MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Some realtors and brokers in Horry County are feeling a shift in the housing market following the recent flooding from Hurricane Florence.
Ryan Korros, a realtor at Remax Southern Shores in Myrtle Beach says there will be more homes on the market as people who flooded will try to sell.
“There’s going to be different types of sellers coming onto the market. For example, it’s going to be about the inventory. There is going to be some additional inventory,” Korros said.
According to Korros, right now, it’s an investor’s market. The investors will buy a flooded home as is, and fix it up to rent out or resell.
“We’re seeing deals come out for as little as $70,000 for a home. A lot of those homes need 30 to 40,000 dollars worth of work, but there’s been homes that have come out for very inexpensive that an investor could really take advantage of,” Korros said.
Maryanne Dorio, broker and owner of EXIT Coastal Real Estate Pros says even if the flooded houses are fixed up, they will be very difficult to sell, because a history of flooding will dramatically reduce a home’s value.
“Unless they raise the home above where the flood level was, anyone who’s going to purchase there is not going to want to purchase there because they know it’ll flood again,” Dorio said.
Ultimately, the flood could push buyers to look elsewhere in the county.
“We’re already seeing sellers who their property has flooded, we’re seeing these sellers talk about putting their home on the market and try to buy in the areas that weren’t flooded,” Korros said. “A lof of the buyers that we were working with before, they kind of pulled back concerned about the flooding, and then what happened is about a week later, those buyers resurfaced, and they felt better about the areas that they were looking at that didn’t flood.”
According to broker Dorio, sellers are required by law to disclose any history of flooding. Realtors recommend having a qualified inspector look at a home before you decide to buy it, especially if you believe it has flooded before, to ensure there are no unresolved damages.
