Real Estate News

Home Builders hold golf tourney

The Harbor Course at Wild Dunes will be the site for the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association's spring golf tournament May 13.

Registration is at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Registration is through Friday.

The "captain's choice" format is $400 for a foursome and $110 each for individual players, which includes greens fees, cart, range balls and beverages. Hole sponsorship is $250 a company.

Prizes for a hole-in-one contest include a 15-foot Boston Whaler Montauk and $10,000 in cash.

Hispanic forum set

A Hispanic Financial Forum (Foro Financiero) will be held May 9 (9 de Mayo) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MUSC Specialty Building, 8992 University Blvd., in North Charleston.

All proceeds from the event go to Increasing HOPE, www.Increasinghope.org, a nonprofit financial literacy organization in Charleston. (A beneficio de Increasing HOPE-Organización de fortaleza financiero sin fines de lucro en Charleston.)

The forum will be conducted in Spanish in an effort to inform the community and educate them on issues that affect them.

For more information, contact Lydia Diaz of Diaz Realty Services at (843) 327-8453.

Ponds farmhouse cited for award

A top design group has recognized the historic farmhouse and pavilion at The Ponds neighborhood in Summerville for architectural excellence.

The award came from the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Charleston-area design form Cobb Architects won a 2009 Merit Award for its plan that blended the farmhouse, an open-air pavilion and three other "outbuildings" into a cohesive central amenity area for The Ponds, a 1,950-acre planned community west of Summerville.

This is the second major design honor for The Ponds and its developer, Greenwood Communities and Resorts. DesignWorks of Charleston earlier won a merit award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for analysis and planning.

"Consideration of the natural elements of the property, including the historic farmhouse, has been an integral part of our development plan," says John Morgan, community manager of The Ponds.

"The pavilion, sales cottage and pool buildings needed to support the farmhouse," Cobb says.

The Ponds' farmhouse dates to the 1830s. The restoration process took place between 2006 and 2007. It began with moving the house about 200 feet onto a new foundation, rebuilding the chimneys and wooden windows, reinstalling the marble walkway and rebuilding the kitchen wing from salvaged beams and wood flooring.

The Ponds' has homesites and single-family homes constructed by a builder team. Several homes are now finished and the first residents have moved in. For more information, call (843) 832-6100 or visit www.DiscoverThePonds.com.

Chefs to join house tour

The Preserve at Fenwick Plantation will be hosting "Inside the Chef's Kitchen," a tour of fine homes featuring local celebrity chefs, on Sunday to benefit Charleston Collegiate School.

The event will be noon-2 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. Tickets are $100. A limited number are available.

Chefs at the early tour are Donald Barickman, Magnolias; Brett McKee, Oak Steakhouse; Nathan Thurston, Ocean Room; Robert Wysong, The Sanctuary; and Chang Lei Yun, Bambu Asian Bistro. The later tour will feature Barickman; Donnie Bulliard, The Cajun Kitchen; Bob Carter, Peninsula Grill; Laura Fieberg, pastry chef at The Sanctuary; and Fred Neuville, The Fat Hen and Wild Olive.

For more information, contact Charleston Collegiate School at (843) 559-5506 or visit The Sanctuary Hotel on Kiawah Island.

Lennar unveils new-home auction

A novel promotion from national homebuilder Lennar puts a new twist on a longtime method of selling houses: the auction.

The company's "Name Your Price" event, which runs through today, gives people the chance to put in sealed bids for new properties and name their future home's price. It will be held at three local Lennar neighborhoods: Tranquil Hill and Wentworth Hall in Summerville and Hunt Club in West Ashley.

"This event facilitates a setting for prospective buyers to view our homes, assess the value of the community and place a bid that they are comfortable with," says Shannon Williams, director of strategic marketing for Lennar's Coastal Carolina division.

Along with the auction, the company will be giving up to $4,000 in closing costs to buyers during the event, she says.

Interested buyers are invited to submit their sealed bid forms in person at participating Lennar Welcome Home Centers. All prospective homebuyers will be notified on the status of their bid by 6 p.m. Sunday.

Winning bids must meet the reserve amount pre-determined by the seller. Buyers must pre-qualify with Lennar's preferred lender, Universal American Mortgage Company, and must be able to purchase the home they are bidding on without having to sell another home first.

Homes in Tranquil Hill are 2,466-2,617 square feet and priced from the mid-$100,000s. Wentworth Hall dwellings are 2,450-3,600 square feet and priced from the mid-$200,000s.

Homes in the Hunt Club are 2,500-4,100 square feet and cost from the low-$300,000s.

To learn more, visit Lennar's participating Welcome Home Centers or visit Lennar.com/Charleston.

Belle Hall Gardens update

A couple of points should be clarified about Belle Hall Gardens, featured in the Real Estate section last week. Janson Realty and Elaine Brabham and Associates are the exclusive marketing team on the Mount Pleasant condo project. But neither the agency nor their staff or owners Cloice Janson and Elaine Brabham are principals in the venture. Also, Regions Bank and Bill Anderson are among the preferred lenders on the project.