Charleston property tax
One of the most often asked questions from people who are considering relocation to the Charleston area is how much will the property taxes be.
Yesterday, I was visiting various real estate blogs and wanted to learn more about an agent before commenting so I clicked through to his website and blog. Some real estate agents offer listings on their blog while others including myself don't use their blog to sell listings but prefer to use it for commentary. But my point here is that I noticed a listing offered for $255,000 and additional information provided included 2007 property taxes of $5576 in Michigan. Wow!
Well, if you are planning on moving to the Charleston area, good news awaits you regarding property taxes. Throughout the Charleston South Carolina real estate market, taxes are assessed by the county and you will find differences even within each county depending on the tax district that you live in.
I just searched for single family homes listed for approximately $255,000 in each of the 3 counties that make up the Charleston metropolitan area and looked up the 2007 property tax for each. Here is the good news.
Charleston County, James Island, $826
Dorchester County, Summerville, $1011
Berkeley County, Goose Creek, $714
You can probably understand why I was stunned to how high the taxes are in Michigan and think about this, if you are making tax and insurance payments into your escrow account along with your mortgage payment, the monthly tax payment in addition to principal and interest in Michigan would be approximately $464 per month while in the Charleston area, your monthly tax payment would be approximately only $70 (the average of the 3 counties).
Now what could you do with almost an extra $400 per month. 
I guess that is but one of the many reasons people are leaving Michigan (I don't mean to pick on Michigan, my understanding is that property taxes throughout the Northeast and Midwest are fairly high) but a major benefit to living in the Charleston area would be significantly lower property taxes.
Note: the above taxes are based on the tax rate if your primary residence is in South Carolina.