Once you’ve bought a home, you will inevitably want to improve it. But after such a big purchase, it can be hard to find the time and money to make such improvements. Luckily, there are a number of ways to increase your home’s value without sacrificing too much of your time and money. Keep reading for some affordable home improvement tips.

Spruce Up Outdoor Spaces

Curb appeal is so important to your home’s appeal - how it looks on the outside is going to entice people to walk through the door. To make your home look as appealing as possible, you can do small things to your yard that won’t break the bank but will make all the difference. Consider planting some colorful flowers and low-maintenance plants whose upkeep won’t take up too much of your

Buying a house will most likely be the biggest purchase you will ever make in a lifetime. While purchasing your first home is exciting, the process can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you are unsure where to begin. Don’t worry, you do not have to do this alone, we are here to help you every step of the way! To start, here is a six-step guide to buying your first home.

Step One:  Getting Pre-Approved

Before you begin to shop for a house, you will need to determine how much you can afford. To determine your budget, you must get pre-approved first and you will need a lender to pre-approve you. Pre-approval means that based on your income and credit, you should be able to get a loan (for a specific amount) as long as nothing changes with

Rachel Biestman is the owner of The Darling Loft Salon, a small boutique salon specializing in hair color, transformative cutting, and special event services. We recently discussed with her how the process of opening her business has been and how having a quieter and more intimate space for her salon has presented an opportunity for her during the pandemic.  

What or Who Inspired You to Start your Business? 

Salon ownership is the end goal for many stylists when they begin in the industry, but that hasn't always been the case for me. I had considered it for many years but didn't see the niche for the type of business I wanted to create until the first day of the stay-at-home order in March. After working in several

If you are a veteran looking for a home, you’ve come to the right place.  For over a century, we have helped Veterans, just like you, find the perfect home.  As a thank you to our service members, Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate Company, through our affiliation with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, offers a Military on the Move (MOM) program for all active, former, and retired military. In addition to our real estate services for our soldiers; we are partnered with some of the best VA specialty lenders in the CSRA.  

If you want to know how you can buy a home with a VA backed home loan, we’ve got you covered in this step-by-step guide for Veterans.

Applying for a home loan:  First, you will need to get pre-approved for a mortgage

Have you noticed that your summer electric bill has become especially high? Want to save some money with a few lifestyle changes? Check out these four easy ways to cut down on your costs and your carbon footprint.

1. Address the “energy vampires” in your home

Many people believe that electronics/appliances stop using power when they aren’t being used. These items actually continue to drain power as long as they are plugged into a source. Referred to as “energy vampires”, these plugged-in electronics - which range from phone chargers to microwaves to coffee pots - can use substantial amounts of power, consequently adding to your electric bill. A quick fix that prevents you from having to run around plugging and unplugging appliances all day is to

Thinking about buying or selling property on your own?  With the internet, you probably figured everything there is to know about buying/selling real estate are just a few clicks away.  So, you’ve done some googling, read lots of blogs, written down some How-To tips and you are feeling pretty confident.  After all, you are a DIY’er by nature-what could possibly go wrong, right?  The truth is, it’s not easy; There is a lot that goes into buying/selling a house. If you are thinking of tackling a real estate transaction on your own in an effort to skip the agent’s commission, below are four of the agent tasks you may want to take into consideration before you begin:

Agents Know Real Estate Laws: Every state has its own set of real estate laws and