FHA Loans in Carolina Forest, SC: A Brand-New Home in Berkshire Forest, Clear Pond or Waterbridge, Horry County's Sign-Off and the 2026 Limit

Three of the five largest developments in the Myrtle Beach area by number of homes are in Carolina Forest. By WBTW's count, Berkshire Village/Forest has 1,439 homes, Clear Pond 1,323 and Waterbridge 1,222. Charleston Business reported on November 4, 2021, that Meritage Homes would finish out Clear Pond, where Mungo Homes had been building, and on November 4, 2026, Pulte's site still listed Berkshire Forest and D.R. Horton's still listed Waterbridge.

An FHA loan reaches the typical Carolina Forest home, resale or brand new, because the 2026 Horry County limit is above the community's single-family median. FHA finances a home a builder is still finishing as readily as a resale that has had several owners. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work with Carolina Forest clients by phone from Bluffton, down the coast in Beaufort County.

My Carolina Forest page covers the community itself for any kind of loan: International Paper's road, Lewis Ocean Bay, McLeod's hospital, the schools and the unincorporated tax bill. My Myrtle Beach area page covers Horry County, and FHA loans in South Carolina covers the program statewide, including the attorney at the closing. Everything below is about the FHA loan itself on a Carolina Forest address, from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, with the local facts checked on November 4, 2026.

Berkshire Forest, Clear Pond and Waterbridge: a home the builder is still finishing

MyHorryNews reported in 2019 that Pulte Homes had announced about 600 more single-family homes and another pool for Berkshire Forest. Waterbridge started as a 675-acre tract, by the account of Bolton & Menk, its engineer of record. D.R. Horton's Waterbridge page gives a sales office at 3246 Moss Bridge Lane, and Chesapeake Homes' listings named Traditions at Carolina Forest. Prices and incentives on those pages change by the week, so none of them are printed here.

Handbook 4000.1 sorts a new home into three stages by how far along it is. Proposed construction means no concrete or other permanent material has been placed. Under construction runs from the first permanent material to a finished home with no certificate of occupancy yet. A certificate of occupancy, CO for short, is the local government's written sign-off that a home may be lived in. Existing less than one year means the home is finished, its CO is under a year old and nobody has ever lived in it. So on a lot in Waterbridge or Traditions at Carolina Forest, I ask the sales office which stage your home is in, because the answer decides which papers the file carries.

The building permit, inspections and certificate of occupancy from Horry County

Carolina Forest counted 23,342 residents in the 2020 Census. It has no city government, so the local authority over a building permit here is Horry County. On an FHA file that matters, because the Handbook gives the lender two ways to document a home at the proposed stage. One is a copy of the building permit together with the certificate of occupancy. The other is three inspections, at the footing, at the framing and at the finish, by the local authority or by an inspector certified by the International Code Council. A home already under construction, or finished under a year ago, needs the permit and the CO, or the CO alone, or a final inspection. For a Carolina Forest lot those papers come from Horry County, and I ask the builder for the permit number once you are under contract.

The builder signs three papers of its own, whether that is Pulte in Berkshire Forest or D.R. Horton in Waterbridge. First, the builder certifies the plans, the specifications and the site, on HUD form 92541, within 30 days before the appraisal is ordered, and that certification goes to the appraiser. Second, the builder signs a warranty of completion on HUD form 92544. Third, the builder guarantees the home's protection against subterranean termites on form NPMA-99-A, the National Pest Management Association's form that HUD uses. HUD can waive the termite guarantee for a county on its termite treatment exception list, and I look that list up on each file rather than assume. All of it goes into the loan file, because FHA wants that paper trail on a home nobody has lived in yet.

The appraisal in a subdivision that is still selling

An appraiser working in Berkshire Forest, Clear Pond or Waterbridge has plenty of sales inside the community to choose from, and the Handbook does not let the appraisal rest on those alone. For a home in a new subdivision, the comparable sales have to include at least one sale from inside the subdivision and at least one from outside it. So a Waterbridge appraisal carries a sale from somewhere else in Carolina Forest or beyond, and the value is tested against the wider market as well as the builder's own closings. FHA's 90-day rule against quick resales does not apply to a builder selling a newly built home.

A builder's closing cost credit and FHA's 6 percent cap

A builder's credit toward your closing costs in Berkshire Forest, Waterbridge or Traditions at Carolina Forest counts as an interested party contribution under the Handbook. An interested party is anyone with a stake in the sale going through, and the Handbook names sellers, real estate agents, builders and developers. Interested parties together may contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price toward your origination fees, other closing costs, prepaid items and discount points. A rate buydown counts inside the 6 percent, and so does the upfront mortgage insurance premium if the builder pays it. Anything over 6 percent, or over your actual costs, is an inducement to purchase, and it comes off the sales price dollar for dollar before the loan amount is figured. None of an interested party's money may go toward your 3.5 percent minimum investment; that part is your own funds or a gift. My article on seller extras under FHA walks through the arithmetic.

So when a sales office on Moss Bridge Lane or at Traditions at Carolina Forest offers a credit, please send me the builder's complete written offer, every page, with the community, the lot and any lender it requires. I price the same FHA loan with the credit and without it, on the same loan amount and closing date, and if the builder's own lender comes out cheaper, you will hear that from me.

The 2026 limit against Carolina Forest prices

HUD's 2026 limits file sets the one-unit FHA limit for Horry County at $541,287, for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. A case number is the number FHA assigns your loan once the lender opens the file, and its date decides which limit applies. That figure is the national floor, the lowest limit HUD sets anywhere, and Horry County shares it with most counties in the country. The Coastal Carolinas Association of REALTORS calls Carolina Forest Area 10B. Its September 2026 All Cities report, covering sales through August, puts the year-to-date single-family median at $475,000 on 626 closed sales, up 8.8 percent from $436,734 in 2025, under the limit with room to spare.

Mortgage insurance premium, MIP for short, is what FHA charges to insure the loan, in two pieces. The upfront premium is 1.75 percent of the base loan, financed into the loan or paid in cash, and it does not count against the limit. The annual premium is paid monthly: 0.55 percent a year for the life of a 30-year loan with 3.5 percent down, or 0.50 percent a year ending after 11 years with 10 percent or more down. Those figures come from Appendix 1.0 of the Handbook, and the table below runs them on the Area 10B median.

Illustration: FHA with 3.5% down on the Area 10B median
Home price (CCAR Area 10B, year-to-date median through August 2026)	$475,000
Minimum 3.5% investment	$16,625
Base loan	$458,375
Upfront mortgage insurance premium, 1.75%, financed	about $8,022
Annual mortgage insurance premium, 0.55% a year, first year	about $2,521, or $210 a month

Principal and interest, the county's tax bill, homeowners insurance and the association's dues all come on top of that, and I price the rate for your scenario rather than print one here. With 3.5 percent down, the full $541,287 limit covers a home priced at about $560,900, and a larger down payment reaches higher. The 3.5 percent minimum takes a credit score of 580 or higher. The FHA explainer covers the rest of the program basics.

Townhomes and condos with an FHA loan in Carolina Forest

Area 10B's condo and townhouse median was $194,500 year to date through August 2026, far under the limit, so on an attached home the deciding question is how the community was set up legally. DRB Homes markets Townes at Carolina Forest, and the Post and Courier reported in 2021 that County Council was likely to approve 330 townhomes at Postal Way and Glenbriar Drive. A townhome can be fee simple, where you own the home and the lot outright, or it can be a unit under a condominium declaration, the document recorded with Horry County that says how the community is owned. I read that declaration early on any attached home.

For a Carolina Forest unit recorded under a condominium declaration, FHA insures it by one of three routes. The project can be on HUD's approved list on the day the case number is assigned, with at least 35 percent of the units owner occupied. Or the unit can get single-unit approval on its own. That needs a project of at least five units, at least half of them owner occupied, and your unit's CO at least a year old or someone already living in the unit. A single-unit file that an underwriter reviews by hand is limited to 90 percent of the value, meaning 10 percent down. Or the unit is a site condominium, where the unit is the home plus the land under it and you insure and maintain the home yourself, and then no project approval is needed at all.

I have not checked any Carolina Forest project against HUD's list, so I will not name one here as approved or not; I check each one by name on the day your case number is assigned. Why condos are harder to finance explains what gets read in the association's documents, and the dues in those documents go into the payment I qualify you on.

Moving in within 60 days and the 4% property tax assessment

FHA insures a home you live in. The Handbook requires at least one person on the loan to move in within 60 days of signing and to intend to stay at least a year, and FHA insures only one principal residence per person except in narrow cases. A Carolina Forest home bought to rent to Grand Strand visitors does not fit FHA.

That same fact helps on the tax side. South Carolina assesses an owner-occupied legal residence at 4 percent of its value and a second home or a home rented out more than 72 days a year at 6 percent. That lower figure is the 4% assessment. You apply for it with the Horry County Assessor, and Horry asks for the application by May 31 so the year's bill goes out at 4 percent. Because Carolina Forest is unincorporated, your bill has no city or town tax on it. It carries the county's own levy, the school debt levy, the county fire and solid waste levies and the county's stormwater and road fees. Millage is the tax rate charged per $1,000 of assessed value. The millage and the documents the Assessor wants are on my Myrtle Beach area page, linked above, and the actual bill on the address is what goes into your payment.

Drainage built to a 25-year storm, and FEMA's map

The County's stormwater manager told MyHorryNews in 2018 that most of Carolina Forest's drainage is designed for a 25-year storm, the standard in a 2000 county ordinance. A 25-year storm is one with a 4 percent chance of happening in any given year. The same story covered BelleGrove, a Carolina Forest subdivision that flooded in 2015 and again in 2016. The 2016 storm dropped 14.54 inches of rain. In those floods, water from International Drive's roadside drainage overflowed into a wetland and flooded the north side of BelleGrove. The County finished a drainage project there in 2017. Drainage and FEMA's flood map are two different questions, and the FHA file turns on the second. A Special Flood Hazard Area, SFHA for short, is FEMA's high-risk flood zone, the zones on its map that begin with A or V. The lender orders its own flood zone determination on the address, separate from the appraiser's work. If any part of the home is in an SFHA, FHA requires flood insurance for the life of the loan, and the premium is part of the payment I qualify you on. Horry County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and publishes a Flood Map App for any address.

On a brand-new home the rule is stricter. New construction in an SFHA is not eligible for an FHA loan without a final FEMA letter removing the home from the zone or an elevation certificate on the finished home. The certificate has to show the lowest floor above the 100-year flood elevation. That is the height floodwater reaches in a storm with a 1 percent chance of happening in any year. If the home stays in the zone, flood insurance goes with it. FEMA's map answers the SFHA question one Carolina Forest parcel at a time, so on a new lot please ask the builder for the elevation certificate along with the CO date.

Papers for an FHA purchase in Carolina Forest

• When you're ready, please provide your most recent 30 days of pay statements and your W-2 forms for the past two years. If you own a business, please provide your complete income tax returns, all pages and schedules, please, for the past two years, for you personally and for any business you may have an interest in.
• Please provide your two most recent statements for every account the down payment and closing funds will come from, all pages, even if the last page is intentionally left blank.
• On a new home, please provide the builder's complete written offer, all pages, showing the community, the lot number and the stage of construction on the day you sign.
• For a townhome or a condominium unit, please provide the complete recorded declaration, plus the association's current budget and covenants, all pages.
• Please provide the parcel number from Horry County's property record for the home, which shows the tax district.

Getting pre-approved in South Carolina lists what the letter is based on. Once you have an address or a lot in mind, I run the FHA payment with Horry County's bill on that parcel, the association's dues and the flood premium if the map requires one. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and the application opens from there. You are also welcome to call me first and talk it through. The South Carolina page covers attorney closings and the rest of the state's rules.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The Horry County Assessor decides whether a home gets the 4% assessment, FEMA's map decides the flood zone, and the builder's current written offer governs any credit. Please confirm each before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

What is the FHA loan limit in Carolina Forest, SC for 2026?

It is HUD's one-unit limit for Horry County, and for 2026 that limit is HUD's national floor, the lowest one-unit FHA limit anywhere in the country. Carolina Forest's 2026 year-to-date single-family median is below it, so an FHA loan with 3.5 percent down reaches the typical single-family home here.

Can I use an FHA loan on a new construction home in Carolina Forest?

Yes. FHA treats a home as new construction from before any concrete or other permanent material is placed through its first year after the certificate of occupancy, as long as nobody has lived in it. The file carries the builder's certification of the plans and the site, the builder's warranty of completion, and either Horry County's permit and certificate of occupancy or inspections made during the build.

Does a Carolina Forest builder's closing cost credit count against anything on an FHA loan?

It counts toward FHA's cap on what interested parties may pay, which is 6 percent of the sales price for closing costs, prepaid items, points and a rate buydown. A credit above the cap comes off the sales price before the loan amount is figured, and no part of a builder's credit may fund your 3.5 percent minimum investment.

Can I buy a townhome in Carolina Forest with an FHA loan?

It depends on how the community was recorded with Horry County. A fee simple townhome, where you own the home and the lot outright, is not a condominium unit, so the condominium routes do not apply to it. A unit under a condominium declaration needs the project on HUD's approved list, or single-unit approval for your unit, or the community has to meet FHA's definition of a site condominium, which needs no project approval.

Does an FHA loan in Carolina Forest require flood insurance?

Only when part of the home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area on FEMA's map. In that case the policy stays for the life of the loan and the premium is part of your monthly payment. Horry County's Flood Map App shows the zone for a specific address, and a brand-new home in that zone needs a FEMA letter or an elevation certificate before FHA will insure it.

Can I get the 4% property tax assessment on an FHA-financed home in Carolina Forest?

Yes. FHA requires at least one person on the loan to move in within 60 days and live there for at least a year, and South Carolina's 4% assessment is for a home that is your legal residence. You apply with the Horry County Assessor, and Horry asks for the application by May 31 so that year's bill goes out at the 4% assessment. Carolina Forest is unincorporated, so the bill has no city or town tax on it.