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Caroline Carter, Author of Smart Moves, and Founder and CEO of Done in a Day, Inc., on the process of transitioning from home to home~
“But the reason I wrote the book was to allow people to say, okay, I get it. We all dread this process but we don’t have to. Okay. There is a way that we can go through this and make very solid emotional, financial and physical decisions that will affect us over time.”
Andy Ockershausen: This is Our Town and this is Andy Ockershausen to talk to a friend of many years who has shocked me beyond belief because I lost track of her, what, 10, 15 years ago in our neighborhood and now she’s turned out to be a fabulous writer, I think. Caroline Carter, welcome to Our Town.
Caroline Carter: Thank you, Andy. I’m pleased to be here.
Andy Ockershausen: It is unbelievable what you have done in this book. Like you’re new to me and yet you’re not. You’re … we’re friends for many years, but you’ve established a life about moving and everybody in the world eventually is going to move.
Smart Moves – Demystifying the Moving Process
Caroline Carter: Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: So everybody’s a potential client or potential to need your help and your book is fabulous.
Caroline Carter: Oh, thank you. I’m so glad. Thanks.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m not anxious to move because the problem of doing it, it’s scary, but what you have written and for me to understand, man, it’s terrific. Just terrific, Caroline.
Caroline Carter: Well, I appreciate that. I think that the purpose of writing the book was to demystify this process. You know, when you say to someone or when you look at this statistic, for instance, that the US Census Bureau says that the average American moves 11 times throughout their lifetime and that’s a lot of moving.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s just average.
Caroline Carter: That’s just average but Americans move more than any other culture.
Andy Ockershausen: I saw that.
Caroline Carter: And if you say to someone, you know, what do you think about moving? Well, the first thing they say is, I dread it. I absolutely dread it. So part of the reason why I wrote Smart Moves was to demystify the process for people.
Andy Ockershausen: And showing the mover how to save time and money while transitioning your home and life.
Caroline Carter: Exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: Now that’s important. The life thing.
Caroline Carter: Sure.
Andy Ockershausen: You’ve almost been, and in a lot of your work and your career, you’ve done some marriage counseling too.
Caroline Carter: Oh, well no, no doubt about that. No doubt about that because everybody … this is a very emotional process.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s always a strain on marriage, isn’t it? A strain?
Moving is a Strain on the Entire Family
Caroline Carter: Well it’s a strain actually on the entire family, including the pets and I say that because selling your home, okay, preparing it to sell and moving is one of the most stressful life changing events that a family can go through and everybody acts out because they don’t know what to expect. They don’t … it’s like being on a roller coaster, right? You kind of do in general know what to expect, but every ride is different and we all will go through this packaging of our homes to sell if we want to sell it at top dollar right, and then moving. But the reason I wrote the book was to allow people to say, okay, I get it. We all dread this process but we don’t have to. Okay. There is a way that we can go through this and make very solid emotional, financial and physical decisions that will affect us over time.
Andy Ockershausen: One of the not surprises because I can understand what you do after reading the book and the fact that you’re not in the sales business, you’re not trying to help somebody sell their house. You’re having to get them ready to sell that. You’re not an agent.
On Partnering with Real Estate Agents
Caroline Carter: Well, I’m not an agent, but I partner with agents for the benefit of their sellers because what I do is I physically and visually package a home to sell, right? So part of my job is to understand what today’s buyers consider valuable in a home, right? They want perfection. They look at their phones, you know, they are … they’re visually overstimulated every day, every minute of every day. They’re used to a one-click situation where if they say, I want a new master bedroom, they can input master bedroom, you know, type it into their phones and be able to pick out, you know, a lineup of 10 beautiful master bedrooms and go, that’s what I want. Do they have any idea of what it takes to create that in time or money? No. No but they expect perfection. So packaging a house to sell right is in the seller’s best interest because for many sellers, this is their largest financial asset. Yet when it comes to their home, they very often make poor emotional decisions because they’re emotionally vested in their home.
Andy Ockershausen: Well one of the things you point out in here, you’re not interested in the sales price or the money, you’re interested in the client has a value in that home.
Caroline Carter: That’s correct.
Andy Ockershausen: And you may want to make sure they get what they think is the value. Correct?
Staging a Home is Just One Part of the Process
Caroline Carter: Well, what we want to do is by staging a home to sell and staging is just one part of this whole transition process, right? But by staging it, you’re understanding how the actual physical property, the structure in the property can speak to a buyer without the seller being there saying, “Oh, don’t forget to look at the backyard. Oh, don’t forget to look at this. Don’t forget to look at that.” So today’s buyers are going to judge visually and physically just based on what they see. So I advise on how to package the bricks and mortar. Right?
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Caroline Carter: So that it will sell faster and for more money because it is … this buying process is so visually driven.
Andy Ockershausen: But the staging part I’ve heard about from new homes, but I hadn’t heard about it before existing home.
Caroline Carter: Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: My understanding of the way it is in your book now I know how important it is. It has to have a stage, whether it’s empty or full, it’s a stage, correct?
Caroline Carter: That’s exactly right.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Poor Andy on Sundays we sometimes spend the afternoon looking for … looking at HGTV.
Caroline Carter: Sure.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: And seeing how, you know people are looking for new homes and stuff like that. So he does have an understanding of, you know, what the people’s expectations are. Little petty things that can really make or break a sale.
Caroline Carter: Sure.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: And those are the things that you concentrate on. For example, who would even think about a garage being an important part. But in your book, as you point out, even the garage is an important …
Andy Ockershausen: The devil in the details is one of the chapters.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s so emphatic to me, the devil is in the detail and that’s your job.
The Devil is in the Details
Caroline Carter: That’s right. There’s no aspect or no area of the structure, meaning the home and the property that is left untouched. Meaning the most important thing that any seller can do short of deciding I’ve decided to sell my house, I’m setting a realistic schedule that I’m going to commit to. I will engage the services of an agent. Okay. But I’ve decided in November I’m going to sell it in May. The next most important aspect that we talked, you know, we really dive deeply in the book, is to do a non-emotional assessment. Okay. Of, you know, both the structure and the property. What do I have to do to sell this for top dollar? Right? So you’re looking at it from a visual point of view, but also from a physical point of view and trust me when I tell you that just because you’ve lived with it for 10 years, the little … I talked in the book about this sticky door handle. Oh no, no, no. Let me get that for you. No, don’t get that for me. I want a door handle that works. I want windows that latch and are actually functional and not painted shut.
So all of these things, these teeny tiny details will add up and leave an impression over time where someone says, well, this house has not been well maintained. Let’s move on.
Andy Ockershausen: Well Caroline this is a perfect time to take a break cause I want to shift gears with you and talk about you, not the book.
Caroline Carter: Sure.
Andy Ockershausen: And this is Our Town. Andy Ockershausen talking to Caroline Carter.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen brought to you by Best Bark Communications.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Our Town. Andy Ockershausen, a conversation with a prolific author named Caroline Carter. She told us about something about Smart Moves, but I’d like to hear more about you. You’re obviously not a native Washingtonian.
Proud Rutgers Alumna
Caroline Carter: No, I’ve actually … I’m actually going to be doing my 12th move coming up. I’ve moved around quite a bit, but I did grow up in New Jersey.
Andy Ockershausen: On the shore?
Caroline Carter: Close enough.
Andy Ockershausen: Okay, so you could use the shore. You went to school in Jersey.
Caroline Carter: I did.
Andy Ockershausen: You went to Rutgers.
Caroline Carter: I went to Rutgers.
Andy Ockershausen: State school, right?
Caroline Carter: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that … I always thought Rutgers was a hoy poy, like members of the Ivy League. Now I found that they’re in a big 10.
Caroline Carter: Yeah, no it was, you know, we lived in New Jersey.
Andy Ockershausen: Got in the big 10 when Maryland got in the big 10.
Caroline Carter: Well that’s right. So I’m proud of that.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. You didn’t go to Maryland at all?
Caroline Carter: No.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, in these moves you made, did you move around the shore or through Delaware so you ended up in Washington?
Caroline Carter – Proliferation for Moving Around the Country After Rutgers
Caroline Carter: No, I moved all over the place. I started … my first move was with a bunch of black trash bags and some laundry baskets and I moved up to Hoboken, New Jersey.
Andy Ockershausen: Okay.
Caroline Carter: Having graduated, like a lot of people way back when I had a degree in psychology and French and absolutely no direction whatsoever, but the, you know, it was a great time in the early eighties in Wall Street and my brothers were working there and I thought, well, I could do that. That sounds great. So I packed my trash bags and then from New York I then moved again to Boston because I was kind of bored and trying to run away from a guy who wanted to marry me. So moved up to Boston and worked in a Deli and painted houses and then that started, you know, my proliferation for moving around the country.
Andy Ockershausen: And enjoyed every move.
Caroline Carter: Absolutely.
Andy Ockershausen: But you learned when you were making those move, you had to care for a lot of … I don’t want to call junk, but a lot of items.
Caroline Carter: No, a lot of it was junk Andy. Yeah. A lot of it was junk.
Andy Ockershausen: We all have junk. That’s the problem.
Caroline Carter: Yeah. Well that’s right but each move presented its own issues and you know, when you’re considering selling and moving each time, you have to understand the impact that it’s going to have on you.
Andy Ockershausen: And your children.
Different Aspects of Moving to Think About – Emotional, Financial and Physical
Caroline Carter: And your pets.
Andy Ockershausen: I forgot about that.
Caroline Carter: Right now, do you remember my little white dog Sweetie Pie?
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Caroline Carter: She’s very worked up because she knows something. We’ve just, you know, I just sold my current house in anticipation of a move and she …
Andy Ockershausen: She’s attuned to you correct?
Caroline Carter: Absolutely, and she’s walking around like she knows something big’s coming. She’s not happy but each move, whether it’s with black trash bags and laundry baskets or a 53 foot moving truck and 450 boxes is complex. There are emotional aspects of it, financial aspects of it and physical aspects of it. Like who’s going to do all the heavy lifting. So that’s, you know, people need to understand and think about the … all the different aspects, the different steps you have to go through.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s … and that’s what I love about the book. In your table of contents, it pretty much put it out there what you got to think about, you know, moving day, get settled, it’s finally about you. It’s so important to know these things. Interior assessment, exterior, plan of attack. It’s not just move. How do you plan this thing? Correct?
Caroline Carter: Right. So most people …
Andy Ockershausen: Military move almost.
“Emotional Ivy”
Caroline Carter: That’s right and they’re good at it too. But I’ve worked for a lot of military families because even though they are used to relocating and moving it’s the emotional aspect, making decisions associated with those and frankly not understanding perhaps how they can squeeze out every dollar of value from their current home, what they have to do. Potentially, you know, paint colors, stylized paint colors. We all surround ourselves, create our home by surrounding ourselves with what I call our “emotional ivy”. We talk about it in the book and the emotional ivy are, you know, refers to the way we make a house a home, right? Our photos and our color choices and our design choices and our tombstones and our pictures. This is me with the current president and so on and so forth. When you’re selling, of course you want to neutralize all of that, you want to completely remove your personal footprint. But this is hard for people because this is their home.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. I read in several sentences in the book about some of your clients said, I’m not moving. I mean, I’m not changing. I like the pictures. I’m gonna leave them up.
On Understanding What It Will Take to Maximize Your Asset
Caroline Carter: Or acting out. I call that acting out and you need to really expect that because I work for a lot of very well placed, well-respected, high powered individuals, both men and women in DC and I will – in the DC metro area – and I will tell you that they all struggle to a person. They all struggle with making decisions associated with their home because it is their home. It’s their safe space.
Andy Ockershausen: The biggest expense they have in their life. Correct. The home.
Caroline Carter: Well, the biggest asset for many of them and whether or not you own three homes or this is your only home, whether or not you live in, you know, in Topeka or in DC or McClean, it doesn’t matter where you live to understand what it’s going to take to maximize this asset for the expected return or the highest return on your investment is critical to everybody.
Andy Ockershausen: Caroline, the amazing part is that you’ve only been in … how long have you been in this business, where it is sort of your life now?
Caroline Carter: 14 years.
Andy Ockershausen: 14 since you got divorced.
Caroline Carter: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: You went out and started your own business.
On Founding Done in a Day, Inc.
Caroline Carter: Well, I had to. I had to, as my ex husband said, the gravy train was over and I said, listen pal, I’m from New Jersey. I’ve worked since I was eight years old. So it was never …
Andy Ockershausen: It was a jettison.
Caroline Carter: That’s exactly. I was slinging ham at a Delicatessen and painting houses. So the point is it grew out of a need to figure out with three small children, how do I actually, because while I received child support, I didn’t receive alimony and you know how expensive our city is. And I said, how can I take my natural interests, skills, and abilities and monetize them? So I had to dig really deeply and realize that one of the things I was really good at was being able to create order out of chaos in pretty much any situation. But I’m a germaphobe, not really, but I am. I’m a germaphobe and I love to create order where there is none. It speaks to my type A personality it speaks to …
Andy Ockershausen: That’s you. It’s not something you created.
Caroline Carter: That’s me.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s you.
Caroline Carter: No yeah. It’s just my personality and I love doing it because while the situations, each project is different. Okay. No matter where it is, what the price point is, how big the house is, the transition process of selling one home and moving to the next is really the same for everyone. It doesn’t matter. I could do a 12,000 square foot house or a 1000 square foot. The process that the seller needs to go through is the same.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s amazing but I know what you’re saying.
Caroline Carter: It’s just a matter of volume.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah size.
Caroline Carter: Sure size.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Caroline, do you practice what you preach? If we opened your drawers, do you have a junk drawer?
Caroline Carter On Practicing What She Preaches
Caroline Carter: You know what? I allow myself one junk drawer and guess where it is? It’s my bedside table. It’s my bedside table. But yes Janice I am, you know, I like to think of organization as a way to surround myself and my children with a way to positively approach every single day and I like order.
Andy Ockershausen: Order that’s what I was gonna say. It’s all about order.
Caroline Carter: I think that order is important when teaching your children about how to approach their rooms, their life, their thought process. Order is critical and, you know, it speaks to the basic need, you know, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. One of the basic needs for all of us is safety and security and that’s why this book is so important because there is very few situations in life where you don’t have control. Okay. This is one of them. I mentioned that it’s one of the five top stressors in life along with death, divorce, loss of a job and an illness. The lack of control for people who are used to being in control of their lives is mind boggling. They don’t even … they are like deer in headlights. They need to know, okay, where do I start? Who do I trust? Because they’re … I’m a truth teller, but not everybody is.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, so the person can be financially terribly well off, but they still have the same problem as the person who has nothing.
Caroline Carter: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: When they’re getting ready to move, it’s a different world they’re going to have to face, you know, some of the things that you’ve written in the headline and when you read the book, it’s fabulous. You know it’s moving day. People are scared as hell about moving day. The red zone, sound of time. I love that. The sound …
Caroline Carter: You know what the sound of the time is?
Andy Ockershausen: Silence can be deafening sometimes.
“The Sound of Time”
Caroline Carter: Well, that’s exactly right, but the sound of time refers to that period when you have perfectly presented your home, handed it over to the agent and it’s their turn now to take what you’ve created, meaning all the fast, easy and inexpensive updates you’ve made, it’s clean as a whistle. Everything’s organized. You’re 60% packed to move and now it’s the agent’s job to come in and market and effectively sell the house and guide you to a successful close. That’s their job. My job for the moments done. Your job is to sweat the sound of time and what the sound of time is. It refers to the clock ticking, right? The days on market, the MLS, when the clock starts ticking and your house is available to the public, right? Then it, you know, every day that goes by, you’re sweating it, you’re exhausted physically, mentally. You’ve got to, you know, cancel all the credit cards because you’re maxed out with getting the house ready.
Caroline Carter: But now you’re saying, okay, where all the buyers, so everyday you’re sweating it. You’re trying to live in an artificial environment where no one, you know, there’s no trash in the trash cans. There are no, you know, dishes in the sink, right? You can’t leave toothpaste in the sink because you …
Andy Ockershausen: You’re living in perfection.
Caroline Carter: You’re living in perfection but we know perfection sells, right?
Andy Ockershausen: Correct.
Caroline Carter: So, but it’s a very artificial way to live. So it’s stressful, but so we refer to the sound of time is that no man’s land, that dead time between putting your house on the market and getting that phone call. Ring a ding, ding we’ve got an offer.
Andy Ockershausen: Ah.
Caroline Carter: That’s what you’re waiting for and that sense of relief just like you just did Andy, where you dropped your shoulders and went, ah, it’s a relief.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Caroline Carter: Okay, but then the third phase starts and that’s the move. Now you have to go and prepare …
Andy Ockershausen: We haven’t done that yet.
Caroline Carter: For the move. Right?
Andy Ockershausen: All right. This is Our Town and talking to Caroline Carter and about her life and her book and we’ll be right back.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen brought to you by Best Bark Communications.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen and Our Town. We’re talking to a lady that’s done something great for I think every person that lives in a home, everybody lives somewhere and they all need help and Caroline, we have done everything now. Get everything ready. Now it’s moving day. Now what happens?
On Moving Day You Need an Advocate
Caroline Carter: So moving day does not have to be as disturbing as people make it out to be. First of all, it’s important that you decide who’s going to be the tour leader. Now you may be working with a transition expert like myself who will actually supervise, orchestrate and supervise the physical move, but there has to be someone – the seller, for instance – someone who is going to be available to answer questions. The refrigerator that we have decided is going to be put outside in the garage, does not fit through the door. We can’t get it out the door because actually we, you know, redesigned the house after we bought the refrigerator. So we’re not going to take out a door. So guess what? So you need someone who’s able to be very solution oriented. Okay. Where people very often will buy furniture that’s made on site. They will change the configuration of their home or the door to the basement and we find ourselves having to saw furniture in half to get it out of the house.
So you want someone, an advocate, you know, a lot of my sellers and moving clients don’t even want to be there during the day because they’re busy. They know that they’ve hired an expert to take care of it for them. They trust someone like me who has now worked with them to prepare their home to sell. We know their things …
Andy Ockershausen: Over a period of time.
Caroline Carter: Over a period of time. So they trust me to make decisions on their behalf as if they were there to make them. So if it’s an Ikea, you know, piece of furniture in the basement and we can’t get it out of the basement, we either leave it or we saw it in half. It’s not a big deal. We’re not stopping the move. So in order to create a successful moving day like selling, you have to know what to expect. So one of the things we covered in the book is, you know, what really is the process of the moving day? The guys show up, well, how do I know who’s really going to be in charge? And what’s everybody’s role? Well, it’s typically the guy with the clipboard. Okay, the guy with the paperwork because the moving company’s gonna make sure they get your “Johnny” on all the paperwork so they get paid at the end of this, you know. We talk about what to expect, what you should be doing, what the movers are doing, you know, who’s packing the furniture, how are they packing it? Done in a Day has come up with a unique process of using blue painter’s tape and black sharpies to actually put names of where furniture is going in the new house, rather than trying to decipher a moving inventory. Have you ever tried to read a moving inventory? ABC, one, two, three red.
Andy Ockershausen: Well there’s more than just the move it’s where it’s going.
Caroline Carter: Well, that’s the whole point, right? So what we do is we take the blue painter’s tape and black sharpies. We will write down, you know, you know Susie’s love seat or family room love seat and put it on top of the moving blankets because you know what happens if you don’t, the mover wraps it. They come to the front door at the new house and they say, “Ma’am, where do you want this piece?” And you say, “I’m sorry, what is it?” And they’ll say, “It’s a chair.” You’ll say, “Well, I have 17 different chairs. I have a Parson’s chair, a desk chair, you know a side chair.” Right? So what we do is we remove all of that time wasting confusion by marking it at the old house.
Andy Ockershausen: Just a strip of tape and mark it.
How to Allow Your Movers to Stay On-Site
Caroline Carter: Bingo. Bingo. We also suggest in the book, and this is really critical, allow your movers to stay on site. Okay? What I mean by that is get your case of water, get Your Gatorade, you know, get your snacks that are gonna come out at 10:30 give them, you know, call a five minute water break. At noon you’re going to ask them in the morning when they get there, how many people are in your crew?
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Caroline Carter: I’m ordering lunch. What would you like? Because for 100 bucks I’m going to keep them on property. They’re going to get back to work faster. That’s exactly right. And pick something easy. Sandwiches, pizza.
Andy Ockershausen: Time is money.
Caroline Carter: That’s right. Then about three o’clock you’re going to bring out more Gatorade, cookies, a little bit of sugar to get them through to the end. All of these are really tried and true tricks and let them know. Here’s the other thing, Andy, let them know first thing in the morning, how many are in your crew? Because I want to know to be able to tip out at the end of the day. Okay? You’ve said the magic words, cash is king, right? So what you’re doing, they know they’re going to be tipped out at the end of the day and good movers always should be.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Caroline Carter: Because they will do just about anything for you. Even when they are dragging and they’re exhausted because there’s something for them, you know there’s something for them there at the end of the day.
Andy Ockershausen: And you got it. We just went through an experience like that with getting some kitchen equipment and tipping the guys, boy, I’d never seen such a happy crew.
Caroline Carter: Well there’s no question.
Andy Ockershausen: In the neighborhood they might’ve expected more, but the feeling I get by having their happiness at the end, it paid off. If they ever come back and they’ll take care of us.
Caroline Carter: That’s right and these are, you know, these laborers have you ever tried to move anything over an eight hour period?
Andy Ockershausen: Oh my God.
Caroline Carter: It is brutal in the heat, in the sun, in the sleet, the rain, the snow.
Andy Ockershausen: Caroline, I had a job carrying refrigerators one time on the back up three flights of stairs.
Caroline Carter: So you know what I’m talking about.
Andy Ockershausen: A long time ago. When I was younger I could lift things now I don’t.
Caroline Carter: Today …
Andy Ockershausen: I lift checks.
Caroline Carter: There yeah go. Today I don’t think it’s enough to say thank you for your service.
Andy Ockershausen: You’re probably right.
Caroline Carter: I think that people that have gone above and beyond to make your life and your transition a smooth one should be recognized. That’s smart money.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s saving money too because your crew will work hard.
Caroline Carter: That’s exactly right.
Andy Ockershausen: You get a reputation, I’m sure of that.
Caroline Carter: Absolutely. Everybody wants to … I work with two moving companies predominantly in this area.
Andy Ockershausen: Security.
Short-Term Storage is Another Thing
Caroline Carter: No, that’s a storage … that’s short term storage. We didn’t even talk about short term storage.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh.
Caroline Carter: That’s like a $32 billion industry. Want to know why? We can’t let go of anything. We can’t. We delay the decisions …
Andy Ockershausen: That’s why it’s such a popular television show isn’t it?
Caroline Carter: That’s right, but we delay the decision. Okay. We’d much rather put it in storage, but you know what happens?
Andy Ockershausen: It stays there.
Caroline Carter: Oh my God. 10 years later and the storage companies are very smart because you know what they do in order to make it easy for you. They will give you, you know, one month free, two month free, but they put you on automatic payments so you don’t have to worry about it every month. But guess what? They’re also on an automatic increase. Sure. Once or twice a year. Next thing you know because you don’t want to deal with it, right. Next thing you know, I run into people all the time. Next thing you know you are … you’ve been paying for storage for five years. And when someone says, hey, Andy, what’s in that storage unit? You go, I have absolutely no idea.
Andy Ockershausen: At the time I knew, but not now.
Caroline Carter: That’s right and most of it … just think about the money you would have saved.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m smiling because you’re a fountain of information and you really are. I hope you’re not giving away the store with your book because the books got everything in it that we’ve talked about, but you’re sharing that information. That’s amazing because it took you all those years to get it.
Smart Moves – Why You Need an Advocate to Transition from Home to Home
Caroline Carter: Right but I think that the . . . sellers don’t believe that they have an advocate out there and I think it’s really important. Clearly your realtor, real estate agent is able to help you in terms of marketing your property and successfully selling your home. But guess what? They very rarely are the ones who can help you actually sort through your things. Okay. Understand how many moving boxes you’re going to need to pack up things you’re not gonna need. There are very few people …
Andy Ockershausen: And you never have enough boxes.
Caroline Carter: That’s right but there are very few people who do what I do to help families actually, you know, survive, not only survive, but are able to transition from home to home and not have it be a dinner party story. I mean, we’ve all heard of the horrible, “Oh my God, I just moved and the pod fell off the back of the truck and you know, my grandmother’s rocker was ruined. So we all have horror stories. But I’m trying to, you know, with writing the book Smart Moves, let sellers know, hey, there’s another way. This is a discoverable process. There are 10 steps. You can do it, anybody can do it and here’s how to do it.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s the book is Smart Moves and it’s more than a book about moving. I think to me is a move … it’s a book about people. Moving is part of it. There’s a lot of people in this book Caroline.
Caroline Carter: Yeah, there sure are. Even the ones who were acting out, which make for great stories.
Andy Ockershausen: I loved it and how about a website address. How can somebody … wants to get this without paying for it.
Caroline Carter: Well it’s available on Amazon, but you can contact us for more information at carolinecarter.com or on all the social media channels, Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook.
Andy Ockershausen: Telephone is out there. Some people still use the telephone.
Caroline Carter: So the telephone or like I talked about in the book that the moving company, if they’re going to be delayed, will send you a telegram. I thought that was great. So yes, of course. I still answer my telephone. (202) 236-5475.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s wonderful.
Caroline Carter: So give me a shout and I’d love to be able to help you with your transition question.
Andy Ockershausen: Repeat that phone number.
Caroline Carter: (202) 236-5475.
Andy Ockershausen: And you are available. Caroline, to have you back in our life is special because we don’t know what the future holds. But we’re here for you and I have never read anything I enjoyed more and a quick read too. This book is a quick read.
Caroline Carter: Oh you can read it in an hour.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s very, very helpful and thank you so much for everything you’ve done Caroline. Thank you for Smart Moves. But any move is smart if you’ve got you helping.
Caroline Carter: Well thank you but I think that even if I can’t personally help you, the book can, you know, take the place and be your actual tour leader when you need it and cheerleader when you need it. So thanks Andy. I really appreciate the opportunity to be on Our Town..
Andy Ockershausen: I smile reading the book when I think about the people that don’t want to throw something away or move it, that should or say, “I’m not leaving this house, I’m going to taking this with me.” It just goes on and on Caroline.
Caroline Carter: Exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s all about people. That’s why I love the book and this has been Our Town with Caroline Carter and a marvelous book called Smart Moves and this is Andy Ockershausen.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town, Season 5, a Hometown favorite with your host Andy Ockershausen. New Our Town episodes are released every Tuesday. Special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director, and to WMAL Radio in Washington DC. Follow Our Town on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. If you haven’t yet, go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and don’t forget to rate and review our podcast. Join us next Tuesday for another Our Town conversation. Thanks so much for listening.
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