One of our very favorite small town outings is the Kalkaska National Trout Festival, and it's coming up quickly on the busy calendar of great Northern Michigan things-to-do! 

The fairs, festivals, and carnivals of yesteryear live on in Northern Michigan. The simple joys and pleasures of a small town event create memories to last a lifetime, and there's none quite as quaint and classic as the Trout Festival. It's celebrating its 81st edition in 2017, and as it closes in on a century of great e...

There are an awful lot of factors that can influence the housing market, but we found two key things that are very encouraging for 2017. With spring the proven time to buy, especially in the Midwest, these two indicators should make everyone excited about April, May, and June right here in Northern Michigan. 

First-time home buyers are in a particularly tough spot when it comes to entering the market, but one indicator of a healthy environment is the continuation of an older policy that looks...

It's a long-held belief that spring is the best time to enter the housing market. But why? There's a lot more to it than you might expect. We take a look to see if more houses are sold in the spring and try to determine just why that is. 

Nationally, the time to buy a home is spring, typically viewed as starting in March and ending in May or early June. The convenient answer is that it's simply because the weather is better, homes are unburied from beneath the snow, and it's more pleasant to...

The weather is slowly warming up in Northern Michigan! With it comes a hot housing market and some incredible properties. We take a look at three very different opportunities that we don't think you'll want to let slip away! 

One of the very cool opportunities is for some lucky entrepreneur out there. Located at 127 River St. in the heart of Elk Rapids, there's a convenience store and sandwich shop with loads of possibility. Walk in and start making money! It's an established business that gi...

There's a lot of charm that comes with living in a small, fun-loving community like you'll find in Northern Michigan. The close-knit and inclusive environment you grew up in still exists, and like the events in Elk Rapids this month, they're still an absolute treat. 

Up North, there's always something going on. We're taking a look at some of the family-friendly events on the calendar for March in the small town of Elk Rapids. The Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce has a very up-to-date calendar t...

Your home is a safe and loving space, but there's also an economic side that certainly needs to be considered. A Northern Michigan home is an investment, and it's looking more and more like a strong one. 

Sites like Zillow and the Michigan Housing Department show that values are trending upwards. Sustainable growth is an encouraging sign to people in the market or recent buyers, and that encouragement only helps to reinforce further investment. Michigan's home value has seen an increase of 7....

Part of living here is really living here! East of Traverse City, there's a massive forest and once a year, as winter blinks into spring, there's one heck of a party out there! 

Residents on the east side know about Suds'n'Snow, the original microbrew festival Up North, and still one that's absolutely unique. Located under the snow-laden trees of Timber Ridge Resort, some of the best microbreweries in the region all converge for a farewell to winter. Some years, it takes snowshoes or skies to...