MRM Design Group is affectionately known as “backyard architects”, and the owner, Jonathan Melvin, is known for having an eye for what looks good for picking out colors, textures, and unique geometric shapes. MRM Design Group is your one-stop shop providing comprehensive services from everything from the design of your project to the implementation, including administrative management. What does this mean for the customer? It means that MRM Design Group can offer you comprehensive services and is a one-stop shop for everything that you need to make your project a success.  In addition to MRM Design Group’s repeat customers, they are ready to take on new customers, from residential projects to large-scale commercial projects.

For the new homeowner who just purchased a new property and desires to make it feel like their own; the existing homeowner who wants to update or make changes to their property, or the homeowner who wants to update their home, MRM Design Group is your go-to choice for design renovations. “We have customers who want landscaping design to include a terrace, fire pit and seating area, and even a dining area with an outdoor kitchen”, said Mr. Melvin, “this is the type of hardscape services you can expect from MRM Design Group.”

One example of what a homeowner can expect from MRM Design Group is as Mr. Melvin explains, “we had a homeowner completely gut their home and we did a master plan design to include a circular driveway with lighting and landscaping. We also designed and placed an outdoor building which served as a structure with an outdoor kitchen.”

Mr. Melvin also stated, “Our creative practical approach, with the courage to be different. We don’t follow fashion; we create it. I always say, a good design saves money, so you are not chasing rabbits with marginal ideas. Any successful attempt has a plan. As people go through lifestyle changes, we are there to help them make the transition as they update and upgrade their grounds. One area of specialty for MRM Design is custom design pools which can also include spas, pool decking, fencing, storm drainage, lighting outdoor structures, and pool and bathhouses.” 

Jonathan L. Melvin

Are you looking to add a water feature such as a Koi Pond? MRM has you covered! For your complete outdoor vision, MRM Design can create and implement it! For the property owner who is getting ready for a new build, MRM Design Group can advise on the placement of the building on the lot, taking advantage of topography. MRM Design Group offers options that will be more functional to a homeowner’s lifestyle. For coastal builds, MRM Design can design your ground, considering the environmental easements for the property. “We place the house so that it fits and stays within the setbacks and easements, and in compliance with local regulations.” MRM Design Group has done many waterfront properties. MRM Design Group also offers construction administrative services that consist of checking on the general contractor and providing their client with feedback. This includes handling administrative actions such as getting bids and applicable paperwork associated with the project.

MRM Design is strong on communication and educating its customers on the services they are providing. MRM Design services address code, zoning requirements, and applicable regulations. MRM Design Group’s founder states, “We like to do things uniquely and stay within the budget.” 

For the commercial developer or property owner, MRM Design Group offers services that will benefit your plans. MRM has an impressive portfolio of projects they have worked on, such as providing services to Beaufort Community College, of which they created a master plan design to layout new roadways and parking, “our work at BCC improved campus circulation”, explained Mr. Melvin. East Carolina University has also been a former client. MRM Design Group provided many different services to ECU, one being the design plan for the Geometry Building on campus. MRM Design Group has also provided services for one of North Carolina’s community colleges by designing a parking lot. When designing parking, they also can handle the engineering that goes with it.

Residential developers can find MRM Design Group as a great choice for providing design services for subdivision entrances, in addition to working with designing signage and logos for signage, and working with the naming of properties. MRM Design Group can assist with many different aspects of your commercial project.

More than just providing plantings, MRM Design Group is your one-stop shop for all things related to retaining walls, plazas, courtyards, pools, and water features such as drives, arbors, lighting, draining, and more. “I have done work from Murphy to Manteo”. MRM Design Group is your choice for an experienced landscape architect. MRM Design offers a holistic design covering anything exterior, including site planning and parking layouts. For some commercial design work, MRM Design Group has provided its services to include Nortel when it was Northern Telecom. MRM Design Group’s expertise in designing walkways and plaza areas is one area that really makes a building aesthetically pleasing. Additional services MRM provides are grading engineering.

“I have done work from Murphy to Manteo”

Jonathan L. Melvin

For both residential and commercial projects, MRM Design Group can provide you with options that require less maintenance. MRM Design Group prides itself on making wise choices for its clients and not wasting money on non-beneficial items. Their administrative management is a plus for those who want to add quality control to the project.

MRM Design Group, one of a few landscape architectural firms in North Carolina, is your one-stop shop for your exterior design plans, providing a holistic approach. “We look at the big picture and put all of the components together as a good design saves the client money”, stated Mr. Melvin. MRM Design Group has been in the business for many years, they are sensitive to what will save their client money and have a variety of resources that only time, and experience can bring. Make sure to get in touch with them immediately if you or someone you know is in need of a landscape architectural firm that truly cares about the finished product!

Visit us at www.mrmdesigngroup.com or Call 252-972-4400!

You aren’t alone in thinking you can’t afford a home right now. According to a recent report, 49% of non-homeowners stated that not having enough money for a down payment and closing costs was a major obstacle to purchasing a home. But when you look at the data, many aspiring homebuyers can afford to buy a home with less than 20%. In fact, another recent survey found that among first-time homebuyers who obtained a mortgage, approximately 80% had down payments of less than 20%.

There are several low down payment mortgage options available to you, such as conventional loans with private mortgage insurance (MI) or government-backed loans like those insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

For example, a qualified borrower can get a conventional loan with private MI for as little as 3% down. If he or she waited to save for a 20% down payment, it could take up to 20 years to save that amount, plus closing costs, for a $262,250 house – the national median sales price in 2018, according to the National Association of REALTORS(R). That wait time is trimmed down to seven years when buying a home with 5% down, where the loan is sustainably backed by private MI. Purchasing a home with less down using private MI can also help ensure you continue to have prudent savings, and can free up funds that you can use for other important home purchases – such as renovations, appliances and furniture.

There are other mortgage options available to you as well, such as government-backed FHA loans that allow you to put down as little as 3.5%. However, unlike private MI, which can be canceled once you reach 20% equity in your home, the mortgage insurance premiums attached to FHA loans typically can’t be canceled and remain throughout the life of the loan.

It’s important to know what home loan option is best for you, and you should speak with a mortgage lender to help inform your decision. The bottom line, however, is that there are affordable low down payment home loan options out there, which could mean the difference between getting into your home sooner, allowing you to build wealth through home equity, or waiting for years while renting. By taking advantage of home loans backed by private MI, you can spend less time worrying about a down payment and more time enjoying your new home.

Getting into your new home with private MI and keeping more of your hard-earned money in the bank can be a very smart way to invest in your future. Check out www.LowDownPaymentFacts.com to learn more.

“The outside of a house is an open palette, and there’s so much opportunity to add curb appeal with colorful accents,” says color expert Kate Smith, chief color maven with Sensational Color.

Here are 10 ways to give your house a colorful facelift:

1. No matter what style your home is, the roof is a major aspect of its curb appeal — sometimes as much as 40 percent of the view. So think about it first. Use free online resources like the new Top Down Color visualizer from DaVinci Roofscapes to quickly visualize how different colors and products will look on your home.

2. Make landscaping decisions with color top-of-mind. Either go for a vibrant and natural look, or create a stylized look with patterns and designs.

3. Replace the numbers on your house or clean the old ones. Brass will certainly stand out on most housing materials; however, you may prefer to use large colorful accent numbers to contrast with your home exterior.

4. Forget about your bland, boring garage door. Use free online resources like HaasCreate, an online visualizer, to select one with color and distinction. Available from Haas Door at haascreate.com, the tool allows you to upload a photo of your home then select different garage door styles to see what will work best on your home.

5. Give your mail carrier a warmer welcome. Spruce up your mailbox with a fresh coat of paint. Or, if it’s rusty or splintered, replace it. There are many styles available, so consider selecting something with character.

6. Add decorative glass windows for a distinctive accent to your home  exterior. An assortment of square, geometric and oval shaped options are available in both fixed and operable styles from such brands as Hy-Lite. Certain windows feature black, satin or brass caming to offset beveled glass pieces and other privacy textured glass, while other windows boast silkscreened designs.

7. Soft touches, such as adding new colorful pillows to a front porch swing, laying out a new welcome mat or hanging a flag, can give your home cozy, colorful curb appeal.

8. Add color to shutters, door and window surrounds, and other trim pieces. Start with low maintenance polyurethane pieces that are moisture-, insect- and rot-resistant. Through the Classic Color Program available at Nu-Wood, you can have pieces pre-painted in any of 9,000 Sherwin-Williams paint colors and ready to install out of the box. The company includes a touch-up container of paint for convenience.

9. For natural hues that accent and add contrast to siding, consider applying mortarless stone veneer as full accent walls on your home’s exterior or as a half wall/wainscot application. Check out easy-to-install products, available at manufacturers like ClipStone. Colors of their Ledgestone and ProStack styles include Ash, Poinset, Sand and Tan.

10. Pressure wash and repaint where necessary to restore your home to its original colorful splendor.

Using color strategically, you can make your home more valuable to potential buyers or just more personalized for your own tastes.

To help a group of these military couples receive a new healing perspective, Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) recently hosted Project Odyssey^®, a multi-day mental health workshop. The rehabilitative and therapeutic adventure – designed to help warriors cope with their invisible wounds – gave the couples a chance to connect with nature, each other, and WWP staff members, who informed them of various free programs and services to assist in their recovery processes. Through the generosity of donors, these programs and resources are offered to injured veterans and their families free of charge.

Nine couples arrived in Asheville, North Carolina, for the program. There they tackled a variety of challenging indoor and outdoor activities like zip lining and classes on painting and pottery. By working through different obstacles in settings designed to accommodate physical injuries and social anxieties, injured veterans and their significant others developed tools to assist with communication and teamwork. They were able to hone these skills alongside fellow veteran couples with similar backgrounds.

“Zip lining was a great experience for me and my wounded warrior because it challenged us to face our fears, took us out of our comfort zones, and helped us motivate each other to get through it,” said Angel Brown, whose husband served in the Army. “Before this experience, communication and motivation had been lacking from both of us, so it was definitely beneficial.”

While Angel and her husband participated in other WWP events in the past, she said they were particularly interested in this workshop, which seemed to be designed to assist with the exact issues they were facing.

“We wanted to get involved because it focused on couples who are battling with PTSD and TBI,” she said. “Since my warrior has both, I felt it would benefit us to have the chance to speak and listen to other couples that we can relate to.”

One of the couples they met at the workshop were Marine veteran Stephen Mundell and his wife, Callie. According to Stephen, the trip was part of his journey to improve his relationship with his wife and their family.

“We had a bunch of great experiences there,” he said. “The most beneficial was learning to talk face-to-face with my wife – and to actually listen to what she was saying. It helped us to get out of our comfort zones and reminded us that your spouse is always there to support you – that you’re not alone.”

Exposure to combat and operational trauma affects service members and their families spiritually, psychologically, biologically, and socially. Although challenging, WWP’s rehabilitative multi-day mental health workshops provide safe, private environments for couples to express themselves. This opportunity to connect with one another reduces isolation and helps the healing process.

Outdoor activities and socializing can help injured warriors cope with stress and emotional concerns. In a WWP survey of the injured warriors it serves, more than half of survey respondents (51.7 percent) talked with fellow Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation New Dawn veterans to address their mental health issues, and 29.6 percent expressed physical activity helps.

While Angel and her husband sought assistance at the workshop for their issues as a couple, she said the experience was greatly beneficial to her as an individual as well.

“I came to the gathering extremely depressed and unmotivated,” she said. “Having the chance to see that I wasn’t alone in my darkness helped me overcome my own battle. It healed me enough to open my eyes and see how much it had been affecting our relationship.”

Angel said she hopes other wounded warrior couples who are going through similar experiences might consider reaching out to WWP.

“Things like this help educate us and give us a better understanding about life as wounded warrior families,” she said. “Also, it shows us we are not alone and will not be forgotten.”

To learn more about how WWP’s programs and services are making an impact on the lives of wounded warriors, visit http://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/. To find photos from this event, click on multimedia, then images, then the mental health section.

About Wounded Warrior Project
We Connect, Serve, and Empower
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP connects wounded warriors and their families to valuable resources and one another, serves them through a variety of free programs and services, and empowers them to live life on their own terms. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

Despite her zeal for helping her clients find happy homes, Ms. Harris was not always a real estate agent. In fact, after graduating from North Carolina State University, she went to work as a very successful network engineer. All this changed ten years ago when she decided to pursue her love of real estate. “Although I loved [network engineering], it was tough seeing many jobs being shipped overseas,” she says. “I have always had an interest in real estate from looking at the annual Parade of Homes, so when my engineering shift was switched to weekend nights I decided to go for it, and I have not looked back ever since.”

Ms. Harris has certainly found her calling, and her business has thrived. She has extensive knowledge of new construction, foreclosures, short sales, custom building, and dozens of other areas of real estate, and she understands that buying a home can be stressful. As a proud North Carolina native, she is familiar with the ins and outs of the area and goes out of her way to help her clients find the homes of their dreams.

But Ms. Harris is more than just a hugely successful businesswoman—she is an inspiration. In addition to presenting networking and client events, she also hosts Women’s Empowerment events and works with charities to bring children food and clean water. When asked her fondest memory as a business owner, her answer is touching. “We helped a family purchase their first home after renting for close to twenty-five years,” she says.

With such a heart for helping others, it is easy to see that trusting Ms. Harris and RE/MAX One Realty would be an excellent choice when purchasing a home. There is no place she would rather be than in Raleigh helping her clients, and she has high expectations for her business. “My long-term goals are to help lots of investors own commercial property and to develop some great subdivisions for future homeowners,” she says.

There is no doubt she will achieve her dreams. If you are looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate, Ms. Jennifer Harris is the agent for the job. She is just a phone call away!

Jennifer Harris, RE/MAX One Realty

100 Lynn Rd., Raleigh, N.C. 27609

919-931-0313   jennifersoldit@gmail.com     www.RaleighBestHomeSearch.com

By Erica Badenchini