Community Outreach Program

There are a lot of local non-profit agencies in our area that help our community, our children and our loved ones. However, they don't always get the help they need from the funding they receive. With this in mind, we are finding ways to help give back to our community in supporting some of these programs.

This month we will be supporting the Children's Advocacy Center of Sullivan County (CAC). The CAC is dedicated to serving children who are alleged victims of sexual and/or physical abuse through prevention, education and intervention.

How we are helping:

We are asking friends, family and policyholders to bring by donations of: Juice Boxes/Capri-Suns; Small bottled water; Individually wrapped snacks; and Individual chip snack packs. They supply these to the children who come in for their appointments. 

We have already donated 15 teddy bears to CAC and we will match what donations come in.

With each donation brought in, your name will be entered to win a gift card.

Help us help our community. Together we can support these local heroes who help our community!

For more information about CAC go to  www.cacsctn.org.

For more information regarding this program and donation questions, please contact Barbie at 

(423) 323-5361 or barbielambert@easttnmutualins.com 

Buying your First Home: Part 3

So you've found your realtor and they've sent you some houses to look over. Now it's time to pick a few to go see.

While you're looking at the possibilities there are a few things to keep in mind. Think about the type of neighborhood you want to live in. Do you prefer an older neighborhood, one with young families, a mix or something close to the action downtown? How much work do you want to put into the house? Are you looking for move-in ready, a bit of a fixer upper or a total gut job? You might also want to consider how many bedrooms and bathrooms you want and how many you need. Are you looking for a large yard with lots of space and possibly trees or a small yard that is quick and easy to mow? Remember that you might have to compromise on one thing to get the rest of the things on your must-have list. Having this information in mind while you look will keep you on track to find the best home for you.

Come by next week when we talk about the walk through.

Buying your First Home: Part 2

     So it's time to look for a realtor. There are a lot of them out there and it might seem a bit overwhelming trying to pick one. We tried randomly picking a realtor and were disappointed. He took our contact information and what we were looking for and said that he would email us some listings. Two weeks later we still had not heard from him.

The next step for us was to ask some friends if they had any recommendations. We contacted the realtor that our friend recommended. She asked us some questions about what we were looking for and had emailed us listings within the hour. She always responded quickly to our questions and concerns.

When you're looking for a realtor, don't wait two weeks trying to give them the benefit of a doubt like we did. They are in business to make money so if they really want your business, they will get back to you very quickly.

Tune in next week for another addition.

Buying your first Home: Part 1

It’s exciting when you first decide to buy a house. I should know, my husband and I just purchased our first home two weeks ago.  During the process I felt excited, overwhelmed and I wished I had a guidebook to tell me about each step in the process. My goal is to give you a basic idea of the process and little bit about our experience in the next few posts. It will in no way be a story that applies universally, nor will it be a complete guide to home buying, but hopefully it will give you a blueprint of how it will go.

Once you decide to buy a house, you should find out your loan pre-approval amount from your lender. It doesn’t guarantee that amount, but it gives you an idea of your price limit.  We didn’t do it quite this way. We looked around at the home listings for a while and looked one house with the listing agent before we really got serious. Our bank has an online application for home loans that we filled out. The next day a loan officer called us to talk about which loans we were eligible for and what would be the best fit for us. After we chose a loan and received pre-approval, we looked at our budget. It’s best to take your pre-approval amount, lay out your budget and figure out what you can really afford including property tax, insurance and PMI if you don’t have a 20% down payment. Once we had our amount set, it was time to look for a realtor.

Tune in next week for another post on buying your first home.