The following was taken from a Facebook live video on 8/12/22.

Roni:                Happy Friday friends, Roni Haskel here, realtor base out of the Charleston, Somerville market of South Carolina. And I'm going to take you inside this house here in a moment to showcase all the renovations that have been happening in here. And I'll talk more about that, but first of all, I want to introduce all of my friends to Devin. Hi Devin.

Devin:              Hi.

Roni:                So Devin is newer on the team. She's been with us for a couple of months now, and as I look to grow my team and mentor agents, and after so many years of doing business here in the area, I really look for the opportunity to be able to pass along what I have learned in this industry. And Devin came about with a lot of passion and tell a little bit about your background. You were ... you came out of college and did what?

Devin:              I was a vet tech for a few years. And then I took over my dad's business, it was a small business, and then it was the right time, so I jumped into real estate and joined Roni's team. And we're here now.

Roni:                And let me tell you guys, within two months, she has already assisted me with a listing and she's had two closings, which were challenging. Very challenging closings. And she's got another one that is under contract now, and that's just been in the last couple of months. She has a bright future ahead of her.

                        And I'm so thankful that she's on our team. So you can learn more about Devin on our website at thatSCRealEastateChick. You are going to see her on social media postings. She does a great job of highlighting her business, but I just wanted to put a face with a name, because if you are a buyer on, if you reach out and are looking to buy or sell, Devin can help you with that. So welcome to our team. And I'm so glad that you are here with me today.

Devin:              Thank you so much.

Roni:                Absolutely.

Devin:              I'm looking forward with y'all.

Roni:                Yeah, absolutely. All right guys. And also let's talk about the market just for a moment before we showcase this house. I'm anxious to get inside. Let's talk about the market for just a moment though, because that's what I like to come to you on Fridays and share a little snapshot. You hear a lot about what's happening in the media, from the media, I guess. What is your ... what's been your temperature read on working with clients? Are they having a better chance of finding their right house?

Devin:              Yes. It's a little slower now, but we're getting into, it takes a few days, but we are finding the home they love.

Roni:                Yeah. So there's more on the market. We've got ... back at the early January, February, we were sitting about a thousand listings in our MLS and today we're about 26, 2,700. So that's why your buyers are really getting a better chance of being able to secure a house. Right? Tell us about interest rates. What have you been seeing in terms of interest rates here in the last week?

Devin:              They're always fluctuating. We always like to say, "You're marrying your mortgage and you're dating your interest rate." So if you can do the down payment and you can do the closing costs, I would go in and get the home you love. You can always refinance later on when the interest rates drop.

Roni:                Yeah. And don't forget, we do partner up with an excellent lender, Kellie Collins, my friend over at Cross Country Mortgage, can do a side by side comparison for you and determine what the best interest rate, the best loan structure all are. So don't be afraid. Just there's no commitments. There's no commitments. Just reach out to us, get an idea of what ... if you're not sitting in the house of your dreams for one reason or another, maybe you need to move across town. Maybe you want to put your kids into a specific school. Maybe the house, you've outgrown it. Maybe you've raised your family and they're all out of the house and now it's time to downsize. Whatever your reasons are for considering a possible move, this is still a great time to buy. It's actually a better time to buy than what it's been in the last year or so.

                        So I encourage you to get out there. We'll set you up with our lender, just to have that on that initial conversation. But interest rates have dipped a little bit this year. We are expecting the Fed to raise some ... do some changes here in the next couple of months, that will probably likely raise those interest rates once again. But right now they have gone down here in the last week to 10 days. And so buyers are getting a chance to be able to lock in that better interest rate. So reach out to me if you're interested, but great time to buy. Would you say?

Devin:              I one hundred percent agree.

Roni:                So let's talk about this house, because it's going to be on the market. Devin's going to be sitting over here in some open houses this weekend. So you can come and see her. We're at 1004 Maidstone. It is in Somerville. It is in Pine Forest, which has ... the club at Pine Forest is a huge draw for this neighborhood. It's got golf, it's got tennis courts, actually. In fact, the only clay courts in the area. I love playing out here. When I get the chance to play, I like playing on the clay courts.

                        What else is over there? I know that they've got a restaurant. They've got a wonderful pool with a grill to attach to it, so you can sit pool side. The nice thing about Pine Forest though, just so you know for the amenities, is if you don't plan to use them, you don't have to pay for them. The HOA fee here in Pine Forest is actually relatively low, very low for being in a nice community such as this and being within just a couple of miles from downtown Somerville.

                        But if you're not going to use those amenities, don't pay for them. They have different levels of packages. So, all right. This house has taken on a new look. We have done all kinds of changes out here with the landscaping. My friends over at Laurel Landscaping came by, they cut down the shrubs. We had this ... there was a huge crape Myrtle here that was overgrown. That was really covering the whole house. You couldn't hardly see the house and it's such a nice, low country looking house with this front porch. So we had that crape Myrtle taken out.

                        My friends, like I said over at Laurel Landscaping, cleaned up the yard. It's looking good. Let's talk about this paint. So the interior of this house, as well as the exterior has all been painted. I could have the original color. It was just easier that way, versus trying to go through and get new approval, but it looks completely different, because it was so faded. Hardy plank, just so you know, people think of it as a no maintenance kind of material, but there is some maintenance that has to happen to it.

                        It actually can disintegrate over time if too much water gets back behind it and it will fade. So about every 10 years or so, you really need to have it caulked well, you need to make sure all the boards are in good condition and repainted, so that's what we did. All the trim on this house has been repainted. My friend that is at [inaudible] Construction redid some of the shingles that were damaged. So the outside is good. It is great in fact. Let's take a look inside.

                        Oh boy, it feels good in here. We had the HVAC serviced and some repair work done to it. So it is in great condition and ready for the new owners. But everything was painted inside, trim, doors, walls. The walls were dingy, they were damaged and now they're good as new. This color is called Frosty Whites. This is what I use in all of my renovations when I'm tackling a house. It's a nice, neutral color. Frosty Whites over at Sherwin-Williams, but this color is just neutral.

                        It's not too gray, because I do feel like gray walls limit and they are going to go out of style. So this is a nice, very neutral color that will go with browns, grays, whites, taupes, whatever you need to kind of absorb the color with, this is it. It's a nice baseline color. So I had the whole house painted this color.

                        The floors were still in good condition. So we left the floors. The hardwood is beautiful. It's very durable. It's not a soft wood. It's actually a true hardwood. So it's in good shape, ready for new owners as well. And then let me show you what I've done with the master bathroom. So in here it was a mess. It was a disaster.

                        Guys, I'm going to show you some before and after pictures in a different posting. And so we'll have that out as well. But I had new carpet put into all the bedrooms. There are two bedrooms downstairs. The master is separated from the other bedroom, which works great as a guest suite, mother-in-law suite, home office, however you need to utilize that space. But there is a second bedroom and they are a split plan. So it's really nice, so each person has its own privacy.

                        This has a door that ... the master has a door that leads out to the deck that's out back. Had a bunch of rotten wood on it that got replaced, and that has been stained as well. So, but highlight of this area really is that this tile, so we had to do some supporting from underneath. The tile was cracked because of some wood damage from underneath and the shower had to be replaced. This is not one thing that I had expected to tackle, but once my contractor got in here and started pulling apart and getting ready for the tile to be laid, we discovered a lot of wood rot that was around the shower.

                        So this has all been done. My friend, Chris Wilson, over at Wilson's Carpet Plus if you need a flooring person, he does all my carpet. He does all my tile work like this. So if you need somebody, that's my go-to source, but Chris is fantastic. They tackled all of this for us and it looks great. Good job guys. I appreciate their hard work and diligence.

                        We did little, I say little things, but made a big impact. There was a funky light hanging here. So we took back down and capped it off. It was just not needed in a bathroom. I think it would be a perfect place to come in and put a ceiling fan. Who has not needed the fan at this time of the year, when it's hot in humid here in South Carolina? I think that would be kind of a personalized touch that I would make. But the electricity is there for when the new owners take it over and whatever they need.

                        So here's another area that we did some work. Let's go into the kitchen. And again, if you want to see this house over the weekend, we are going to have it open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If you follow me on social media, then you can see what times those open houses will be.

                        We left the original cabinets. Countertops were still in pretty good condition. They're granite. And then what we did do though, is replace all of the appliances. So we've got nice, really great brand new appliances, Frigidaire. And they are ready for the new owners with warranties and such. So, but this is a nice area, hub of the house, so to speak, it's open to the family room. The family room has a fireplace. This house truly is ready for you.

                        So if you know of somebody that's looking for a five bedroom house, there's three bedrooms upstairs. So if you need a five bedroom house or knows somebody that does, this is it guys. It's turnkey. It's ready for you. Reach out to me, always, if you have questions related to buying or selling in the Charleston region. I do help clients find other agents across the nation as well. I can find you a referral. If you need anything real estate related, I'm your chick. Let's talk. Reach out 843-297-1935. And Devin, come see Devin. We welcome her to our team. She's going to do amazing things for us.