ENGEL & Völkers, SOAR PARTNER FOR GALLERY EVENT SOAR-Special Recreation worked with partner Engel & Völkers to plan a unique gallery event to launch the #WeLiveHereHHI campaign, a movement recognizing the Special Olympians in our community and celebrating the natural beauty of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton. Many residents in our community aren’t aware of the Special Olympians living in our very own neighborhoods.

Engel & Völkers and SOAR hope to change that through the #WeLiveHereHHI campaign. To launch this movement, five Special Olympians were each paired with a talented local photographer to create photo stories that showcase the Special Olympians’ favorite places in our community and the photographers’ gorgeous pictures. These photo stories will be framed, autographed and sold at a silent auction during a gallery event, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to SOAR. The objectives of the #WeLiveHereHHI campaign are to raise awareness of SOAR-Special Recreation, raise funds, and build friendships for the Special Olympians who live in the surrounding area.

DAYTON, CARROLL FORM REAL ESTATE TEAM

Tracy Dayton has joined Charter One Realty and has partnered with David Carroll to form Carroll & Dayton Real Estate. Carroll has 30 years of local experience listing and selling real estate on Hilton Head Island. He has sold more than $400 million worth of real estate, and more importantly, helped hundreds of families with their housing needs. Dayton worked for a builder as well as one of the top real estate companies on Long Island before moving to Hilton Head Island in 2003.

The Rupp Team of Weichert Realtors – Coastal Properties were recently voted the 2016 Best Real Estate Agent/Team for Hilton Head Island by The Island Packet's Readers. This was the second time in the past three years the office has been recognized.

Weichert Realtors – Coastal Properties welcomes Bob Colonna to the agency’s sales team. Prior to pursuing a career in real estate, Colonna had a rewarding career in the financial sector in New York and New Jersey and then Charlotte, North Carolina, working with products and services such as life insurance, annuities, brokerage, managed accounts in addition to retirement plans. He is also a member of the Hilton Head Area Association of Realtors.

OLDFIELD HONORED WITH BLISS AWARD

Oldfield is proud to announce that it is the recipient of the 2016 Bliss Award as “South Carolina’s Best Community” by The Real Estate Scorecard, the industry leader of online real estate reviews of the most popular master planned communities in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Central America. The Bliss Award represents genuine happiness and the highest quality of life offered within a community.

Weichert Realtors – Coastal Properties welcomes Sherry Laing to the agency’s sales team. Laing was born in St. Mary, Jamaica. While on a visit to the Lowcountry in the late 1990s, she fell in love with the area and she and her family now call it home. She is an active member of LowCountry Community Church and enjoys helping in the local community. Laing is a member of the Hilton Head Area Association of Realtors as well as the National Board of Realtors.

Charter One Realty has received the Readers’ Choice Award for the 2016 Best Real Estate Brokerage from readers of The Island Packet. For over a decade, The Packet has counted on the community to identify the “best of the best” in Hilton Head and Bluffton. Almost 6,000 businesses and individuals were nominated, and then placed into their respective categories. Voting took place online in May. Participants were allowed to vote once daily during the 10-day voting window. This year, more than 100,000 votes were totaled within the 150-plus categories.

In July, Charter One Realty was the recipient of the Bluffton Today Readers’ Choice Awards as Best Real Estate Company, and one of its Realtors, Allison Cobb, was honored as Best Real Estate Agent.

WOODWARD MAY MOVES INTO NEW OFFICE

Courtney Woodward May is proud to announce her new office location in Sea Pines Center, 71 Lighthouse Road, #612. This beautiful open-space office embodies her unique personal approach to preparing, buying and selling homes. Here, her commitment to signature service will guide you through making confident choices in staging, marketing, home improvements and sales seasonality as well as fast-to-contract negotiation techniques. So drop on in, say hello, grab some coffee, and get inspired by what a true real estate partnership feels like as she transforms those common house-selling stresses into exciting new successes.

Sea Pines Real Estate The Cottage Group has added four new associates: Zach Patterson, Courtney Woodward May, Evelyn Bull, Rich Huston. Elizabeth Glick has also joined The Cottage Team as a sales assistant.

South Carolina REALTORS released its June housing market reports. The data show an uptick in sales and prices for most areas, while the number of homes for sale and total months supply of inventory have been going down. New listings were up 5 percent to 10,455. Pending sales decreased 6 percent to 6,781. Inventory shrank by six to 36,784 units. Prices moved higher as median sales price was up 5 percent to $189,500. Homes are selling quickly, with most on the market for only 96 days. Months supply of inventory was down 12 percent to almost six months, indicating that demand increased relative to supply.