Holly Lynch

With the prices of houses being the lowest in many years you should buy a house, right? Whoa, don't put the cart before the horse! Don't get house fever. Here are 3 Good reasons to use a buyers agent to help you gain an advantage so you don't get ripped off!

The media is going crazy out there telling all of us how easy it is to buy or sell a home ourselves. You might THINK you hand handle this without help of an agent...big mistake!

Here are 3 good reasons why you need a buyer's agent:

1. A buyer's agent won't cost you a penny!

In almost every case, the home seller pays the commission for your agent. You don't pay anything to have your agent represent your interests, both emotionally and legally!

You'd be crazy to not take advantage of that!

1. You'll save countless hours filing paperwork.

Are you a lawyer or administrative person who really knows the law? I hope so, because if you don't have a buyer's agent on your side, you'll have to know all the regulations and laws to complete the transaction! Then YOU'LL have to fill out the appropriate paperwork. The offer to purchase, inspection report, homeowner disclosure, counter offer, loan documentation, and a host of other state-specific documents to be filed. An agent goes to school to learn all of this, and

believe me, it's complicated. Some lawyer wrote it! Your agent will do all of this for you.

•3. A Good Buyers Agent Saves You MONEY!

A good buyer's agent makes sure you never pay more than you should and will represent You

and You ALONE, in price negotiations. Because of this, it's very common for a buyer's agent to

save you THOUSANDS in the transaction. And in most situations, the seller will have a realtor on

his side to make sure you pay as much as he thinks you should; if you're smart, you'll have an

agent on your side to ensure you get your money's worth.

Get an EXCLUSIVE Buyers Agent, one that represents you and your family alone. After all this is a huge chunk of change and a total investment for years to come.

As a Professsional Buyers agent with Connie Rice and Parnters, Keller Williams, my passion is to help my clients (friends) find the best home and deal for their family. Go to www.connierice.com to see how our team works like a well oiled machine and serves our clients with second to none passion for the Greenville, SC, Spartanburg, Anderson and Pickens counties in the Upstate of SC.

Whether it's mountain properties, lake homes, starter or retirement living you're seeking, you've found the best Buyers Agent in the Upstate. I look forward to helping you!

So what the heck is a Paladin anyway? Wikipedia says a high level official and also a Roman Imperial Guard. Well here they come!! Furman University kicks off it's 2008 season on August 30th!!!!

The purple t-shirts are flying off the rack at Wal-Mart LOL! The beer bellies are waiting in line for the hotdogs and the boys are taking to the field. I love football..everything about it and can't wait for the season! There's a huge rivalry here in Greenville. We dont' have a pro team so we love our college ball. It's always the Clemson Tigers and the USC Gamecocks (don't let me get started on THAT name)

Somehow I think a knight can beat a tiger and a chicken..don't you?

But here in the Upstate of Sc one team sometimes gets overlooked. A smaller university yes but quality athletics. The Furman Paladins royal purple and white unifoms are definitely prettier than ORANGE and Maroon. So keep your tiger paws and roosters to yourselves and hie thee to Clemson and Colombia. For us here in Travelers Rest, Greenville and Upstate SC we're off to watch the Paladins. Here's the schedule..come join us! And GO PALADINS!!!!!

2008 Schedule

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2008-2009 SCHEDULE ( Click on an event for complete event information )

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
08/30/08	vs. Mars Hill	GREENVILLE	7:05 p.m. ET
09/06/08	at Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	1:30 p.m. ET
09/13/08	at Colgate	Hamilton, N.Y.	1:00 p.m. ET
09/20/08	vs. Delaware	GREENVILLE	2:00 p.m. ET
09/27/08	vs. Chattanooga *	GREENVILLE	3:35 p.m. ET
10/04/08	at Elon *	Elon, N.C.	1:30 p.m. ET
10/11/08	vs. Western Carolina *	GREENVILLE	2:00 p.m. ET
10/18/08	vs. The Citadel *	GREENVILLE	2:00 p.m. ET
10/25/08	at Appalachian State *	Boone, N.C.	3:30 p.m. ET
11/01/08	at Samford *	Birmingham, Ala.	3:00 p.m. ET
11/15/08	vs. Georgia Southern *	GREENVILLE	3:05 p.m. ET
11/22/08	at Wofford *	Spartanburg, S.C.	12:05 p.m. ET

I feel like Michael Phelps. I'm a Buyers Agent with Keller Williams and according to a national survey from JD Powers and Associates...we've just won the gold!

J.D. Power and Associates has surveyed customers about new-home builders, this study measured customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with the largest national real estate firms. Overall satisfaction was determined by examining three factors for the home-buying experience: agent (65 percent); office (21 percent) and services (13 percent).

Keller Williams achieves a score of 831 on a 1,000-point scale! GOAL!

65 percent of the experience was due to the agents! I can only attribute this success to the enormous support and training that Keller Williams provides its team members. We're family. There is no competition. It's a Win/Win.

Our team came from a company that was rival vs rival with no clear expectations set. New agents were thrown to the wind with no training..just turn and burn. And you all know what happens in that scenario.

When our team joined Keller Williams last year, I personally found out how much I didn't know, what my value was to my clients, what to do and what not to do. The process continues weekly.

This is a personal invitation to anyone that is not on the winning team of the

#1 Fastest Growing Real Estate Company in North America!

To email or call me and let me tell you about how Keller Williams can help you reach that GOAL and win the Gold!

holly@connierice.com

864-414-8295

In Beautiful Greenville SC!

What the Heck is Swamp Rabbit Trail?

There used to be a railway that ran from Greenville's downtown to the Jones Gap area and it was nick named Swamp Rabbit by the locals, because oddly enough there's a lot of swamps in these mountains.

Recreation, Biking PLUS soon to come, a tram system that connects Northern Greenville to Downtown. So commuter busing on the old railway lines, plus enjoyable vistas! What more could Travelers Rest and Greenville ask for. Not to mention that it will make our area more accessible to the mountains, shopping and good healthful walking, biking or hiking!

This 9 mile walking and biking trail already exists. It runs from the Reedy River in Downtown Greenville all the way to Travelers Rest, through Furman University and the subdivisions around that area as shown in the picture here behind the university.

The trail is sponsored by the Greenville Hospital system who didn't want to see the existing trails on the railway be torn up. Rather the idea behind a commuter rail system on the historic rails was created. The Greenville Council also came up with a GREEN Solution to the paved road adjacent to the rails, in optimizing a new type of asphalt called Roadzyme which is fully organic and economic! The map below shows the exact location of the trail and its stops and destination.

Construction has begun on the Roadzyme road with completion scheduled at the end of this year. The rail way is to begin next spring and hopefully be completed at the end of 2009. I can't wait to not have to drive into Greenville but enjoy a lazy trip on the Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail.

VIEW MAP OF THE SWAMP RABBIT TRAIL

This is a picture of what the proposed tram will look like.

Here are the benefits per the Greenville County Swamp Rabbit Trail Proposal:

-Offer non-automobile-based transit opportunities

-Provide direct connections to existing bus routes

-Create neighborhood access to greenspace

-Facilitate carpooling opportunites

-Build "Pocket Parks" throughout the trail corridor

-Provide opportunties to implement green road-building practices, such as the sweet beet based Roadzyme.

-Will achieve the #1 recreational activity in SC "walking for pleasure or recreation.

Ok everyone's talking about down markets...Folks there's no such thing as a down market. It's either a buyers market or a sellers market! Ok so this is a buyers market. So if you're looking to buy, you've picked the ideal time. Prices are comparable to 2004! If Wal-Mart can roll back prices well the real estate market has done the same. Mountain and farm properties are especially rocking right now as land prices drop. This is the time to buy a home in the Upstate of SC. Thousands cheaper than NC just minutes away and incredible views and homes with beaucoups of land for extremely reasonable prices. If you're looking in Travelers Rest, Pickens, Sunset, the Cliffs Communities, Taylors or Greer, email me and we'll get you into the next best thing in gorgeous Northern Greenville, SC. Holly Lynch, Keller Williams holly@connierice.com.