HGTV will feature another home from a different Hilton Head gated community

Penny and Darryl Gray are trading in the frigid northern New York winters for the mild, sunny Hilton Head ones.

In fact, they’re fine if they don’t experience Lake Placid, N.Y., snowfalls again.

The Grays will be featured in a future episode of HGTV’s “Island Life,” according to the couple and their local real estate agent. While filming on the island for four days last month, they selected their new Hilton Head home, which will be their primary residence.

The show plans to feature a house in Indigo Run, one from Jarvis Creek, and two from Hilton Head Plantation — including the one that made the Grays’ final cut.

The episode was shot just before the filming of the Martindell family’s episode of “Island Life,” which is expected to debut around the same time. The Martindells, who are from Doylsetown, Pa., purchased a 3,005-square-foot home in Port Royal Plantation for $529,000.

According to Zillow, an online real estate database, the Grays’ new home is 2,508 square feet with three bedrooms and 3.5 baths. They bought it for $525,000, Darryl Gray said.

“We’re still pinching ourselves,” Darryl said Monday. “It’s pretty amazing.”

The Grays knew what they wanted: a window over the bathtub, three bedrooms, a water view, golf view and a pool. And they wanted to stay under $600,000.

“They all had something special about them,” Penny said about the island homes they previewed. “But (the one we picked) had everything we wanted — a pool, a lagoon and golf.”

Darryl works as a software technology executive, and Penny is a freelance marketer and yoga instructor. They said they’ve been visiting Hilton Head for the past 15 years after a friend from New York tipped them off to the coastal gem.

They’ve vacationed every couple of years with their three kids, who are now in their 20s. When they visited, they stuck to the southern end of the island, staying with friends in Sea Pines and Shipyard plantations.

But for their new home, they said they wanted a quiet, residential feel, so they looked on the northern end of the island.

Paula Traver, a real estate broker for Charter One Realty on Hilton Head, has been working with the Gray family for two years. She also represented the Martindells.

“We spent a lot of time looking on the island and off the island,” Traver said about the Grays’ search.

While filming from about 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, the Grays said they visited Palmetto Dunes and Port Royal plantations to play tennis and golf, and also went on a dolphin tour out of Sea Pines. Penny also taught a yoga class on the beach, which was planned by the network.

Darryl said a major point of the show is to prove that someone doesn’t need to be retired to live on an island. According to HGTV’s website, “Island Life” seeks to show that island living can fit into any budget.

“I still can’t believe we’re here,” Penny said. “At the end of the day, we made the right choice.”

The air date of the Grays’ episode has not been set but likely will happen in September or October, according to Chelsey Riemann, PR manager for HGTV.

By the time it airs, the Grays probably will have skipped the brisk New York fall weather and instead will be sitting poolside on Hilton Head in their outdoor living area — their favorite part of their new island home.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "HGTV will feature another home from a different Hilton Head gated community."