Anyone familiar with Charleston, SC (because they’ve been here) knows what a gem Folly Beach is. Property values are extremely high and yet, there are almost no long term rental properties on Folly Beach. And I don’t mean just ocean front. It is almost impossible to find a year lease anywhere within the Folly Beach community. What’s up with that?!
What’s up is that for the longest time Folly has been a great place to run a vacation rental. It’s such a sought after location for beach vacationers that it would seem anyone opting to rent long term would be essentially throwing away money. Personally, being a landlord, I know that running a vacation rental is akin to running a hotel but without the support staff! You definitely earn your money.
But check this out… Folly Beach has implemented new rules putting a cap on the number of STR permits that can be operational. In Feb. 2023, a vote passed creating a limit of 800 permits that can be active. Since the number of permits in effect at the time of that vote exceeded 800, a waitlist was formed for new applicants. The town has effectively said we’re not going to let our community deteriorate to a transient beach hang out and that locals are the priority. Here here!
My thoughts about this are first off, you go Folly Beach! I live on James Island and I love boogie boarding on Folly beginning in May (water a bit chilly still) through October. The waves are really good for what I like to do (low stress boogie boarding), breaking not too deep. And the water temperature is heavenly! Almost no cringe factor when going in June- Sept. A bit brisk still in May (as mentioned) and getting cooler into October but still absolutely fine without any wetsuit. Many weeks I’m there 4 times a week. When you get too many vacationers who don’t care about the community that much, things deteriorate quickly.
They’re playing loud music on the beach, smoking (right, no smoking is allowed on the beach) and they let their dogs run unleashed.(also a by law violation).
Ok but back to rental properties on Folly Beach. Now that STR permits are not being issued, people are still able to offer rentals of 30 days or more though there is supposed to be a maximum rental day allowance of 72 days per residence. As you can imagine, keeping track of that is not easy. There is no required reporting if you rent your property for 30 or more days in SC nor Folly Beach proper.
It would take an admin for local government to be tracking all the Zillow and Furnished Finder listings as they pop up and then once rented, try to figure out how long they were rented for. Just try keeping track of all that and oversee anyone trying to rent beyond the allotted quota. It’s a lot of work and hard to ensure accurate data.
Given all this, people are still making bank by renting their Folly Beach properties for 30 days or more March through September when the weather is really good. And then from October through February, they reduce the price and try to attract a snow bird tenant.
I can tell you it works because there are few listings and the prices are high, kind of crazy high. Recently we came across a house that was under 1000 sq ft, not on the beach renting for $8000/month. Another bigger place listed as a 4 bedroom 1 bath (!!) was priced at $7000/month. The pics on that one were really not impressive but hey, if they can get it, more power to them!
Basically if you want a year long lease for a place on Folly Beach, you have to check online daily, set your targets so you get alerts when new listings show up and move quickly. It will help if you’ve maintained a strong credit score and can fork out a large deposit without too much stress. The target is the luxury crowd and for these folks, money is secondary to getting exactly what they want.
Now if you are someone like me who wants to earn rental income from an investment property but doesn’t want the high turnover of short termers, we can help. We can price your property right for the Folly Beach market and secure a great tenant who has demonstrated a track record of being a quality renter. Personally, not having to furnish a property with all the kitchenware, and towels is a big relief. I mean, I like earning good money but for me, get someone good in for a year min, inspect the place quarterly and hopefully there are very few additional demands. At least, that’s how my personal investments operate and that’s what we strive to provide for our clients.