Go Gated Hilton Head Real Estate and Community News

The Indigo Run Golden Bear Men’s Golf Association 2008 Spring Tournament and Picnic

rkadesch — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:51:04 +0000

Alan Zak has won the 11^th Annual Golden Bear Men’s Golf Association (GBMGA) Spring Tournament played at the Golden

Front row L-R: Tany Budidharms, Tom Battiste, Bob Engle, Daryl Seldes. Second row L-R: Bob Cosgrove, Richard Kadesch, Alan Zak, Ralph Maddox, John Morgan. Third row L-R: Jim Cary, Henry Reynolds, Dan Yorksie.

Bear Golf Club on May 3 and 10, 2008. Alan’s low net total of 148 (72+74) blew away a determined field of competitors by five strokes. Second place finisher Jim Cary had 153 (74+79), third place Ralph Maddox scored 153 (74+79), fourth place Henry Reynolds shot 154 (75+79) and fifth place Tany Budidharma finished with 154 (69+85). Players with identical totals had scores broken with scores taken from back-nine holes.

With his victory, Alan Zak won $155 in pro shop merchandise and his name will be inscribed on the Golden Retriever trophy. The 66 year old retired materials science engineer said that he came out of the water twice on the ninth hole to save a double bogey and that the effort contributed importantly to his victory. Alan and his wife Becky first vacationed on Hilton Head Island and loved it so they moved to Indigo Run from Louisville, Kentucky 11 years ago.

Tournament Winner Alan Zak

Tany Budidharma was in first place after the first round with a net 69 but after a second round 85 he finished in fifth place. His second round included two very high scoring holes but he vowed to do better in the fall. The 47 year old is a Project Manager at Gulfstream Aerospace for G-4 and G-5 long-range aircraft. In 2001 Tany and his wife Lynda moved to Indigo Run from Valencia, California with their 12-year old daughter Jackie and their 14 year old son Nicholas who plays for the Hilton Head High School golf team. They found

Tany Budidharma

Indigo Run when a friend at Gulfstream suggested that they should look on Hilton Head Island for a house when they could not find what they wanted in Savannah, Georgia.

The Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever tournament trophy sculpture was made by Indigo Run resident Dave Musial and he donated it to the GBMGA. The sculpture’s name is a play on the words "Golden Bear". It is made of polyform clay that looks like metal. Dave worked for the advertising firm Leo Burnett Company in Chicago for 17 years before he retired to Indigo Run with his wife Marty in 1999. He also designed the well known logo for the Golden Bear Golf Club that has the big bear paw with five digits.

After the tournament the players and their guests celebrated with a picnic lunch at the Golden Bear Club. GBMGA President Bob Engle said that everyone had a good time and the tournament was a success. The GBMGA has 25 members and they play every Saturday morning.

Richard Kadesch, Owner and Broker-in-Charge
The Gated Community Specialist ®
Go Gated Realty ®
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Rich@gogated.com
www.GoGated.com
1-800-333-5025
Read Some of My Clients’ Success Stories

Hilton Head Island’s Compass Rose Park Opens and Honors Charles Fraser, Sea Pines Developer

rkadesch — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:04:18 +0000

Joseph Fraser III Speaks at the Opening Ceremony about Charles Fraser, Hilton Head Island and Public Art

The family of Charles Fraser, Hilton Head Island Town officials and approximately 75 townspeople were on hand for the opening of Hilton Head Island’s



The ribbon cutting ceremony for Compass Rose Park. From L-R: Town Mayor Tom Peeples, Charles Fraser’s brother Joe, grandson Samuel, daughter Laura Lawton, widow Mary Wyman Stone Fraser, nephew Joseph Fraser III and Town Manager Steve Riley

Compass Rose Park at the corner of Pope Avenue and New Orleans Road on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 10 am. Charles Fraser had the largest collection of maps of South Carolina in the country. A French map had a north-pointing fleur de lis and compass that Mr. Fraser chose it as the symbol for the Sea Pines Company that he started in 1957. Charles Fraser died in December, 2002 in a boating accident in the Turks and Caicos. He was 72 years old.

At the opening ceremony, Hilton Head Mayor Tom Peeples spoke about how the Park’s location had been a restaurant and auto repair shop before the site was purchased by the Town. Joseph Fraser III, Charles Fraser’s nephew spoke and remembered Charles Fraser as a visionary and an innovator, a developer who used protective covenants as part of his community’s plan and who blended nature’s colors and materials with dedicated open spaces, required landscape planning and site planning for houses around specimen trees, who formed community associations and architectural review boards and was the first to adopt ‘T’ streets in a development.

Joseph Fraser III said, “It is fitting that the Compass Rose Park is here on Pope Avenue because all of the land across from Compass Rose Park was once Sea Pines Plantation. The Park is a gathering place where everyone can be reminded of our development history and because boggy gut, at the eastern end of the park, is the headwaters of the 600-acre Forest Preserve which is perhaps the Sea Pines Company’s greatest gift to Hilton Head Island. Along Pope Avenue there are several churches for which the land was donated by The Sea Pines Company, a tangible reminder of Charles Fraser’s commitment to building a strong Island community. Charles understood that he had a duty to be a good steward of the land. Today, because of his vision and the hard work of the early development pioneers and by the continuing efforts of the Town and many of its citizens, we are all able to enjoy this Island paradise. Today Hilton Head Island is a more complete community and a better place to live, work and play than ever before in the modern development era. Just as the Compass Rose was the early symbol for the development of Hilton Head Island, I suggest that today we should adopt it as a symbol that points us towards the future we envision for Hilton Head Island. Appropriately, the Compass Rose Fountain right over here is named Pointing the Way.

Charles Fraser’s grandson Samuel on the Spinning Rose Fountain.

It should challenge us to make our Island an even better place by continuing protect our natural environment, by continuing to improve our infrastructure and public spaces, by continuing to support our schools all programs for our children and by continuing our strong tradition of supporting our non-profit sector with our time and dollars and by including these organizations in our estate planning to build endowments that benefit the Island long after we are gone, and by continuing to improve the vacation experience for our resort guests.

It should also challenge us today to support the Public Art Fund and the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. Charles understood the importance of public parks and gathering places. He also understood the importance of art in these places. The alligator statue at the Plantation Club and the Seward Johnson Lunch Break statue in Harbortown are two of the earliest examples of public art on the Island. The Public Art Fund will be leveraged by the Community Foundation by contributing one dollar for every three dollars raised by the community, businesses and foundations. The artist has been selected for the first statue which will be here in Compass Park of Charles Fraser Walking the Alligator. It will be on the grass to my right and it should be completed sometime next year.

I want to particularly thank the Heritage Classic Foundation and the Hilton Head Island Foundation Fund for their very generous donations for this park. As the Public Art Fund grows, additional works of art will be added to our Hilton Head Island collection. Finally, I’d like to thank the Public Art Committee for their time and hard work. It has been a privilege today to speak about our compass rose.”

The Design of Compass Rose Park

The Reflecting Pond and Bubbling Spring

The Park is an artistic combination of plazas, gazebos, fountains, waterfalls and landscape – a unique and distinctive accomplishment by the Town of Hilton Head Island and Architect Ed Drane who received many compliments from those who attended the Park’s opening. Pointing the Way fountain is located at the entrance to Compass Rose Park that is also defined by a sturdy wood trellis that arches over the Park entrance. The fountain with a bronze compass rose sculpture that once adorned the first security gatehouse to Sea Pines is easily seen from passers by on neighboring Pope Avenue. Behind the fountain is the Plaza comprised of three patios with canvass-topped gazebos that surround the Reflection Pond with a Bubbling Spring, reminiscent of the artesion wells of Hilton Head Island for which pumps were not needed. The Plaza with the Reflecting Pond is an inviting place for visitors to stop, relax, meet friends and enjoy the Park. A waterfall from the Reflection Pond feeds The Spillway, inspired by old rice and cotton mills that had spillways and water wheels. At the end of The Spillway another waterfall transitions across black tile to a stream that flows under The Gazebo at the end of the Park and into the Lily Pond at the headwaters of the boggy gut.

The Spinning Rose Fountain sits besides the path that runs from the entrance to the Park to the Gazebo at the Lily Pond. It is a granite block inscribed with the fleur de lis that points north while the elevated compass spins on water power. Architect Ed Drane explained that it’s there for fun and visitors are expected to sit on the compass and enjoy the ride.

Panels that Tell the Story of Sea Pines Will be Added to the Park

Events of the Sea Pines story will be told on panels with words and photo images to be placed on six of the Plaza walls of Compass Rose Park. Included in

The Stream flows under the Gazebo to the Lily Pond at the headwaters of boggy gut.

approximately 24 panels will be tributes to Charles Fraser’s architectural design, construction philosophy, restrictive covenants, architectural review board, commitment to quality and preservation and respect for the environment; acknowledgements of the contributions of his brother Joe and internationally famous landscape architect Hideo Sasaki; the building of the swing bridge to the Island in 1956 and the construction of the Hilton Head Inn; the construction of the Sea Pines Ocean Course, the first golf course on Hilton Head Island and the subsequent construction of the Harbourtown Golf Links designed by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye; the first Sea Pines Heritage Golf Classic won by Arnold Palmer and the incorporation of the Town of Hilton Head in 1983 with one of its goals to preserve the Sea Pines vision for all of the Island.

A Bronze Statue of Charles Fraser Walking the Gator Will Be Added

A popular photograph of Charles Fraser dressed in a suit and tie and wearing straw hat while carrying a walking stick and walking beside an alligator was

published in the Saturday Evening Post and achieved national attention for Sea Pines and Hilton Head Island at a time when neither was well known. A bronze statue of the image will be located on the lawn of Compass Rose Park in 2009 and will also be the first project to be funded by the Public Art Fund. A plaque will be added to the Plaza near the statue will say: “This statue is based on the picture of Charles Fraser on a casual jaunt with an alligator as it appeared in a special edition of the Saturday Evening Post on “People on the Way Up.” It caused a media sensation and gave Sea Pines national attention for the first time. It’s donation to the Town by the Community Foundation of the Low Country, Inc. will be made possible by the generous donations of many who give to their Public Art Fund. The artists are Susie Chisholm for the statue of Charles and Darrell Davis for the alligator.“

Pointing the Way Fountain

The Public Art Fund

The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry has established a matching gift program for public art projects. The Public Art Fund will be leveraged by contributing one dollar for every three raised by community members for public art projects throughout Hilton Head Island. The vision is to use the fund for multiple projects over many years. Along with the Town of Hilton Head Island, the community foundation’s goal is to bring art into the public realm and introduce it into the lives of the community, engage and uplift the viewer, add to civic pride and enhance the unique place that is Hilton Head Island.

The Public Art Fund is a unique fund of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, a nonprofit 501 ( c ) 3 organization. All contributions to the community foundation are fully tax deductible as allowable by law. Depending on your situation, should you want to make a gift to the Fund or for more information, please contact Emmy Rooney, Vice President for Development and Donor Services at the Community Foundation: 843-681-9100 or erooney@cf-lowcountry.org. The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry is located at 4 Northridge Drive, Suite A, P.O. Box 23019, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29925. Their website address is http://www-cf-lowcountry.org.

Hilton Head Mortgage Rates and the Federal Reserve

rkadesch — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:00:56 +0000

Today, once again the Federal Reserve reduced short term interest rates by .25%. This is a reduction in the fed funds rate, the rate that banks charge when lending to each other. This action is taken in times of economic downturns to stimulate banks in lending money and encourage consumers to borrow money and spend it, all of which will breathe life into the economy. When the Federal Reserve takes this action, it has an immediate effect on prime rate as well as rates on other types of loans such as car loans and credit card rates. Unfortunately, it does not have a direct effect on Hilton Head mortgage rates.

Source: Bankrate.com

Changes in Hilton Head mortgage rates are more closely tied to fluctuations in the yield on the 10 year Treasury note. In a “normal” lending environment, you would find the rate on a 30 year fixed rate conforming loan (those with loan amounts under $417,000) to be about 1.75% above the yield on the 10 year Treasury note. As we are all aware, we are not in a “normal” lending environment at the present time, as investors are requiring a larger spread to cover assumed risk. Thus, today you will find the rate on the same 30 year loan to be about 2.25% above the yield.

In fact, many times we see mortgage rates on Hilton Head rise after a reduction in short term rates by the Federal Reserve. Why, you ask? Well, the biggest fear of the treasury market is inflation, as that erodes the value of the note. One would normally find rising inflation in times of economic upturns. When the Federal Reserve reduces the short term rates, the treasury market reads that as a stimulus to the economy which could lead to a possible rise in inflation. So to guard against this, the treasuries sell off forcing a rise in the yield. Having said all of this, most of the time a reduction is so anticipated that the rise in the yield has already been priced into the value of the note, so when the rate cut is finally announced it is pretty much a non-event. For example, three weeks ago, the yield on the 10 year note was 3.46%. As we drew closer to today’s fed meeting, most economists were predicting a .25% cut in the short term rate. So, over the past three weeks we have seen the yield on the 10 year note rise to today’s 3.82%. After the announcement, the yield did not move at all.

Where do Hilton Head borrowers and lenders go from here? Most analysts feel that the Federal Reserve will not cut rates again in 2008. This means that the monthly economic data will determine the direction of the treasury yield. Bad news will lower the yield while positive news will cause it to rise. Even the experts don’t know if rates will be higher or lower later this year. Remember that historically rates are still very, very low. There are many properties in the Hilton Head area that are value priced. If you find one that you like, buy it now. Don’t wait for lower interest rates.

Patrick S. Child, Vice President

Residential Lending, Wachovia Mortgage

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

(843) 686-9342

E-mail: Pat.Child@Wachovia.com

McDonald’s Restaurant Reopens at the Sea Pines Circle

rkadesch — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:47:59 +0000

When McDonald’s first opened near the Sea Pines circle many years ago they were not allowed to build their golden arches because they did not blend with the Island’s character. McDonald’s didn’t clown around and they built without the arches serving millions of Islanders and visitors until the fall of 2007. That was when the owners decided that it was time for a new building. They tore down the original restaurant and built a new one from scratch during the winter of 2007-2008. The new McDonald’s re-opened on March 15, 2008. It is larger and more attractive than the original restaurant both inside and out and with a variety of new features and services.

One is free wi-fi service and this has to be good news for travelers who increasingly want online services. Another is the McCafe with a selection of iced coffees, lattes and cappuccinos. The new McDonald’s has an indoor play land that is well separated from the main seating area. The dining area has an art deco style with wood, stone and tile and some flat screened televisions. The new McDonald’s has two outside order lanes and menu boards. Parking, landscape, the flag pole and the sand blasted wood sign on William Hilton Parkway are all new.

Go Gated Realty ® is located near McDonald’s at the Executive Center on Corpus Christie Place. Come see us via McDonald’s and bring a sundae, coffee, burger, etc.

Richard Kadesch, Owner and Broker-in-Charge
The Gated Community Specialist ®
Go Gated Realty ®
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Rich@rkrealty.com
www.GoGated.com
1-800-333-5025
Read Some of My Clients’ Success Stories

Enjoy Maximum Convenience and Luxury in Hilton Head Plantation at Skull Creek

rkadesch — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:39:13 +0000

Beside Skull Creek in Hilton Head Plantation are upscale villa residences located within an easy walk to to the Skull Creek Marina and the Country Club of Hilton Head. Residences close to recreational amenities are highly desired by many people and there are very few locations anywhere with this kind of convenience. This area is for primary and second homeowners only. Hilton Head Plantation does not allow vacation rentals.

In addition, many of these residences have fantastic, deep water sunset views! The locations include Governor’s Harbor, Indian Springs, the Courtyard, Mariners Point and Grandview. The one, two and three bedroom villas at these locations have different architecture, views, features and prices. Each villa location has its own swimming pool and all owners have use of the Spring Lake Recreational Center with the central swimming pool of the Plantation as well as walking beach and views of Port Royal Sound provided at the community’s Dolphin Head Recreational Center. Hilton Head Plantation has two, 24-hour security gates and a wide variety of shopping, restaurants and the Hilton Head Hospital just outside of the main security gate.

The Country Club of Hilton Head is just across the street and memebership is optional. It has an 18-hole Rees Jones design course that was the the local qualifying site for the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens. It also has six har-tru clay tennis courts, a large fitness center with an aerobics room, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, meeting rooms and formal and casual dining. The Country Club of Hilton Head was founded in 1986 and is owned by ClubCorp. Members may enjoy benefits of ClubCorp affiliate clubs and resorts throughout the United States.

The Skull Creek Marina is located at mile 555 on the Intracoastal Waterway. It has floating docks for sale or lease with berths to 200 feet. Every slip has internet, water and electric service and a dock box. Gas and diesel fuel is available as well as a travel lift, boatyard services, dock house, full time staff and concierge services. Owning or renting a boat slip is optional and is not included with the real estate along Skull Creek.

Go Gated Realty ® is pleased to offer #34 Governor’s Harbor for sale. The two-bedroom, two-bath flat has incomparable deep water sunset views of Skull Creek from the living room, kitchen, master bedroom and screened porch. It is an ‘end’ unit with a bay window at the dining table. The interior is professionally decorated with a living environment of comfort and quality. The soothing wall colors tastefully blend with granite counter tops, custom cabinetry, floor tiles and furniture. The master bathroom has a jacuzzi tub. Access to the villa’s second floor location is by steps or elevator. There is a private storage closet and two additional 5′x8′ storage areas. The furnishings can be negotiated. Offered for $549,000.

To compare this villa with any other available villa or home, please contact the Gated Communities Specialist ® today!

On Hilton Head Island, the Spa on Port Royal Sound Has Economical Second Homes and Good Amenities.

rkadesch — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:11:37 +0000

Many buyers want to have a second home on Hilton Head Island but not at high prices. The Spa on Port Royal Sound has two-bedroom villas from $79,900 and with beautiful grounds and excellent recreational amenities. These include walking paths beside lagoons, two outdoor swimming pools, one indoor heated pool, spa, sauna, three tennis courts and the Port Royal Sound beach that was re-nourished in 2006. The Town’s bike path system includes Beach City Road where the Spa is located and it connects the Spa to all other Island locations. Many restaurants and shopping areas, the hospital, library and airport are all within a ten minute drive.

While economical, the Spa has never done well in the Hilton Head Island vacation rental marketplace because it has a somewhat remote location and is not on the ocean. The Sound beach is beautiful and great for walking, sunning, breezes - but not for swimming. Spa owners mostly purchase to use their villas as second homes without rental to others. Some owners rent to vacationers on their own and some owners rent to tenants.

The Spa has 268 one and two bedroom villas; All flats located on the first, second and third floors. There are no elevators at the Spa, therefore owners often prefer the lower floors. Buyers like the two-bedroom villas located anywhere within the Spa and the Sound-front one-bedroom villas for their outstanding views of the beach and Port Royal Sound. The two bedroom villas are about 917 SF in area. They have full kitchens and piggy-back clothes washers and dryers. The monthly regime fee is $467 and this includes insurance for hurricane/fire/flood, water and sewer, basic cable TV, buildings and grounds maintenance, trash pick-up, pest control and 24-hour manned security gate. The annual property tax is approximately $820. The Spa is well managed by the Board of Directors and a full-time Regime Manager.

Go Gated Realty ® just listed #2201, the lowest price two-bedroom villa in the first phase closest to the Sound for just $116,900, furnished. The owners of this villa have just repainted the interior and installed new tile floors in the kitchen and the bathrooms. This villa is on the second floor and has a balcony with a view of the grounds. The balcony can be enclosed to become a screened porch. This villa is ready to go and a buyer can move right into this villa at closing.

Please come and see the Spa on Port Royal Sound for yourself and take advantage of some low pricing today. To learn more about any vacation, investment or residential villas or homes on Hilton Head Island or nearby, contact the Gated Communities Specialist ®.

Hilton Head’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade

rkadesch — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:08:46 +0000

The weather was perfect for the 25th annual Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday, March 16. Marching bands from the area’s high schools, many local businesses, civic groups, classic cars and the Charleston Police Pipes and Drums Corp were represented and entertained thousands of people, young and old.

25 years ago the first Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day parade finished when the Budweiser Clydesdales pulled the iconic shiny red beer wagon along Pope Avenue to the Sea Pines Circle with the Dalmatian right up on top with the driver- it was perfect. This 25th parade highlighted our Military. At 3:30 p.m. an Army helicopter flew over the parade route and then Army Humvees led the way down Pope Avenue to an appreciative audience.

The parade route began at Coligny Circle in Forest Beach and continued along Pope Avenue toward the Sea Pines Circle, turned left on College Center Drive and ended in Park Plaza - about two miles. It lasted about an hour and a half. Off the parade route, the Beaufort County Police did an excellent job of keeping traffic moving along the the west side of Pope Avenue so that nobody was inconvenienced by the parade.

Hilton Head’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is just one of many community events on Hilton Head Island throughout the year.

Jumbo Loans in the Hilton Head Mortgage Market Today

rkadesch — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:31:07 +0000

Hilton Head and Bluffton real estate borrowers often request loans of more than $417,000. These loans are called jumbos. Jumbo rates are higher than the rates of lower, conforming mortgages. I want to explain just what has happened to jumbos recently and offer our best guess of what will happen for the near term.

Source: Bankrate.com

First of all, all mortgage lenders ideally prefer to sell the mortgage loans they make to others rather than hold them on their own balance sheet. In a “normal” mortgage environment, loans can be bundled into mortgage backed securities and sold to investors. However, with the current state of affairs in the mortgage industry, investors for jumbo loans have become scarce to totally non-existent. When the lender makes a conforming loan, a loan in the amount of $417,000 or below, it can still be sold to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Both of these agencies are backed by the federal government. Because these loans can be sold, the rates on the conforming loan products have remained fairly low. However, when a loan amount exceeds the conforming loan limit and without investor to buy the loan, the lender must hold the loan in their portfolio. When a lender makes a residential real estate loan that they cannot sell, they are required by law to set aside three times the loan amount in reserve. That is money that cannot be touched until the corresponding loan has been paid in full. For example, if we at Wachovia make a loan of $1 million to a buyer of a Hilton Head villa, we have to set aside $3 million in reserve. Because of this reserve requirement, the lender is forced to require a higher rate of return on the loan, thus the jumbo rates continue to climb.

Source: Bankrate.com

Recently Congress passed and the White House approved a new economic stimulus bill, a portion of which provided an increase of the conforming loan limit to $729,750. As it turns out, the increase was only for designated “high cost” areas of the country, the majority of which are in Florida, California, New York, and Washington. DC - not Beaufort County. As it appears at the present time, Beaufort County, SC will not see a direct benefit from this package with regard to the loan limit increase. However, the stimulus bill should allow some owners in New York who want to move to Hilton Head or Bluffton sell their homes and relocate here.

Going forward we do not look for any major change in the jumbo mortgage market for the near term. Until all of the uncertainty has been worked out of the housing markets, investors for jumbo loans will continue to sit on the sidelines, leaving rates higher than all of us would like to see them. It is important to remember, however, that if you are considering the purchase of a property that would require you to take out a jumbo loan, the current rate environment should not hold you back. Based on where rates are at the present time, the monthly payment difference between a conforming and jumbo 30 year fixed rate loan is only $40 per $100,000 loan amount. Also, it is very important to remember that this mortgage and housing environment will improve at some point in the future. Nobody can tell you when it will occur, but when it does you will be able to refinance your loan to a better rate. You won’t be able to go back and buy property at these low prices. So, do not let today’s jumbo rates prevent you from taking advantage of a great deal on a home, villa, or lot.

Should you have questions about jumbo loans or any other types of mortgage loans, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at pat.child@wachovia.com.

Patrick S. Child

Vice President

Residential Lending, Wachovia Mortgage, FSB

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

(843) 686-9342

The Dolphin Head Golf Club Celebrates its 25th Anniversary with $25 Memberships!

rkadesch — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:22:08 +0000

The Dolphin Head Golf Club in Hilton Head Plantation is celebrating its Silver Anniversary by offering 25 memberships at $25 each! You do not have to be a Hilton Head Plantation property owner to have a membership. Individuals, families, residents and non-residents of Hilton Head Island may purchase these Silver Anniversary non-equity memberships and enjoy the Club’s private golf and entire guest and social privileges. This is a significant savings on the usual cost of membership (also available) of $3,000 application fee plus $2,500 for an equity certificate.

The Dolphin Head course was designed by Gary Player and Ron Kirby. The course opened in 1975 and was the first in Hilton Head Plantation. The members purchased the club in 1983, built the clubhouse in 1986 and expanded it in 1998. In recent years the course has received renovations to over 50 sand bunkers and to four putting greens under the supervision of golf architect Clyde Johnson. The clubhouse has a pro shop, men’s and women’s locker rooms, dining room and the Manager’s office. The dining room is open for lunch daily for dinner five evenings per month. Social events are held throughout the year.

The course has six tees ranging from 2,180 to 3,307 yards with ratings and slopes of red 71.7/122, white 70.5/125 and blue 71.6/134. The course covers some beautiful real estate near Port Royal Sound where majestic trees and area birds are abundant. The mounds that surround the slightly elevated greens are a Dolphin Head ’trademark’. There are water hazards on thirteen holes and the course has some of the longest par three holes in the area.

There is a full golf program of competitive and social events as well as golf instruction for men, women and juniors. These include both a nine and eighteen hole women’s leagues and weekly men’s day. There is a variety of stoke, team and match play competitions, a flighted club championship, married couples championship and an annual two-day member-guest tournament.

Dolphin Head Golf Club has 310 total memberships. A $25 membership fee for private golf is a great way to celebrate a Silver Anniversary. For more details, contact Kirsty Kumm, Dolphin Head Golf Club Manager at 843-681-5550, X222.

“I really like the ocean view”, she said with enthusiasm.

rkadesch — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:12:49 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed a sales appointment with these buyers from Atlanta a few days ago. Before they visited, I corresponded with the husband by e-mail for several weeks and we spoke several times on the telephone. He wanted a two-bedroom villa with vacation rental potential. The focus would be on the Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort and Fiddler’s Cove

It’s great when buyers know what they want and are clear about it. I can take that information and find the best few properties from what’s available. When they arrived to see properties, the keys were in my pocket.

I had not met the wife before that morning but she called twice from the road to report on their travel progress. They arrived and we had only seen two villas when she asked, "What does it cost for an ocean view?" I explained that ocean view two bedrooms were more than they wanted to spend but that ocean view one bedrooms were in their price range. To satisfy her curiosity, we saw one. "I really like the ocean view", she said enthusiastically. We met the next day and saw the best ocean view villas in their price range. They really got excited about two villas that had very good prices and very good ocean views. They have gone back to to Atlanta to think it over. I have sent the rental histories of each villa as they requested.

This is a ‘first phase’ sales story. The process often begins on the Internet with a dialog about the buyer’s expectations. This is followed by a meeting to see the best properties door to door and compare them. Even with extensive planning, more than one meeting is usually required. This process has endless variations because everybody is different and there are many different kinds of properties.

The first phase is often followed by a second and third. These consist of the offer, negotiation, inspection, renegotiation, loan application, selection of the attorney, closing and post-closing. Each part of the process is important and has its own opportunities and challenges. I work for clients to get them best price and terms possible t takes skill, good communication and some luck. It’s always a learning experience. Things usually go well and when they do, it’s fun too.