LAKEPORT, Calif. — Lake County real estate brokerage Country Air Properties has added three agents to its roster: Suman Hartzell, Monica Swiger and Kathryn Carine.

Suman Hartzell began her career with Country Air in 2004 and closed $7.3 million in sales her first year, making her Rookie of the Year Runner-up that year. Since then she has explored other opportunities, but was not able to match the success she had at Country Air Properties.

“It’s like coming home. At other brokerages I was largely on my own, but nothing beats having an amazing team supporting me. In my first month back I got 4 listings and more on the way,” Hartzell said.

Hartzell works out of Country Air’s Lakeport office and specializes in residential and land. She is also trained to work with first time home buyers.

Monica Swiger got her license in 2021. She started her career at ReMax, but found the training was lacking, so she went to work for Country Air. As her career grew, she was recruited back to ReMax, but lack of leads and high fees forced her out of real estate.

Country Air reached out to her to come back, and she accepted, and in her first few months she took three new listings, one of which sold quickly, and is working on getting two more.

“There is a much bigger emphasis on training and support at Country Air,” said Swiger. “The company is involved in our success. Last weekend they set up a customer appreciation day where we were giving away free hot dogs and drinks, and I picked up a new buyer and another seller. It is a totally different world working here.”

Swiger will be working out of the Country Kelseyville Riviera office.

Kathryn Carine is a new licensee who lives in Clearlake Oaks but will be working out of the Lakeport office and focusing on residential real estate all around the lake.

She has been shadowing agents and getting training, and is sharing in two new listings. She took on the first listing on her own just three weeks from getting her license.

“I am so excited about coming to work for Country Air,” Carine said. “They are having fun making money by helping others, and that is my vibe. There is so much to learn, but I am surrounded by super agents who take time to teach me. I feel blessed to be here and work together in building my career.”

All three agents are recent graduates of County Air’s exclusive Success Express Real Estate Training course, which is eight half days of intense classroom education. This course has been taken by many of Lake County’s top agents and is commonly seen as the premier live real estate training program in Lake County.

Phil Smoley, owner/broker of Country Air Properties, welcomed the addition of these three agents.

“I saw potential in each of them, and so far, they are all exceeding my expectations. I am very proud of their work ethic and commitment to professionalism,” Smoley said. “This is my 40th year in the business, all of which has been in Lake County at Country Air Properties. I have had the honor of being involved in over 15,000 transaction sides during that time, and hired and trained nearly 200 people, many of whom have gone on to have remarkable real estate careers.”

Smoley encourages people considering a career in real estate to meet with him for a free consultation.