Greenville gets solar recycling compactors downtown

Greenville gets solar recycling compactors downtown

What I Learned in Year 1 as a Realtor Mom

Wow.  Let's just say 2013 was a whirlwind.  I've learned more about myself, as a Mother, as a Working Woman, as a Human than I ever knew was possible.  I have provided a list of some of the lovely things I learned this year for your entertainment and maybe even a little education.  If anything, you will learn more about me than maybe you want to...?

1.  Parenting Cliche's
Yep, I'm officially in da club.  I must say... they are all true, sigh.  I guess as a stubborn Aquarian (recently categorized myself as such, previously in denial), that when most of the world agree's on many of the same things I should pay more attenion.  I get to be "that Mom" that repeats these same one-liners to other expecting parents.  I now feel that I am an expert on all things Parenting up to age 1.  Leah was born, November 14th, 2012.

2.  Carrying the Load
The official "New Parent" luggage load.  When Leah first arrived, I had an overwhelming amount of loot I felt I had to carry everywhere we went.  You must be prepared for ANYTHING!!  This is something I have been an expert at, as a Realtor we are constantly surprised by what may come our way, and experts at resolving.  For example as a Mother at all times you must have 3 changes of clothes, snacks, bottles, diapers, wipes, shoes, coats, blankets, pacifiers, toys...as a Realtor, clients who say they "need AT LEAST half an acre of land, do not show them anything less" and when you show them just that...they say, "it's waaaay too much, how do you expect me to mow all of that?" Then half of your appointments for the day are cancelled, but because you expected this to happen, you have a secret stash of homes on smaller lots to show them.  Or maybe a flat tire because you drove around new construction neighborhoods all day and picked up a few nails.  Booooyah...my biggest fear is to have to call a tow truck for myself and my lovely client because I never got around to replacing my spare tire from the last time this happend.....or changing a tire in my business suit.  Or, maybe that would help the sale... Either way, I now walk out of the house with two diapers in my coat pocket, a case of wipes stay in the car at all times and my backseat is littered with toys, pacifiers and blankets.  I just have my client's follow in their own car so in case there is a flat tire, I can at least hitch a ride with them.

3.  Whomever Created Daycare is my Hero
Of course I do not look forward to taking Leah to daycare each day.  However, I have NO idea how I would accomplish anything any other way.  Leah goes to an in-home daycare and she loves it....so much that she recently got upset when I showed up to take her home.  She gets her love of being social from her Momma that's for sure.  You can't threaten me with a good time!!!  I still want to cry sometimes when I have to leave my friends too. Haha.  I still am a firm believer that my daughter is so ridiculously cool that I should get paid for her to hang out at daycare, not me to pay them.  It is nice to know that she is safe and entertained while I am out helping other families make their home dreams come true.

4. Multi-tasking
We all know that Women are amazing multi-taskers, if you don't know this then you have never met a Female =).  So a Mother naturally has to multi-task to survive.  Then add in there being a Realtor....oh wow.  You can call me Super Realtor Mom.  I should have a cape.  Maybe that is my new angle.  What would you think if I rolled up to show houses in a Cape?  I like it.  I now manage my life, my kid, my house and all of my clients lives at the same time.  It's a juggling act and sometimes a few flames and knives are thrown in.  Managing the lives and schedules of so many different types of people and all of their likes and dislikes is pretty darn incredible if you ask me.  For many, it's like looking at a Sudoku Puzzle for the first time.  Whoa.....  
When you become a Realtor, you end up getting to know about every other profession ever created.  If you have a client that travels the world...you learn about the world.  If you have a client that owns restaurants, you learn how to own a restaurant.  If you have a client that is an Engineer (you have a mini panic attack), you become the most detail oriented person on the planet.  Maybe we have multiple personalities, who knows.  Sometimes it feels that way.

5. Temper Tantrums
I am actually quite thankful to have Leah to teach me how to have patience during temper tantrums.  Now I know how to work with my clients when they have them too.  Sometimes selling your home is not the easiest thing to do.  People come in and critique your decor, the house you built with your own blood, sweat and tears.  I get it.  Not everyone shares in the same interests and it hurts to hear negative things about what you love.  We just have to learn not to take it personally, take it for what it is and walk away from it. When Leah has a temper tantrum I try not to chuckle (it's slightly amusing, I must admit), but if it is not justified I turn my head and walk away.  Good thing I never have temper tantrums...never ever (sarcasm)

I know that our kids learn from us but sometimes I feel like I learn more from Leah than she does from me!  Either way, cheers to 2013 being fabulous and 2014 being even more FAAAAHHHBUUULLOUS!!

Why, Why, Why...?

Sunday @ The Park

So, like many of us we have our days where we wonder how we ended up at our jobs.  Then we wonder how long we plan to be there.  Then comes the "Grass is always Greener" attitude.  Then around and around we go with overwhelming thoughts on where we will be in five years and can we hack it?  We have to hope that we have the Passion that it takes to keep on chugging.  I think that no matter what job you have, there will always be a certain amount of...shall we say...'crud' to put up with.  You just have to draw that line in the sand about what type of  'crud' you can handle most often.

Me as the Young Lassie in my beloved ole 4 Runner

Back in January of 2004 when I was a young lassie, at the ripe ole age of 20, I was given the opportunity to purchase my first home...with the help of my family.  Together we bought my old townhome in Greer. Over the years, a couple of different families have inhabited it, as well as my brother, a couple roommates of my own and lot's of four legged, beloved, fur babies!  I am getting ready to close this chapter of my life and say goodbye to my first real estate purchase, which brings me to my topic...Why did I get into Real Estate?

 Living Room @ My Townhome (For Sale by the Way)

When I purchased this townhome, I was terrified as being a young-in myself and a completely inexperienced, first time home buyer, I put all of my trust and faith into my Realtor.  I really had no idea if I had just signed my life away or what. I felt clueless.  Turns out that I lived through it, but I can definitely say that my Realtor did not do the best job of enlightening me on what was happening.  Several things fell through the cracks and have come back to haunt me. Heck, back in those days, Realtor's picked their clients up from work and we would hop into the backseat of their car as they drove us around for hours touring homes.  Remember those days?  Those days are mostly long gone, mostly due to safety, expenses, liability and a sue happy world.  Needless to say, we all know that the market has changed several times over since 2004.

As a child I loved going into homes as they were being built and wander around and picture what it would look like completed.  I would always pick up the Real Estate magazines and look through them and dream.  My friends were playing video games and I was looking at pictures of houses and drawing unique floorplans.  Kinda weird if you ask me...=)

So, after my experience as a first time home buyer and realizing my long time dream, I decided in 2006 that it was time to get my Real Estate License.  I was about 24 years old and still quite shy.  All I knew was that I enjoyed helping people and looking at homes, so it seemed that it would be a perfect fit.  About a year into being a Realtor, I realized that I was extremely interested in the job and how incredibly difficult it really is. It has since become my Passion.  My true passion is to help people and protect them.  I truly enjoy educating my clients on the process and making sure that they don't feel like I did.  I want them to know that they are in good hands and that they're secure with me.  I try my best to make sure that each client is totally comfortable with the process and hold their hand step by step, sometimes literally...and that's OK, as long as they don't have sweaty hands.

My Other Passion- making this chica smile

Buying a home is a HUGE purchase and not one to be taken lightly... by most people.  Having a Realtor that understands this and wants to see you succeed and prosper is imperative!  My worst nightmare is having a client curse me everyday in their new home, as I did with my Realtor back in 2004.

Yes, Real Estate is my career, but it is also my life.  It is not just about making that dollar, it is about having that dollar earned in a way that is genuine and honest for everyone.  I earn my living by putting smiles on families faces and money in investors pockets.  It has its ups and downs but is truly rewarding.  I respect other successful Realtor's because I know what they have done to get to where they are and what they are doing to stay in that position.  It is a cut throat business and not for the faint of heart.  Every deal is completely different from the next and every deal has it's fair share of challenges and obstacles.  It takes a creative, educated mind, determined attitudes, motivated counterparts, hope, crossed fingers, and a certain amount of luck for all of the puzzle pieces to fit together just right.  With the right team of people...most of the time they do.  You can call me 'Captain Kiersten'.  Hahaha, ok, that was really corny, but I just couldn't help myself.

Thanks for reading and check back soon!

A Day in the Life of a Realtor Mom

Everyone said, "Oh your life is going to change! You have no idea" and all of the other cliche things about having a kid.  Blah, blah, blah right?  I was like "pssshhhh, duh (with my best valley girl voice)."   But...oh, ho ho, did I really have NO idea!  I thought I was busy 'before Leah', (BL).  I am a Realtor and for a long time I was also a bartender (moonlighting) at locally known hot spots such as Rick Erwin's West End Grille and Rick Erwin's Nantucket Seafood and last but not least Breakwater.  To be honest, I used my bartending job to get where I am today and I am so grateful for it.  Not only did it allow me to meet many of you and create a fantastic network of big names, socialites, business people, investors and just downright cool people in general, but it gave me a life outside of Real Estate.  If you are not careful, you WILL get sucked in.  All you will do is sit behind your computer and go show houses and before you know it month's have passed by and you have been nowhere and done nothing fun outside of work.  This job of Real Estate will consume you and then spit you back out if you don't play your cards juuuuust right.  For some reason I feel the need to insert the following thought "Feeeeed me Seymour".

You absolutely have to be disciplined, motivated, aggressive and thick-skinned to be a Realtor.  I jokingly compare it to modeling (which I have never done).  People size you up, push you around and try to starve you.  I can be a tough cookie, but on the inside I may have a teeny tiny almost invisible tear.  Haha ok, you know what I mean, I don't want to have to get all detailed and soft on you.  I take every job with every client very personally.  I can't remember a time when I have not begun a friendship of some sort with each and every client.

So being a bartender was/is a tough job as well. Time management, patience and people skills are imperative. If you can juggle, that is a good skill to have as well, because quite often you are juggling a thousand things at one time with people flagging you down to add more to your load.  I know a lot of you reading this were there at one point in your lives too.  It is back breaking work and the restaurants I worked in were fine dining and insanely busy all of the time.  I didn't have time to go to the gym, instead I just went to bartend.  You run all night long with no dinner (while serving everyone else delectable dishes), on an approximately 9 hour shift (on top of my day job) and then when you aren't running you are lifting heavy things such as beer cases and drunk socialites off of the floor.  Don't worry your names are safe with me =)

Back to my point, I have been in the service industry for as long as I can remember.  I started in restaurants at age 16 and RETIRED two years ago at the ripe ole age of 28, phew. I began my Real Estate career in 2006 at age 23.  For those of you counting, I am 30, or more importantly...this year is the first anniversary of my 29th birthday.

Little did I know at the time how important my bartending job would be to my Real Estate career.  Being a Realtor is very expensive and it helped cover that tab and give me the network I needed in order to be successful.  It also taught me people skills, how to read body language, how to be proactive, manage my time, juggle, budget on a commission only salary and how to live on little food and sleep.  I'll tell you what, sometimes those bleu cheese bar olives were our dinner, no joke.  Remember that next time you see your favorite bartender, behind that smile is probably a rumbley tummy and 4 hours of sleep.  Side note: Don't judge a book by it's cover.  So many of my restaurant co-workers were also in nursing school or starting a business of their own.  Keep that in mind when you are tipping, because they may be the nurse taking care of you on your next doctor/hospital visit, haha.  If I get in to the whole conversation about being nice to your server, I could go on for days.  So, I'll stop there.

Once again, back to my point.  I wake up each day, see my beautiful little mini me and her smiling face which is the reason I work so hard.  Spend about two hours with her and send her off to daycare (sad face). Then around 9am, I begin my day with all of you lovely folks helping you create the life you have dreamed of.  My phone is glued to my head and my laptop is glued to my fingertips.  I live out of my car and sometimes that is a little too obvious.  Someone once told me if a Salesman's car is clean, they aren't a good salesman.  So, now I feel like I have the right to be a little lazy with that.  Then I pick up the little princess, take her home, get her settled in and a lot of times I go back out for more evening appointments.  More often than not, Leah comes to those appointments with me.  We have dubbed her the 'Sales baby of the year.'  She is a good sport, mostly because she gets spoiled by my clients and I have to say, I love it too!  Then we come back home and I put her to bed hopefully by 8pm so that she and I are still on track for the next day.  Throwing off a baby's schedule...oh man, I don't even want to go there. Then I get back on my computer until I can't see anymore.  Around 11pm, I drag myself to bed.  Oh wait...I forgot to eat dinner, did I even eat lunch?  Back to the kitchen for a quick sandwich or some left over Vito's Pizza (my fave) and then back to bed.  I enjoy my job and apparently working tirelessly for other's and helping them achieve their goals has always been important to me.  It makes me happy to help someone buy or sell their home or condo to make things work for them and/or their family.

Now that I am a Mom, I get how difficult it is to get just about anything done when you are with your kids.  When it comes time to find a place to live that works for your family, you want someone you can trust to help you along the way.  Someone to make that transition as hassle free and smooth as possible.  Someone that understands what your family needs to get through each day in this hectic world.

I know I can't have it all, but I hope it means something to you that I have worked hard to educate myself in this business and give you the tools you need to have the home that fit's your lifestyle.  Helping you buy your next home, keeps me in my home.  I think my new motto should be something along the lines of "Buy with me or we are both homeless,"  What do you think?  All of you other working Mom's and Dad's, I know you know what I mean.  Let's do business together!

Falling Babies and Rising Rates

The Inevitable 

 No, that is not Chucky's daughter, I claim her.  She recently discovered that blowing bubbles in her sweet potatoes was a lot more fun than eating them.  I am slightly bummed because I love sweet potatoes, but I guess I can't always have my way...not with Karma, oops, I mean Leah.  =)

So, the inevitable happened.  I was on vacation and not only did Leah start teething, but almost no sooner than my father finished telling me about how babies always fall at some point, off of a couch or a changing table or something, when "it" happened.  The inevitable.  I say inevitable because I was sure that MY daughter would not roll off of anything under MY watch. So, I guess the rules still apply to me as well and that moment of what my Dad referred to as a 'Reality Check' was all part of the parenting path.  So here is what happened, Leah, my crazy, lil, monkey child decided to launch herself off of the couch...while I was right next to her.  A split second and bam...she hit the carpet, WHOA!  

Needless to say, Leah was fine.  One minute later, after some seriously loud cries of fear, and she was laughing, almost like the whole thing was just a conspiracy between Leah and Grandpa Jim, against me!  They won.  

Whiiiiich brings me to my point.  As Leah was falling DOWN, interest rates were going UP!  While I want to cry about what happened to my lil daw'ling, you should be crying if you didn't get locked in at 3.25%.  We are now seeing 30 year mortgages at approx 4%.  That is still awesome, but if you got in at 3.25% you are sitting REALLY pretty right about now.  

So, watch out for the inevitable, listen to your parents...and your favorite Realtor, Kiersten Bell of course, and if you were thinking about buying or selling Real Estate, don't waste another minute. Call me now...well, maybe in the morning...864.567.1457

www.kbell.kwrealty.com

Vacation?

Being a Realtor and going on Vacation is what one would call impossible.  We live life in the fast lane.  Well, most of us at least.  I can't speak for everyone, but I can say that my idea of a vacation is simply being somewhere other than my home, with my laptop and my cellphone and working in the early morning hours or late at night when everyone is sleeping.

Leah goes to bed around 730pm.  That means my work continues from 730pm until it gets finished.  I just wrote a 15 page contract and did a CMA after dinner.  We work whenever and wherever.  One of our most well known sayings is "Time is of the Essence."  In this business every second is valuable.  The market is back, there are simply not enough listings to suit all of the buyers needs.  Houses are flying off of the shelves.

Every phone call and every customer is valuable.  I remember when I was buying my first home, I had to know what was going on at all times.  To hear my Realtor say, "I'll be out of town for the next ten days," would have been horrifying for me...what if my dream home pops up while you are gone?  Have no fear, I am still working for you, it's just that my view changed drastically and my lunch break now consists of sun and sand. Fortunately I have almost a decade of experience behind me and lot's of tools in place to keep things as smooth as possible.  To get a call from my clients saying "We miss your smiling face, thank you so much for helping us even while you are gone, now go and have some fun!" really makes me feel good.  Knowing that they know they are in good hands is just one of the things that keeps me going!

What's most interesting to me is that I seem to get the most business when I am gone.  I am writing offers, receiving offers and putting together listing presentations one minute and slathering on sunscreen the next.  I love the organized chaos and the thrill of seeing my hard work all of these years pay off for when I am out of town.  I am not even sure my client's know I am not there....it's business as usual for them...almost hurt's my feelings, haha.

Well, I am done for the night, time to crawl into bed and get a little rest before the little one wakes up.  She loves splashing around in the ocean and the pool, and I love watching that big ol' smile on her face right after she accidentally takes a big gulp of the saltwater...oops!

KierstenBell@KW.com     Kbell.kwrealty.com  

My Passion

I am a Mom, A Realtor and I live in Greenville, SC.  Ok, done, have a great day!

Just kidding, that wasn't enough?  Sometimes the short and sweet just don't work and when it comes to being a working Mom, taking short cuts always seems to mean taking the long road....somehow...I'm sure it is our kid's conspiracy against us.  Parents you know what I mean.  Let me guide you through the chaos of the real estate market on the straight and narrow path in a timely and comfortable manner and we can throw in some laughs about our crazy kids along the way.  After all, that is why we do all of this isn't it?

I have been a Realtor for over 7 years now and a mom for a little over 6 months.  My first child, a crazy, little lady named Leah was born in November of 2012.  Everyone told me my life would change, but I just had no idea that all of those little things would become big things.  Before I was pregnant I was a go go go kinda gal.    I was working constantly, attended every social event, I was a go-getter.   Now that I am a Mom, I am exactly the same, I just have my ultimate sidekick right there next to me and attend much less social events, wake up much earlier, go to bed much earlier, do everything on a schedule, plan days in advance to do anything, drive more carefully....ok, so maybe I am not exactly the same except for the working constantly part.  I have dubbed Leah the "Salesbaby of the Year!"  Leah is my world, and my job is my other passion.  I racked my brain non-stop trying to figure out how to blend the two together.  I have to thank my father for seeing the whole picture and as always...having all of the answers to guide me on my path.  That's what parents are for right?

When I became a Mom, I took on the job instantly and seemingly seemlessly =)  It has been a very natural process for me.  I "get it" now.  I know what parents want.  I used to think I knew...I understood, but I couldn't identify.  Well, I have arrived.  Kiersten is "in the building"! (along with my corny quotes)

So, please join me in my niche.  I have a passion for parenting and real estate.  I have always prided myself in my honesty, loyalty and genuine personality.  I am hungry, motivated and aggressive when I need to be.  I know my market, the schools, my neighborhoods and the neighbors! I want to find the perfect home for your family and keep my home perfect for my family.  Bring on the questions, bring on the kiddo's and let's go house hunting!

Kierstenbell@kw.com 

Keller Williams Realty

Greenville, SC