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Beaufort SC MLS area search; simple lifestyle not too simple to find

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Real Estate Agent with Apex Team Real Estate

Searching “Areas” for homes in the Beaufort Multiple Listing Service

The Beaufort Multiple Listing Service is used to share information of Real Estate for sale, under contract, and sold with Realtors who are members and to consumers through IDX feeds to all major web search engines such as Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and many others. Properties are labeled to be in certain areas as defined by the Multiple Listing Service, hereafter referred to as the MLS.

The nature of the area and the annexation of areas by both the City of Beaufort and the Town of Port Royal can be very confusing to the new consumer and even longtime residents of the area. Northern Beaufort County consists of about 30% land and 70% sounds, rivers, creeks and marshes. The only grid layouts of streets are in the old towns of Beaufort and Port Royal. Roads wind along rivers and islands are connected with bridges often taking visitors around in circles and to dead ends.

The heart of northern Beaufort County is the Port Royal Island, bordered by the Beaufort River on the East, the Broad River on the West, and Whale Branch River on the North. The City of Beaufort and the town of Port Royal are located on the eastern most part of this island. Battery Creek borders most of the western boundary of both of these towns nearly reaching the Beaufort River to the north creating two separate islands out of Port Royal Island.

The first four MLS areas to be discussed are as follows; 1 – BEAUFORT, properties around the City of Beaufort, 2 - MOSSY OAKS, properties between Beaufort and Port Royal, 3 - PORT ROYAL, properties around the Town of Port Royal, 4 - BURTON, properties west of Battery Creek on Port Royal Island.

The City of Beaufort and The Town of Port Royal have annexed portions of Burton adding confusion to the mix. Mossy Oaks is mostly a part of Beaufort with some properties in Port Royal. If there wasn’t a “City Limit” sign on the road, you wouldn’t know that you were leaving one town to another. Mossy Oaks has no real boundaries and is not a municipality. Burton, to the north and west of these areas really has no boundaries, is not a town, and is mostly described as a state of mind.

Thankfully, the other major areas of the MLS are more clearly defined. 5 – LADY’S ISLAND and 6 – ST. HELENA ISLAND are the two main islands to the East of Beaufort and Port Royal.

Lady’s Island area is less rural, more heavily populated, and much closer to town centers with shops, restaurants, and businesses on the island. It’s basically the eastern suburbs of Beaufort. There are other small island communities in this area such as Cat Island, Cane Island, Gibbs Island, Lost Island, and Distant Island all pretty much on the south end of Lady’s island and a large rural Coosaw Island on the north over Lucy Creek.

St. Helena Island is a very large mostly rural and agricultural island with spotted developments along the water’s edge. The heart of St. Helena Island has been known as Frogmore in the past and is rich in history with the Penn Center School and Gullah cultural center. Areas of development are Fripp Point, Edding’s Point, Dulamo,  and Coffin Point on the north of the island and Bermuda Bluff and Lands’ End on the south end of the island.

The other four (really three) areas to the east of Port Royal Island are as follows; 7A – FRIPP ISLAND, a gated beach and golf resort barrier island and the end of the HWY 21, 7 – ALL BEACHES, used to include both 7A and 7B, which I never personally use, 7B – HARBOR ISLAND, a smaller gated beach resort island before Hunting Island State Park and just past St. Helena Island and 7C – DATAW ISLAND, a gated golf and river community developed by Alcoa in the early 80’s which is actually in the middle of St. Helena Island near Frogmore.

The remaining areas in the MLS South, West and North of Port Royal Island and are as follows; 8 – NORTHERN BEAFORT COUNTY, areas north of the Whale Branch River, mostly rural areas with spotted developments such as Bull Point and Bray’s Island, 9- SOUTH OF BROAD RIVER, which are all of the properties in Beaufort County south of the Broad such as Okatie, Bluffton, and Hilton Head, which are more clearly delineated in the Hilton Head MLS, B – ADJACENT COUNTIES, which are all properties in adjacent counties except for Jasper County, and finally, J- JASPER COUNTY, all properties in Jasper County.

And there you have it! All the areas you need to know when searching properties in the Beaufort Multiple Listing Service. It’s helpful to have a local Realtor explain these areas to you with a large map and laser pointer. It’s a simple lifestyle you’ll find in the Lowcountry of Northern Beaufort County but not necessarily a simple experience actually finding the area that’s right for you.

 

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