Every once in a while you have to hit a curve ball. Last month my father-in-law, who is 81, had triple bypass surgery. After the operation we moved him into a facility in Lynnwood, Washington call Manor Care. The correct name should be "Manor Could Care Less", but that is a different story.
Last week we finally decided Frank needed to move out of "Manor Could Care Less" so he moved in with us. It has been awesome having him at our home. He loves our 5 kids dearly and shares all kinds of fascinating family history and stories with us. It has been a bit of a disruption from our normal lives but I am of the belief that is what family if for!
I just got a call from my wife while at the office to tell me he isn't feeling well. So she is packing up and taking him to the emergency room. Since it is the end of the day, I am going to go along too. This is not how I had planned to spend my evening but with five kids I have learned to be flexible over the years. I expect to spend the next two or three hours sitting with him in emergency learning more fascinating history and helping him gain the confidence he needs to recover. All I can say is thank god for Medicare. I cannot imagine how families deal with medical ordeals like this without insurance (good insurance) not the kind of care denial that you get from Aetna or United Health. I expected my day and circumstances to be different this time of year but in life as in business, you have to be able to hit a curve ball.
Call me if I can help even out your credit life with a new home loan.
With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years heading our way soon. It is time to make some cheese balls :)
The Best Cheese Ball Recipe
From the kitchen of Audrey Howe
Handed down from my mother
My recipe is just from memory - from watching and helping my mother make this for every holiday. There are no exact proportions.
Use about 1 pound of cheddar cheese. (If I have leftover cheeses of different varieties - I mix them.) One package room temperature cream cheese. Begin by grating the cheese. Mix the cheese and cream cheese in a food processor, or with a mixer, or by hand. It needs to be blended well. (I usually blend it, then let it sit for a while, and blend it again; repeating this
several times.) Add a liquid (7-up, Sprite, wine, etc.) to moisten. Sprinkle with garlic powder to taste. Roll into a ball. Roll the ball in chopped walnuts. (Any kind of nut would work). Wrap with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate. I usually make it a day or two in advance, so the flavors blend together. Serve with crackers.
Also, don't use garlic salt; be sure it is garlic powder.
Call me if you would like help with your cheese ball or have any real estate finance questions.
Fall is my favorite time of year in Oregon and it always has been. I am not a fan of hot temperatures so the fall brings relief. Nothing is better than a cool crisp October day to bring about that euphoric feeling of all things macho. Of course, I speak of college football, a deer, elk or bird hunting trip, or a day on the river chasing the elusive salmon or maybe a big sturgeon. Nothing rivals the pastimes of fall for the outdoorsman in me.
My best weekend would be spent leaving early on Saturday for an OSU football game in Corvallis. These days start with a hearty breakfast at the Peacock; several hours tailgating with friends, then settling back to watch the beavers win a conference game in the Skybox. This is college football at its finest...nothing else compares. After the game, a quick trip to camp in a luxury motor home or fifth wheel in the cascades or maybe the coast range to go deer or elk hunting on Sunday morning. Up early Sunday morning with meat hanging in camp by noon. A weekend like that would be one I could savor for years.
It is rare to be so fortunate as to experience the perfect fall weekend...but at 51 I still have hope that I will live long enough to experience it.
On Monday I am ready to work for my clients getting them the perfect home with the perfect home loan. That is almost as good as a football and hunting weekend.
Looking for a good pumpkin patch opportunity for the kids? Some of the best in the Portland metro area are in the vicinity of Canby. I good way to start your Saturday adventure would be to head cross the Willamette River on the Canby Ferry. This is always a thrill for the kids and at the bargain basement price of $1.25 you will have money left to buy pumpkins.
First stop is the Flower Farmer on Holly Street in Canby. It is less than a mile from the ferry dock! The Flower Farmer is one of the more unique pumpkin patches anywhere. The kids board a small train and ride around the circle to pick out a pumpkin then board the train to return to the main depot. The kids just love this place.
Next stop on pumpkin day is Hoffman Dairy Garden on Knights Bridge Road just outside of Canby. Hoffman's has a very very good Haunt. They turn their old large dairy barn into one of the premiere haunted houses/barns that I have seen. Not for the faint of heart. Hoffman's also has several exotic animals to view. They feature a lion, a tiger, a bear, a camel and several other unusual animals for a farm in Oregon.
Lions Tigers and Bears (Real)
Come visit our exotic animals from all over the world!
Open everyday starting October 3rd through October 31st
Hours: Monday - Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Bring the family to pick your pumpkin and enjoy the activities.
Farm and Reptile parties available all year round!
Email: Allevents_1@msn.com
Hoffman's Dairy Garden
Harvest Festival Information 503-737-4921
You final stop on pumpkin patch day should be at Fir Point Farms on Ehlen Road in Aurora. This is a very traditional and large pumpkin patch. Fir Point is a 35-acre farm that is near the freeway. They have a nice nature path, hayrides, fresh apple cider, corn cannon, hay maze, corn maze, a very nice hay slide, and lots of great food. One of my favorite features of Fir Point is the Hazel Nut House. This is simply a small cabin filled knee deep in hazel nuts. It is an incredible feeling to walk through and play in thousands of pounds of nuts!
Fir Point Farms is a great way to end your day and feel the tradition of the pumpkin patch experience.
It seems to happen every year...the kids go back to school and withing two weeks they are sick. Typically I seem to catch the bug the following week. Why should this year be an exception? Of course it is not! Last night I woke up with a terrible cough. I can feel the wave of this virus coming over me like sliding into a hot bathtub. The aches and fever are hitting now and I am sure in won't be long until nausea sets in. I am just hoping it is not the swine flu.
Here is my dilema: I have work to do and loans to close. Tomorrow is the last day of the month!!!!!!!! So here is sit in deaths door writing my blog because I am too light headed to do anything else. At least four, maybe five of my fellow loan production staff have suggested I go home. While I am trying my best to avoid infecting anyone, the things are so ultra contageous that I fear it may be too late.
So, tonight I am taking home my computer and working from there tomorrow. I won't have all the resources of the office but I really don't want to infect anyone else.
Art Marine
Branch Manager
10220 SW Greenburg Road, Suite 250
Portland, OR 97223
503-764-4005 direct
503-799-7085 cell
1-866-510-4716 fax
www.academy.cc/artmarine
art.marine@academymortgage.com
Click Here for Online Free Credit Approval
Now that the dog days of summer are past, it is time to get serious with this business. I have always had my best months in October, November, and once in December. I have always felt there were just a few factors:
I am not as distracted so I work harder - back to the law of attraction
Customers are not as distracted so they stop putting off their purchase ore refinance decision
Kids are in school and people know they need to get stable
September and October is perfect house hunting weather
These may all be reasons in my own mind, but year after year my best months have always been in the Fall. This is one Loan Officer that welcomes the end of summer and welcomes the new season.
The author relates Darwin's theory of evolution to the evolution of the mortgage industry and especially as it relates to small brokers vs. large lenders. It seems to me that he is correct in his assertion that we are in a period of survival of the fittest.
I hope my story will help you understand why I support Healthcare reform with a strong public option. Although anecdotal, my situation is being repeated daily by thousands of Americans.
I work in the mortgage industry, which as you know has been quite volatile. Because of the employer based healthcare system we have, it is important to the story to know my employment history. I offer it here as exhibit 1:
2005 - 2006 Central Pacific Mortgage Company declared bankruptcy
2006 - 2007 American Home Mortgage Company declared bankruptcy
2007 - 2008 Indymac Bank Company taken over by FDIC...placed in receivership
End of 2008 Prospect Mortgage Company closed my branch due to lease expiration
2008 - Present Academy Mortgage
In less than 5 years, I had to change my health insurance 5 times. It was never a matter of choice; I simply had to take whatever plan my employer decided to offer. Some of the plans were good, most were expensive, and in every transition, there were issues. Some small, some large but always transition issues.
My largest frustration comes from Aetna. Our medical provider has, for many years, been the Doctors in the OHSU system. Although we have a primary care doctor, it is the practice at OHSU to have student Doctors or Nurse practitioners provide needed services when appropriate. When these practitioners provide care, OHSU bills in their name even though they are under the supervision of the primary care physician. Aetna has consequently denied all the claims that were submitted while our services were being provided by these practitioners. Please understand that we made the appointment with our primary care physician. We showed up at the appropriate time, were escorted to an examination room and the provider that showed up to offer service was a nurse practitioner or a student Doctor in several instances. I am here to tell you, when you are sitting in pain in a waiting room and someone offers assistance that is not your regular Doctor, you do not say "go away I will wait for my regular Doctor". You thankfully accept the help. In this case, the pain comes later when Aetna refuses to honor the claim. This same scenario played out three separate times before I ever realized I had a problem. So now, I have paid large insurance premiums for the right to spend hours of time on the phone fighting with Aetna and eventually being told I was out of luck. The amount of the bills are not financially devastating, they total less than $300. It is the time and energy I wasted trying to be treated fairly that frustrates me the most. I just thank God that these were small medical bills. The situation could have easily been financially ruining. The Aetna response would have been the same if my bills were $30,000.
Corporate greed will always prevail in a situation where there is no free market. The only free market in the medical insurance world comes when the insurance companies are negotiating with the large corporate employers for the contract to provide group coverage. Once the employer chooses an insurance carrier all competition is locked out for the duration of the contract. Service is no longer a consideration and corporate profit dominates the decision making process. Aetna will not pay my bills because they do not have to compete for my business. Please help create a public option to restore the free market competition that is necessary for our system to work!
In a world of shrinking mortgage options, I have found a way to grow my market. I call it CS (credit score) 101. Many consumers do not meet minimum thresholds to get a mortgage loan in today's world of FNMA/FHLMC/FHA/VA/USDA only lending. Often I find that credit scores are unnecessarily low because consumers do not understand their rights under the "Fair Credit Reporting Act" or they do not keep close enough tabs on their credit report and scores. CS 101 uses several tools to help consumers understand the components that effect credit and provides strategies to improve their score and correct errors on their reports. I hold these classes in small groups or individually in my office.
An extremely valuable tool that we use to help consumers is a product called "Score Guardian". This credit monitoring system is offered free of charge to Academy Mortgage clients and prospects. The system will, with the client's permission, pull, on a rotating basis, one of each of the three credit bureau reports every 4 months. This way, we can stay on top of changes and catch any errors. It also gives me the opportunity, as their mortgage advisor, to call them and discuss their credit and mortgage objectives. If you are interested in enrolling in Score Guardian, simply click on the logo below. I believe this system would be a benefit to any consumer!
Yesterday I posted a blog titled "The Death of an Industry" and it obviously struck a nerve. The Mortgage Lending community has been put under the microscope lately and tensions are running high. My blog discussed how changes in business practices by large commercial banks and mortgage bankers, combined with new government regulation could conceivably spell the end of the Mortgage Broker industry.
Most of the posts I got were Mortgage Brokers defending their business and their business practices. This was understandable and expected. I did however underestimate the loyalty that many real estate agents held for their Mortgage Broker lender partners. As an originator, I have always enjoyed a lot of loyalty from my strategic partners but I didn't realize the sentiment would run so strong. I admire those agents for such robust loyalty and believe that it will serve them well in the end. Even if my predictions come true and Mortgage Brokers fade into the sunset, the good originators will rebuild their business under a new model that works in the current environment.
For those of you that I offended yesterday, I apologize. I hope you all take it as a wakeup call to evaluate what you are doing and how you will proceed in the future.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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