Charleston and Beaufort are only about 90 minutes apart on Highway 17, but Michaela Burkett calls them “apples and bananas.” She’s a Lowcountry agent who spent nine years in Charleston and now lives in Beaufort. She explains how she steers relocation buyers between the two: Charleston has the airport, MUSC, the job market and the restaurants, and Beaufort is a quiet military town with a lot of VA buyers. She also shares the short-term rental she bought in Charleston that got hit by new city rules. The regulations changed a few months after she closed, and she had two weeks to get an application in and pass inspection.
Agents will also hear why a South Carolina second home is taxed at 6% instead of the 4% primary-residence rate. Michaela says that gap can mean about three times the tax bill. She talks about managing sellers who are still pricing like it’s 2021. And she shares a lead-gen habit most agents skip: sending a DM to every new Instagram follower, starting with an open-ended question.
Michaela Burkett
eXp Realty
South Carolina
https://www.instagram.com/michaelasellssc/
About the host:
Jeff Hamm is a real estate broker with Ivester Jackson | Christie’s International Real Estate, serving Lake Norman & Charlotte, North Carolina and Banner Elk, North Carolina. He specializes in luxury, waterfront, mountain, and investment property, with a focus on buyer representation. He is also the founder and host of The Best of LKN and Banner Elk Living.
Learn more and contact Jeff:
LKNreal.com
BannerElkLiving.com
Jeff Hamm is a North Carolina real estate broker with Ivester Jackson | Christie’s International Real Estate, serving two of the state’s most sought-after markets: Lake Norman and Banner Elk and the greater High Country. He specializes in luxury and second-home property, from Lake Norman’s waterfront, golf, and lakefront communities to High Country communities including The Lodges at Eagles Nest, Elk River Club, Farm at Banner Elk, Diamond Creek, and Echota. He also works with buyers of condominiums, homes in active adult and family-friendly neighborhoods, and short-term rental and investment properties. His focus is buyer representation, where his relationships with each region’s top listing brokers, builders, and designers give his clients a measurable edge.
Jeff is also the founder and host of two local media platforms, The Best of LKN (since 2020) and Banner Elk Living. Each includes a podcast and newsletter that spotlight the area’s most admired small businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs. He publishes the annual Lake Norman Visitors Guide and Banner Elk Guide, produces regular market reports for both regions, and hosts The Best of Lake Norman Business Network and the Banner Elk Business Network.