Today I want to reveal the absolute best thing about this little southern legend though, some of the fantastic people and professionals that give the place its best title, a great hometown in the low-country. Hometown’s like Charleston, families like the Scarafile’s there, and the lessons we take away in life, this is what’s “it’s” about.

IR photography – “the mind’s eye” of Charleston – courtesy Adam

Taking Lessons in Possibility

I met Patty Scarafile and her family back when I owned a custom remodeling company back in the 90′s. The former President and CEO of Carolina One Real Estate was, and is, one of the most professional and classy people I have ever met. Back then, she and her husband Vito (below right from LinkedIn) lived on the front beach on the Isle of Palms off Charleston. In the article below you’ll meet (sort of) somebody to learn from. That is if you want to enjoy more success in life.

A story in the Post & Courier tells of a lady who taught school at nearby St. Andrews, who basically transfigured herself into what some would call a “self made millionaire businesswoman” of course Patty was not stranger to the human relations intrinsic of real estate sales, her husband Vito once owned a highly successful ad agency.

However, as I remember, Patty fairly well performed the perfect “hat trick” of balancing a highly successful career, with raising her wonderful kids Michelle, Michael, Matt, and Mishka and being the devoted wife to Vito – in short, working on visiting with the Scarafiles’s one always got a sort of modern “Father and Mother know best” feeling. Patty integrated working with the iconic Charleston broker Dave O’Shaughnessy, to helping lead the low-country’s biggest real estate entity, and finally re-branding her company as Carolina One.

Right here is as good a place as any to point out how crucial a loving and confident partner can be to striving. Vito is an ultimately confident and supportive person, one whom I considered the real spirit of family fun and cohesiveness. As a business person, creative and detail oriented too (I remember the palm/Christmas tree Vito). This sentiment also holds true for their entire family too. I expect when they read this, each and every one will be humbly touched. There’s the joy in my job you see, doing things that are unexpected, creative, and no provoked.

Patty Scarafile, the super successful working mom, her pragmatic approach to work and family is encapsulated in a quote she gave the Post & Courier back in 2010:

“I think sometimes people misperceive flexible and part time,” she says. “One of the good things about real estate as a career is that it’s flexible. You can still drive carpools and go to soccer games and manage if your child is sick, but it is not part time. It’s probably a job and a half.”

Patty Scarafile with her son Michael

One thing I would add here, especially for the budding real estate tycoon out there, is that a great part of Patty’s success seems to emanate from her razor sharp ability to organize. I do not think I ever ran across a more detailed and scheduled person. The intent reader should also understand, real success is never about acquiring accolades and money either, the Scarafiles were always about community too.

From O’Shaughnessy’s and Scarafile’s help with FOSIS (PDF) and the ongoing Carolina One Cares (Visit Carolina One Facebook) initiative to help the less fortunate, to the “expectations” we should all take hold of in our endeavors, Scarafile and her entire family always seemed a ripe example for emulation.

The places we come from, the people from there, etched in our minds – courtesy our partners © Dave Allen – Fotolia.com

The professional side of Scarafile, brings to mind my recollection of how Patty and Vito handled their home life too. Some people say “you can’t mix business and pleasure”, but clearly the character of the individuals in business and family life work better leveraging their best traits. Quoting from Your Best Ideas (PDF):

“It starts with clearly communicating expectations, continual coaching, and accountability. If that doesn’t happen, we meet with the
sales associate to go over the original agreement.”

When all is said – A community remembers what you did to make a difference

Wearing Responsibility

This passage speaks of Patty’s “expectations” for her new agents straight away. Each new associate is spurred to be accountable, and to have a new listing or sales contract within 60 days of signing on with Carolina’s One. Now some readers may scoff at this as some sort of “hard nosed” agents brutality, but nothing could be further from the truth. After all the question; “What are you here to do?”, would seem to surface at some point anyhow.

The other side of the Patty Scarafile profile, her success equation if you will, is really caring about her profession and the people her work for her. The newspaper story I quoted from up there also speaks of tough times and Patty’s demeanor when the recession his every real estate company. I can just see her at her desk now, having to call an associate in, letting them go or cutting a salary. You see, the so called “Great Recession” did not just hurt small independent agencies, it hit everyone. Patty and Vito’s legacy goes forward though, with Michael now at the helm Charleston as a home to more people is affected by the Scarafile’s.

Phase II of The Cottages at Johns Island

Success, family, community, whether as a professional you search for super success or just sustenance, finding excellent individuals and emulating them is always a necessity. You don’t have to have a so called “mentor” to have a mentor, examples are actually quite prevalent. The Scarafile family revolves around the Mom and Dad, the kids and now grand kids are all part of their little piece of the so called American Dream. I am not sure, hut it seems as if each and every member of the family is somehow involved in what Vito and Patty started. And not in a common or typical way – I mean “really” involved, really caring, really taking part in what each of the others is interesting in. I guess you could call this idea some kind of family solidarity.

Patty Scarafile at North Charleston Coliseum & Performing Arts Center.

Take Away

I live in Germany now, with my lovely wife Mihaela and two of our sons. We are, in some ways very removed from Charleston and all the gifts that place has to offer. But still, immersed in our own home’s wonders. I though of Patty, Vito, the Scarafile family this morning, who knows why? Maybe thinking about real “character” in general prompted me? Maybe some wispy memory of Vito’s beloved palm tree out front of their house, or the open and hospitable way he and Patty, their whole family, treated visitors or workers in their home. A lovely place, right on the front beach there, their home was an extravagant, yet warm and lovely place, I remember.

To end up our little story here, I recall one day getting a call from Patty. I was on Kiawah Island, far across the other side of Charleston from the Isle of Palms. You see one of my workers was at the Scarafile home doing some painting, he had made a pretty bad mistake.

“Hi Phil, one of your men spilled some paint on the new carpet, I just wanted to let you know.”

The carpet was Karastan, Patty and Vito had just had it installed by Southeastern Galleries, you see. No arm waving, high pitched nor intense interchange ensued, Patty always had a special gift for conveying things perfectly well.

I drove to Isle of Palms, knelt down with magnifying glass, solvent, and razor blade in hand – meticulously scraping each-and-every-fiber where oil based paint had touched. And here’s the thing to glean – I knew Patty or Vita would not raise Cain over a mistake, I also knew full well my responsibility and the clear communication from Patty. “Expectations”, you see, are pretty easily met in the end, and if not then accountability should be sure.

There you have the give and take that really should be between us all. This is the sort of thing Patty Scarafile was very good at. It is safe to say every mom has a bit of this, and every great leader too. In the end turn about is always fair play in my book. It’s an old say, but a good one. Patty and her family were nice to me, to everyone. Now you get to read about a professional that can, with this story alone, assist you in becoming better at what you do. How’s that for altruism? I hope my story, the Scarafile family, adds something to your life.

Thanks Vito and Patty, for life lessons you never knew you gave.

The marshlands and the Cooper River from Remley’s Point – courtesy Becky

Marsh view from Courtesy Dyal Compass LLC Facebook

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., one of America’s most respected interior design and furnishing companies, has announced their role as the primary home furnishings provider for the ever popular HGTV® Dream Home series for 2013 (pictured below). But the best news in the press release is that YOU can win this wonderful Kiawah Island vacation paradise residence. (See below)

Out front of the HGTV Dream Home the 2013 Acadia by GMC

It’s not all that often I get really excited about a press release,  but the showcase home at the Indigo Park community on beautiful Kiawah Island outside my hometown of Charleston, SC, is actually situated within the Island resort’s first sustainable neighborhood. This year’s HGTV® Dream Home, is the epitome of seaside living in the modern age. And I love Kiawah, in case you begin to wonder.

Relaxed is what coastal life is all about, but not without style and elegance to go along, as you can easily see. The HGTV Dream Home 2013 Interior Designer Linda Woodrum has made brilliant use of what Ethan Allen has always been famous for, crisp and refined modernity, and she clearly knows how to play natural light and surrounds off one another. Kiawah is, if anything, a very green place.

Courtesy HGTV Dream Home

Anyone familiar with the marshlands of coastal Georgia and South Caroline will readily identify with the integration of tones Woodrum has made here. The virulent greens of the dining area shown above, along with the textures of the rugs, mixed with the wood tones and crisp accessory edges, are welcoming to say the least.

The same and more holds true for Woodrum’s treatment of the master suite below. This is all any modern homeowner could expect in intimate and cozy Island sleeping spaces. The Ethan Allen Sydney Paisley Duvet adds just the right finishing touch, don’t you think?

Courtesy HGTV Dream Home 2013

For those who do not know, Kiawah Island offers some of the most pristine landscapes, and seaside homes and villas, anywhere in the United States. For readers interested in more pictures, videos, and looks at the Dream Home, please visit their site here. And, if you’ve ever felt the soft Southern breezes off Charleston’s barrier Island through your hair, the video below from real estate developer Candace Dyal and her company DyalCompass, puts real people like you in the lazy days of Carolina coastal charm.

Dolphins at play off Kiawah – Courtesy Kiawah Island Golf Resort Facebook

As a native of Charleston and the low-country, and also someone infinately familiar with developments and especially Charleston’s design community, if there’s a more intriguing combination of value along the Atlantic coastline, I’d love to hear from anyone who knows. Ethan Allen, Kiawah Island, HGTV, fabulous design minds like Linda Woodrum (at right) of Hilton Head’s TS Hudson Interiors, and developers like Candace Dyal who put it all together – the great combinations are just too perfect for imperfections.

I know because I was a contractor for several homes appearing in everything from Better Homes and Gardens, to House Beautiful and so on. Kiawah is actually a magazine photographer’s paradise. Not to mention the coolest of places to live and play.

So, how you you win the HGTV Dream Home giveaway worth a cool $2 million? Enter twice daily via their entry form here. The Kiawah home you see, $500,000 dollars, and that GMC Acadia Denali in the image up there may be under your feet soon. I am in. As for Kiawah? Even if we don’t get that new home I’ll be testing my 9 iron, fishing pole, and kiteboard there this Summer.

Image credits: Many thanks to Ethan Allen, HDTV, and DyalCompass  and Kiawah Island Golf Resort for these wonderful pictures.