HELOCs and Second Mortgages in North Myrtle Beach, SC: Second Homes, Rentals and Beach Condos

The Army Corps of Engineers' $72 million beach project started in North Myrtle Beach, in Cherry Grove at 60th Avenue North, in mid-December 2025. WMBF reported that residents raised concerns that no new sand went north of 60th, and that the City planned to cover the rest of Cherry Grove with its own work. My Myrtle Beach area page covers the whole project. If you own on the oceanfront here, you watch the sand, and a lender watches how you use the home.

In North Myrtle Beach, what a second mortgage can reach depends mostly on how the home is used. A second home gets a lower combined ceiling than a home you live in, an investment property gets a lower one still, and one of my lenders makes no HELOC on an investment property at all. A second mortgage comes behind your first mortgage and leaves the first one as it is.

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'm licensed across South Carolina, I work from Bluffton, and I work with clients here by phone. My North Myrtle Beach page covers the city, my Myrtle Beach area page covers Horry County, and the home equity page explains HELOCs and second mortgages in general. The lender terms below are what the sheets say, dated May 2026, and they change.

One home, three uses, three ceilings

Lenders sort a home into a primary home, a second home or an investment property, and each gets its own combined loan-to-value ceiling, or CLTV. That is your first mortgage balance plus the new line, divided by what the home appraises for.

The ZIP 29582 area is the market data I have. Through August 2026, the Coastal Carolinas Association of REALTORS counted a single-family year-to-date median of $569,716 on 529 closed sales, and a condo and townhome median of $310,000 on 598 closings, in its August 2026 market update. A median is not your home's value, and an appraisal sets that. I'll use the single-family figure with a first mortgage balance of $300,000, a round figure I picked.

Use of the home	Lender and credit score	Ceiling	All loans combined on $569,716	Room for the line
Primary home	First lender, 720 or higher	95%	$541,230	$241,230
Second home	First lender, 680 or higher	90%	$512,744	$212,744
Second home	Second lender, 720 or higher	80%	$455,773	$155,773
Investment property	Second lender, 720 or higher	80%	$455,773	$155,773
Investment property	Second lender, 700	75%	$427,287	$127,287
Investment property	First lender	Not eligible	None	None

The first lender's sheet lists investment properties as ineligible occupancy for its HELOC. Its second home ceiling is 90% at a score of 680 or higher and 80% at 640 to 679, and a second home must be a one-unit home. The second lender's HELOC takes second homes and investment properties at the same ceilings, up to a $400,000 line, and it asks that you have owned the home for at least 12 months. The investment rows come from the second lender's sheet, and the 700 row is close to the edge: its $127,287 clears that lender's $125,000 minimum line by only $2,287.

What the minimums do to a beach condo

Condos are a big part of this market. At the ZIP's condo median of $310,000, the same lender's 80% ceiling is $248,000 in all. Suppose a first mortgage of $150,000. That leaves $98,000, which is under that lender's $125,000 minimum HELOC line. Its fixed-rate second on an investment property, which its sheet calls a closed-end second, allows 70% combined at a score of 720, or $217,000 on that condo, so $67,000 of room against a $100,000 minimum. In both cases the answer is not "less." It is "this lender is not the fit," and a different lender with a lower minimum may be.

Both lenders require the condo to be warrantable, which is the agency term for a project whose finances and ownership meet Fannie Mae's rules. The first lender allows limited review. A condo's budget, reserve study, minutes and special assessments are what I would read first, and South Carolina has no statewide rule requiring a reserve study, so each association decides for itself. The third lender's guidelines exclude condotels, which are condo projects with hotel-like features.

When the home is also a rental

For property tax, South Carolina assesses a home rented more than 72 days a year at 6% instead of 4%. On the ZIP's single-family median of $569,716, 6% makes an assessed value of $34,183. With the county's 52.1 mills, the school lines of 109.1 and 10.0, and the City's new 50 mills, that is 221.2 mills, or about $7,561 a year. That is illustrative arithmetic, and your actual bill will differ. MyHorryNews reported that the City raised its millage from 45 to 50 for fiscal 2027.

For a loan, rent does different work depending on the lender. The first lender's sheet says a home that shows rental income on your tax returns but that you also occupy part of the year may still qualify as a second home. The rent cannot be used to qualify, and the location must reasonably support second-home use. The third lender's guidelines say a second home may not be leased other than occasionally, and rental income cannot be used to qualify. The second lender's fixed-rate DSCR second, which qualifies on a property's rent, does not permit short-term rentals at all. So a HELOC on a short-term rental often has to qualify on your own income alone.

The City's own rule is today a business license, renewed every year, with no separate permit, and rentals follow the City's trash, parking, noise and occupancy rules. In November 2024 the City presented an ordinance that would add an annual permit and a local responsible party, and staff counted about 5,400 short-term rentals, as WMBF reported. Council had not decided it in the sources I found, so please check with the City before you build a plan around today's rules.

Cherry Grove's assessment and the channel-front home

If your home is on one of Cherry Grove's man-made channels, the City's improvement district adds a yearly charge on top of property tax. In 2024, WMBF reported, council set it at $1,725 for a single-family parcel and $1,190 for a condo. I would put that charge in your monthly budget before choosing a line size, and ask the City how many years remain on it for your parcel.

The appraisal, the flood zone and the title

The value that counts is an appraisal or an automated valuation. The first lender's sheet accepts an automated valuation for a line of $400,000 or less on a second home and wants a full appraisal above that. In a declining market it caps a second home's combined ratio at 65%. The second lender takes an automated valuation up to $400,000 only when the combined ratio is under 80%.

If the home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, flood insurance is required, and the third lender's guidelines require the policy to be escrowed. A credit union lender cannot lend on a home in a high-risk zone without that coverage. I did not find a source that places North Myrtle Beach's oceanfront in any one zone, so please look up your address's zone and send it to me.

The second lender does not allow a home vested in an LLC, a corporation or a partnership, and neither lender allows an irrevocable trust. A beach home held in an LLC for the rental business is the case where this matters most, so please tell me how it is titled before anything else.

A North Myrtle Beach address, in more than one town

ZIP 29582 also carries Atlantic Beach addresses, and Briarcliffe Acres is its own town, so two beach homes can pay different town millage. A second mortgage does not change a home's tax district, and the parcel's record on the Horry County property search shows it. My South Carolina page covers attorney closings, and

Rates and fees on the first lender's line

A HELOC rate is the Prime Rate plus a margin set by your score, combined ratio, line size and occupancy, and the sheet adds 0.5% for a second home. The rate has a floor of 4.95%, an 18% lifetime cap and no prepayment penalty, and a $495 origination fee and a $100 processing fee are debited from the line at closing. If replacing your first mortgage fits better, a cash-out refinance and refinancing are the routes to price against it.

What I would ask you for first

Getting pre-approved in South Carolina covers a purchase. For a line, please send your most recent first mortgage statement, all pages, even if the last page is intentionally left blank. Tell me how the home is used, how it is titled, and whether it is rented and how often. For a condo, send the association's contact information and its latest budget. Home equity lines are not priced in the Rate & Best Fit tool on this site, so the next step is a call to me.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. Each lender sets its own terms and can change them, and your credit, your income and the appraisal decide where you land under the ceilings above.

Common questions

Can I get a HELOC on a North Myrtle Beach investment property?

Some of my lenders will, with lower limits. The second lender's HELOC allows 80% combined at a score of 720 and 75% at 700, with lines from its minimum up to its maximum. The first lender does not lend on investment properties.

Can I get a HELOC on a second home in North Myrtle Beach?

Yes. The first lender allows a one-unit second home up to 90% combined at a score of 680 or higher and 80% at 640 to 679, and the second lender allows 80% at a score of 720.

Does short-term rental income count for a home equity line?

It depends on the lender. One does not let rent count if the home qualifies as a second home, and another does not permit short-term rentals on its rent-based second. Tell me how the home is rented, and I will ask the right lender.