purchase at 3.5% down	August ZIP median	Bluffton General YTD median
Home price	$531,225	$469,820
Down payment (3.5%)	$18,593	$16,444
Base loan	$512,632	$453,376
Upfront premium (1.75%), financed	$8,971	$7,934
Annual premium (0.55%), first year	about $2,819, or $235 a month	about $2,494, or $208 a month
Property tax, inside the Town, 4%	about $3,355 a year	about $2,967 a year
Property tax, unincorporated, 4%	about $2,590 a year	about $2,291 a year

None of that includes principal and interest, homeowners insurance, flood insurance or HOA dues, and I quote no rate on this page. Your own rate option comes from the pricing tool described at the bottom.

HOA dues count in the FHA payment

The Handbook lists "HOA or condominium association fees or expenses" among the parts of the total mortgage payment, next to taxes and insurance. A monthly dues figure therefore lowers the income left for everything else, dollar for dollar. Dues in the Bluffton area range widely, so the community you choose changes the payment as much as the price does. These annual figures come from Collins Group Realty's fee guide, dated March 2, 2026, which is a real estate firm's guide and not the association's own document:

Example: annual dues from a realtor fee guide	Per year	Per month
Meadows at New Riverside	$566	about $47
Heritage at New Riverside	$1,080	$90
The Lakes at New Riverside	$1,440	$120
Westbury Park	$1,844	about $154
Hampton Lake	$5,180	about $432

Between the first and last rows, the payment differs by about $385 a month before anything else is counted. For the figure I actually use, I ask for the association's own dues statement and its resale letter. My article on HOA and POA dues covers what else they collect at closing, and the gated club communities add one-time fees on top of that.

The Town line: tax and flood insurance on the same price

By my count of FEMA's flood policy data, more of the policies with a Bluffton ZIP code are outside the Town than inside it. A Bluffton mailing address says nothing about which side of the line a home is on. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, and the Beaufort County Auditor's FY2026-27 card lists 157.9 mills at the 4% rate for the Town of Bluffton and 121.9 mills for unincorporated Bluffton. The Town's own operating and debt levy accounts for the 36 mills between them. On the $531,225 median, that is about $765 a year, or $64 a month.

FHA is an owner-occupied loan, and the Handbook requires at least one person on the loan to move in within 60 days of signing and stay at least a year. That fits South Carolina's 4% rate for a legal residence, which you apply for with the Beaufort County Assessor. My Bluffton property tax page explains why the bill grows in the second year.

Flood works the other way around. The Handbook requires flood insurance for the life of the loan only when part of the dwelling is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, which is FEMA's high-risk zone. FEMA's community status data shows unincorporated Beaufort County at Class 5 in the Community Rating System and no class for the Town of Bluffton. That system is FEMA's program for discounting flood premiums in communities that do more than the minimum to reduce flood damage. FEMA's CRS page gives a Class 5 community a 25% discount on the premium portion of a federal flood policy.

My own count of FEMA's policy data finds 45 of 1,889 single-family policies inside the Town in a current high-risk zone, which is 2.4%.

FHA and the builders in New Riverside

The Town's Director of Growth Management told WTOC on August 26, 2026, "We're at about 80% developed residential uses in the town." Two builders, Pulte and K. Hovnanian, were selling inside the Town on the day I read their pages. Their pages are the only source for their offers, and offers change by the week. Pulte's Midpoint page had a builder rate commitment on conventional, 7/6 adjustable and FHA loans, with a lock-and-close date of October 31, 2026. That date has now passed, and I cannot tell you whether Pulte renewed it.

K. Hovnanian's page for The Lakes at New Riverside lists a floor plan from $375,990 and a promotion for contracts written between October 27 and November 30, 2026, closing by December 31. It states that "financing through KHAM is required to receive incentive," and it also says you are not required to finance through K. Hovnanian American Mortgage to buy. The sample rate on the page is for a conventional loan, and the page does not state an FHA offer.

A builder incentive and the FHA rules interact. FHA caps what a seller or builder can contribute toward your costs, and my article on seller extras walks through the cap and what happens above it. The paperwork for a home that is still being built is covered on my Hardeeville FHA page, because the same Handbook section applies. Please send me the builder's written offer, and I will price the same FHA loan with and without it.

Townhomes and condominium units

The Census Bureau's permit files list no buildings with two or more units in the Town for 2024, 2025 or the 2026 estimate. Whether FHA works on one depends on how the community was legally set up, and I read the recorded declaration, the document filed with the county, to find out.

If it is a condominium, I look first for the project on HUD's approved list. For an approved project I also check how many owners live there and how many are behind on dues. FHA wants at least 35% of the units owner-occupied and no more than 15% of them more than 60 days behind. A project that is not on the list can still work for a single unit, if the community has at least five units and your unit's certificate of occupancy is at least a year old or someone has lived in it. When an underwriter reviews that file by hand, line by line, the loan is limited to 90% of the value. That means a down payment of at least 10%.

If the declaration makes it a site condominium, where your unit is the dwelling plus the land under it and you carry the insurance and upkeep on the dwelling, FHA needs no project approval at all. A townhome that is fee simple, meaning you own the home and the lot outright, is set up differently, and the declaration tells me which of these you have. I have not confirmed any Bluffton project against HUD's list, so I check each one by name.

Sewer, septic and older homes near the May River

Older homes near the May River may still be on a septic tank. FHA wants a home connected to public sewer when that is available at a reasonable cost, and it accepts a septic system that works and meets the local health department's requirements. Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority's Alljoy project broke ground on July 22, 2026 to connect about 100 homes now on septic, with later phases depending on funding.

For an older home near the river, I ask whether it is on the public sewer line or a septic tank before the appraisal is ordered, and a home on septic is not ruled out.

Things to look up before you make an offer

• The parcel record on the county's property search, which shows whether the home is inside the Town of Bluffton and which tax district it is in.
• The FEMA flood zone for the specific lot, and an elevation certificate if any part of the dwelling is in a high-risk zone.
• The association's current dues statement and resale letter, and whether the townhome or villa is fee simple (you own the home and the lot outright) or a condominium unit.
• The builder's written offer: which lender it requires, the contract and closing dates, and any cost stated as a percentage of the loan amount.
• Whether the home is on public sewer or septic.
• Your complete income and asset documents for the pre-approval. Getting pre-approved in South Carolina lists what I will ask you for.

Once you have an address or a community in mind, I can run the FHA payment with that parcel's tax district, the flood premium if the zone requires one and the community'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.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The Beaufort County Assessor decides whether a home gets the 4% rate, FEMA's map decides the flood zone, the association's own documents govern its dues and the builder's current written offer governs any incentive. Please confirm each before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

What is the FHA loan limit in Bluffton, SC for 2026?

It is HUD's one-unit limit for Beaufort County, and the whole Town of Bluffton is in that county. The limit section above gives the figure and shows how many neighborhood medians fall under it.

Can I use an FHA loan to buy a home in Bluffton's gated communities?

Yes, as long as the base loan stays at or under the county limit and the property meets FHA's standards. Most gated club communities sell above the limit, so a larger down payment would be needed, and the association dues and any club charges count in the payment.

Do HOA fees count against me with an FHA loan in Bluffton?

The Handbook includes association fees and expenses in the total mortgage payment, so the monthly dues are part of what your income has to cover. I use the association's own dues statement for the number.

Does an FHA loan in Bluffton require flood insurance?

Only when part of the dwelling is in a Special Flood Hazard Area on FEMA's map. In that case the policy has to be kept for the life of the loan, and the premium counts in your monthly payment.

Can I buy a Bluffton townhome or condo with an FHA loan?

It depends on how the community is set up. A unit in a project on FHA's approved list works, a single unit can be approved on its own when the project meets the Handbook's tests, and a site condominium needs no project approval.

Is the property tax lower on a Bluffton home outside the Town limits?

Yes, the unincorporated districts carry fewer mills than the Town of Bluffton, because the Town's own levy is not charged there. The parcel record shows which district a specific home is in, and the owner-occupied 4% assessment is applied for separately with the county.