Reverse Mortgages in Hardeeville, SC: The HECM, 55+ Community Dues, the Jasper County Tax Bill and the 2026 Limit

When Minto Communities and Margaritaville Holdings announced the second Latitude Margaritaville on May 25, 2017, the plan was 2,739 acres off US-278 and more than 3,000 homes (Minto press release). The Post and Courier reported on July 11, 2026 about 2,700 homes already built and about 5,800 at full build-out (Post and Courier). A community that size comes with an association, and for a client thinking about a reverse mortgage, the association's bill is the part to read first.

A Hardeeville homeowner who is 62 or older can use FHA's reverse mortgage, called a HECM, to turn part of the home's value into cash with no monthly mortgage payment. That holds while the home is your principal residence and the property charges keep getting paid. In a 55+ community, those charges include the association's dues and a Jasper County tax bill. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, NMLS #135622, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work from Bluffton, east of Hardeeville on US-278.

My Hardeeville page covers the city, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area page covers the region. Sun City Hilton Head crosses the county line, part of it is inside Hardeeville, and my Sun City reverse mortgage page covers it, so this page stays with the other communities. The home equity page puts a HECM beside a HELOC, a home equity loan and a cash-out refinance, and it is worth reading first, because a reverse mortgage is right for some clients and wrong for others. The HUD facts below come from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, the HECM regulation, 24 CFR Part 206, and HUD mortgagee letters, as of October 30, 2026.

Two age rules, and they are separate

For a HECM, every client on the loan must be at least 62 on the closing date, and HUD sets no maximum age. A spouse who is not on the loan can be younger than 62. The home must be your principal residence, meaning the home where you spend the majority of the calendar year, and a person can have only one. Vacation homes are not eligible.

A 55+ community has its own rule, and the HECM does not change it. Minto describes Latitude Margaritaville Hilton Head as a "55+ Active Retirement Community" (Minto). K. Hovnanian says its Four Seasons at Hilton Head Lakes communities are "intended to provide housing primarily for residents 55 years of age or older" (K. Hovnanian). HUD's rule for housing for older persons asks that at least 80% of occupied units have someone 55 or older (24 CFR 100.305). A client who is 62 meets the 55-or-older part alone. I have not found either community's recorded declaration online, so the covenants and the association are the ones to ask who else may live in the home.

The dues are a property charge, and they keep coming

Under the regulation, property charges include taxes, hazard and flood insurance premiums, ground rents, condo, PUD and HOA fees, and special assessments. A HECM stops none of those bills. Minto's 2026 fee page lists Latitude's monthly dues, collected quarterly, at $329.11 for single-family homes, $374.56 for villas and $348.65 for cottages (Minto HOA fees). The page says the figures do not account for inflation. For Four Seasons, I did not find a published dues figure, so I do not print one.

The Life Expectancy Set-Aside, or LESA, is the HECM's tool for taxes and insurance. The Handbook says it is a portion of what you could borrow that is set aside to pay property taxes, hazard insurance and flood insurance where it applies, and that it is not an escrow account. Association dues are not on that list, so those remain your own bill.

The Jasper County tax bill, in dollars

Latitude is inside the City of Hardeeville in Jasper County. For the 2026-27 budget year, the City levies 74.6 mills (City of Hardeeville FY2026-27 budget). Jasper County's ordinance sets 115.0 for operations, 5.0 for debt and 25.0 for school debt, and a home you live in is assessed at 4% and exempt from school operating mills (Jasper County, 2026-27 ordinance). The Hilton Head Area REALTORS August 2026 median sale price for the Latitude area was $491,500 (HHAR). My arithmetic for a single-family home at that price:

Yearly charge	Calculation	Amount
Association dues	$329.11 x 12	$3,949.32
Jasper County and City tax	$491,500 x 0.04 = $19,660; $19,660 x 0.2196	$4,317.34
Total, before insurance		$8,266.66

That is about $688.89 a month, and it comes before homeowners and flood insurance. The tax figure is an estimate before the Jasper sales tax credit, and I left out the Jasper rural fire district levy because no source says whether it applies inside the city. The HECM's principal-residence test and Jasper's 4% test both ask where you live, and the county's application for the 4% rate lists an SC driver's license, voter registration and vehicle registration (Jasper County Assessor). A HECM makes sense only if that total, plus upkeep, fits your budget for as long as you live there.

HECM for Purchase into a community like this one

HECM for Purchase means using the HECM to buy an existing one-to-four unit home that you will live in as your principal residence, with everyone on the loan moving in within 60 days of closing. Buying a home still under construction is a different question, and I would answer it from the Handbook before you plan around it. The maximum claim amount is the lesser of the appraised value, the sale price and HUD's national limit. At $491,500, that is $491,500. The up-front mortgage insurance premium is 2% of the maximum claim amount, so $491,500 x 0.02 is $9,830. The annual premium is 0.50% of the balance, charged monthly, which is $500 a year for every $100,000 owed (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-12).

The deed recording fee in South Carolina is $1.85 for each $500 of value, with $1.30 to the state and $0.55 to the county (S.C. Code sections 12-24-10 and 12-24-90). On $491,500 that is 983 x $1.85, or $1,818.55. Minto's page also lists a $100 foundation fee and a working capital contribution of one-sixth of the annual base assessment at closing. If the base assessment equals a year of 2026 single-family dues, that is $3,949.32 divided by 6, or $658.22, and the association's resale certificate confirms the figure. The fee page the page does not say whether the buyer or the seller pays on a resale.

If the home is a villa or cottage, the property type matters. HUD accepts condominium units only in an FHA-approved project, a site condo or a unit with FHA Single-Unit Approval. I could not confirm from public records whether Latitude's villas and cottages are condominiums, so I check the recorded documents for the address first.

Flood and the 2026 limit

Much of Latitude was mapped in flood zone AE on the 2019 Jasper County map, and from 2018 through 2023 FEMA issued letters of map revision based on fill that removed phase after phase from that zone. FEMA says such a letter ends the federal purchase requirement but a lender can still require coverage. On a HECM you insure the home, with flood insurance where it is required, so I look at the lot's own map status.

HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22 sets the 2026 maximum claim amount at $1,249,125 for case numbers assigned January 1 through December 31, 2026. It is one national figure, the same in Jasper County and Beaufort County. K. Hovnanian's model homes at Four Seasons run from $529,900 to $631,390, so the limit does not hold back either community's typical home. How much a client can borrow depends on the age of the youngest person on the loan (or an eligible spouse who is not on it), the expected interest rate and the maximum claim amount, and I work that out on a real scenario.

Counseling, and what happens later

Before a HECM goes forward, the client and any spouse or owner who is not on the loan must receive counseling from a HUD-approved counselor. The lender cannot collect a fee until it has the signed certificate. The loan comes due when the last person on it dies and the home is not the principal residence of a surviving person on the loan, or when a person on it conveys all title and no one else on the loan keeps title. An eligible spouse who is not on the loan can have that deferred. The loan is non-recourse: no one is personally liable for the balance, and the lender can collect only through a sale of the home.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. HUD and the lender decide what applies to your file. My South Carolina page covers the rest of the state.

Common questions

Is the HECM age of 62 the same as a 55+ community's age rule in Hardeeville?

No. The HECM requires that every person on the loan be 62 or older at closing. A 55+ community sets its own rule, and the HECM does not change it. A client who is 62 meets the 55-or-older part on their own, and the community's recorded covenants answer who else may live in the home.

Do I still pay my community's dues if I take a HECM?

Yes. HOA fees are property charges under the regulation, and unpaid ones can lead to the loan being called due. The set-aside for taxes and insurance does not cover association dues.

Can I use a HECM to buy a home in a Hardeeville 55+ community?

Yes, through HECM for Purchase, on an existing one-to-four unit home that you will live in as your principal residence. You bring the difference between what the HECM provides and the price, plus any HECM costs not financed into the loan. If the home is a condominium unit, HUD has project approval rules, and I check those first.

Does the Jasper County tax bill change with a reverse mortgage?

No. The taxes are the owner's bill either way, and the lower primary-home assessment rate depends on the home being your legal residence. The county reassessed values as of the end of 2025, and the new values apply to the 2026 tax year.

Does my credit score decide whether I get a HECM?

Not by itself. The Handbook says credit scores are not a criterion for processing or evaluating a HECM. The lender still reviews your credit history, cash flow and residual income, and I am glad to look at yours with you before you decide anything.