In 1970, the Sea Pines Plantation Co. (The developer of Hilton Head, SC) purchased approximately 900 acres of land on the SC side of Lake Wylie and built a residential/resort community to serve the Charlotte NC area. The community was named River Hills Plantation and contains 950 home sites with 18-hole golf course, country club, 10 tennis courts and a 174 boat slip marina.
When the development of River Hills was completed in 1977, Sea Pines sold the real estate company River Hills Plantation Realty Sales to John Wilkerson. The name has since been changed to First Properties of the Carolinas, Inc. John had real estate offices at the entrances of River Hills and another resort community Tega Cay. At that time these were the only major communities around Lake Wylie. Since that time many other developments have occurred in that area. There have also been many homes built on the 325 mile shoreline that surrounds Lake Wylie. Our sales have expanded to serve this larger area, hence the name change.
In 1991, Julie Van Slambrook interviewed for a job at First Properties. She was told she did not have the experience they required. She then signed with the largest local firm in Charlotte and went on to become one of their top producing agents. Kent joined his wife Julie in 1998 and took the Van Slambrook Team, Inc. to the next level. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Julie and Kent, along with Karen Glenn, had a 10% market share on the NC (Steele Creek) side of Lake Wylie. They also sold a lot of homes in other parts of Charlotte and in South Carolina too.
When John Wilkerson decided to sell the company in 2004, he thought that the Van Slambrooks were a great fit to purchase it, for this would create a company that had great expertise and knowledge on both the NC and SC side of Lake Wylie.
A lot has changed in Real Estate since those early days but somethings haven’t. We hope that you will find a company that has wonderful experienced agents that most importantly care about you. All of our agents are licensed in both states and can help you whether you are looking in Uptown Charlotte NC or downtown Rock Hill SC. We believe in and use the latest greatest technology. But, we also believe in old fashioned customer service. We were the First Real Estate company in Lake Wylie. But we hope we will also be the last real estate company you will need.