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A rainfall shower features a generous size head that gently streams water and is meant to imitate the experience of being in the rain in your own bathroom. Installing a rain shower head depends on personal preferences and priorities. Do you prioritize a luxurious shower experience and are you willing to accommodate the installation requirements and potential increase in water consumption? In that case, a rain shower head can be a delightful addition to your bathroom. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of installing  a rain shower head:

The pros:

Rainfall-like experience: A rain shower head provides a gentle, soothing water flow that mimics standing in a refreshing indoor rain sh...

This year, Adrianne and I were blessed by your support as we help people buy and sell real estate. We used this blessing to help not one but two families who needed help this Christmas via the Billy’s Boys Foundation. Let me tell you about how it all started.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to cross paths with a man named Billy Dillard. Billy became a mentor and a huge influence on my life. I was one of hundreds of “Billy’s Boys” who over the years, gathered at his house every week, shared a devotion and then talked about what we were glad about, sad about and sorry about. On any given day, there might be 30 guys or there might be 2. But Billy had his door open with a froze...

Is 2024 the year that you finally make a move so that your life fits your house? This article explores the challenges of upsizing and downsizing. We also share tips and tricks to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

Making a move can be stressful and we can help. It can especially daunting if you own a home and you need to move to a different one. We help folks across all walks, chapters and stages of life. Below are a few questions to ask yourself to determine if a move is in your future.

Downsize:

Is your home too big now that the kids have moved out? Being an empty nester is amazing! Date nights and less responsibility! With unused rooms in the house, keep in mind, you’re pay...

Most lenders today rely on your FICO credit score to determine whether to approve your application for a mortgage and when assigning an interest rate to your loan. Generally, the higher your FICO score, the lower your interest rate.

Most lenders consider a FICO score of 800 or more to be excellent. You can expect to earn the lowest interest rate when your score is that high. But you don’t need an 800 FICO credit score to qualify for a mortgage. You can usually secure a loan even if your FICO score is as low as 620.

But did you know that FICO scores aren’t the only credit scores out there? And did you know that you have more than one FICO credit score?

But who's keeping score?

Why don’...

In the fast pace of day-to-day living, a well-organized kitchen is a necessity. However, finding the time to design an efficient kitchen is another thing all together. Where to begin? The kitchen pantry is the best place to start. This kitchen element provides storage for groceries, spices, kitchen utensils and small appliances. The first thing you will want to do is to assess your cooking needs and the space you already have to store it.

To start with, you might remove all the items from the pantry and decide what really needs to be put back inside. Do any of the foods have expired dates? Are you storing rancid cooking oils? How about spices and herbs that have lost their flavor over ti...

A cash-out refinance is a way for homeowners with enough equity in their residences to access a lump sum of cash. They can then use that cash for anything they want, from paying down high-interest-rate credit card debt or funding a kitchen remodel to paying for a child’s college tuition.

Here’s how it works: Instead of refinancing your mortgage for the amount you owe on your current loan, you’d refinance it for a higher amount. Maybe you owe $150,000 on your mortgage. Instead of refinancing your mortgage to a new loan of $150,000, you might refinance to a new loan with a balance of $200,000.

You’d then receive that extra $50,000 in a lump sum payment, money that you can use in whatever ...

“Tis the season” of misleading headlines that don’t take into consideration what the market does every December. Below is a market recap where we crunch the numbers for you so can understand what happened in November and what is most likely going to happen in December. 

November 2023 continued a trend that has occurred since the spring: a little more inventory with more homes being added to the market and a slightly more balanced market. There’s still a much lower inventory of properties to sell when compared to pre-pandemic. In November, there were 5,057 homes for sale on the market, which is the highest volume we’ve seen in almost 3 years. However, that’s still far short of the Novembe...

The first thing you may ask is, what is a wet room? A wet room is a bathroom in which a free-standing bathtub sits in the same area as a walk-in shower. Current shower trends show a preference for more luxurious, seamless, open lines without the traditional glass enclosure. This creates a light and airy feeling in the bathroom. The key element of this type of bathroom is that it must have proper drainage. This means that all water needs to flow toward a single drain set in a sloping floor. In other words, the space must be completely waterproof. 

What are the advantages?

• Wet-room renovations will work for both large and small bathrooms. However, small bathrooms will benefit the most f...

I was born to make a difference in the lives of others and God gives me opportunities to do so via real estate. Sometimes making a difference a means helping people decide to not move to South Carolina. Sometimes I help people decide they would rather use their equity to make updates instead of sell their current home. Sometimes I help people crunch numbers so they know what it costs to buy an investment property and they decide it’s not for them. Or, maybe I run comps on the inherited family home so that siblings can make a decision on how to split the assets of their deceased loved one. These situations are just a few examples of where I invest a lot of time and energy into helping peop...

Everyone knows a Realtor. There are more than 5,000 Realtors in the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. Hopefully, one those is Your Realtor. 

A Realtor should be an important part of your professional network that includes a doctor, attorney, accountant, mechanic, roofer, plumber, financial planner, etc. What’s unique about a Realtor compared to all of the other professionals… if you have a good Realtor, they can connect you with the rest of the professionals. A good Realtor will constantly develop new connections to help their clients. A good Realtor is connected to the community and knows the best restaurants and can recommend things to do. 

Here are a few services we can offe...

What is a scullery, you may ask?

A scullery is a second small kitchen used for prep work and storage. All the mess and cleaning associated with meal prep takes place there, out of sight of the main kitchen. In Victorian times, English manor houses employed kitchen servants to do all the activities needed to cook family meals in the "downstairs" section of the house. A separate scullery was part of the kitchen landscape and it was staffed by a scullery maid.

Nowadays, homeowners have a scullery to conceal all the mess of meal prep, leaving their kitchens spotless and ready to entertain guests. In other words, all the meal prep magic happens out of sight, like behind a magician's curtain....

Winter means different things to different people depending on where you live in the country. Some areas experience a winter wonderland from November to February as the landscape is blanketed with thick snow. In other areas, trees lose their leaves and the weather gets crisp, but even a light snow dusting is a major event. But if you love the feeling that winter gives you — even if you live in Orlando or San Diego — you can bring it inside to make your home feel festive no matter the time of year. Here are some ideas for decorating with a winter color scheme.

Cool Colors

With winter comes cold colors like blue, silver and even pure white. These are great colors to use to decorate your h...

Even though we live in the age of technology, with our faces frequently in front of screens, there are still some among us who enjoy the feeling of holding a physical book in their hands. However, over time, the question becomes where to find space to put all these books. That all depends on how much space you are willing to dedicate to a library. Fortunately, beautifully designed home libraries can be large and formal or small and cozy. Again, the driving factor will be how much space is available.

Library shelves are the main feature in a library to keep your books well organized, thoughtfully displayed and easy to access. The first thing to do is take a walk through your home and asse...

One of the bigger challenges in purchasing investment properties is coming up with enough money for a down payment. Say you want to purchase a single-family home costing $150,000. A down payment of 10% of this home’s purchase price would be $15,000. That’s a lot of money. But don’t let this dissuade you. The BRRRR investment method can help.

What is the BRRRR approach?

BRRRR stands for buy, rehab, rent, refinance, and repeat. And it’s a tested method that real estate investors have long used.

Buy: First, you buy a distressed home or one that is in foreclosure for a lower price than you’d pay for most properties in that community. Buying a home for a price t hat is low enough is key. If...

Private mortgage insurance, better known as PMI, provides a type of financial safety net to your lender if you should stop paying your mortgage on time. How much you pay will vary, but PMI typically costs 0.1% to 2% of your loan amount.

That can add up. If you are taking out a mortgage of $300,000 and your PMI runs 1% a year, you'll spend $3,000 a year on PMI. That comes out to $250 a month.

How to avoid PMI

You don't always have to pay for PMI. Your lender won't charge you for this insurance if you come up with a down payment equal to or higher than 20% of your home's final purchase price.

Say you are buying a home for $300,000. If you come up with a down payment of $60,000 — equal t...

Approximately 70% of U.S. households have a pet. About 45% of Americans share their homes with dogs and almost 30% are cat owners. While pet ownership is a rewarding experience, we do have to consider how to keep them safe and happy and protect our furniture from them. Choosing pet-friendly fabrics can bring you peace of mind where this matter is concerned. Here are some choices for your pets:

Microfiber and microsuede

Anyone with cats will tell you they are the sweetest pets but that they can have destructive tendencies. Most importantly, they destroy furniture when they engage in regular feline scratching behavior. But there is a simple fix: Replacing your existing furniture with piec...

Before the frost appears, you will want to prepare for the months ahead to avoid higher energy costs and minimize any damage that can be caused by the cold weather and snow. This is especially true for those of us living in the colder, northern region of our country. Here are 10 tips to help you get ahead of the frosty days that are on their way:

1. Roof — Check your roof for any loose or broken shingles that need to be replaced. Cut back any overhanging trees to prevent falling branches, pine needles and leaves from accumulating and damaging the roof. Snow guards and roof heat cables are available to prevent ice dams from forming. A telescoping roof rake is a safe way to remove snow whi...

This article talks through the concept of being grateful in the midst of real estate heartaches.

Helping people with their real estate needs isn’t always first time home buyers and growing families. Real estate is also involved with death, divorce and a terminal diagnosis. I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to help when people need it the most. To step in with market expertise and to truly listen to my clients needs and to help them with a difficult transition is one of the most rewarding experiences I have in my life. Does it take a toll? Absolutely. I hope I’m never so calloused that I don’t cry with my clients when they are heartbroken. I also hope I’m always a steady hand on the ...

As final numbers for October 2023 are available for review, we took a look in the rear view mirror and compared last month to October 2022. Click through to read the article and learn a few insights that might help you in the upcoming market.

Last month, the average sales price of all properties was $366,822 which is a light increase over the average October 2022 sold property of $365,450. In the months in between, the average price peaked at $386,387 and valleyed at $352,957, demonstrating that the market is constantly changing. However, compare that to October 2021 and the average price was $309,576. The average price of real estate close to the beach goes one way over time: UP. 

Will...

Like all fixed-rate mortgages, your interest rate will never change with a 40-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Your rate will remain the same until you pay off your loan, refinance your 40-year mortgage into a new loan or sell your home.

The difference between a 40-year mortgage and other fixed-rate loans comes in the term. The 40-year mortgage comes with a longer term than other loans, one that stretches four decades.

As with other mortgages, you'll pay this loan back with interest in regular monthly payments. If you hold your loan for its full term, you’ll make 480 payments — 40 years of 12 monthly payments.

What is the benefit of a 40-year mortgage?

The biggest benefit of a 40-year, fixe...