5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

In today’s world, your credit score can have a significant effect on the financial aspects of your life. Your credit history determines loan and credit card interest rates, can raise your insurance premiums, and can even be a determining factor for getting a job.

Therefore, it’s very important to take steps to achieve and maintain a healthy credit score, and to check up on it frequently to ensure that it is accurate. Read more

Moving With Fido

We love our pets. In some households they’re our “children.” In others they are dear members of the family. How can you make the stressful time of moving an easy transition for your furry friends?

Pets are routined creatures, not unlike their human counterparts. Unlike our independent selves, however, pets look to us to provide them with safety, affection, and nourishment. This means it is our responsibility to plan ahead so that moving time is low stress for our pets. Read more

Tips to Cut the Clutter

 

Whether you’re prepping your home for sale or have decided that getting organized is one of your New Year’s home improvement resolutions, here are some tips to help curb the clutter in your home. Read more

FREE Home Buyer Seminar Next TONIGHT t 6:30pm

Free Home Buyer Seminar

Tuesday, January 31st, at 6:30 P.M.

3722 Devine Street
Columbia, SC 29205

(Click For Map)

With interest rates at record lows, now is the perfect time to buy a home! We are hosting a free home buyer seminar TONIGHT at 6:30 P.M. Come hear from some of our real estate professionals as they walk you through the buying process, offer tips, advice and other helpful insight, and close out the time by answering your questions.

Please note: If this date and time doesn’t work for your schedule we can setup a personal seminar just for you! Contact us to set up a time that is convenient for you!

You can call us at803.400.1880 or email at info@TheMatherCompany.com.

5 Ways to Make Your Home Safer

Small preventative measures (such an a ominous sign) can be effective burglary deterrents.
Photo: Flickr | IntangibleArts

For anyone who has seen those World’s Dumbest Criminals clip shows on late-night TV, it may come as no surprise that burglars aren’t always the smartest tools in the shed. But sometimes they don’t even have to be. Read more

Emily Winters: Install a Kitchen Pendant Light in Six Easy Steps

The flourescent light that I revealed last week came down over the weekend. It was a happy day, although like many “easy fixes” I decide to take on, there was a surprising amount of repair that needed to be done before the light could actually go up. Cue the dramatic music. Read more

10 Home Winterization Musts

It’s been a mild winter throughout most of the country so far. That means we still have time to run through a foul-weather checklist. Here are 10 “must do’s” to have a warm, cozy and safe winter.

1. Check attic insulation. A foot of blown-in or batt insulation (R-38) in the attic reduces heat transfer from heated interior space to the great outdoors. This is a do-it-yourself job. If your attic is not insulated, blow in or roll out 12 inches of loose or batt insulation. If the amount of insulation is less than 12 inches, simply roll out unfaced fiberglass batts over the existing insulation to create a heavier thermal blanket. This is a case where more is better. Make sure to leave soffit vents unobstructed. Read more

12 Ways To Sell Your House In This Down Market

To buy or sell in 2012, what with Armageddon coming and all? Absent any ancient Mayan wisdom on real estate strategies, let’s just hope the real cataclysmic event in the real estate market already has passed, even if the rubble from the bubble remains.

A stubborn overstock of households with loans higher than their value will continue to restrain prices and create some major obstacles for sellers in 2012, a year that’s shaping up to be another homebuyer’s market. In fact, recent studies indicate that more than 20 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage are still underwater, hinting that many foreclosures and workouts are still to come. Read more

Quick tips for wiping out bathroom mold

Q: For more than a year, we have noticed random-sized, pale-yellow fuzzy spots appearing on the bathroom ceiling mostly over and near the shower stall and toilet. Do you have any idea what they could be and how to eliminate them and prevent them from reappearing?

This bathroom was remodeled in 2006 with a tiled shower stall that is open at the top. The ceiling fan is appropriately specified for rooms up to 75 square feet. One double-hung window with opaque glass provides some daylight.

The shower is normally used twice a day. We use the timed fan for showers, and after showering, the fan is turned to the maximum for an additional 30 minutes with the shower door left open. Read more

5 Things to Do When You First Move In

You’ve signed the paperwork. You’ve picked up your new set of keys and you now have a new home. As you unpack the boxes, and take it all in as the new homeowner, there are a few critical things you should take care of.

1. Change locks

Unfortunately, you can’t assume the keys you’re holding are the only keys to your home that could exist out there. Play it safe and have all the locks changed as soon as you can. Read more

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