Real estate firm gets new name

Prudential Carolina now Carolina One

The largest residential real estate firm in the Charleston area is no longer Prudential Carolina Real Estate.

It's now Carolina One Real Estate — the same company but with a new name.

The firm officially dropped its affiliation with Prudential Real Estate on Thursday, triggering a visual transformation that took place in front yards and at office buildings across the Lowcountry.

Hundreds of agents swapped out "For Sale" signs at their listed properties, while other workers replaced the exterior signage at Carolina One's 16 local offices. Inside, employees tweaked their e-mail accounts, and technical staffers tended to the new Web site, www.carolinaonerealestate.com.

Patty Scarafile, Carolina One's chief executive officer, said Thursday that the transition was going smoothly. Agents were told how to prepare for the changeover last week. The company ordered its new gold and navy blue yard signs in advance, shortly after it decided to strike out on its own about two months ago.

Scarafile declined to say how much the changes cost, but she called it a "significant financial commitment."

"If we'd done it in 2005, it would have had less of an impact on us," she said, referring to the real estate market's peak. "But we believe that it's the right thing to do. ... Good companies don't make decisions based on the market."

The company parted ways with Prudential after a nine-year relationship because of the changing nature of the real estate industry, Scarafile said. The Prudential brand was important, particularly for relocating buyers, who typically would seek out a familiar name when starting a house hunt in a new town, she said.

"The truth is, they don't do that anymore," Scarafile said. "They get on the Internet and find out who the market leader is that way."

Also, by going independent the firm will reduce its overhead by eliminating the fees and other costs of belonging to the Prudential network.

Carolina One has not had to hire any more permanent workers because it previously employed most of its own support staff, including its own information technology and marketing departments.

While Carolina One is no longer tied into a national franchise, it announced a referral arrangement last week with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a Chicago-based network made up of 700 companies, 5,000 offices and 145,000 agents in 38 countries.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.