In 1970, the Sea Pines Plantation Co. (The developer of Hilton Head, SC) purchased almost 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 and contains 1100 home sites with an 18-hole golf course, a country club, tennis courts, and a boat slip marina. When the development of River Hills was completed in 1977, Sea Pines sold the real estate company River Hills Realty to John Wilkerson. The name has since been changed to First Properties of the Carolinas, Inc.
In 1991, newly licensed Julie Van Slambrook interviewed for a job at First Properties with John Wilkerson. She was told she did not have the experience they required. She was 26 years old. She then signed with the largest local firm in Charlotte and went on to become one of their top-producing agents. Julie’s husband Kent joined her in real estate in 1998 and took the Van Slambrook Team, Inc. to the next level. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, 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 2003, 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 NC and SC sides of Lake Wylie.