Real Estate News

CLARK STANSFIELD DICKSON KELLY

LOCKETTE SIMPSON CASTRO

COLLINS GROUP REALTY WELCOMES LISTINGS COORDINATOR

Cameron Clark has joined Collins Group Realty as listings coordinator. He will provide comprehensive support and assistance to CGR’s listings team in the processing and logistics of properties listed in the Lowcountry. Clark is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. He previously worked as House of Representatives page at the South Carolina Statehouse.

CENTURY 21 DIAMOND REALTY ADDS AN AGENT

Stephen Stansfield has joined Century 21 Diamond Realty as an agent. Stansfield has lived in the area since 2002. An accomplished musician, he has performed throughout the Lowcountry. He is the father of two school-aged children.

WEICHERT REALTORS WELCOMES FOUR AGENTS

Bob Dickson, Lou Ann Kelly, Natasha Simpson, and Christie Lockette have joined the team at Weichert Realtors. Dickson will work out of the Bluffton office. He was formerly a CFO and a CPA. Dickson also writes a weekly newsletter, “Real Estate SmartBrief,” to keep his contacts informed about happenings in the real estate markets, nationally and in the Beaufort County/Hilton Head and Bluffton areas.

Kelly, who will work out of the Sun City/Okatie office, began her real estate career as an agent in New Jersey. She became a Circle of Excellence sales associate. Kelly and her husband also owned and operated a commercial photography studio in New Jersey.

Simpson will work out of the Savannah office. She has been an active member of the Savannah community for more than two years.

Lockette, who will work out of the Savannah office, bought her first home at age 22, and understands the advantages of leveraging real estate has identified her true purpose.

MOUL, REALTORS WELCOMES TWO AGENTS

Chris Castro and Makayla Drake have joined Moul, Realtors as agents. Castro has a work ethic that has been passed down from generations. He is fluent in Spanish.

Drake is a second-generation real estate agent.

KELLER WILLIAMS ADDS SEVEN AGENTS

Calynn Altizer, Susan Sweet, Elizabeth Porter, Scott Croye, Kayce Brawner, Raleigh Mecklin and Makayla Boles have joined Keller Williams Realty Lowcountry at its Hilton Head office.

BAY STREET REALTY GROUP ADDS ASSOCIATE BROKER

Hays McDaniel has been hired as an associate broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Bay Street Realty Group in their South Carolina offices. Hays recently graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He is a Beaufort native.

SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF CONSUMERS SAY IT’S A GOOD TIME TO SELL NATIONWIDE

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index decreased 3.9 points to 75.8 in July, as consumers

DRAKE

continue to report concerns related to high home prices and a lack of homes for sale, according to Fannie Mae housing survey. On the buy side, 66 percent of respondents said it’s a bad time to buy a home, up from 64 percent last month. On the sell side, 75 percent of respondents said it’s a good time to sell, down slightly from 77 percent last month, the report said. “Two of the segments perhaps best positioned to purchase — consumers aged 35-44 and those with middle-to-higher income levels — have indicated even more pessimism than other groups,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND-BLUFFTON HAS 10TH LARGEST RENTER WAGE GAP

A Smartest Dollar study that looks at the renter wage gap—or the gap between renters’ actual (estimated) wages and the wages they need to make in order to afford the median rent for a one-bedroom rental where they live—shows the hourly wage needed to afford a one-bedroom rental in the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton area is $21.15, but the estimated hourly wage for renters in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton is $11.16. The study said, out of all small U.S. metros, the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton area has the 10th largest renter wage gap (-47.3%). The Smartest Dollar analyzed data from HUD, the BLS and the U.S. Census Bureau. Santa CruzWatsonville, California ranked at the top of the list.

Richard MacDonald & Associates

CHARTER ONE REALTY

Long time realtor Richard MacDonald and Joey Doyle have enjoyed another very successful year together. Richard’s wealth of knowledge and Joey’s natural people skills have helped create the perfect team.

Richard is a dedicated professional with over 41 years of real estate experience here on Hilton Head Island and Bluffton. Richard and his wife Janet are true South Carolina Natives and raised all three sons here. Their family continues to grow with two grandchildren as well. Richard and Janet are members of the Hilton Head Presbyterian Church where Richard serves as an Elder and Janet serves on the Women’s Ministry team.

Joey has just finished five full years in real estate with Charter One Realty and Richard MacDonald & Associates. Joey has proven that she is dedicated to serving clients with the utmost professionalism and personalized customer service and continues her success at Charter One Realty. Joey is originally from Oklahoma but has called the Lowcountry home for over 17 years. Joey and her husband Chad live in Bluffton, which is also where her husband works. Real estate is a family affair for the Doyle’s and her husband Chad has been a real estate agent for 20 years which has helped Joey continue to grow her business year after year. When not in the office you can find her chasing around two very busy kids, Reagan and Tucker and enjoying all things Lowcountry.

If you have any interest in buying or selling, please don’t hesitate to give Richard or Joey a call.

I AM BLESSED TO HAVE SO MANY WONDERFUL PROPERTY OWNERS AND PAST CLIENTS WHICH ENABLE ME TO BEGIN MY 41ST YEAR, LISTING AND SELLING PROPERTY HERE IN THE LOWCOUNTRY. “ “

– RICHARD MACDONALD

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

HAILEY NICLAUS WAS JUST 3 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE SUCCUMBED TO CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA. HER STRENGTH STILL INSPIRES.

BY BARRY KAUFMAN | PHOTOS SUPPLIED

There is little more terrible darkness than when a parent loses a child. Those who have children know the animal instinct with which we protect our young, and the extraordinary lengths we will go to keep them safe. When that protection simply isn’t enough, when a monstrous force like childhood leukemia proves insurmountable, it can be devastating.

From that darkness, Hilton Head residents Eric and Kristen Niclaus are determined to shine their late daughter Hailey’s light, and in doing so guide others.

“She was so full of life,” said Kristen. “So funny, strong, mischievous… just a happy girl. Even when she was sick, we nicknamed her Happy Hailey.”

Hailey Niclaus had already conquered one battle before she was even born. An ultrasound technician by trade, Kristen was scanning herself during her pregnancy with Hailey when she caught what appeared to be a mass on her daughter’s lung. It would prove to be a congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM), which Hailey would survive following extensive surgery on her lungs.

And then, one day as she was rousing her then-14-month-old daughter from a nap, Kristen felt something that would change everything.

“I felt a hard lump on the back of her neck,” she said.

“I went to her doctors, and they said it was nothing to worry about, but I just had this gut feeling something was going on.”

That gut feeling proved tragically accurate, as an MRI later proved Hailey had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). An insidious form of the disease, AML starts in the bone marrow before spreading aggressively through the blood where it begins deteriorating everything from the nervous system to the liver.

“It was sheer panic and fear,” Kristen said of receiving the diagnosis. “But from the beginning, Hailey was just a fighter.”

Kristen and Eric Niclaus created the Hailey Niclaus Fund to help raise awarenes for childhood cancer.

An initial treatment consisted of four month-long inpatient treatment stays, at the end of which Hailey appeared to have gone into remission. Six months later, the Niclaus family was pulled back into the fight.

“Her eyes started crossing and she was sleeping a lot,” said Kristen. “That was our cue that something was going on. We found out the cancer had come back and this time it was in her head. It was still AML but had traveled to her optic nerves.”

Hailey underwent a bone marrow transplant and extensive hospital stays, something that proved difficult for the family that now called itself “Team Niclaus.” Not only did it mean spending time in the hospital, it meant spending time apart from older sister Brooke.

“Brooke would stay in the hospital overnight with us sometimes, but if Hailey’s counts were low, she’d have to go. We missed a lot of Brooke’s life while she was with her grandmas,” said Kristen. “She is the most resilient, strong, amazing girl.”

Despite the best medicine and treatments, and despite beating the odds in finding a perfect match on the bone marrow registry, the challenge proved too great for young Hailey. On December 6, 2014, at just 3 years of age, Hailey passed away in her home surrounded by family.

“She was a baby, but she took it on like no other human being I can even imagine,” said Kristen. “The strength she had; I just can’t put into words.”

During her stay at the hospital, while she waited by her daughter’s side, Kristen wrote. Partially as a way to keep friends and family informed, partially as a form of therapy, Kristen wrote post after post on a

Caring Bridge website. Now her writing has been compiled into a book, titled, “Hailey: A Dream of Hope.”

“Our goal is to help one person or one family or one child going through this, so they don’t feel so alone. It’s a very lonely existence when you’re going through all of that,” said Kristen. Proceeds from the book, and special events Kristen holds throughout the Lowcountry, go to The Hailey Niclaus Fund at Hope and Heroes.

Less than 4% of the annual budget of the National Institutes of Health goes to childhood cancer research, according to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national fundraiser for childhood cancer research.

“Childhood cancer is way underfunded; there’s so little money that goes toward research,” said Kristen. “More research needs to be done to keep families from going through this.”

To learn more about the initiative and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, visit tinyurl.com/HaileyFund.