SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- If you are looking for a vacation town flush with affordable second homes with double digit appreciation potential stop in South Carolina first.

The only state to do so, the Palmetto State put two towns on EscapeHomes.com's new list, "Top 10 Towns For Investing In A Second Home". The list includes South Carolina cities of Beaufort, along the southern end of the southeastern coastal state and Myrtle Beach, at the north end.

"South Carolina is a strong, affordable vacation market and they have made a couple of our lists because of it," said Ken Brunt with the San Francisco-based EscapeHomes.com.

"Myrtle Beach is a top golf destination and it's still affordable with condos for $90,000, significantly under the average cost of a vacation home," Brunt added.

EscapeHomes.com uses the Internet to match second home buyers and sellers with Resort Specialists and affiliated segments of the second home industry -- vacation, resort, retirement and time share homes, both for sale and for rent in 275 cities nationwide and 20 countries.

Visitors can use EscapeHomes.com to search for properties by city, by town type -- beach, ski, golf, island, lake or world town -- or by category -- timeshare, resort or adult communities. The Web site also showcases destinations by describing the unique flavor of each of more than 300 communities, by describing the city's climate, local attractions, amenities and events.

The online niche real estate listing site's periodic Top 10 list was compiled by cross-referencing consumer interest in vacation towns listed on EscapeHomes.com with the percentage of equity growth in each of those towns over the last five years.

The other cities are Asheville, NC; Ashland, OR; Daytona Beach, FL; Park City, UT; Port Townsend, WA; South Lake Tahoe, CA; Sunriver, OR; and Charlevoix, MI.

Half of the cities listed have a median price below the $162,000 national average price for a second home. The median prices of a second homes in towns on the list range from $140,000 in Daytona Beach, to $403,750 in Park City, according to EscapeHomes.com.

Combine affordability with the fact that all the towns on the list have property values that have increased an average of more than 10 percent per year for the last five years and the bargains are apparent. Ashland, OR, for example, has enjoyed a 61 percent increase in home prices since 1997, EscapeHomes.com says.

EscapeHomes.com compiled the list as a service to investors looking to diversify investment portfolios with real estate buys. Listing affordable second home markets offers an opportunity to cash in on some second home deals.

Real estate has become the "psychological equivalent of gold" for investors flocking to a tangible asset to find shelter from the economic storm according to the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute's "A New Kind of Gold? Investment In Housing In Times Of Economic Uncertainty".

During the first six months this year, stock market indices tumbled by 20 to 30 percent or more as real estate prices appreciated by more than 7.5 percent, nationwide.

With Top 10 list prices in the range of the national average, the homes are within reach of average, middle-income buyers rather than just the affluent who are often associated with the second or vacation home market.

"Vacation homes and second homes have become one of the few golden investment opportunities," said Clark Thompson, CEO EscapeHomes.com.

Published: October 17, 2002

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.