There’s a certain elevated perspective that comes from surfing. You can see it in guys like Brian Kinard, who have made the water the centerpiece of all they do.
When outsiders encounter someone immersed in the sport, they might chalk up their serene calm to the laid-back surfer lifestyle, but there’s far more to it. There’s a sense of enlightenment that comes from the close connection to the water on which the sport relies. When you sit on that board, rocking back and forth on a wave coaxed from the depths by the invisible pull of the moon’s gravity, watching the breeze pull clouds across the sky, you immerse yourself in the planet’s rhythm.
If you let yourself get lost in that moment, you’ll find that elevated perspective can guide you to do great things.
“One of the main reasons we moved back here was the proximity to the water,” Kinard said. “My wife, Mollie, is a Hilton Head Island native. She and I rode out the recession in Houston, but we’d always talked about moving here when we started a family so our kids could get out and surf and enjoy the outdoors here. What I really like about it is, when I’m out there on the water, I’m focused on that one thing. It’s a way for me to tune out the noise and check out for a little bit.”
But don’t think that just because Kinard is a fixture on our beaches, tackling waves on a surfboard or soaring above them on his kiteboard, that he’s just here for the salt life. Make no mistake, it’s what brought him here. But what keeps him here is being able to share that lifestyle with new neighbors.
“I’ve lived in resort areas since I was about 19. I fell in love with the concept of living and working where other people plan their vacations,” Kinard said. “Being able to help people accomplish that is super rewarding. I love it when I call clients to follow up and they’re doing all the things they said they wanted to do when they moved here.”
That impulse is one that also tends to pop up with surfers – the joy in sharing that love for the waves. It drove Kinard here, hoping to one day watch his kids surfing on their own. “They’re already both out on surfboards,” he said. “Seeing that vision of our life on Hilton Head come true has been one of the most rewarding things in my life.”
Sharing that joy has also helped him build his reputation as a real estate professional, leading with joy and providing clients a path to follow. For the past 12 years, as he’s led with that joy, he has deepened his knowledge of the market while following it through bull and bear times. “There are ups and downs in any market, but ours works slightly differently because we’re a choice market,” Kinard said. “You really have to get to know the nuances of how Hilton Head Island works as a real estate market.”
He has also been given invaluable support from Dunes Real Estate under whose banner he operates. Founded in 1979, this venerable firm has grown with the island, helping to set the tone for professionalism and service while supporting individual agents like Kinard. “The level of support I get from my office through the noncompeting broker model gives me the ability to focus on my clients and their needs,” he said. “I’m dealing with the meat and potatoes of the transaction, giving clients the highest level of service, while they’re in the background helping everything run efficiently.”
With the winds of Dunes Real Estate filling his sail, and his love of the water proving to be as invaluable to clients as it is infectious, he has carved out a name for himself in the real estate world. And that name has come with accolades and achievements – such as serving as past president of the Hilton Head Realtors Association, being named Realtor of the Year by the Hilton Head Realtors in 2022, and receiving the 2024 South Carolina’s Realtors Association Advocate of the Year award.
That impulse to go above and beyond isn’t just a product of his time on the board. It’s also a product of his time on the rodeo circuit.
“I was involved in the rodeo when I was younger, and that gave me a really strong work ethic,” Kinard said. “When you have some ornery calf on the end of a rope, they couldn’t care less about your excuses. So, you learn not to make them,” he said.
That attitude serves him as well in the heat of a complicated real estate transaction as it did in the center of a rodeo ring.
Like a wave, his actions ripple outward, making it even easier for people to chase their bliss to Hilton Head Island. It’s a wave that first brought him to our shores, one that he helps other people ride every day. And it’s one he’ll continue to paddle out and meet, greeting each day on Hilton Head with the same joy as the day he arrived.
