SC Realtors Help to Rebuild Gulf Coast

Last week, 19 Realtors from across South Carolina built a brand new home in Mobile, Ala. The team, formed by the South Carolina Association of Realtors (SCAR), was one of the first of 50 Realtor teams to travel to the gulf region as a part of the National Association of Realtors and Habitat for Humanity partnership for Gulf Coast recovery efforts. Realtors from every state will lend a hand to Victims of Hurricane Katrina by sending a Global Village team by the end of the year.

The S.C. Global Village Team worked with other volunteer groups at Magnolia Crest, a new 38-lot neighborhood southwest of Mobile. The team began construction on a clean slab foundation on Monday morning. Before lunch on Friday, the roof was completely shingled, the vinyl siding was finished, doors and windows were installed and the interior was ready for insulation. Other team members put the finishing touches on three homes that are now ready for their new owners. The Realtors worked side-by-side with many of the future homeowners and their families.

“We had an amazing experience. The feeling you get from providing a home for someone else is unbelievable—especially when you build it yourself,” explained Charles Sampson, SCAR’s 2007 Housing Opportunity chairman, who led the group and recruited the Realtor volunteers.