Guest Blog Contributed by Chamber Member Lori Powers of Academy Mortgage Corporation

Spring is here — and with it comes the most popular time of year to shop for a home. Many people have mistaken ideas about down payments that keep them from becoming homeowners.

Here are five down payment myths and why they’re false:

MYTH 1: I must pay a 20% down payment.

Not true. The typical down payment today is between 5% and 10%, according to SmartAsset.

MYTH 2: My down payment has to be all my own money.

Not true. Borrowers have several options for saving for a home, including gifts from family, such as wedding gifts; grants from nonprofit agencies or public institutions; state down payment assistance programs; and employer assistance.… Read the rest

Guest Blog Contributed by Chamber Member Ron Le Vine, Efficient Portal

Over the years, we have had many people ask us about SEO. So, I thought I would write about it for a bit. First, I will start with some history and then get into how to think about SEO in the current times.

Back in the early days of the Internet people would build a site and then tell their friends and colleges about it. Sometimes the sites were useful. Sometimes not.

Later on, the search engines were developed with the idea of providing users of the Internet a way to search the thousands of websites for information they needed. Sites like Infoseek.com, Yahoo.com, and so on, came into being and successful by providing this service.… Read the rest