There’s a saying in my family that routinely brings a chuckle (or three) out of everyone except my mother. The reason is that those chuckles are at her expense but deep down she knows that my father, sister and I do it out of love. Definitely not out of amusement.
While the latter half of the [...]

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When I was younger, I never gave much thought to what my future home would look like. I never conjured up images or tore ideas out of magazines to store in a shoebox. I knew that I would own a home one day, so for the most part, I had a “think about it when [...]

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Buying insurance is not like buying a tank of gas. When the gas light illuminates and that annoying little ping sound goes off (at least it’s an annoying little ping sound in my car) I look for the closest gas station to fill up my tank so that I can carry on with my day. At [...]

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When I started this Homebuying Adventure, I had never heard of a home warranty. As a renter, you call your landlord or apartment manager when things break. Other than the inconvenience, repairs are not really your problem.
But as a homeowner, what happens when the air conditioner or heat stops working? What do you do when [...]

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The Homebuying Adventure process has been part eye-opening, part stressful and part awesome. The biggest eye-opener was of course my meeting with Mollie Bergstrom from Mortgage (I’m still working diligently on building up my credit) but the day we spent looking at houses is right up there as well.
It’s hard to go into an experience [...]

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I think the most exciting thing about buying your first home is the actual process of looking at homes. I couldn’t wait to see what my choices would be.  I was counting down the days … and finally the day arrived!  The first day of looking was devoted to condos and townhomes. As a former [...]

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As I started this Homebuying Adventure, I’ll have to admit I was a little nervous about the mortgage process (check out my video here!).  Hidden in my credit closet were several credit cards with more debt than I would like to admit. So when Mollie Bergstrom from Allen Tate Mortgage said something about pulling my credit score, [...]

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I’ll be honest with you – going into this Homebuying Adventure, I knew next to nothing about mortgages and what they entailed. Pre-qualification, pre-approval, fixed rate, APR … it was all Greek to me. What I did know was that I had friends who were paying mortgages that were less than my monthly rent and [...]

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I love helping friends pick out paint colors. I have a few tried-and-true colors I always recommend. While I still love going to the store to pick out paint samples and consult a professional, there are times when I am out and about and see a color I love. I have to know what it [...]

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After meeting with my Realtor®, Maggie Redmond, and diving through the information packet, I realized this Homebuying Adventure was going to be about more than just buying a house!  Lucky for me, Maggie came to my rescue. No more overloading on information by myself.  She made everything simple.
As I digested the step by step buying [...]

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