Hardeeville, SC: How Much Income You Need to Buy a Home

If you send me a Hardeeville listing, the first thing I will ask is whether you plan to live in the home. On the Jasper County side of the city, that one answer moves the property tax on a median-priced home by about $505 a month. South Carolina counts 4% of the value of the home you live in as taxable, and 6% of a second home or rental property, and the county's mills are applied to that smaller figure. A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of that taxable figure. The price is the headline number on a listing. Behind it are the tax at your rate, the homeowners and flood policies, the association's dues and the water bill, and a lender puts most of them into the payment before you get an approval.

Property tax and insurance on a median-priced Hardeeville home you live in, Jasper County side, run about $590 to $680 a month before the loan. At the top of that range, FHA's manual housing limit needs about $2,184 a month of income. The limit is a debt-to-income ratio, called DTI: your monthly debt payments, the new housing payment included, divided by your gross monthly income, which is the figure before taxes come out. 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, east of Hardeeville on US-278.

My page on Hardeeville itself covers the city, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area page covers the region. Every figure below is sourced and was checked on October 7, 2026, and there is no interest rate on this page. The principal and interest depends on the rate option you choose, and the pricing tool prices that for your scenario.

What goes into the payment besides the price

The Hilton Head Area REALTORS' August 2026 report puts the Hardeeville median sale price at $445,000 for the month and $444,000 for the year to date, and it notes that medians do not account for sale concessions. That is the MLS median, the figure from the local listing service, so it covers resales and the new homes listed there. On a home that closes directly with a builder, the builder's price sheet is the number.

A lender does not qualify you on the price. A lender qualifies you on the monthly housing payment, and Fannie Mae's guide lists what goes in it. That is principal and interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance. Flood insurance and mortgage insurance count where they apply, and so do special assessments and "any owners' association dues." Four of those can be put on paper today for a Hardeeville address, so I will build those four first.

Property tax on a $445,000 Hardeeville home, at 4% and at 6%

The City's own budget shows that most of Hardeeville is in Jasper County, with a small part in Beaufort County, and the City charges a different rate on each side. A home taxed at the 4% rate is also exempt from school operating millage under state law, and it still pays school debt millage.

My FHA page for Hardeeville lists the mills line by line, along with the legal residence application you file with the Assessor after you move in. The totals below are estimates only, on a home the Assessor values at $445,000.

Estimated annual property tax on a $445,000 value	A year	A month
Jasper County side, 4% owner-occupied, 219.6 mills	about $3,909	about $326
Jasper County side, 6% second home or rental property, 373.6 mills	about $9,975	about $831
Beaufort County side (tax district 650), 4%, 196 mills	about $3,489	about $291
Beaufort County side, 6%, 322.1 mills	about $8,600	about $717

The Beaufort-side figures come from the County Auditor's millage card for the City's annexation district. All four leave out the credit from local sales tax that comes off either county's bill, any flat fees, and a county fire-district levy that no source I read places inside or outside the city limits. The gap between 4% and 6% is the largest swing on this page, so please tell me up front whether you will live in the home.

A sale also resets the taxable value in Jasper County, and the Jasper County Assessor taxes new construction at full value in its first year. So the seller's bill tells you what the seller paid. Yours will be figured on the price you pay, and the lender estimates your taxes the same way. Will my property taxes change after I buy? walks through that reset.

Homeowners insurance and flood insurance in ZIP 29927

No source I found publishes a homeowners premium for Hardeeville itself, so the closest sourced figure is a county average. Insurance.com puts the average Jasper County premium at $3,184 a year and Beaufort County at $4,225, against a state average of $2,870. Those come from quotes for a $300,000 dwelling with $300,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, and the page was updated October 6, 2026. A 2% hurricane deductible applies where the policy carries one, which is $6,000 on that quote. The Jasper figure comes to about $265 a month for a dwelling smaller than the median home here, so your own quote can come in higher.

Your agent will also tell you which market writes the wind coverage. South Carolina's wind pool is the state-backed association that insures wind damage where regular carriers will not, and it writes in the "coastal area" the statute draws. State law puts only the part of Beaufort County east of the west bank of the Intracoastal Waterway in that area, and Jasper County is outside it altogether, so neither side of Hardeeville is in it. The insurance director can expand that area by order, and I have not read the current one. I would get the quote before you write the offer, with the wind deductible spelled out, because the premium is part of the payment I qualify you on.

Flood insurance is a separate policy. A lender requires it only when any part of the home is in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, a zone whose name begins with A or V. Zone X is outside that area. In ZIP 29927, about three in four policies that took effect from 2025 on were in zone X. Among one-year single-family policies that took effect in 2025, the median cost was about $1,030 a year, and a lender required only 45 of those 536 policies. That is my own count from FEMA's public flood-policy data. So on most Hardeeville homes a flood policy is a choice, at about $86 a month at that median. If any part of the home is in zone A or AE, it is a requirement and goes into the payment. Buying a home in a flood zone covers who makes the zone determination and how to get the premium early.

HOA dues in Hardeeville and what you pay once at closing

A capital contribution, a working capital contribution or a capital reserve fee is a one-time payment to the association when you buy. It is part of your cash to close. The monthly or annual dues are what a lender puts in the payment. Figures below are as published on the date shown, and the community's resale documents govern your purchase.

Community	Regular dues	Paid once at closing	Where the figure comes from
Latitude Margaritaville Hilton Head (55+ by its own description)	$329.11 a month single-family, $348.65 cottages, $374.56 villas, collected quarterly (2026)	$100 Foundation fee plus a working capital contribution; my Latitude page works out the dollar figure by home type	Community's own fee page, 2026 fees
Hilton Head Lakes	Two realtor guides disagree: $2,540 a year on an improved lot, about $212 a month (March 2026 guide), or $1,965 a year plus a $180 a month irrigation fee, about $344 a month (February 2025 guide); the irrigation figure is unconfirmed	Transfer fee of 0.25% of the price and a $207 administrative fee, about $1,320 together on $445,000 (March 2026 guide), or a $286.66 capital reserve fund (February 2025 guide)	Collins Group Realty POA guide, data as of March 2, 2026; Sail Home Team (eXp Realty) community fee guide, February 25, 2025; no official schedule published
Riverton Pointe	$183 a month; Riverton Pointe Golf and Country Club dues of $220 a month social or $580 a month golf	$900 initial fee; club initiation of $4,000 social or $5,500 golf, listed under transfer and other fees	Sail Home Team (eXp Realty) community fee guide, February 26, 2025
Cypress Landing, Royal Oaks, Magnolia Park, The Preserve, Egret Landing	Not published on the builder's page as of October 7, 2026 (Lennar's page data for The Preserve carries figures with no period stated)	Not published	Builder pages, read October 7, 2026
Millstone Landing	The builder's site could not be read on October 7, 2026	Unknown	None readable

Sun City Hilton Head crosses the county line, and the City counts part of it as a Hardeeville community; my Sun City page has its dues and resale charges. For the lender, the association dues go into the payment, and club dues count when membership comes with the home, which the association's documents say. Please ask for the complete resale package early, all pages, and I will put the dues into the payment I run for you.

Water and sewer bills: not in most lenders' ratio

The City says the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority is the only water and sewer provider inside the city. BJWSA's rate card lists a residential water basic facilities charge of $13.58 a month from July 1, 2026, with water at $5.32 per 1,000 gallons in the July 2026 column. Sewer is $19.81 a month plus $8.50 per 1,000 gallons, capped at $104.81. At 5,000 gallons a month that is about $40 for water and $62 for sewer, about $102 together, by my own arithmetic. The January 2027 column raises the fixed charge to $14.00 and moves water to a tiered rate.

Conventional and FHA ratios leave utilities out. Fannie Mae's list of liabilities runs through housing payments, revolving accounts, installment loans, leases, alimony and child support, and water, power and trash are not on it. VA is the exception. Its residual-income test is the money left over each month after income taxes, the housing payment and your debts, and the VA Lenders Handbook includes an allowance for maintenance and utilities of 14 cents per square foot of living area. Either way, the income a lender needs to see and the income that makes the home comfortable are two different figures, so I ask about the payment you want before I tell you the one you qualify for.

How much income do you need to buy a home in Hardeeville, SC?

Each program sets its own DTI limit. For a conventional loan underwritten by hand, the limit is 36% of stable monthly income, and it can go to 45% with the credit score and savings Fannie Mae's eligibility chart asks for. A file run through Desktop Underwriter, Fannie Mae's automated underwriting system, can go to 50%, according to Fannie Mae's DTI section.

FHA's manual-underwriting limits are two ratios: the housing payment alone may take 31% of income, and all debt together 43%. With a credit score of 580 or higher they stretch to 37/47 with one compensating factor, a strength in the file such as documented cash reserves, and to 40/50 with two, according to HUD Handbook 4000.1. FHA's automated system can approve a file above those limits.

The VA Lenders Handbook treats 41% as a guide, secondary to residual income, and a ratio over 41% calls for close scrutiny unless residual income beats the guideline by at least 20%. Debt-to-income explained covers what counts as a debt and what does not.

First, the housing costs you can already see, on a Jasper-side home at the $445,000 median, owner-occupied at 4%:

Monthly housing costs before the loan payment, Jasper side, 4%
Property tax, 219.6 mills on a 4% assessment, estimate	$326
Homeowners insurance, Jasper County average, estimate	$265
Flood insurance, median National Flood Insurance Program policy in ZIP 29927, if the zone requires it or you choose to carry it	$86
Total before the loan payment and dues, with the flood policy	about $677
Total before the loan payment and dues, zone X with no flood policy	about $591

The association's dues from the table above go on top of that total, and so do the principal and interest and any mortgage insurance. Under FHA's manual housing limit of 31%, $677 a month of tax and insurance needs about $2,184 a month of gross income behind it, or about $26,200 a year, before a dollar of principal and interest and before any dues. Add Latitude's single-family dues of $329.11 and the figure rises to about $3,245 a month. The loan payment comes on top.

Second, a lender runs the math the other direction, from your income down to the loan payment. The household below is made up, to show how the arithmetic runs; the ratios and the housing costs are the sourced figures above.

An illustration: a household earning $120,000 a year	At 36% of all debt (conventional, manual)	At 31% housing (FHA, manual)	At 50% of all debt (Desktop Underwriter)
Gross monthly income	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Monthly payments allowed at the limit	$3,600	$3,100	$5,000
Less a car payment and a student loan, made up	$650	not in the housing test	$650
Less tax, insurance and flood from the table above	$677	$677	$677
Left for principal and interest, mortgage insurance and dues	$2,273	$2,423	$3,673

The FHA file also has to pass the 43% test on all debt, which at this income leaves $2,973, so the 31% housing test is the one that binds. The last row is what is left for the loan payment, and it is why two lenders can give one family two different answers at the same income: the program, the ratio and the dues all change it. Pricing that payment is the part I do for you. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and see the payment that goes with it. One option is a lower rate that costs points (money paid at closing to buy the rate down), and another is a higher rate that carries a lender credit, money the lender pays toward your closing costs.

What to line up before you settle on a price

• The parcel record on the Jasper County or Beaufort County property search, which shows the county and the tax district.
• Whether you will live in the home, or are buying a second home or an investment property at 6%.
• A homeowners quote on the specific home, with the wind deductible and the wind carrier named, and a flood quote if any part of the home is in zone A or AE or if you want the coverage anyway.
• The community's resale package, all pages, with the dues, the billing period, any irrigation or amenity fee, and the one-time charges collected at closing.
• Your complete income and asset documents for the pre-approval.

Once you have a community or an address in mind, I can run the full payment with that parcel's tax bill, the insurance quotes and the association's dues in it, and set it against the payment you are comfortable with. You are 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 or insurance advice. The county Assessor, FEMA's map, your insurance agent and the association's current documents decide the figures that apply to a specific home, so please confirm each one before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

How much income do you need to buy a median-priced home in Hardeeville, SC?

The sourced part of the answer is the housing cost that does not wait on a rate: property tax, homeowners insurance and a median flood policy on a Jasper-side home you live in, added up in the table above. FHA's manual housing limit of 31% turns that cost into a gross monthly income, shown in the same table, before the principal and interest and any dues. The loan payment the rate option sets is added to that cost, and the same 31% applies to the whole.

What is the cost of living in Hardeeville, SC for a homeowner?

Cost-of-living indexes rarely separate the costs that follow a specific home, so these are the ones a Hardeeville owner pays by the month: property tax at the owner-occupied rate, a county-average homeowners policy, a median flood policy where one is carried, association dues that run by community from Riverton Pointe to Latitude Margaritaville, and BJWSA water and sewer. The dollar amount for each is in the sections above.

What are the HOA fees at Riverton Pointe in Hardeeville, SC?

A 2025 realtor fee guide lists Riverton Pointe dues by the month and an initial fee at closing. The same guide lists Riverton Pointe Golf and Country Club social and golf memberships separately, each with its own monthly dues and initiation fee, and the dues section above has the amounts. The association's and club's documents say whether membership comes with the home, which decides whether the club dues go into your qualifying payment.

What are the HOA fees at Hilton Head Lakes in Hardeeville?

Two realtor guides give different figures. One has data as of March 2, 2026 and the other is dated February 25, 2025. They differ on the annual dues on an improved lot, the transfer fee, the administrative fee and the irrigation and capital reserve charges, and the dues section above sets them side by side. The community publishes no official schedule that I found, so the association's resale package settles it.

How much is flood insurance in Hardeeville, SC?

Count the one-year National Flood Insurance Program policies on single-family homes in ZIP 29927 that started in 2025, and the middle premium, shown in the flood section above, is my own arithmetic on FEMA's public policy file. Of those 536 policies, a lender required 45. Roughly three of every four policies in the ZIP that started in 2025 or later are in zone X, where coverage is the owner's choice. A home with any part in zone A or AE needs a policy for the life of the loan.

How much is property tax on a home in Hardeeville, SC?

For tax year 2026, the same home carries a different bill on the Jasper County side of the city than on the Beaufort County side, because the levies differ. On the Beaufort County side, where the City's own rate is higher but the county and school levies are lower, the same home pays less, both at the owner-occupied rate and at the second-home and investment rate. The dollar amounts at the median are in the property tax section above, before the local sales tax credit.

Do HOA dues count in my debt-to-income ratio?

Yes. Fannie Mae's definition of the monthly housing expense includes "any owners' association dues", and VA's loan analysis form carries a line for the monthly assessment payable to the association in a planned unit development. A one-time capital contribution paid at closing is cash to close rather than part of the ratio.