Johanna Witten Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS #34771

Your home’s landscape is a significant investment and keeping it lush and vibrant starts with consistent watering. The most efficient way to ensure your plants and lawn get the hydration they need is with a home irrigation system. Here’s a guide on how to properly operate and maintain your sprinkler system for optimal results.

Home Irrigation System Basics Your home’s landscape is a big investment. The best way to care for your lawn is with a home irrigation system. Here’s how to operate one correctly.

Want to sell your home faster and for more money? Consider hiring a professional stager. Unlike DIY efforts, professional staging strategically highlights your home’s best features from an unbiased perspective. Here’s why it’s worth it.

Staging Your Home for a Quick Sale Hiring a stager to polish the look and of your home will help it sell faster and for more money in many cases. Here’s some tips on home staging.

When it comes to finding that perfect spot to call home, some cities truly stand out from the rest. If you're in the market for a new place to lay down roots, you'll want to explore these top contenders: https://bit.ly/4aXtIwV

As inflation has surged since 2021, shoppers have faced a crafty tactic at grocery stores and retailers called shrinkflation. This involves manufacturers reducing the size of packages and the amount of product inside, all while keeping prices unchanged. Now, this strategy is making its way into the new home market.

How Shrinkflation Affects the Housing Market Shrinkflation is a tactic manufacturers use to downsize package quantity keeping the same price. It is now being adopted in the home industry.

During the pandemic, 1.2 million Americans moved to cheaper areas due to remote work, bringing a decline in housing costs, offering hope to buyers. Looking ahead, with changing demographics and remote work, optimism grows for a more accessible housing market, providing relief to buyers: https://bit.ly/3VtMDev

When high winds or hail damage your roof, quality work is essential, especially with summer storms and hurricane season approaching. Unfortunately, unscrupulous roofers often take advantage of homeowners in the aftermath of storms. Here's how to safeguard yourself and ensure you hire a reputable roofing contractor.

Recruiting a Reputable Roofing Contractor After a Storm Unfortunately, bad roofers often exploit besieged homeowners after storms strike. Protect yourself and find a quality roofing contractor.

Heavy rain runoff can pose risks to your home, landscape, and the environment. A clever solution is to channel the water into a visually appealing rain garden. Here’s the way to do it.

Go With the Flow: Manage Rainfall Runoff With a Rain Garden Heavy rainfall runoff can be detrimental to your home, your landscape, and the environment. A solution is to channel it into a rain garden.

Besides principal and interest, your monthly mortgage statement includes payments towards an escrow account. What does this mean? How is the money used, and can it change your monthly payment? Here’s how your mortgage escrow account works.

Do You Know How Your Mortgage Escrow Account Works? Your monthly mortgage statement shows that in addition to paying principal and interest, you are also funding your escrow account.

Choosing the perfect home for your family means considering more than just a good floorplan and nearby local attractions. If you have or are planning to have children, school assignments are a critical aspect to keep in mind.

Getting Schooled: How to Pick a Great House in the Right School District When hunting for the perfect home for your family, more comes into play than a fantastic floorplan and your favorite restaurants nearby. If you have children, or plan to, school assignments are of major importance. Lots of choices. In some neighborhoods, particularly in metropolitan areas, parents m...

Wondering what might happen to mortgage rates in June? Key economic reports and Federal Reserve announcements on June 12 could cause significant fluctuations: https://bit.ly/3Xnn6oP

Welcome to June! Before you dive into summer fun, make sure to tackle these essential home and garden tasks. Let's get everything ready for the season!

June To-Do List – Summer Home and Garden Tasks It’s June, which means it’s time to enjoy the kick-off of summer, but before the fun can begin, be sure to tackle this handy home and garden to-do list.

Moving and selling a home can be pricey. Avoid adding unnecessary costs with this handy checklist. Save money by steering clear of common mistakes!

Four Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Moving Selling a home and moving is expensive. No need to further add to your expenses by making costly mistakes. Here’s a handy checklist to keep you from incurring extra costs. Talk to your bank. Let a representative know you’re moving and make sure you’ve canceled any automatic payments on your ol...

Despite rising home prices and mortgage rates, buyers can identify areas with more favorable conditions, making the homebuying journey a bit easier. Stay informed and find the right opportunities to achieve your dream of homeownership: https://bit.ly/3KasfbU

Shopping for appliances for a new or remodeled kitchen? Today’s market offers a stunning range of textures and colors. Let's choose the perfect finishes to make your dream kitchen a reality!

Gorgeous Choices in Appliance Finishes Today's appliances come in an array of new textures and colors. Let’s find the perfect appliance finishes for your dream kitchen.

Today, we honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Their courage and dedication will never be forgotten. Let's use this day to reflect on their selfless service and cherish the liberty they fought to protect.

Crafting a landscape for your outdoor space can be a daunting task. By taking it step by step, you can tackle the challenge. Here's a guide to help you develop and execute an inviting DIY landscape design for your outdoor space.

Transforming Your Outdoor Space with DIY Landscape Design Designing a home landscape yourself may seem overwhelming. Here’s how to develop and a charming DIY landscape design in your outdoor space.

Rising mortgage interest rates have left many homeowners hesitant to sell, resulting in a diminished supply of existing homes for buyers. As a consequence, there's been a surge in new home construction activity. Here's a snapshot of the current state of affairs among home builders.

Opportunity Knocked. Home Builders Answered! Home builders have seized an advantage by stepping up new home construction to fulfill low inventories. New home construction is booming!

In April, builders began more new home projects. New construction has been a bright spot in the housing market, with builders offering incentives to encourage sales. Additionally, the market has seen an increase in existing home listings, providing prospective homeowners more choices: https://bit.ly/3yrXHjd

Dreaming of owning and running a bed-and-breakfast? Whether you're considering transforming your home or buying a new property, there are important factors to consider. Is it a realistic dream or just a fantasy?

Turning Your Home into a Bed-and-Breakfast You may have stayed at a bed-and-breakfast so charming that you’re thinking you might like to own one yourself. Realistic idea, or a pipe dream?

It's not entirely bleak for homebuyers. There's room for negotiation in some regions as homes stay on the market longer, leading sellers to reduce their asking prices and offer concessions: https://bit.ly/4dYkkMD

If fire strikes your home, will you know what to do? Here's how to prevent and prepare for a house fire.

Fire Safety: Your Family is Counting on You Although no one wants to contemplate a cherished home being destroyed by fire, it’s an important topic to address — with emphasis on prevention and preparation. A home free from fire hazards. Fire prevention is the first priority. Never allow flammable materials to be stored near heat sources su...

Transform your bedroom into a tranquil refuge, perfect for unwinding and recharging. Explore these six staging tips designed to enhance your bedroom, whether you're preparing your home for sale or simply aiming for a good night's sleep.

Your Best Home: Bedroom Edition Your bedroom should be your personal retreat — a soothing, restful space to unwind at the end of the day. Check out these six bedroom-staging tips, whether you’re prepping for a home sale or just a good night’s sleep. Consider your color palette. It doesn’t matter if you’re decorating or s...

Despite the rise in mortgage rates and the declining affordability of housing, home prices persist in their upward trajectory. However, there are select metropolitan regions where home prices are declining, presenting prospective buyers with an opportunity to achieve homeownership: https://bit.ly/3US888z

During the mortgage process, your lender may mention "broker price opinion," prompting questions about its relation to an appraisal or comparative market analysis. Let's clarify the differences in these valuation methods.

What is a Broker Price Opinion? You may hear a mortgage lender refer to a broker price opinion. Is that the same thing as an appraisal, or a CMA? Not really and here's why.

New findings indicate that the U.S. housing market could see a boost of 4 million potential buyers this year if mortgage rates drop by one percentage point. With high home prices and inflation posing challenges, this could be a turning point for those aspiring to own a home: https://bit.ly/4bg1lLI

To all the amazing moms and those who step in as mother figures: thank you for your endless love, sacrifices, and strength. Your influence shapes lives in profound ways. Today, we celebrate you and all that you do. Happy Mother's Day! 💐❤️

Whether you're prepping for an Open House or gearing up for a big move, you will need to clean out your medicine cabinets. Here is how to dispose of expired or unused meds.

Proper Medication Disposal Is Easier Than Ever What is considered proper medication disposal? Here’s a handy guide to safe and proper disposal of prescription and over the counter meds.

Are you working remotely and facing a customer who still uses a fax machine? Quite nostalgic! But thanks to the internet, you can still meet their needs even without a landline.

Faxes Without a Home Phone Line In an age where telephone landlines are disappearing, can you still fax if needed? The answer is yes. Read on to learn how.

Recent data reveals stark differences in house prices nationwide: while some areas see growth, others face declines. In over 20 states and nearly half of 403 metropolitan areas, prices dropped compared to last year, while about half saw increases: https://bit.ly/3UoOYpb

As you house-hunt, you may be drawn to planned communities that offer attractive perks like pools and tennis courts. However, before taking the plunge, it's wise to explore the advantages and drawbacks.

Pros and Cons of Swim and Tennis Communities When you’re shopping for a new home, many planned developments offer tempting neighborhood amenities such as swimming pools and tennis courts. But before you dive in, read about the pros and cons. Pros. Living in a neighborhood with tennis courts and a swimming pool provides easy access to leisure...