Myrtle Beach, SC Area, Real Estate and Info
Myrtle Beach is an island, just south of the North Carolina, South
Carolina border. Not a natural island like Hawaii, but a man made one
created when the Army Corp of Engineers created
the Intercoastal Waterway. The warerway enters South Carolina from the
north at the Little River Inlet, which is a beautiful spot to be on a
boat.
The
photo I use for myspace
was taken during an afternoon of sailing and fishing about three miles
off the Little River Inlet
From there the Corp of Engineers dug a large ditch south, past the town
of Little River,
North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Garden City Beach
untill near Murrells
Inlet where "The Ditch" connects to the Waccamaw River. The Waterway
runs in the river to
Georgetown, SC, "The Ditch" continues on toward Charleston. The
completion of this section
of the waterway created a man made island approximately sixty miles
(110 - 120 kilometers)
long which has became known as "The Grand Strand", a very long, wide
cresent shape beach
perfect for sun bathing.
The Myrtle Beach Area is about half way between New York and Florida.
The climate is mild seasonal, it has snowed here, in recent history up
to eighteen inches,
but was gone in four days. Summer daytime tempratures range form 90 to
100 degrees F,
and over night 60 to 70 degrees F. Winter tempratures range 50 to 75 or
even 80 degrees F
daytime and 30 to 45 degrees F at night with an ocassional dip to 10
degrees F, but that is rare.
The nice thing is that there is a noticable spring, summer, fall and
winter.
Real Estate in this area is extremly diverse. It Ranges from high rise
ocean fornt condos
to moble home parks, and everything in between. As you might guess,
prices vary wildly
as well, a two bedroom two bath condo inland will sell in the low
$100,000 USD range while
ocean front top end may be over a million USD. There are however still
ocean front, typically
hotel/resort style condos, ranging around $300,000 USD. Single family
residentual will sell
for around $200,000 USD to close to 10 million USD, on the ocean, in
certian parts of Myrtle
Beach Proper. And of course there are properties on the Intercoastal
Waterway, Inlets,
and Barrier, Rivers and Golf Courses that can affect the prices.
drastically.
Areas: North,
mid,
South and West
Little River, SC
Little River is the northmost coastal town in South Carilina.
Historically a fishing village,
you can charter half a day and all day fishing charters in Little
River. There is also commercial
fishing and shrimping industry here. In the sorrunding area there are
several golf courses,
condos, and residintual subdivisions. If you are into boating, there
are several large marinas
with thousands of slips for sale or lease, most of them north of the
"Little River Swing Bridge",
which is just a draw bridge that pivots on its axis insteed of raising.
This saturation of slips
in Little River is due to the fact that the next ocean access from the
Intercoastal Waterway
is about sixty miles south at Georgetown, South Carolina.
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Several Communities make up the city of North Myrtle Beach. North
Myrtle Beach proper,
Ocean Drive Beach, Cresent Beach, and Windy Hill. In between Windy Hill
and Cresent Beach
is the city of Atlantic Beach, see next section for that. Years ago one
of the mayors went on
a mission to unite the communities to the north of Myrtle Beach proper
into a single city,
and was largely sucessful. The result is modern dat North Myrtle Beach,
with much of the
same attractions of Myrtle Beach. Malls and outlet centers, golf, ocean
front resorts, fine
restaurants and a excellent regional airport, which can easly
accomidate your Lear Jet. North
Myrtle Beach was expanded across the Intercoastal Waterway, and with
the current road
expansion, some projections show the population passing that of Myrtle
Beach by the year 2010.
Atlantic Beach, SC
Atlantic Beach dates back in time to cotton and rice plantations. The
population is African
American for the most part. Land owners in the era owned vast tracts of
land, from inland to
the ocean. The poor sand soil near the ocean was considered useless
during this era,
being unable to support any type of crop the plantation produced.
Plantation labor was almost
all African American, and when a worker became old and no longer
productive, the tradition
was to give them a small piece of land in the Atlantic Beach area on
which to live out their days.
This practice lasted for several years, and the property generally was
passed down to family
members as the plantation workers passed away. The flaw with this
practice is that these land
gifts and future passing down through the generations were never
recorded at the county
corthouse, making a "Chain of Title" impossible to establish.
Possession truly beacme
standard of ownership for much of Atlantic Beach. Property values were
vastly under rated,
due to the fact that no bank would lend money were proper title could
not be established.
The only way to transact a sell was by way of cash, with no piece of
mind, as a relitave of
the origional family could lay claim, and any buyer might stand a good
chance of losing the
investment. Horry County in the last several years has started to
remedy this situation.
I suspect the county realized that without sales of land reflecting
modern day market prices
they were loosing an enormous amout of tax revenue, and, the only way
the tax basis could
ever be increased would be to somehow start perfecting the title to
these properties.
Windy Hill
Just a little blog about Windy Hill, as it is part of North Myrtle
Beach. WhI first moved here
in 1987 it was to Windy Hill. The community has really grown since
then, with one of the most
unique attracions in the whole Grand Strand, "Barefoot Landing". This
complex consists of
shoppes, restaurants and attractions built on stilts above a living
marsh. Yuo can walk
boardwalks from section to section observing waterfowl and even
alligators. In all my travels
I have never come across another property like "Barefoot Landing". It
sits in the Intercoastal
Waterway, you can tie your boat up to the dock and shop, dine, party or
even rock out, as
the "House of Blues" is also located here. Over the years a land
devoloper even purchased
a draw bridge in New Jersey and had it moved to Barefoot Landing and
developed the land
across the waterway, which now sports condo projects golf courses and
upscale subdivisions.
The Galleria and Restaurant Row
This is the area between North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach and is
part of neither, just
Horry (pronuced "orie", the "H" is silent) Coumty. There are numerous
restaurants on
U.S Hwy 17, Hotels and resorts on the ocean, residentual subdivisions
and condos and golf
courses on both sides of the waterway. Just south of here is the Myrtle
Beach city limits.
Hwy 17 splits into business and bypass 17 at this point.
Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach is center of the Grand Strand, in virtually all aspects.
The northern side of
Myrtle Beach is where the greatest saturation if upscale residintual
homes are located. This
is also where the most of the oceanfront residintual homes are located.
Business 17 is lined
with restaurants, shops, office and professioal buildings. Main Street
is very short, running
east to west, turning into US Hwy 501, which crosses the waterway and
continues on inland.
There is a huge development called "Carolina Forrest", which is on the
north side of US 501.
Also, on the north side of the highway is a large retail outlet center.
On the south side of US 501
near Conway, SC (the county seat of government) are "Coastal Carolina
University"
and "Horry/Georgetown County Technical College". Closer to Myrtle Beach
on the south side
of US 501 are more subdivisions, and near the waterway, are several
properties that used to
be retail outlet centers and attractions, which are currently being
considered for a
"Hard Rock Cafe Amusement Park". The southern side of Myrtle Beache's
oceanfront is lined
with high rise hotels, resorts and condos. The very end of Myrtle Beach
is the Myrtle Beach
State Park. Undeveloped beaches and picnic areas, it's a great place to
go to the beach.
Across Business 17 from Myrtle Beach State Park is a enormous tract of
land that was once
the "Myrtle Beach Air Force Base". The city of Myrtle Beach has built
wide streets which
wind through parls and lakes all the way to Bypass 17, which will be
developed for retail
shopping and residentual communities.
Soon...Surfside Beach and southward
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