You may wonder why a blog that focuses on Real Estate and supporting local would feature a chain restaurant, but not only is The Capital Grille a small chain with only 58 locations across the entire country, it is unlike any other chain I've ever experienced.  While most chains focus on quantity and consistency, The Capital Grille focuses on quality and experience, making it worthy of the #worththedrive seal of approval.  Hubs was introduced to The Capital Grille by a client several years ago and fell in love with the food, the service and the atmosphere.  He took me there for our next anniversary, and it quickly became our "special occasion" destination.  Over the years, we have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with The Capital Grille and they always find a way to make it special.  They even send Hubs an email reminder to schedule our celebrations.  We enjoy exceptional service, a card and confetti adorn the table and there's alwaysa little something...

When Hubs and I sold our last house we were going through a major life transition.  He was starting a new job with a mix of travel, time in the office and work from home.  His direct supervisor worked out of the Chicago office, so we thought Hubs would be spending a lot of time in that area.  We were weighing the pros and cons of being close to family versus close to work and trying to figure out just how much time Hubs would have to spend away from home.  Because of this and the fact that I can work from anywhere, we decided to go ahead and sell our home and live in our (very large and quite comfortable) camper while we figured out his next steps.   We had planned to live in the camper for a few months while we figured out Hub's new work/travel situation, but couple the work transition with our VERY specific house wishlist and it took us nearly a year to get into our new home.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad we did it, but let me tell y...

You may have heard that we are in a seller's market.  This means the demand (number of people looking for homes) exceeds the supply (number of homes on the market).  As a Realtor, I work with both buyer and seller clients.  At any given time, I tend to have more buyer clients than sellers.  That's just the nature of the work.  Not all buyer clients will end up buying and many people start looking before they're really ready to buy.  It makes sense.  That said, currently I'm working with 19 buyers and only 2 sellers!  That's nearly TEN TIMES as many buyers as sellers!   What does this mean?    We're not only in a seller's market, we're in a HOT seller's market!  The market has record low inventory, so houses are selling fast and often times above list price.  According to HousingWire, and online news source for those in the Real Estate market, 42% of people who bought a home during the pandemic dealt with a bidding war...

Edited to add: this post turned out to be much longer than I planned.  While I apologize for the length, I really do think it's all important information.  I hope you learn a lot and don't hesitate to reach out if you have follow up questions! Can you buy or sell a home without a Realtor?  Absolutely!  But why would you embark on what is likely the biggest financial decision of your life without an expert?!  While there are many reasons to use a Realtor, here are the ones I think are the most important. The lingo We've already talked about how real estate has its own language .  While it's good to educate yourself, your Realtor already knows the lingo and is happy to be your translator.  She can also make sure you don't get misinformation along the way because someone else didn't understand the lingo.   I recently had a lender tell a buyer client she didn't need to schedule inspections, it would be taken care of for her.  Come to fi...

Every industry has their own language.  There terms they throw around like everyone knows what they're talking about but no one outside the industry really does.  In most cases it's okay.  I don't need to know what an antisuck valve (yes, it's a thing!) and degassing are as long as my vacuum works.  But in Real Estate, it's your money and your home we're talking about, so a little education can go a long way. There are a LOT of Real Estate terms, and if you've followed my Real Estate Dictionary I'm sure you think you've heard them all.  But here are a few miscellaneous terms you may not have considered. Realtor  (Pronouced Reel-tor) According to the National Association of Realtors, " REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics." In reality, a Realtor is someone who sells you...

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 ...

Every industry has their own language.  There terms they throw around like everyone knows what they're talking about but no one outside the industry really does.  In most cases it's okay.  I don't need to know what a faucet aerator or a backflow valve are as long as my plumbing works.  But in Real Estate, it's your money and your home we're talking about, so a little education can go a long way. There are a LOT of Real Estate terms, so I'll break them down by category.  Here are a few pre-house hunting terms to get you started. Realtor  (Pronouced Reel-tor) According to the National Association of Realtors, " REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics." In reality, a Realtor is someone who sells your home in record time, finds your dream home and solves problems you never knew exi...