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The Johns Islander

Curated by Mike Olson · eXp Realty

Online · Johns Island, SC · Seabrook · Kiawah

Spartina marsh and tidal creeks seen past palmettos on Kiawah Island

Kiawah Island — Vanderhorst

Summer Islands

Single-family homes (a regime), managed by Ravenel Associates. What the record says, what has sold, what it costs to own — and what to ask before you buy.

Last verified

Photo: olekinderhook, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

What the record says

  • DeveloperNine homes reached by a wooden bridge

Close by

  • NearbyBeach Club (Club), Ocean Course and Osprey Point (Resort) nearby, per the developer

Facts about the place only — never its people. Who said each line is on its tag; the sources are at the bottom of this page.

The market here

Listings here usually name only “Kiawah Island” as the neighborhood, so the MLS can’t count Summer Islands on its own. The island’s numbers — 121 sales in the last 12 months, median $1.71M — are on the Kiawah Island page. Mike pulls this neighborhood’s sales by hand.

Mike can pull every Summer Islands sale from the MLS and the county and walk you through them.

Send me the comps

Based on information from CHS Regional MLS for the period 01/01/2021 through 10/14/2026. MLS figures are aggregates of listings as entered by agents, deemed reliable but not guaranteed. No listing, address or agent is shown.

What yours might sell for

Summer Islands doesn't have five recent MLS sales to build a range from — which is exactly when a real CMA matters. Mike pulls the comps by hand: this neighborhood, its neighbors, and what's for sale now.

Get Mike's CMA

What you’d pay to own here

  • Annual assessment — home or villa

    $2,562 general + $357 reserve + $239 amenity (Sandcastle)

    Confirmed

  • Contribution to Reserves (the "transfer fee")

    The rate is confirmed. The minimum is "the current Annual Assessment" — $3,158 if all three 2026 charges count, $2,562 if only the general one does. Being confirmed with KICA.

    0.5% of the price, never less than the current annual assessment — so the floor applies below about $631,600

    Conflicting

  • Property Sale Administration Fee

    $100 one time

    Confirmed

  • V-Gate (Vanderhorst) segment assessment

    Ocean Park and The Preserve segment assessments dropped to $0 for 2026.

    +$103 a year on a home, +$51.50 on a lot, behind the V-Gate

    Confirmed

  • Regime (villa association) fees

    Your contract's regime disclosures and the regime manager have the real number.

    Vary by regime; not published by KICA

    Not published

  • Kiawah Island Club membership

    Available only with select properties. Agent pages report initiation at $185,000 golf, $160,000 sports and $120,000 social, and say it is mandatory in Cassique and The Settlement — none of that is from the Club.

    Secondary

  • Short-term rental license

    Licenses in capped areas are first come, first served. The Town issues them — not KICA.

    Application $500 (R-1 and capped R-2 streets) or $200 (other zones), plus a rental license tax: $75 on the first $2,000 of rent, then $3.05 per $1,000

    Confirmed

  • Property tax levy — St. John's Fire District

    216.1 countywide mills + 30.0 St. John's Fire District. Covers Seabrook (TD 53), Kiawah (TD 54), and Johns Island and Wadmalaw outside any town (TD 51 — "T.D. 5-1" on the county map).

    Confirmed

Every line, its source and the date it was checked: Kiawah’s fee ledger. Your own closing and first year, line by line: the true-cost calculator.

Ask these before you buy here

  1. Ask Ravenel Associates for this year's regime budget and the regime fee, in writing. Nobody publishes it.
  2. Ask whether a special assessment is planned or underway, and what the reserves hold.
  3. Ask what the regime maintains — roofs, siding, docks, pools — and what's yours.
  4. If you'll rent it out: the Town of Kiawah Island licenses short-term rentals, and in capped areas licenses go first come, first served. Ask the regime for its own rules too.
  5. Look up the flood zone for the exact address — zones change within a neighborhood. Look it up.

Mike asks them for you — and reads the regime's answers before you sign.

Have Mike ask
Who manages Summer Islands?

Ravenel Associates, by the KICA and ARB regime-manager lists.

What kind of homes are in Summer Islands?

Single-family homes (a regime). Nine homes reached by a wooden bridge.

Is Summer Islands in the Town of Kiawah Island?

Yes — it's inside the Town of Kiawah Island.

More in Vanderhorst

Indigo ParkOcean GreenOcean OaksOcean PalmsTerrapin IslandThe PreserveThe Settlement

Every neighborhood, the island’s price map and its market: Kiawah Island, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Sources

  1. Kiawah ARB regime-manager list (undated) — management company (ARB Regime Manager list, © 2018, undated); checked October 13, 2026.
  2. KICA regime-manager list (revised 3/22/2022) — management company (KICA-posted list, revised 03.22.2022); checked October 13, 2026.
  3. Kiawah Island Real Estate — Summer Islands page — area, type, setting (Kiawah Island Real Estate, LLC); checked October 13, 2026.

Spot something out of date? Tell us and it gets checked and fixed, with the date.

Keep going

Live oak canopy hung with Spanish moss on Kiawah Island

Live oaks on Kiawah

Photo: JulDer Wiki, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

Two ways in

Talk it through with Mike, or ask Val — the guide’s AI assistant, answering from this site’s sourced facts.

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