Buying a home is one of the most significant investments that you will ever make. Like most good things, finding the perfect home comes with a lot of work. From your initial search online to your home tour and finally closing, there are many difficult decisions to make along the way. The bottom line is that the entire home buying process can be very stressful, especially when it comes to finding the right mortgage broker and loan for your new home. Since market conditions and mortgage programs change frequently, you have a lot riding on your broker's ability to provide quick and accurate financial advice. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer or own several residential properties, you need a mortgage broker in Sullivan's Island, SC, who can educate you on mortgage rates and provide trustworthy guidance to help you make an informed decision.
My name is Dan Crance - Sullivan's Island's most trusted mortgage loan officer with more than 30 years in the mortgage industry. I bring unparalleled insight and decades of experience into your home loan process. If you're looking for a new home loan, are interested in refinancing your current mortgage, or need information regarding FHA, VA, or other types of loans, Dan Crance is Your Mortgage Man.
Unlike some mortgage loan officers in Sullivan's Island, my primary goal is to help you make the right mortgage choice for you and your family. Mortgage lenders have a horrible reputation for turning over clients quickly to expedite cash flow and make the most money possible. While some mortgage brokers come off as pushy and impatient, I encourage my clients to take as much time as they need to ask questions and review their mortgage agreements. I'm here to help answer those questions and provide you with easy-to-understand advice so that you can rest easy knowing you made the right choice. I could say that I strive to provide service that exceeds your expectations, but I'd rather show you. In the end, I want you to leave feeling confident in the loan you've selected, as well as in your choice of broker.
Clients choose my mortgage company because I truly care about helping them navigate the often-confusing landscape of the mortgage process. I am fiercely dedicated to my clients and make every effort to provide them with trustworthy advice and an open line of communication.
In my business, I work for two different customers. On one hand, I have the buyer: the person entrusting me with the responsibility of guiding them through one of the most important decisions ever. Serving homebuyers is not a task that I take lightly. I work with them daily to help them through the process and provide timely updates and news on their mortgage status. On the other hand, I have the realtor: the person who works with my client to find their dream home. Since their commission is in my hands, working with realtors is also a very important task. I update these agents on the status of their customers weekly. Only when I take care of both parties can I say my job as a mortgage loan officer is complete.
As a mortgage broker with more than 30 years of experience, I pledge to give you the highest level of customer service while providing you with the most competitive loan products available. That way, you can buy the home of your dreams without second-guessing your decision.
At Classic Home Mortgage, our team works diligently to close on time without stress or hassle. Whether you're a seasoned homeowner or are buying your new home in Sullivan's Island, we understand how much stress is involved. Our goal is to help take that stress off of your plate by walking you through every step of the home loan process. Because every one of our clients is different, we examine each loan with fresh eyes and a personalized approach, to find you the options and programs you need.
With over 30 years as a mortgage professional in Sullivan's Island, Dan Crance will help you choose the home loan, interest rate, term options, and payment plans that fit your unique situation.
30-Year Loan - This loan is often considered the most secure option to choose. With a 30-year loan, you can lock in a low payment amount and rest easy knowing your rate won't change.
FHA Loan - If you're not able to make a large down payment, an FHA loan could be the right choice for you. With an FHA loan, many of our clients have successfully purchased a home with less than 4% down.
VA Loan - This loan is reserved for military veterans and active-duty men and women. Those who qualify may be able to purchase a home with no down payment and no Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).
Choosing a home loan is an important step in the home buying process. At Classic Home Mortgage, we are here to make choosing a loan as easy as possible, so you can focus on the joys of being a homeowner. Contact our team of experts today and ask how you can get pre-qualified for your home loan in Sullivan's Island, SC.
Because home mortgage rates in the U.S. have been so low over the last year, many current homeowners are opting to refinance their home loans. Simply put, refinancing is replacing your existing mortgage with a different mortgage under new terms. Homeowners who refinance their homes enjoy lower interest rates, lower monthly payments, and even turn their home's equity into cash. If you're interested in refinancing your home, it all begins with a call to your mortgage broker in Sullivan's Island, SC - Dan Crance.
Refinancing from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage might seem counterproductive on the surface because your monthly payment usually goes up. However, interest rates on 15-year mortgages are lower. And when you shave off years of your previous mortgage, you will pay less interest over time. These savings can be very beneficial if you are not taking the mortgage interest deduction on your tax returns.
FHA loans are notorious for paying premiums for the life of the loan. Mortgage insurance premiums for FHA loans can cost borrowers as much as $1,050 a year for every $100k borrowed. The only way to get rid of mortgage insurance premiums is to refinance to a new loan that the Federal Housing Authority does not back.
Sometimes, borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages refinance so they can switch to a fixed rate, which lets them lock in an interest rate. Doing so is beneficial for some homeowners who like to know exactly how much their monthly payment is each month. Conversely, some homeowners with fixed rates prefer to refinance to an adjustable-rate mortgage. Homeowners often go this route if they plan on selling in a few years and don't mind risking a higher rate if their plans fall through.
Finding the right loan can be a difficult proposition, even if you have been through the process before. This is especially true since mortgage rates and market conditions change frequently. If you're like most of my clients, you probably have questions about interest rates, refinancing options, and a litany of other topics. To help alleviate some of your stress, here are just a few common questions with answers so that you can better educate yourself as we work our way to securing your loan.
Whether you're selling, buying, refinancing, or building the home of your dreams, you have a lot riding on your home loan specialist. When you need a mortgage broker who works tirelessly for you, answers your questions, provides guidance, and does so with a genuine smile, Dan Crance is your mortgage man. Contact Dan today at 843-478-5612 to get pre-approved and discover why Sullivan's Island loves Classic Home Mortgage.
After hours by appointment only. CONTACT DANThere are expensive places to live in South Carolina.Then there is Sullivan’s Island.CashNetUSA recently ranked Sullivan’s Island as the most expensive neighborhood in South Carolina. The ranking is part of a list of most expensive neighborhoods in every U.S. state, based on ...
There are expensive places to live in South Carolina.
Then there is Sullivan’s Island.
CashNetUSA recently ranked Sullivan’s Island as the most expensive neighborhood in South Carolina. The ranking is part of a list of most expensive neighborhoods in every U.S. state, based on Zillow data.
Home prices across South Carolina overall have skyrocketed the last two years. For instance, the median home sales price in the state was $311,032 in the first quarter of 2023, up 22% from the first quarter of 2021, according to South Carolina Realtors.
And yet, that is all chump change compared to home ownership in Sullivan’s Island. A home there costs an average of about $5.4 million, the ranking states.
The 2.5 mile-long barrier island and its charming little beach town is about 10 miles from downtown Charleston. The island has a strict preservation plan and so doesn’t have the usual accommodations that visitors would expect, like major hotels and motels. Instead, only vacation rental homes are available.
The island does feature a strong restaurant scene, with plenty of options for fine dining and family eating.
Sullivan’s Island also has a good bit of history. The island was settled in the late 17th Century by Capt. Florence O’Sullivan and was later the site of a major Revolutionary War battle.
To compile the rankings, CashNetUSA used real estate data from Zillow to group together neighborhoods of towns and cities in all 50 U.S. states. It then calculated the average price in each neighborhood by adding together the house prices in each area and dividing them by the number of properties.
Why Sullivan’s Island is pricey, it is still not among the top most expensive places to live in the U.S. Below is a list of the 10 most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. and their average house prices, according to CashNetUSA.
To keep things more in perspective, here’s an interactive map that shows the latest median sales price for homes in each South Carolina county, using data from .
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — The home market continues to sizzle in this pricey seaside town, with real estate agents pointing to its community appeal, a longtime ban on short-term rentals and resilient, well-heeled cash buyers among the driving forces.So far this year, three big-ticket residential transactions have closed on Sull...
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — The home market continues to sizzle in this pricey seaside town, with real estate agents pointing to its community appeal, a longtime ban on short-term rentals and resilient, well-heeled cash buyers among the driving forces.
So far this year, three big-ticket residential transactions have closed on Sullivan’s Island, ranging from nearly $8 million to slightly more than $10 million.
Sullivan’s commands a premium partly because it offers limited inventory in a highly desirable location, according to agents familiar with the local market. Some also point to the lack of rentals.
“There is not a transient population out there,” said Lyles Geer, president and broker-in-charge of William Means Real Estate. “You don’t have an abundance of renters or people who don’t live out there. ... Buyers are paying for the exclusivity of living in a residential community.”
Michael Scarafile, president of Carolina One Real Estate, echoed his remarks.
“One reason is that Sullivan’s doesn’t allow short-term rentals,” he said. “Those are all residential sales.”
Scarafile pointed to the recent run of seven- and eight-figure purchases as an example of the age-old principle of supply and demand.
“There just aren’t that many houses on Sullivan’s, and the market for residential use on the islands continues to perform well,” he said. “The high-end market is holding up very well.”
Owen Tyler, managing broker of Cassina Real Estate Group, agreed prices on Sullivan’s are rising because of the dearth of inventory and continued interest among would-be buyers from outside the region or state.
“They aren’t building more of the island,” he said.
Tyler also pointed to a community-minded vibe on Sullivan’s as an attraction for buyers who can afford the lifestyle.
“Sullivan’s Island has always been for a lot of people the epitome of where they want to live,” he said. “It has great beaches, it’s an island and it has a small-town atmosphere. Nothing feels out of place or unusual.”
But Tyler doesn’t buy the notion that the town’s 22-year-old rental policy of not allowing overnight stays of less than 28 days has an impact on home sales.
“Are people wanting to live there because of a lack of short-term rentals? Maybe, but I don’t ever hear that,” he said. “Most of the people who are buying recently are not full-time residents of Sullivan’s.”
To Tyler, the main factor driving up prices is an abundance of deep-pocketed buyers who are able to make quick and mostly cash offers for an extremely limited number of homes.
“We can’t find enough people to sell (homes), which is why you are seeing the price escalation,” he said.
The most recent transaction involved the five-bedroom oceanfront house with five bathrooms and two half baths at 3213 Middle St. It changed hands March 29 at the list price of $7.95 million, according to Charleston County land records.
The buyer is a limited liability company from Florence. The seller is a Charlotte firm that bought the property when it was a vacant lot for $2.5 million in 2020. The 4,160-square-foot house near Breach Inlet was completed the next year.
Ashley Haynes of East Islands Real Estate represented the seller, and Tommy Manous of Carolina One Real Estate represented the buyer.
The sale follows two other notable residential transactions on Sullivan’s.
A 4,350-square-foot oceanside house at 2411 Atlantic Ave. last month fetched $10.1 million, shy of the all-time record of $10.5 million a buyer paid for 1901 Thee St. in 2021.
Earlier this year, a 4,360-square-foot spread at 812 Conquest Ave. on the western end of Sullivan’s changed hands for $8.7 million.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. — Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic completed a week of communications testing on April 7 using manned and unmanned systems on Sullivan’s Island in collaboration with Indiana-based Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane.Organizers said underpinning the entire test event was a Department of the Navy (DON) imperative to develop a future fleet that better connects critical command and control (C2) functions to various weapons, integrated sensors and small unmanned systems....
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. — Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic completed a week of communications testing on April 7 using manned and unmanned systems on Sullivan’s Island in collaboration with Indiana-based Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane.
Organizers said underpinning the entire test event was a Department of the Navy (DON) imperative to develop a future fleet that better connects critical command and control (C2) functions to various weapons, integrated sensors and small unmanned systems.
“Our collaboration with NSWC Crane illustrates the outstanding value that warfare centers bring to the greater naval enterprise,” said Peter C. Reddy, NIWC Atlantic executive director. “Alongside the amazing support of Sullivan’s Island and its small community, it was remarkable to see the teamwork, passion and dedication on display all week as each participant worked to advance vital capabilities for our warfighters.”
In addition to aligning with naval strategic doctrine like distributed maritime operations (DMO) and expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO), the communications experiment aligned with a vital Department of Defense initiative called Joint All-Domain C2, or JADC2.
Greg Hays, NIWC Atlantic’s senior scientific technology manager for rapid prototyping, experimentation and fleet exercises, said the operational technologies and architecture for the DON’s future fleet are best written in real-world environments that are experimental in nature.
“We know that developing the best capabilities for our warfighters to conduct DMO and EABO requires realistic experimentation,” Hays said. “Everything changes when you leave a lab environment; therefore, we are looking to operationalize experimentation.
“We don’t experiment for the sake of experimentation,” he added. “We do it to reach an outcome, where the results inform how the Navy designs future tools and communications that are developed for the warfighter.”
Most of the test equipment — which included a tethered, radio-equipped aerostat flying overhead and unmanned surface vessels in and around Charleston Harbor — launched from the western tip of Sullivan’s Island. Communications also established on beaches near Fort Moultrie and a pier off Fort Sumter National Monument tested the interoperability of various system configurations.
Cliff Hunt, NIWC Atlantic’s senior scientific technical manager for assured communications and a major facilitator of the exercise, said the community support in the weeks and months leading up to the event was invaluable.
“Sullivan’s Island has a long history of supporting the nation’s military, dating all the way back to Fort Moultrie in the Revolutionary War,” Hunt said. “We are very appreciative of the town and its community members for showing us so much support during this week’s technology experiment.”
NIWC Atlantic routinely conducts testing on Sullivan’s Island. Leaders said military radios did not interfere with other frequencies or electronic communications in the area.
Robert Gamberg, NSWC Crane’s fleet experimentation lead, said the environment was the perfect place for his team to carry out their mission.
“To evaluate communications intended for a tactical maritime environment, we needed a realistic setting,” said Gamberg, who grew up in South Carolina and traveled here to lead the exercise. “Thanks to NIWC Atlantic’s overwhelmingly strong support throughout the planning, coordination and execution of this event, our team could operate in an ideal location that enabled the successful completion of critical testing and experimentation.”
About NIWC Atlantic
As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities.
About NSWC Crane
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory in Crane, Indiana, and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s warfighter.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)- During a sunny and clear day, the old Pitt Street Bridge or ‘Old Bridge’ on Sullivan’s Island is a spot for local fisherman to look for a fresh catch.“I like to fish up here because the Red Drum will travel down the grass line,” said Mark Thawley.Since 1985, Thawley has been coming to this enclave with his rod and string. He says that back then people at Haddrell’s Point Tackle shop told him that this spot was the best for fishing.“I’ve...
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)- During a sunny and clear day, the old Pitt Street Bridge or ‘Old Bridge’ on Sullivan’s Island is a spot for local fisherman to look for a fresh catch.
“I like to fish up here because the Red Drum will travel down the grass line,” said Mark Thawley.
Since 1985, Thawley has been coming to this enclave with his rod and string. He says that back then people at Haddrell’s Point Tackle shop told him that this spot was the best for fishing.
“I’ve been fishing here ever since. It’s that good of a spot,” said Thawley. “Last year on October 24 I caught a seven-pound flounder here; my biggest yet.”
But, Thawley’s saltwater sanctuary has long been dormant and is in need of repairs.
“It’s not very safe. There’s a little bench up there, but there’s no railing or anything like that. It’s a rugged little walk so old people might have a hard time. It’s not very safe for them either,” said Thawley.
The old Pitt Street Bridge once connected Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island with trolleys going to and from each side. The remnants of the Old Bridge have stood in the water and on the banks for decades after the Ben Sawyer Bridge was built in 1945.
“It’s been sitting here idle, but it’s a piece of history for the town,” said Andy Benke, the Town Administrator for Sullivan’s Island. “It’s a great recreational place.”
Due to the old bridge’s historical significance, the Town of Sullivan’s Island wants to keep the structure intact. Since 2018, town leaders have been exploring methods to stabilize and restore the area from the erosion that’s impacted the shoreline.
“We watched earlier a large watercraft go by at a very slow bell, but he still drew water as he approached and he threw out a small wake as it went by,” said Benke. “It’s just constant motion on the docks near us and the Old Bridge. It causes water to wash up around the backside of this structure and eventually erosion.”
Other causes of erosion, mostly on the structure’s north side, are due to tidal flooding and rainfall.
The Town of Sullivan’s Island is getting closer to a solution though. Town Council is in the process of getting construction drawings to restore and stabilize the area. After that, a contractor can be hired and construction could begin in the fall of 2023.
“We’ll stabilize the foundation of the Old Bridge with an environmentally friendly product, sandbags, dirt and vegetation,” said Benke.
Hope for an improved Old Bridge has Thawley feeling optimistic that his favorite fishing spot will be even better than before.
“If they just put a little bit into it that would be great,” said Thawley.
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — Sullivan's Island's maritime forest is an area of dune grasses, flowers and shrubs filled with a number of animals, and it's been protected for several decades by town leaders.However, that protection – and town leaders' ability to govern those protections – was placed into jeopardy when previous town councilmembers entered into an agreement in 2020 to allow for selective trimming of the forest.On Thursday, S...
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — Sullivan's Island's maritime forest is an area of dune grasses, flowers and shrubs filled with a number of animals, and it's been protected for several decades by town leaders.
However, that protection – and town leaders' ability to govern those protections – was placed into jeopardy when previous town councilmembers entered into an agreement in 2020 to allow for selective trimming of the forest.
On Thursday, Sullivan’s Island For All announced that a circuit court judge had sided with the Town of Sullivan's Island in a legal dispute over whether or not current town councilmembers could overrule the previous council's agreement.
Previous Coverage: Town of Sullivan's Island pursuing new leads in illegal cutting of Maritime Forest
In other words, the Town of Sullivan's Island is no longer obligated to allow the selective trimming of the maritime forest and can reintroduce protective guidelines, if members of the council so choose.
“This ruling is a validation of everything Sullivan’s Island for All has fought for since this unlawful agreement was passed in a hastily called Zoom meeting by a former Town Council at the height of the pandemic,” said Sullivan’s Island for All President Karen Byko. “Anyone who read the settlement could immediately see that it was a one-sided attempt to destroy the forest that protects all of us from storm surge and hurricanes, so a few islanders could have better ocean views.”
In late 2021, members of the council hired an attorney to see if they had any options to overturn the settlement. The attorney, like the circuit court judge, said he believed the settlement to be "invalid and unenforceable."
"We are hopeful that the parties who have sued the Town for more than a decade will finally put this issue to bed and join with us to preserve the Maritime Forest for the benefit and enjoyment of all,” Byko said.
A copy of the full court order can be viewed in the embedded document below or by clicking here.