- February 3, 2026
Acies Renovation CEO Chris Toews and his wife, Chrissy. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
Southern Title's Ashley Schilling and Dawn Aquino at the DBAAR open house celebrating its renovated office. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
DBAAR President Mary Smith with home inspector Vince Cardone. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
DBAAR President Mary Smith and Felicia Caruso, a former DBAAR board member. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
The Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors held a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house to celebrate its renovated office space. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
The DBAAR open house celebrating its renovated office. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
Cincy Weinberg and Lindsey Lockhart at the DBAAR open house celebrating its renovated office. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
Harold Briley. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
The Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors is located at 1716 Ridgewood Ave. in Holly Hill. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
DBAAR Board member Phate Mabry poses with a friend at the DBAAR open house on Jan. 29. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
Billie Jo Kaler. Courtesy of Cloud 9 photography, Carla Horne-Clazada
The Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors celebrated a complete renovation of its office on Jan. 29.
The DBAAR has been at its 1716 Ridgewood Ave. location in Holly Hill since the 1970s, DBAAR President Mary Smith said. The renovation was "a complete gut job," she said and cost over $1 million.
The realtors association alongside the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Port Orange/South Daytona Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house to celebrate the completion of the work. The project added 1,800 square feet of additional space for a larger classroom and meeting space, and replaced the roof, furnishings, windows, air conditioning and more.
"Top to bottom, we did it all," Smith said.
Smith said she has been a realtor for over 40 years. Now, "in the sunset of her career," Smith said, she has the time to give back to the organization that has given her so much.
The DBAAR has been serving the Daytona Beach area for 104 years. It's important, Smith said, that people know how long DBAAR has been around.
"Realtors are a huge part of the community," Smith said. "They touch people's lives in many different ways, not just selling homes."
Smith said DBAAR offers a multitude of benefits and support to its members, of which it has over 2,000. Those include a Code of Ethics that shows member are held to a higher standard, classes, networking and board functions and other support.
Realtors in DBAAR serve the areas in and around Daytona Beach, with many members participating in other community organizations and nonprofits. Smith said she recently stepped down as the Ormond Beach Historical Society president and the nonprofit Matthew's Gift, a non-profit organization offering the gift of hope to children with medical complexities and their families, according to its website.
Though members often participate in their own ways to give back to the community, DBAAR as an organizations supports local initiatives, too, including Adopt a School, which supplies school supplies to kids and the Girls & Boy Club.
Not least among that was being able to offer financial support through DBAAR's charitable foundation for its members who were impacted by the hurricanes that hit the Daytona Beach area several years ago. Smith said the DBAAR is working to build that foundation back up to be able to offer support should another disaster happen.
"We give to a lot of things in the area," Smith said. "The schools, the churches and our realtor members."
