Joe's Blog

113 Eastforest Trail, Kitchener

2008-10-15T08:52:38Z

$279,900 MLS#0841442

Welcome to 113 Eastforest Tr., Kitchener
$279,000 MLS# 0841442

A Beautiful, well maintained family home in one of Kitchener's most popular areas. If you are looking for a modern open concept home on a big city property you have to see this home.

For Viewings Call Joe at (519)742-5800 x 2117

Map Link
Pictures and Video

Features

Three Bedroom
Two Bath
Open Concept
Walk-out
Large Lot
    12.47 x 114.83 x 121.39 x 203.41(ft)
Appliances included
    Fridge
    Stove
    Washer
    Dryer
    Natural Gas BBQ
Oversized Single Garage
Framed but Unfinished Basement
Walking Distance to Shopping/Parks/Schools
Bus Route

Room Sizes

Main Floor
    Kitchen                  10'1" x 9'7"
    Dining Room          12'5" x 13'1"
    Living Room               20'3" x 11'7"

Second Floor
    Master Bedroom         15'1" x 13'
    Bedroom                    13'10" x 10'4"
    Bedroom                    11'9" x 10'5"
    Cheater Ensuite

Water Hydro and Property Taxes

Water
(including rental heater)
Approximately $60/month

Hydro
Approximately $55/month

Taxes

2008 $2799.41

Schools

Public

    Sandhills P.S. (J-6)
    Queensmount (7-8)
    Forest Heights (9-12)

Separate

    St. Cominic Savio (J-8)
    Resurrection Catholic (9-12)

For More information or to set up a viewing for this beautiful Kitchener home please call JOE CRAWFORD at (519)742-5800 x 2117 or e-mail joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca with the property address you would like to view and your phone number.

When You're Buying or Selling Real Estate... It's Time to CALL JOE!!

49 Cornell Av, Kitchener Ontario

2008-07-16T12:15:20Z

Welcome to 49 Cornell Avenue, Kitchener
$249,000 mls#0831565

For Viewings Call Joe at (519)742-5800 x 2117

Tucked away on a quiet Rockway Area avenue, this all brick bungalow with inlaw setup has a large private backyard and patio ready for your summer enjoyment. Move right in and enjoy a large eat in Kitchen with bright ceramics, Living Room with refinished hardwood, and three main floor Bedrooms, and a fully renovated main bath with large soaker/whirlpool bathtub. Spacious Driveway has plenty of Room for multiple cars an RV or Boat.

The fully finished basement contains the Inlaw setup with it's own entrance, full kitchen, four pice bath, and 2 more bedrooms.

Central location close to shopping, schools, YMCA, Golfing, Conestoga Parkway and Highway 8.

Quick Features

Central Air
Lot Size 45x128.5
In-law Setup with Private Entrance
Patio/Deck
Main Floor Master Bedroom
Fenced Yard
Whirlpool Tub
Updated Windows

Room Sizes

Main Floor
    Kitchen                    10'4" x 9'
    Dinette          8'2" x 9'
    Living Room               15'8" x 11'4"
Bedroom                   10' x 11'1"
    Bedroom                   10'2" x 9'3"
    Bedroom                   11'8" x 9'4"
Four Piece Bathroom   5'5" x 5'

Inlaw Setup

    Recroom                    19'2" x 11'2"
    Four Piece Bathroom    9'9" x 7'7"
    Bedroom 8'8" x 9'
    Bedroom                    9'1" x 11'

Property Taxes

Taxes

2007 $2219

Schools

Public Schools
            JA-06 Rockway P.S.
07-08 Sunnyside P.S.
          09-12 Eastwood C.I.

Catholic School Board
        JA-08 St. Bernadette
        09-13 St. Mary's Seconday School

For More information or to set up a viewing for this beautiful Kitchener home please call JOE CRAWFORD at (519)742-5800 x 2117 or e-mail joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca with the property address you would like to view and your phone number.

330 Park St - Kitchener $359,000

2008-07-05T11:27:12Z

Welcome to 330 Park St, Kitchener
$359,000 mls#0827071

A beautiful, well maintained Victorian home located in the heart of Kitchener-Waterloo, with short distances to schools, shopping, churches and the Grand River Hospital. This was the original land owners home for the area and boasts many unique features including an over sized lot, 2 story front porch, walk up loft perfect for a reading room or study, 9 foot ceilings, 2 sets of the original pocket doors, front and back stair cases.

Over $65,000 in upgrades have been done to restore this home to it's original glory. With a high efficiency furnace and central air (2006), updated electrical (2007), New Kitchen (2007), New Baths (2007), and energy efficient windows (2004) throughout the living area.

Room Sizes

Main Floor
    Kitchen                  13'4" x 11'1"
    Dining Room          12'5" x 13'1"
    Formal Sitting Room    12'6" x 12'2"
    Living Room               13' x 12'

Second Floor
    Bedroom                    10'9" x 13'2"
    Bedroom                    10'9" x 10'6"
    Bedroom                    9'9" x 10'
    Four Piece Bathroom    9'9" x 7'7"

Third Floor
    Loft                            9"7' x 7"10'

For More information or to set up a viewing for this beautiful Kitchener home please call JOE CRAWFORD at (519)742-5800 x 2117 or e-mail joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca with the property address you would like to view and your phone number.

More Pictures and Video http://www.kitchener-waterloo-homes.com/330park.html

Free Market Evaluation of your property www.kitchener-waterloo-homes.com/Sellers.html

Joe Crawford

Real Estate Sales Representative

Coldwell Banker Peter Benninger Realty, Brokerage

(519)742-5800 x 2117

http://www.kitchener-waterloo-homes.com

Thinking of selling? It's time to Call Joe!!

Free Home Market Evaluation (519)742-5800 x 2117

Quiet office time

2007-12-18T16:32:26Z

It's Tuesday December 18th, 2007 around 5:20pm.

The office is open, we are staffed until 9:00pm every night both of who are working upstairs (on what I have no idea), we have an agent on duty, right now that lucky person is me. It's so quiet right now, the Christmas lights are shining, the home previews are running across the big screen TV in the lobby, I can ever almost hear the commentary. The only person through the door in the last 20 min since everyone left was a delivery of Christmas cookies for our commercial division.

After such a busy year around the office it surprises me how fast things go from hustle and bustle as it was an hour ago around the office, to complete and dead silence. I do hope everyone is enjoying the quiet in their offices as much as I am today.

ahhhhh it's so nice.

Joe Crawford

Multiple Web Sites - Good or Bad?

2007-10-19T09:20:12Z

I have always been a web site name buyer, since about 1996 I have accumulated some where around 40 domain names. Most of them just sit empty a lot were just bought for the fun of it, for friends and such. When I started in real estate 4 years ago I immediatlly bought www.Joe-Crawford.ca and have been using it as my main web site. I never thought about having more than one site until a few months ago I read an article here talking about more than one site. So I logged into godaddy and started playing around to find what I could come up with. Lucky for me I managed to register www.kitchener-waterloo-homes.com . I spent about 10 min to get it online with just your basics, linking back to my main page and such. After that I got busy and basically change the article on it once a week.

Now I must say my main site has been in Google hell since the get go. I rank in the top 10 at yahoo and top 5 for msn, along with most other search engine sites, I have never cracked even the top 100 on google. Until now, since I put the second site on not only has it slowly moved up in rank on google (after 1 month I'm around 70-80) but my main site popped into the top 100 last week.

After 4 years of trying several optimization tips and tricks the only thing I can attribute the cracking google was the second site.

It almost seems too easy, for 10 min of work.

Have a great day

Joe

New Twist On an Old Scam

2007-09-05T10:19:35Z

Good Morning everyone, I have previously posted about other e-mail scams received. I have had two very similar over the last week and would like to share one with you. I will continue after the "message" I received with the how this scam works and what you can do to watch out for these types of scams.

With more and more of us Realtors receiving contacts off the Internet it is very important to be able to tell the good leads from the scams.

Fist up the message itself:

-----------------------------------------

Hello,
my name is Elizabeth Brown I'm 23years old,5"7' tall,single and straight lady from Australia. I work as a model and deal with diffrent clients cux i dont have a permanent agent for now. I love helping people and making them smile. Am also a very simple and quiet person to live with. I love travelling,swimming,dancing and reading alot. I enjoy meeting nice people and making friends. I dont smoke and dont drink atall. Am super clean,laid back,pay bills and enjoy a good time with friends. I will be coming down to Canada for a modelling project around and get to meet new clients for better offer. I like a good environment that has security that is the most important for me. When we get to meet face to face we talk more about some other things ok. Am looking for a nice place to leave(to share,sublet,lease or rent) for a period of time depeneding on what you have for me,and i will prefer 2nd week or mid of september to come down. I need a place that is very clean that has good security as i have said earlier. I dont mind if male or female. I will anxiuosly await your reply. Have a nice day ahead
Regards
Elizabeth

-----------------------------------------

1. Most of the information is irrelevant to renting a property, doesn't mention location, price range, etc.

2. "I will be coming down to Canada" Vague statements along this line show that the letter itself is being targeted towards a whole list of Canadian Realtors not just yourself. This is the scammers equivalent of tossing out a net to catch a fish instead of dropping one fishing line.

3. Spelling and grammar is awful, I know mine is bad so I'm not really one to talk but this a sign of "translation" software being used or that it was typed up by someone with only a basic knowledge of the English language.

4. Tall, Single, Model!!! whoohooo, using potential sex appeal to try to get a response

Now lets take a look at where this came from, You can find this information by clicking on File, Properties, Details when you open any email.

----------------------------------------

Return-path: <lizzybrown2727@hotmail.com>
Envelope-to: joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca
Received: from [172.25.0.240] (helo=mailfw.perpetualconnections.net)
by webmail.coldwellbanker.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.43)
id 1IRa0h-0002U3-3C
for joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca; Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:56:03 -0400
Received: from bay0-omc2-s33.bay0.hotmail.com (bay0-omc2-s33.bay0.hotmail.com [65.54.246.169])
by mailfw.perpetualconnections.net with ESMTP id l81Ku2v8010584
for <joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca>; Sat, 1 Sep 2007 16:56:03 -0400
Received: from BLU104-W43 ([10.6.55.78]) by bay0-omc2-s33.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2668);
Sat, 1 Sep 2007 13:54:02 -0700
Message-ID: <BLU104-W43974DEC6CE7B1ED455332D5CF0@phx.gbl>
X-Originating-IP: [82.128.14.232]
From: elizabeth brown <lizzybrown2727@hotmail.com>
To: <a*******@yahoo.com>
Subject: I NEED A RENT
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 04:53:58 +0800
Importance: Normal
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 01 Sep 2007 20:54:02.0355 (UTC) FILETIME=[3A017C30:01C7ECDA]
X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.484 [269.13.2/983]
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=======AVGMAIL-46DACBB0123F======="

-----------------------------------------

1. This came from what looks to be a "Hotmail" account, hotmail accounts require no confirmation of identification.

2. X-Originating -IP 82.128.14.232, a simple tracking (I use http://aruljohn.com/) shows this message came from surprise surprise Nigeria. Nigeria is quite famous for being the hub for online scammers.

3. the "To:" Line wasn't even to my email address (note I *'ed it out for privacy reasons"

Always use #2 on any questionable email, usually this alone will expose the scam.

How the scam works. (Usually)

This seems to be a variation of an E-Bay scam that started a few years ago, in a nutshell after you "Find them a place" they will mail you what looks to be Bank Drafts, certified cheques, or money orders. Here is where the scam kicks in. This person will contact you saying their plans have changed and they need their money back ASAP, usually for some spontaneous family death or illness. They will ask you that soon as the money orders arrive that you cash them in and send the money back to them using a transfer system such as Western Union.

The Drafts or Money orders are always fake, by the time your bank informs you of this the money is already gone and you would be out the money.

Another popular method is they "Accidentally" have sent you 1-2k too much. And get you to send the remainder back, but since the drafts are no good in the first place you still get scammed.

How do I know this? I used to own a currency exchange shop that had transfer services available, it never failed that at least once a month some good samaritan would come in wanting to transfer money away, Once I had 3 people in one day all almost victims of the same scam. I have seen almost every variation of email scams around and each variation seemed to get just a little bit better. If you would like to know more a quick google search will give you several prominent websites.

Have a great day, and be careful.

Joe

Isn't it funny....

2007-08-17T13:29:28Z

Over the past few days when I have had a few minutes of time to myself I have been looking at the Activerain Q&A section. One thing I noticed was a high percentage of questions along the line of "Help, Something bad happened, what do I do now?". I also noticed that when reading the questions most of them have no mention of the sellers/buyers using the services of a REALTOR.

So isn't it funny how the people who made the choice, up front, not to use the services of a REALTOR, turn to us for advice once something goes wrong, and most of these problems and mistakes wouldn't have taken place in the first place if they used a REALTOR from the get go.

This just goes to show you that you as a qualified, trained, experienced, REALTOR provide a valuable and needed service to the public.

Have a great day!

Happy Canada Day

2007-07-01T07:58:46Z

Just a quick Happy Canada Day to all the Canadian active rain bloggers and readers. I hope your fireworks make you go Oooooooo and Ahhhhhhhhh. If your in or around the Kitchener/Waterloo area and are looking for a great fireworks display be sure to head out to Columbia Lake for the show, and if you see me there come on up and say hi!

A good reason to change your furnace filters.

2007-06-28T13:08:45Z

After the scorcher of a day yesterday, I found my central air not performing as well as it used to, now a bit of back story, when I came back from vacation I noticed my central air unit was pulled out more from the wall than it should have been so I figured when it moved (who moved it I'll never know) a pipe or something was bent (or so I assumed).. that's why I thought it was not performing up to explications. So I called the air company to come take a look... 8am this morning he showed up, went downstairs... came back up in 2 min and said "all the piping looks OK, your problem is this... and he showed me my furnace filter, it was clogged full of dust.

Anyways this was a $104 lesson learnt. It wasn't like I forgot for a long time I changed it in December, I guess I forgot to change it in April, and with all the renovations going on in my house the extra dust and debris messed everything up.

So I've been kicking myself in the butt all day about it. Anyways I went out and bought 9 new filters so that should last me a while..

Joe.

Scam? I think so.

2007-06-26T16:27:21Z

Hmmm looks like a scam to me... what do you think???

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe

I am a general manager for a private businessman who has 2 hotels. One of
which will be developed in Kitchener as it was approved today.

We want to open a few business in KWC but we are unfamiliar with the area.

I need information on the following:

BAR - 2-3 Million

Night Clubs - Classy or Trendy night club (high class) to either be put in a
building or build from the ground up. Possible double decker split licence
if possible.

Locaction: Rich part of KWC where people have money to go to a nice place.

If there are clubs for sale please inlcude the price and where they are
located. A downtown area in any of the cities. Check into liquor licences as
well.

EATERY 100 - 300K

Possible Pizza or Pita place near the club for patrons to go to after the
bar. Keep the location of the club possibilies in mind when locating an area
for this eatery. Keep in mind what other places are near by and what
possible foods would be good to go with this.

APPARTMENT BUILDINGS 5 Million

See what is for sale around the area. Nice Expensive appartment buildings in
any of the cities perferable KW.

CLOTHING STORE: Lease/Own

Please check out the malls for possible lease of store - high class clothing
such as a le chateau. Look downtown for possible purchases of property to
run the store out of. See what other stores are in the malls that would
compete with this. Any of the cities is fine.

Broker: Take all your research to your commercial broker along with this
email and have him give us a call on my private cell - XXX XXX XXXX to
further discuss our plans.

We are very serious people who have a lot to invest and know how to run
business. We want detailed information and research.

Get back to me asap that you have this email and are starting to work on it.
Have a broker call me.

thank you

Brent Campbell
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have to admit the scammers are getting better, I'm sure someone is going to bite at this "opportunity" My favorite part is that they are looking for an "expensive apartment building" because you know real investors love to spend more than they have to. The only thing I can't figure out yet is how they got my email address did anyone else receive a similar email today? Are the Scammers targeting active rain?

Have a great day

Life vs Poker

2007-06-23T21:44:27Z

Everyone knows I love to play poker. I play once a week in a free tournament, I could play more but just don't have that much time. Last Thursday I was hit by an amusing truckload of luck.

The tournament was down to 4 tables by this point I wasn't getting any good starting hands, and when I did get decent hands I totally missed the board cards, my pocket 10's got beat by a flush, my Ace/King ran into someones 9 high straight, just didn't seem to be my night. I was small blind (blinds were 500/1000) after anties and my small blind I had one chip left. So there was nothing left to do but go all in I decided to do it without looking at my cards, I put my lonely black chip into the pot (black chips are 1000) announced with gusto "I'm all in" to a round of giggles from the other players (since my all in was lower that what would be a minimum raise) and they each had well over 10,000 in chips. It ended up with 3 callers so now the the pot was just under 7000. The flop hit King, Seven, Ace... everyone checked, the turn card was another Ace, everyone checked again, last card King, so now there are two aces and two kings showing on the board, I still haven't looked at my hand. Well it was now time to show the cards, the first person shows an Ace/Four giving them a Full house, everyone else mucked their cards (didn't show.)

So my odds of winning this hand are next to nothing at this point, I flip my first card King, so now I have my own full house, but still would have lost since it is lower than my competitors full house. I slowly turn over my last card another King giving me four of a kind. I had won I was shocked, everyone broke out into laughter and some of the spectators ran over to the remaining tables to tell the story. Now I didn't end up winning the tournament I ended up in 9th.

Afterwards I started thinking about how many times when I'm down to next to nothing I do the same thing just go in blind with my cards, expecting to lose, I must have done it 10 times in the past year, but this is the only one I will remember.... I guess to relate this to Real Estate the No's will fade into the background.. the Yeses will be the ones you remember..

371 Victoria St South, Kitchener Ontario $170,000

2007-06-18T11:54:24Z

371 Victoria St South, Kitchener On MLS#0727700 $170,000

2 Bedroom, 2 Bath, Rec room, Mature Lot 30x120, Detached Single Garage/Workshop.

Great Starter or Empty Nest home, detached workshop great for the hobbyist or car enthusiast. Extra Storage shed at back of lot. Lots of potential inside with seperate dinning room, living room, siding door out to patio.

For Showing please call:

Joe Crawford Real Estate Sales Representative (519)742-5800 ext 2117 or visit www.joe-crawford.ca

Coldwell Banker Peter Benninger Realty, Brokerage - 508 Riverbend Dr Kitchener Ontario

Things I Learned On My Vacation

2007-06-09T15:08:40Z

Things I Learned On my Vacation - Joe Crawford

This year my wife and myself voyaged to the Dominican Republic for our vacation/10th year anniversary getaway. We took flight to the Dominican Republic and visited the all inclusive Holiday Village Resort in Porto Plata.

I took two self help type books with me "How to Talk to Anyone - Leil Lowndes" and "The Success Principles - Jack Canfield" I read both books, I highly recommend them even just to refresh your brain as to what you should be doing and how you should be treating people. I also read "A Prayer for Owen Meany - Jack Irving" and got part way into "Next - Michael Chriton"

I didn't just read, I took the time to do lots of snorkeling, dancing, drinking, relaxing, meeting new people and having a great all around time. That being said I have reflected on what I have actually learned over this trip.

1. Always set firm price - My wife, like so many of the women tourists ended up getting their hair braided by a group of local women. When talking to the women we agreed on a price per braid, very big mistake. We were told it would take 15 min, my wife walked off and I sat under our umbrella expecting her to return after I had knocked off a few chapters. An hour later when she had not returned I set off down the beach to find Helen. I found her by the beach front market, as I got closer I found her sitting there with the smallest braids I have seen. All and all there were 27 braids, my wife and myself were expecting 10-12 braids.

2. Smiles - They are not all the same, the biggest friendliest smile I saw on my entire trip was from a currency exchange dealer who thought I was "just a tourist", sure I'm Canadian and we are supposed to be very polite and I am sure that he encounters many a person who wont say a word when being shortchanged. But being a former Currency exchange dealer myself, I was personally outraged when he purposely shortchanged me then tried to cover it up with a long, and pointless calculation, slipping in an extra calculation to make it look right. It wasn't much perhaps $25 extra dollars he attempted to take, and I do understand that in the plaza he was in there are at least 7 other dealers fighting to make a buck to take home to their families.

3. Be Honest - Continuing the above story, since the above person attempted to "take advantage" of my good nature (I did get all my money back btw), he didn't get any more of my business, or the business of anyone I met who asked where they should change their money. But the another of the shops in the same plaza where I got an honest deal, got my business for the week along with many others at the same resort.

4. Just say NO - a solid firm No, is the best way to stop a pushy sales person. We took a day trip to a local village for some shopping, now anyone who has visited Dominican Republic will tell you, the local merchants are kind of pushy, everyone is fighting to make ends meet. One particular street merchant followed us around for half an hour trying to sell us a small jewelry box that he "made himself". It wasn't a very nice box and we had 0% use for it. But wow did this guy try, even when we stopped at a small cafe (thatched roof 3 tables, and a small beer fridge). he waited along the railing by the street with his boxes and never let his eyes off of us, he was very determined to make the sale. Finally even though I felt bad I told him flat out "NO" no more "No thank you" no more, "It's not what I'm looking for" no more "thanks but no thanks" a solid firm "NO" sent him on his way.

5. You never know who you are going to meet - On the last day, when we arrived at the Porto Plata airport, my wife and myself found ourselves without a pen, so we asked the couple next to us to borrow a pen. To my surprise I was handed a pen from Coldwell Banker, I looked over at the gentleman and asked where he got the pen, he told me he works for Coldwell Banker, I responded "Me Too" So I made a new Referral Contact right then an there.

6. I can live without my computer - I managed to go all week without the Internet, no email, no websites, no news (I didn't find out that Ottawa lost the Stanly Cup until I saw a newspaper in the airport when I was leaving) My blackberry was off all week, I didn't worry over how my clients were being handled, I knew the person I left in charge of my clients could handled anything. I shut myself down and now have a new outlook on life, I know I can live without for a short while.

7. Just have fun - Because I know I can't sing doesn't mean I shouldn't, I have been self conscious about my singing since I was told at age 9 I should never sing in public by a teacher who probably is as miserable now as he was then. I did it, I had fun no ones head blew up, or ears started to bleed. It may have been the worst version of "Come Dancing - The Kinks" ever.... but I did it, and I had fun doing it, and I will do it again.

Overall I had a great vacation, I can't wait to go back. My garden is full of weeds I think I'm going to go fix that problem. Thank you all for reading and if you have a trip to Dominican Republic coming up and would like to ask any questions about my trip just email me @ joe-crawford@coldwellbanker.ca

Thanks again

A Good Impression From the Ground Up

2007-05-28T16:07:02Z

Real Estate Matters - May 28, 2007.

A Good Impression - From the Ground Up
You've cleared out all the old clutter, painted the windows, and planted some flowers. You're sure you've thought of all the little things about your home that will make a good impression to a potential buyer. Yet, even if your home décor is beautiful, if your property shows any signs of a leaky foundation or drainage problems, then a buyer who may have fallen in love with the rest of your home will simply walk away when they see what's happening downstairs.
Every aspect of your home relies upon its foundation. If a buyer detects moisture, cracking, heaving, or other problems in your home's foundation, it can often be an indication of intensive and costly repairs needed in the future. The common denominator of such problems is usually water. There are a few simple and cost effective solutions a homeowner can take to address these common foundation problems early, before a small problem becomes a bigger one.
The majority of foundation trouble is due to inadequate drainage. A heavy rainfall on an average-sized roof can produce thousands of gallons of water that spew from the different downspouts located around the house. The first thing to do is check eaves and drainpipes for clogging. Metal snake type cleaners are available at building supply stores to assist in cleaning those hard to reach spots.
If you're sure the gutters are clear, yet you're still having moisture problems, the next thing to do is to check the angle of the downspout ends or ‘kickers' which route the downspout water away from the basement walls. If the downspout nearly touches the ground before the bend for the kicker, then you are creating a choke point for the water flow at peak times. It's far better to have the downspout ‘kicker' to start angling away from the house while it's still 8-12 inches above the ground. This longer, higher slope will let gravity help evacuate the water faster. Also, try to pipe all water to a low point away from your home. But do keep in mind where the water is draining, so you can keep the neighbours happy too.
If these measures fail to solve your home's drainage problems, it may be that you have to dig deeper - literally. It may be that you have to install a drainage tranch, or ‘weeper' tile underground to help alleviate the build-up of rainwater around your house. The ‘weeper' is essentially a small sewer pipe that pulls the water away from the house quickly. It a very labour-intensive job that requires digging a trench 12 to 14 inches deep for drain lines leading water away from your problem areas. There's a relatively low skill level, so some able-bodied do-it-yourselfers may be tempted to do it on their own, with a little help from their local home improvement store.
Remember to correct any moisture problem in your foundation before you fix any cracks, stains, and blemishes, or you'll end up doing the same job over and over again! For more tips of solving buyer objections before they arise, contact your local Coldwell Banker real estate professional.