If you have any drainage in your yard at all, you can re-grade to lower the ground and make water flow away from the house. This is heavy duty grading we are talking about and it will destroy existing landscaping. The work around is to first dig up plants you want to keep and plan on establishing new beds and lawns after the work is complete.
The alternative is to create a curtain drain and mechanically pump water away from the house. This is a ditch around the low area of the house that has perforated drain tile in it and is backfilled with course drain rock. The drain tile is directed to a large sump equipped with an electric pump. A discharge line moves water to the downhill side of the lot. This is also a fair piece of excavation and involves some electrical work.
Post back with more descriptions of the property and problems, we can try to help.
