Marcy Carter/The Carter Group/LPT Realty

09/05/2026

The Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffin — out of your own oven. 🍂

Full recipe is on the slides. Save it now, because you will absolutely forget where you saw it.

Three things that actually matter:
① Let the batter rest the full 30 minutes. That's the difference between a muffin and a dome.
② Start at 425°F, then drop to 350°F. That's what gives you the tall top.
③ Pipe the cream cheese only ¼ inch deep so it still shows once they rise.

Makes 12. Recipe adapted from Scientifically Sweet.

Making these this weekend? Tag me — I want to see how they turn out. 🤍

09/03/2026

If I were your realtor, this is the conversation we'd have before you looked at a single house this fall. 🍂

Nobody talks about fall buying because it isn't the exciting season. It's the quiet one. And quiet is exactly what works in your favor.

Fewer buyers. Sellers who've had all summer to get realistic. Houses that finally show you what they actually are once the weather turns.

Swipe for the six things I'd tell you — including the one most buyers never think to ask for, which isn't a lower price.

09/02/2026

Most buyers walk in thinking there's one number to negotiate. 🍂

There isn't.

This fall, sellers are far more willing to solve your problem than to drop their price — and the list of things you're allowed to ask for is longer than almost anyone tells you.

A rate buydown. Closing costs. The home warranty. Repairs actually done before you move in, not credited after. A closing date that works around your lease, your school year, your life.

Ask for the wrong thing and you get nothing. Ask for the right thing and the house costs you less every month for the next thirty years.

09/01/2026

08/30/2026

So excited for our buyers! We found the perfect home for them to “right size” to!

Who’s next??

Marcy Carter/Howard Carter
The Carter Group/LPT Realty
913-271-6990
[email protected]

08/28/2026

Thinking about selling in the next year? Here's where your money actually goes further. 🍂

WORTH IT:
① Interior paint in a warm neutral
② Updated light fixtures and warmer bulbs
③ Cabinet hardware
④ Landscaping and fresh mulch
⑤ A deep clean and a cleared-out garage

NOT WORTH IT:
① A full kitchen remodel right before you list
② Bold custom tile
③ New flooring in every room
④ Built-in electronics
⑤ Anything you'd be picking out for the next owner

The pattern is simple: buyers pay for how a home feels the first ten seconds. They rarely pay you back for a project you finished two weeks before the photos.

08/27/2026

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to tell people their house isn't worth what Zillow says, politely ask a grown adult to hide their laundry, negotiate for three days over a garbage disposal, and still write “so excited for you guys!! 🎉”

08/26/2026

What's hot & what's not — the Fall 2026 home edition. 🍂 Swipe, then go look at your own living room. I'll wait.

NOT → the all-white kitchen · HOT → warm wood + creamy, earthy kitchens
NOT → millennial gray · HOT → "dirty neutrals" — mushroom, putty, taupe, cognac, olive
NOT → perfectly matched furniture sets · HOT → the collected-over-time look
NOT → open shelving everywhere · HOT → beautiful hidden storage
NOT → tiny art everywhere · HOT → larger art + pieces that actually mean something

None of this is a renovation. It's about six swaps, and most of them are free or inexpensive.

Save this one. And if you want the room-by-room version — what's dating your home, what to swap, what to leave alone

08/25/2026

Your house isn't dated. 🍂

It's just dated in about five spots — and not one of them is structural.

① The matched furniture set
② Art that's too small for the wall
③ One overhead light doing all the work
④ Cool, flat gray
⑤ Counters you can't actually use

None of it is a renovation. All of it is a swap, and most are inexpensive.