Carol Swain's Blog

Your Interests are Professionally Represented:Enlisting the services of a professional Buyer's Agent is similar to using an accountant to help you with your taxes, a doctor to help you with your health care, or a mechanic to help you with your car.  So the first advantage is pretty obvious.  If y...

So if you are thinking about selling there are a few things you should concentrate on when preparing.  Buyers tend to want to buy homes that are in move-in condition.  Typically, homes that are well maintained and priced right will sell quickly.  Curb AppealYour home maybe totally remodeled on th...

Let's face it, the market has changed.  And with this market change our strategies as Realtors need to change.  Buyers and sellers are not as easily found anymore.  We need to get back to the basics and aggressively market ourselves. You need to develop a strategy of who you want to target, and s...

Keep your mindset positive.  That is what I have tried to do.  And I think I have done that successfully.  In this real estate market you need to keep your spirits up.  You need to realize that if you are a sound business person with a sound business plan, things will happen for you.  No matter w...

I have a temporary mortgage. What do you mean temporary? Until they foreclose. Realtor: first you folks tell me what you can afford, then we'll have a good laugh and go on from there. The dream of the older generation was to pay off a mortgage. The dream of today's young families is to get one. I...

I heard an idea I have not heard before at a class I was taking.  I found it to be interesting and was wondering if anyone has heard about it before or even tried it.  Okay here it is: You sell someone a home and tell them you will throw them a house warming party.  You instruct them they can inv...

How do you do it all?  I have been an "active" active rain member for a while now.  I have also joined linkedin and twitter, in addition to being on myspace.  I have decided that I can not do it all, plus run my business.  Computers are very user friendly these days.  However, you can get sucked ...

I have been working with a seller that wants to list his home in the upcoming spring.  So I have given a list of projects to get his home ready to sell.  One of the projects was to get his lawn ready for the spring.  I told him to get some fertilizer and winterize his lawn.  On one of my follow u...

Has anyone heard of the Real Estate Advocate.  It was presented to me as a referral network that all the top KW agents are joining.  They promised me they were in the beginning stages of setting up the program.  And I would receive leads from various avenues.  I have gotten two very poor leads vi...

Looking for a great way to cut costs? Shop on e-bay.  I personally shop for my office supplies on ebay.  Many people think ebay is just to buy personal items, not business.   I have a color laser ink printer, and the cartridges are very expensive. So I checked out ebay, and I am buying the cartri...