Anonymous wrote:I just sold a beach condo in South Florida I inherited. It was very difficult to sell even with it being across the road from Atlantic Ocean with private beach access. It became a money pit with all the assessments of living in an HOA community. If I were you and your sister, I’d sell sooner than later. We waited 4 years after my mom died and it was the most stressful real estate experience I have had and I’ve done many real estate transactions in an affluent area. I could never imagine it taking over a year to sell a luxury property, which sold for under $500K. We went in thinking we could get $600K and the property just sat. It is a tremendous relief to be done and have that money sitting in a managed brokerage account.

On what planet is that a luxury property??

Anonymous wrote:Private Wealth Advsior here: great investment property, as Kiawah has more year round rentals (as opposed to Florida). Akers Ellis and Sweet grass are good rental/mamagemet companies. Ignore the climate changers.

+1. America's economy is booming. Climate change is exaggerated. We're going to be ok.

To helpful pp: what are tips for best times to drive to KI and how do you break up the trip?
Also, we’ve only visited off season, does the traffic back up on the island or is it not too over crowded high season?

The main realtor is the Kiawah Island Company. They have real estate listings for new and existing homes and lots, including newly released areas like Ocean Park mentioned above. Properties are listed online at Kiawah island.com. You can also go through an independent realtor who is on the multi list. There have always been different properties listed through this route. However, that may have very recently changed - there was some talk of merging but I’m not sure what happened. A good multilist realtor is Pam Harrington Exclusives.

We pay $60 per visit by our property manager who comes every other week. They let us know when something needs to be done and then they handle it if we give the OK, but you can handle it your own, if you wish.

To join the Kiawah Island Club, you must purchase a property that has a membership - though that does not mean it’s included in the purchase price. I’m not sure of the current price of a golf membership (which includes tennis) but it was $150,000 at one point - could be more or could be less now. There is also a sports membership that allows you to lay on club courses a certain number of times a year. It is mostly refundable when you quit. Some existing homes and lots have the membership and all newly released areas like Ocean Park have the ability to join. You should discuss club membership with your realtor and find out what each property you look at has and, if it has a membership that does not include golf, whether you can upgrade.

Alternatively, you could join the Governors Club which provides golf and tennis at a reduced fee on the resort courses. It is much less expensive and may be a choice if you’re not going to be there much. I think that there May be times of the year when you can’t use it. Of course, you can always just pay as you go for resort golf and tennis.

With regard to Ocean Park, I’m not sure $2 million would be enough for that area, but would work many other places.

Hope this helps.

Is there a real go to realtor or company for buyers?

Anonymous wrote:OP - I own a house on Kiawah and love it! Yes, we would have made more money investing in index funds as some suggest, but we didn’t buy it as an investment, it as something to enjoy and we have. We love coming here at different times of the year. The spring and fall are particularly glorious and the breezes and warm ocean make up for the hot summers.

The one thing I would suggest is to be sure to hire a property manager to look after it while you’re gone and to get it ready for your arrival. They also provide cleaning service and are a ready source of referrals to contractors if you need them. Feel free to post any specific questions and I will try to answer them.

Thank you! We’re looking for a house and not interested in renting out. Likely in the $2M range and are curious about the new construction (not a deal breaker at all). What can we expect to pay for property management? And how does the membership work for the Kiawah club (not sure what it’s called) and about how much does that cost? We’d like golf and tennis access.

OP - I own a house on Kiawah and love it! Yes, we would have made more money investing in index funds as some suggest, but we didn’t buy it as an investment, it as something to enjoy and we have. We love coming here at different times of the year. The spring and fall are particularly glorious and the breezes and warm ocean make up for the hot summers.

The one thing I would suggest is to be sure to hire a property manager to look after it while you’re gone and to get it ready for your arrival. They also provide cleaning service and are a ready source of referrals to contractors if you need them. Feel free to post any specific questions and I will try to answer them.

The part they’re developing is called ocean park
https://www.kiawahisland.com/neighborhoods/ocean-park/

Anyone knowledgeable about new home development on KI? I see news articles and a pp mentioned, but I can’t find anything about beyond enough to look into. We’re starting to think we’d like one new house in our lifetimes and want to explore Kiawah. Thanks!

Unless Kiawah is a place you really want to visit a couple of times a year, just look at it purely as an investment and let that drive your decision. If the economics of having an investment property are attractive then your personal times there is a bonus. Since it’s a joint inheritance that just adds a lot of possible disagreements which you might not want to deal with. The bottom line is that it may be best to sell the property, split the money and keep your life simple.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would sell it. Climate change is going to ruin it.

I kind of agree. I would not be buying coastal property. Maybe 20 years ago, but not now.

This. I’d only buy on the rocky coast of Maine. Or other rocky areas. Nothing on sandbars.

My relatives don’t rent their property. Just our families use it.
Also I’ve heard realtors are discouraging owners from selling til post PGA.
They’re also developing more of the island so lots of new builds competing
with “older” Kiawah homes- makes it tough sellers market right now

Anonymous wrote:Private Wealth Advsior here: great investment property, as Kiawah has more year round rentals (as opposed to Florida). Akers Ellis and Sweet grass are good rental/mamagemet companies. Ignore the climate changers.

I guess this changes if we don’t want to rent the property? DH and I both have large extended families of not great means. We’d love to extend invitations for family members to stay and I think they’d take us up on the offer. We like the idea of more moderate temp (compared to family in Florida or Nantucket, for example).

I owned a house not far from there, and two things to look at are property taxes (can be high in some parts of SC), and flood insurance. Don't go by what your relative was paying -- they were probably grandfathered under the old rates.

Maintenance can be a bear in the Sea Islands -- salt water is really hard on everything. But if you have the $$ to pay someone to keep up with the maintenance so you're not spending all of your time there doing it yourself, it can be wonderful.

I'd also take a long look at the real estate market there. Last time I checked, there were a LOT of high end properties on the market there, and they had been for a while. That's likely not going to be helped by the changes in the tax laws that limit the deductibility of mortgage interest. So, selling might not be easy right now, anyway.

Kiawah is my happy place, have been going all my life (30+ years). I’d sell and use the dividends/interest to rent a nice house whenever and wherever you want. Mo homes, mo problems.