A local real estate firm with offices in New Hanover and Pender counties has expanded by purchasing and renovating a house in Hampstead.

Sold Buy the Sea Realty did something similar with its Wilmington office in 2014 -- purchasing a house to use as office space for the boutique firm.

"They were using it as an office already but it was an old house," said Dawn Berard, Realtor and owner of Sold Buy the Sea, referring to previous owners of her firm's 1,200-square-foot office at 16126 U.S. 17 in Hampstead.

The office sits on a 1.38-acre lot. The company's agents have been moving in this week.

"We've kind of revived it and given it a facelift with a new roof and new siding and new floors ... It's that same little coastal boutique motif that we have in the Wilmington office," Berard said.

The Sold Buy the Sea Realty office in Wilmington is at 5004 Oleander Drive. The firm converted and moved into the house there four years ago after a fire in 2013 destroyed its previous Wilmington location.

The previous Hampstead location comprised 700 square feet that the company leased in a retail plaza, Berard said.

The growing firm needed more space, having gone from about 15 to 24 agents in recent years, she said.

"Hampstead itself is growing because of the great schools and the kind of proximity between Jacksonville and Wilmington, and the whole community is on the Intracoastal Waterway," Berard said. "Just about every neighborhood has some version of water access -- docks or ramps or public ramps. It's just a really popular place."

She said the firm will host a grand opening, likely to be scheduled after the holidays.