Will and Amy Achurch
Influential and Successful Lowcountry Realtors
story by MICAH PEPPERS photos by SUSAN DELOACH
The dictionary defines a power couple as two people who are each influential and successful in their own right, so it is not an exaggeration to state that Will and Amy Achurch, at the helm of The Achurch Group within The HomesFinder Reality Group, are a Lowcountry power couple.
Will and Amy met as teenagers, but it would take fate to bring them back together years later. Born in Cary, North Carolina, Amy grew up as an only child. Will, the youngest of four siblings, was born in Beaufort but relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina, at age seven. Three years later, his family moved to Cary, where he would later attend the same high school as Amy. The two met as sophomores on a blind double date. “Our best friends were dating, and they set it up. It was fun, but that was about it. Nothing really came of it,” explains Amy.
After high school, Amy attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington and majored in Elementary Education. Over the next ten years, she taught elementary, eventually transitioning into an administrative role as an Assistant Director at a private tutoring company. Will attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Finance and established a successful banking career.
Years later, Will and Amy happened to run into each other in Wilmington, North Carolina, while both were visiting friends. The two chatted and realized they only lived a few miles from each other in Cary. This reconnection formed a relationship, and the two began dating.
In 2003, both were fairly content living in Cary; however, Will always felt like something was missing. An avid surfer, he would still visit Wilmington often. He enjoyed being on the coast. “At the time, I was a financial advisor. My office overlooked a pond, and a Kingfisher had a nest not one hundred feet from my window. It felt like we were both in the wrong place.” Will went to Amy and expressed his desire to make a change. “I told her that I thought I was going to quit my job and look for work along the coast, and I didn’t want to wait until I was retired to live where I wanted to. I suppose we beat the pandemic rush.”
Amy panicked. “We weren’t even engaged yet, so it took a big leap of faith to follow him.” Will quit his job and moved to Charleston, and Amy followed him two months later. She was able to get a job quickly, working at the College of Charleston as an Assistant Director of Housing, where she remained the next seven years. In 2004, the two were married, and, in 2009, they welcomed their only child, Evelyn.
Also in 2009, Will gladly accepted Ameris Bank’s offer to transfer to Beaufort and bring their young family back to his hometown. He commuted for a year from Charleston while they tried to sell their house. “You could say the market was a lot different back then,” adds Will. Amy embraced being a stay-at-home mom to their now 10-month-old, and Will worked hard at his new job.
“Evelyn was and still is my top priority,” Amy explains. “When we moved to Beaufort, it was very important for me to have the flexibility to be there for her. If she was sick or had a school play, I needed to be present. Real estate had always interest me, and I kept it in the back of my mind as a career that offered both satisfaction as well as the desired flexibility I was seeking.”
Will gave her the nudge she needed to make a career move. “Amy is very organized, detail-oriented, and a great communicator. I suggested to her, ‘Why don’t you get your Realtor’s license?” And in 2011, she did. “I absolutely love what I do, and I am still able to make family a priority,” Amy smiles.
While Amy was starting to grow in her real estate career, Will had gone about as far as he could in his job. “I knew I didn’t want to leave Beaufort, and I also had an interest in real estate. I really enjoyed talking to Amy about her career more than mine. I was too pragmatic to make the jump early on, but I finally did in 2017. Real estate was a great way to leverage the network I had built and the knowledge I had gained as a business banker and Market President for two of the community’s financial institutions. It was a natural fit.”
Over the last five years, the two have grown The Achurch Group. Amy still takes more of the family role and keeps everything in line on the home front. She is able to work at home ninety percent of the time. “That really helped during COVID since Evelyn had to do virtual school. Will was able to go to the office, and I could stay home with her.” The two also share a calendar, so they know each other’s schedule and what projects they have planned ahead. “We are able to help each other, but we definitely have our individual specialties,” Will explains. “Amy does a really good job with social media, posting, and our advertising. Sometimes I come up with ideas, but she makes them better.”
With a history in finance, Will is well versed in commercial real estate while Amy focuses more on residential. However, together they work with clients across the board, including single-family homes as well as land and commercial properties. “We work together as a team to cover whatever our clients need,” says Amy.
When not in the office, the two like to get out and travel a bit. “We love going to Brevard, North Carolina, and staying in the mountains. We try to do that a few times a year,” Amy states. “We also take at least one trip a year, just the two of us. As a family, we take lots of long weekends throughout the year for a change of scenery and to refresh. COVID slowed down our travel, but it’s coming back now. Amy also has a strong love of books and is the proud owner of a Little Free Library. She owned her first one when they lived in Spanish Point and now has one installed on the marsh walk at their home in Battery Point. When we stay around the area, we love to go boating. Will still surfs, and I love yoga and strength training. We have pretty active lifestyles.”
The couple is also actively involved in the Beaufort Community. Will is past chair of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce and former commodore of the Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club, and Amy was a Chamber Ambassador. They co-chaired the Historic Beaufort Foundation Soiree a few years ago, and both are graduates of the Leadership Beaufort program. Amy even won the Leadership Beaufort Alumni of the Year award. They aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get dirty either, if it helps to benefit the community. They also love nature. Will picks up litter about once a month, sometimes with the Port Royal Sound Foundation, but mostly on his own.
When reflecting on their life and career now, Will says, “Not to sound cliche , but we really do try to do everything right. We strive to be subject-matter experts and lead our clients in the right direction to avoid costly pitfalls. With our business, we don’t spend a ton of time and money on acquiring clients. We concentrate on the clients we have right now. We don’t let quantity get in the way of quality.” Amy adds, “At this point in our career, the vast majority of our business comes from referrals. I’m really proud of that. We are at a point in our career that people come to us. It tells us that we are doing something right.”
