October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and today is my birthday so I'm going to be a little self indulgent and share a personal story.  1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That's a statistic most women are familiar with.   What most do not know is that an irregular mammogram only comes with a 20% chance or cancer. In fact, only about 2% of irregular mammograms lead to a biopsy, because most can be addressed with an ultrasound to make sure it's a false positive, dense breast tissue or some other common anomoly. If you do the math (which you know I love to do), you realize that about 10% of mammograms come back irregular  every year! But somehow the fear of an irregular mammogram can keep some women from getting tested.  It's a shame, because once you know the statistics, you know that an irregular mammogram is nothing to be afraid of! No, I do not have breast cancer. And for that I am thankful. But like most women will at some point in their life, I d...

  We've seen a lot of changes in 2020. People are spending more time in their homes. Consequently they're also spending more time thinking about why the chose their current home and what they might like in a new home.  There are people looking for more space. There are people looking for the ability to do home renovations and projects in their own home. Most importantly, there are people looking for a space to call their own. Statistically, 74% of homeowners bought their current home because they wanted more space. Of course, a lot of those people wanted the space so they could host company or start a family, but I'm sure those people were glad they had that space during the lockdown!  Working as a Realtor, location is extremely important for me. With Hubs working in IT from home, highspeed internet is a must. So for us, our current home was the right balance of location, space and conveniences.  So I'm curious, why did you buy your current home?

As a Realtor, I'm often looking for inexpensive marketing strategies. My email signature and business cards are great, but there have to be more ways to get my name out there. I have my blog, my  Facebook page  and my  Instagram  but I need content for those, so I'm always looking for ideas. One thing I consistently see is "take a picture of your work space and share about your projects for the day. I've held out on this one because my office is cluttered, chaotic and full of stuff that doesn't seem to be Real Estate related.  Hubs had surgery this morning. It was minor but still required general anesthesia, which is a little scary and got him thinking about happiness and our future. I know, deep stuff for a Real Estate blog, right? But I'm getting there. Stock photo, not from Hubs' OR I knew he'd be in the operating room for about an hour, so I took my laptop to get some work done while I waited. Once he was settled in and I got to work, I caught him g...

You may have noticed some changes around here and on my  Facebook and  Instagram  pages.  It's because I've moved! Having grown up in Deaborn County and lived in Southeast Indiana all my live, I have strong connections to the community and love helping others develop the same. My husband and I recently moved to Batesville and I'm finding it even more important to make strong ties in my community. As such, we made the difficult decision for me to leave Sibcy Cline to find a brokerage better suited to myselve and my Indiana clients. It is with great pleasure that I announce I have found my new Real Estate home and have transferred my license to Lohmiller Real Estate. Not only is LRE an Indiana based, family owned company, they will allow me to cultivate my business in my new town, as well as even futher west and north. I am excited to see how my business, my experience and my expertise will grow with this new opportunity. My primary goal is to ensure that each client h...

My parents may not be as adventurous of eaters as Hubs and I are, but when they tell you a place is good, you can bet it's going to be yummy.  And when they tell you it's good food AND good wine, you can bet Hubs and I are going to check it out! Last week my mom texted my sister and I that Holtkamp Winery in Sunman, Indiana was serving brick oven pizza and hosting live entertainment on Sunday and wanting to know if we all wanted to meet there for the afternoon.  The response was a resounding yes and I'm so glad we went!  The pizza and wine were delicious, the weather was beautiful and the music was fun and upbeat without being too loud.  It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon and I can't wait to go back. Holtkamp Winery opened in 2013, a full 11 years after Doug Holtkamp started making wine independently.  He teamed up with Jeff McCann, who had over 35 years of experience in wine making and grape growing, and the two have become a great team making even greater ...

I have wonderful childhood memories of camping every summer with my extended family.  We all met in the middle of nowhere at my mom's cousin's farm.  They had a lake with zip lines, paddle boats, a floating dock, a water slide and the biggest firepit I'd ever seen.  It was truly a magical place.  After a long weekend of late nights under the stars and bathing in the lake, we'd all pack up our tents and campers and head back home.  The drive was so long, the whole family - aunts, uncles, cousins and friends alike - would stop at this wonderful fried chicken place for one last dinner together before we parted ways. Of course, when I grew up and realized this otherworldly gathering place was just on the other side of Oldenburg, Indiana, the drive didn't seem so long.  It lost a little bit of its magic, but that fried chicken place no longer has to be just a summer stop! Wagner's Village Inn opened their doors in 1968  and as of January, they are now...

When you move into a new home there are always unknown adventures awaiting. Most are wonderful and exciting, and such a happy bonus to homeownership. Others...well, others make you thankful for family and friends who come to the rescue to help you through! Sometimes when you pull the kitchen cabinet doors off and lay them out on the floor to paint, your dog decides to walk across them and decorate your floor with pretty little painted paw prints. That was my first home, and thankfully that carpet was coming out anyway! Sometimes it's the basement flooding because the sump pump that worked perfectly well during the inspection suddently went out right after you moved in. This was our current home, but it's also why you ask your sellers to give you a home warranty! And sometimes, like yesterday, you invite your parents out to celebrate Mother's Day but then 2 trees you knew were going to have to come down unexpectedly falling. Thankfully your parents still come for dinn...

Remember last week when I shared my opinion of what Coronavirus is going to do to the market ? First, let me tell you I still fully believe everything I said. Second, let me tell you that doesn't mean I don't still have my moments of despair. Truth time - I'm feeling it today. I'm over this quarantine, I'm over my business taking such a hit, I'm over the "funny" memes of people making light of something that sucks so bad. I'm just over Coronavirus. I had a couple showings scheduled for this afternoon that got cancelled because my client isn't feeling wel, cue me panicking because I just saw her last week and she isn't giving me any details on her illness. I needed to stop and collect myself, so I started going through a few pages I follow and found this: Just what the doctor ordered, I'm breathing again. When we moved back in October, the house needed so much work we didn't take the time to get to kn...

Disclaimer: if you're a first time home buyer, do not read this!  Even those of us who LOVE homeownership, homebuying, homeselling, homes, homes, homes (!!) need to vent every now and then.  If you do chose to read, don't let it scare you.  Stuff happens. Friday morning I woke up intending to throw in a load of laundry before getting started for the day.  I gathered up my hamper and baskets and headed downstairs, only to stop dead in my tracks.  I saw water.  And not just a little moisture like you'd expect in a 50 year old home when you've had this much rain.  Standing water.  I headed back upstairs, dropped my laundry and pulled on my boots and went to the basement to assess the damage. Yes, that is the reflection of my overhead light on the rug.  How, you ask, does a rug reflect light so perfectly?  When it's covered in an inch of water, that's how. I spent most of the rest of the day getting everything off the floor and tryin...

I am so thankful to live in a region that experiences all four seasons.  Fall has always been my favorite, and I love snow and cold weather but Spring brings its own beauty and a reawakening you just can't get in other parts of the country or world.  That said, these gloomy transition days, especially when we get multiple icky days in a row, have me dreaming of warmer climates and thinking back to our recent vacation. Hubs and I spent 8 days in Riviera Maya, Mexico a few weeks back.  It was a much needed get away that allowed us both to relax, reconnect and still get some work done.  That's right, I worked from the beach! My view from the office our first day While there are 14 restaurants at the resort we stayed in, we ate at the brunch buffet nearly every day.  Hubs and I always take turns going up to a buffet so someone is watching bags, drinks, etc., so this gave us both a chance to check emails and see if anything needed addressed that day while the ...

It's Girl Scout Cookie Season!  Perhaps more importantly, this weekend is Girl Scout Cookie Weekend.  If you're like me and live near the border of a Girl Scout Council, you may have notice that Cookie season starts at different times in different areas.  This is because there are two different bakers used, in addition to each Council setting their own calendar.  But this weekend all the Councils are selling, so the girls are out in full force and the booths are set up everywhere.  And while it may seem like a lot of money for a cookies, there's so much more in the box than flour and sugar!  What?  I'm glad you asked. The Five Skills (first line of each skill taken from a Cookie box, so you know it's true!) Goal Setting - girls learn how to set goals and create a plan to reach them. Girl Scouts learn at an early age that they have to work for what they have.  The Cookie program gives them an opportunity to learn to work toward not only the in...

As a Realtor I work really weird hours.  It's not uncommon for me to work in bed from my phone as soon as I wake up, work off and on throughout the day and be on my phone again as I lay in bed at night.  A lot of people don't understand how or why I work all the time and from everywhere, but I truly love what I do.  I have to be honest, my husband is a bit of a workaholic so it actually works out pretty well for both of us.  In fact, as I write this we're on a plane coming home from vacation...and we're both working! I've mentioned before that Hubs and I are foodies, but we sometimes take it to the extreme.  We've been known to plan days out and even vacations around whether we can get a great meal.  Hey, some meals are worth the drive!  This vacation was certainly no exception.  Don't worry, I'll post scenery pics over on my Instagram (@kpcrealtor), but I right now we're talking food! Every day was a different adventure.  We had a beac...

It occurs to me that I kind of jumped into blogging with both feet and never really introduced myself.  I did a  Meet My Team  post but even then I didn't share anything about myself.  So here it is, all about me.  Enjoy! As a Southeast Indiana Realtor, I Make Home A Reality for both home buyers and sellers.   Having grown up in Dearborn County and lived in Southeast Indiana all my life, I have strong connections to the community and love helping others develop the same.   My communication skills, negotiation skills and ties to our community help me connect with clients and provide them with the best service possible. My knowledge of and enthusiasm for this region give me a desire to not only get you in a home, but the right home.   I am passionate about giving back to our community both through my career and volunteer work.   When I'm not assisting clients you’ll find me volunteering for Girl Scouts, cooking, blogging and taki...