My husband and I are kind of foodies, and we especially like to check out locally owned places. We moved to Batesville from Lawrenceburg in October and although it feels like we're right down the road, it's amazing to me how many local restaurants there are I'd never heard of. Having lived so close all my life there were several restaurants we'd been to before and knew we would frequent, but we also made a list of places we'd never gone and wanted to try.  Near the top of that list was Big Four Cafe, located in the old Romweber furniture factory. The restaurant is named for the Big Four Railroad and Big Four Tavern, which serviced Batesville from the late 1800s until 2011, when the building was damaged beyond repair in a storm.  Although it was a sad loss, Big Four Tavern paved the way for Big Four Cafe and the tavern doors are now part of the cafe. The restaurant focuses on fresh, local ingredients, which I love, and has been named "Best Breakfast

They say it's all who you know, and in Real Estate that couldn't be more true.  House hunting can be daunting, and knowing someone who knows the business can be a huge weight off your shoulders.  But let's be real, finding the house is the easy part.  How are you going to pay for that new house?  Sure, you've got a good job, decent credit and a little money in the bank.  But not enough to pay cash!  How are you going to get a loan?  I've got a girl for that!  Actually, I have several, and I'll get you in contact with all of them so you can see who will best serve your needs.  A big part of safeguarding your investment is making sure the title is free and clear.  That means that no one else will have a claim to your home after you write that big check.  How do you track your title to the beginning of days?  You don't, I've got a girl for that! Now that you've found your dream house you want to protect it!  Need insurance?  I happen to have a gir

So you want to buy a house.  You know what you need to do.  Make sure your credit is up to snuff.  Consult with a Mortgage Broker and figure out your budget.  Determine your criteria for your new home and prioritize them.  Find a Realtor (me, obviously!).  And start house hunting! What you may not think about is what NOT to do.  Many buyers don't realize their lender will recheck credit scores just a few days before closing, so even after you're approved and headed toward the closing table, it's important to watch anything that could affect the closing.  Here are a few things to keep in mind to keep your credit at its best and get you all the way to home ownership. 1. Don't change jobs Something even I didn't realize when buying our last house is that commission, bonuses and overtime can't be included in your salary figures unless you have two years of records showing you consistently earn those extras.  So don't quit your job, change jobs or become sel

In our home, we make a genuine effort to be green.  This doesn't mean spending a ton of money installing solar panels or driving an electric car.  It doesn't  mean being all crunchy and growing all our own food.  It doesn't even mean replacing all the light bulbs in our new home with LEDs.  For us it's all about the little things.   We recycle.  We compost.  We do everything we can to reduce the amount of waste we produce.   We turn off lights, TVs, etc when we're not in the room and keep our home cool in the winter and warm in the summer.  There are so many easy little things that add up to make a big difference. One really easy one is eliminating a lot of single-use plastics.  Instead of buying aerosol cans of cooking sprays, hubby found these awesome refillable Evo bottles (not sponsored), one for olive oil and one for vegetable oil.  Instead of buying pricey chemical cleaners in one-time-use plastic bottles, we make our own cleaners from essential

Disclaimer: Originally posted December 30, 2019 on a site that has since become unusable for my purposes. Real estate is a referral based business.  Every (good) agent's goal is to make sure their client wants to tell all their friends about them!  So having a deal fall through isn't just a bummer for the clients, the agents are upset too.  The buyer is losing what they thought was their new home.  The seller thought they were getting out from under a mortgage payment.  Worse yet, they may have lost the downpayment on their new home and now can't move to their dream home.  The buyer's agent is looking at many more home showings.  The seller's agent will have more open houses, more work and more marketing expense on a house they thought they'd sold.  Not to mention, both agents lost a paycheck!  Unfortunately, contracts are broken, and so are hearts. I had a contract come together about a week before Christmas.  We all thought it was a great way to end the ye

Disclaimer: Originally posted December 27, 2019 on a site that has since become unusable for my purposes. It's the most wonderful time of the year!  We're basking in that post-holiday glow and life is good.  Christmas lights are still up, giving everything that beautiful warm glow but the chaos of holiday prep and millions of holiday parties is over.  We have taken off work the week between Christmas and New Year's and it's like the whole world has slowed down.  I, for one, love this time when I can hole up at home with my family, a pile of blankets and leftover Christmas cookies. But while we're spending some time on self care, let's not forget to show our homes a little love!  Taking a little time to prepare for the upcoming cold months can save you a lot of time, money and headaches.  Is your home ready for winter?  Here are a few tips! Disconnect your outside water hoses.  Leaving your garden hose attached is a freeze hazard and could cause your pipes

Disclaimer: Originally posted December 2, 2019 on a site that has since become unusable for my purposes. My grandpa used to say the only things you have to do are pay taxes and die.  A bit morbid, perhaps!  But he’s right.  The flip side is, you  don’t  have to accept the property tax bill you’re sent!   I recently had the opportunity to help a friend whose property taxes skyrocketed this year.  Her home had been reassessed and she was told its value had increased by over $30,000.  While the county wasn’t going to make it easy, they did give her an option to dispute the increase. As a Realtor, I know quite a bit about home values, so my friend immediately called me for help.  I conducted a Competitive Market Analysis, basically a quick walk-through of the house and asked her several questions, then sat down with that information to evaluate.  Turns out?  She was right!  The new assessment pretty unreasonable, it was nearly double what the house was actually worth.  I was also able