Home Loans & Stuff >> The Arizona Home Loan Lady

Scottsdale AZ Refinance

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:07:00 -0500

Are you looking to refinance your Scottsdale home?

Do you want to be sure that you are getting the best deal on your Scottsdale AZ Refinance?

Then look no further. I will help you refinance your Scottsdale home and will also help you find the lowest refinance rates.

First, call your bank or banks about your refinance. Ask them to provide you with a Good Faith Estimate. We can call this your "benchmark" rate and fees.

Next, call another local bank, just to check on your benchmark refinance figures.

Finally, call me, Michael George of Arizona Wholesale Mortgage and get a Good Faith Estimate from me. You don't have to tell me what your bank offered, because it really shouldn't matter.

Keep your cards close to your chest when shopping for a refinance.

I will give you the very best refinance rates I can, right from the beginning. I don't need to see the refinance quote from your bank, because it will not change the rates and fees that I offer you.

If you need to refinance, please allow me to earn your business. You can call me at:

(877) 551-8188, and press extension 81 to be connected to me immediately.

I look forward to working with you!

~ Michael George

Do you REALLY know how to use Google?

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:45:27 -0500

Because if you know how to Google, I mean really learn to use Google well, your life will improve in two ways:

1. You will always find the information you are looking for.

2. You will get better at learning what makes Google "tick," as you study the results of your own searches.

I have been using Google since 1999, just shortly after it was launched. (The picture on the left shows what it looked like when I started using the search engine.) I've conducted thousands of searches and staring at those search results have helped me to rank well today, ten years later.

There is no better way to teach yourself SEO. Just Google and Google and Google some more and stare at the results. It'll start to click after a while.

First of all, Google is about information. I can always find exactly what I'm looking for, on page one of the organic search results, if I search correctly.

Ever hear the phrase "garbage in, garbage out"?

If you are not having luck with Google's output, you just may not be searching properly. Try to be as accurate as possible. Sometimes I type whole sentences into Google. Like, "What was the name of that guy that played BJ on BJ and the Bear?"

It turns out his name is Greg Evigan and he was in the very first result displayed.

That's the best way to find exactly what you are looking for...if it exists. Give Google lots of info and you'll get it back.

Did you know about Google's functions?

Define-a-Word function: Just type the word "define," followed by the word. (You don't need any quotes.) For example, I keep hearing people use the word czar incorrectly. I was sure that the word czar was being misused. So, just out of curiousity, I typed "define czar." I was right; it is regularly misused.

How can you use this? I would create a page on your website just for real estate definitions. And write them out exactly as they will be searched for. With the word "define." So you could title a page, "Real Estate Definitions", and define short sale, foreclosure, etc. With time, and a little luck, you may very well show up in Google's definitions, which will give you more "juice" as I've heard others refer to it.

Don't believe me? Type in "define short sale" and you will find a mortgage company's page with a definitions page that Google added to it's "web definitions." That could be you! Just be sure to write your own definitions, or you don't stand a chance.

If Google's whole deal is providing great information, then you need to provide great information to Google. Definitely have a definitions page. Definitely fill your pages with useful information. Sure, customer testomonials are great, but they aren't going to turn up in a Google search.

Start thinking of your site as a form of valuable real estate information, rather than just a fancy, online advertisement for your services.

Google's math functions: This list is so exhaustive, that I could write an entire post about Google's math functionality. But I'll just stick to a couple of interesting ones.

Everyone knows (or should know) that you can type "2 + 2" into Google (no quotes needed) and Google will return the result: 4.

But did you know you could type in almost any mathematical equation and get the results? Google has a built-in mortgage function for example. Now this is pretty complex stuff, but in case your financial calculator ever breaks, here is a list of Google math functions.

Population function: Type the state or county name, followed by the word population. For example, here is the search result for "population AZ". They also have an unemployment rate function. So I am going to type unemployment rate Michigan (or MI) and see what I get... 14.8%. Not good.

Sports function: To see scores and team schedules, just type in the name of the team. For example, I'll try Phoenix Suns. It gives you the schedule, the roster...heck, even a link to the Phoenix Suns Dancers.

Take the time to get to know Google well. Once you really truly understand Google, it will help you to understand your own placement in the search engine.

Chandler AZ Refinance

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:17:57 -0500

If you are looking to refinance your Chandler, AZ home, please consider using Arizona Wholesale Mortgage.

(Of course, we are licensed in the entire state of Arizona, so you can call us no matter where you live!)

1. We absolutely guarantee to beat your bank's best deal. This means that we will either match the closing costs and offer a lower rate, or we will offer the same rate with at least $500 less in closing costs. This is our guarantee to you. Oftentimes, we save our clients thousands in closing costs, but $500 would be the bare minimum when comparing us to your local Chandler bank.

2. We absolutely never engage in bait & switch. If you are looking to refinance your Chandler AZ home, the rate we quote you will be the same rate you sign for at closing. When we tell you that your rate is locked-- it's locked.

3. We are not salespeople. We will not try to sell you a certain loan. We are Chandler AZ mortgage professionals. We will suggest the best loan for your situation, but have no vested interest in what loan you choose. It's entirely up to you and what is best for your family. We do tend to suggest 30-year fixed rate mortgages, because those are the most safe, but we offer every other type of loan, including interest-only ARMs.

4. We can refinance your Chandler AZ mortgage with as little paperwork as two checkstubs. If you have good credit and equity in your Chandler home, we can offer you a great mortgage with very little paperwork. Even if you don't have outstanding credit, give us a call. We offer many types of mortgage loan programs.

5. We live in and work in and love our Chandler Arizona.

Call Michael George at (480) 551-8188, and bypass the voicemail system by immediately pressing "81".

Chandler, AZ Wasp Attack!

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:50:55 -0500

This is pretty odd, but I thought I would share a story about something that happened to a friend of mine very recently.

He was walking his dog in the "green belt" that runs behind our Ocotillo (Chandler) homes. While he was innocently minding his own business he stepped on a "rain box."

I am not sure if rain box is the correct term; I can't remember where I heard that. But he stepped onto one of those shoebox sized lids in the ground-- the ones that hold the sprinkler controls.

The lid of the rain box has a little half-moon sized hole at the edge, so that workers can stick a finger in and lift it out. It also makes a great wasp nest, being completely sealed off with one entry and exit.

To make a long story short, my friend-- after stepping on the rain box-- and his dog were covered in a blanket of multi-stinging wasps and went through a pretty traumatic story. He really believed he was going to die from Anaphylactic Shock.

The fire department came (Chandler has fantastic police and fire) and fogged the area where he was stung.

They also told him that swarming, stinging attacks aren't that unusual in Arizona. "Common, in fact."

One reason this happens is because pretty much everyone in Arizona sprays for bugs. We have scorpions and black widow spiders and it's just something that we do in Arizona.

The firefighters explained that the wasps will build a nest in somebody's backyard and when their nest is soaked in chemicals, they all leave and they leave in an angry homeless-wasp swarm, just looking for trouble.

I did not know this.

Since it happened, I have talked to several neighbors who had their own bee / wasp stories! One neighbor's eight year old daughter was attacked and was almost killed.

Now this would be a really good post if I could tell you how to avoid this horrific experience...but I can't. I Googled "personal sized" bee and wasp spray and couldn't find anything.

So I guess the only advice I have is DON'T STEP ON RAIN BOXES!

Any more useful comments on how to avoid this would be greatly appreciated.

Chandler AZ Halloween Happenings

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:25:56 -0500

So you're running late on your Chandler halloween preparations? Not sure what to do with the kids? Never fear, we have gathered together what you need, and you can find it below.

First of all, if you need general halloween stuff... Okay, if you need anything to do with Halloween, you really only need to visit the

Spirit Halloween Superstore, located at 2980 N Alma School Rd, Chandler, AZ - (800) 267-8869‎

There are also costume-specific places, if you want a higher quality costume or if you want to rent. But none in Chandler unfortunately.

However, close by in Tempe we have:

Fun City Costumes, at 2820 E University Dr, Mesa, AZ‎ - (480) 654-5113‎

I'm not sure if Fun City rents or not. They probably do. But these guys do for sure:

Fantasy Costume Rentals, at 1400 S McClintock Dr, Tempe, AZ‎ - (480) 858-0805‎

What about things to do in Chandler on Halloween?

Halloween Spooktacular Downtown Library Courtyard, 125 E. Commonwealth Ave., Chandler, Arizona 480-782-2735

From about.com: "An evening of safe family fun. Food, games, arts and crafts, costume contests, souvenir photos, and a Haunted House. Everyone is welcome to wear a costume and enter the costume contest and parade. In 2009: Friday, October 30 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m."

And if your kids get too much candy, a Chandler Dentist will buy your children's candy back from them. I'm not kidding. Click the link!

For adults and for charity there is the annual Chandler Witches Night Out. Unfortunately, that happened on October 17, but at least you know for next year. Click the link above for more information on the Chandler AZ Witches night or you can read about the Phoenix Witches Ball right here.

~Copyright by Michael George, Arizona Wholesale Mortgage, (480) 704-4430

Chandler, Arizona: Fun Things To Do Close To Home

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:48:56 -0500

Chandler (and neighboring Sun Lakes) are not the most exciting towns in Arizona. We are terrific for retirees and families. We have a great school system and clean neighborhoods, but it's no Las Vegas as far as action, if you know what I mean. Sometimes it can be hard to find things to do. But actually we have quite a bit!

However, there is still fun to be had in Chandler, depending on your tastes. Here's a few of my favorites, not in any particular order at all:

1. C-FU Gourmet: I love this place for Sunday "brunch." If you've never had Dim Sum, it's a style of eating, in which tiny plates of all kinds of exotic Chinese food is brought to your table in steaming carts. You just point to what you want. It's excellent. Get there early though!

2. The Chandler Center For The Arts: I saw Bill Cosby there with my wife and it was really terrific. Only a couple of minutes from my home, deep in the burbs. This December, there will be an Italian Circus performing there. Click the link above for information on Tickets.

3. Veterans Oasis Park / Environmental Education Center: From their website--

Veterans Oasis Park covers 113 acres and feature both lush wetland and arid habitat suitable for the diverse plants and wildlife of the Sonoran Desert. The park will also include 4½ miles of trails, wildlife viewing areas; ramadas and picnic areas; a butterfly and hummingbird habitat; an outdoor amphitheatre; a unique, learning-oriented playground; a 5-acre “urban fishing” lake; and interpretive signs and exhibits.

4. The Hamilton Aquatic Center: I have never grown out of my love for playing around waterslides. I'm 38 years old and I have no shame standing in line with kids. I love it. This is walking distance from my home and they have 2 waterslides, a lazy river, an Olympic sized-pool and a volleyball court if all that weren't enough. If you live in Chandler, you've got to check it out. And how much will a day of fun and sun cost you?

Admission is $2 for Adults and .75 for children!

5. Chandler Skate Park: If you like skateboarding or inline skating-- or, if you are like me and like to watch crazy people do crazy things on skateboards, we have the place for you.

Did you know that Thrasher, a popular skateboarding magazing wrote that the city skate park in Chandler is one of the top five in the United States? Right here in lil' ole Chandler!

Anybody can use the park at any skill level. But if you go there enough, you are bound to see many professional skateboarders there. Famous guys on the circuit.

So those are my five favorite things to do in Chandler. The above list, you can do anytime. However, we also have some great yearly events, such as:

The Chandler Ostrich Festival

The Downtown Chandler Art Walk

The Chandler Jazz Festival

I hope you find this list helpful whether you currently live in Chander or in one of our neighboring Arizona cities. Chandler has a lot more to offer than just farmland!

~ Copyright By Michael George, of Arizona Wholesale Mortgage, (480) 551-8188, ext. 81

Chandler AZ First Time Homebuyer?

Chandler AZ Refinance

Prom In Mississippi -- Racism is Alive and Well

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:48:57 -0500

I know we all like to pretend that racism doesn't exist...at least some of us do. But I have to believe that most every white person in this country has been exposed to lots and lots of racism when the black folks aren't around.

Then, later on, we like to say that there are only a "few bad apples."

Well, there are a whole lot more than a few. There are millions and their hatred for other races and religions defies the very truths that we hold self evident-- that ALL MEN are created equal.

A couple of nights ago, I watched a documentary called Prom in Mississippi.

From National Public Radio:

Mississippi integrated its public schools in 1970, but segregation still haunts parts of the culture. One example of this could be found at Charleston High School. The Delta town had maintained a system of separate proms — organized privately — for black and white students.

Hmmmm...

I guess Brown V. Board of Education doesn't apply to after-school functions, so they've managed to isolate the black students up until...2008?

Fifty-four bloody years after schools became integrated?!? Are you kidding me?

So much for all men are created equal. Not in Charleston they aren't. And not in hundreds of other communities across the country. Someday I'll write about my experiences with hatred in a couple of places I've lived, places kind of notorious for racial problems.

Being treated like a second-class citizen damages your psyche. Being told that you aren't good enough to hang out with the white kids at the prom hurts your self-esteem. You might not have the same bright outlook as the white kids. Or, you'll work twice as hard to prove yourself. It's fair to say it could go either way.

And then, when African-Americans in Mississippi don't do as well financially, we like to say that it's their fault and that they had the same opportunities as the white kids.

Bullcrap, says I.

And yes, some-- maybe even most-- of the black students will overcome and go on to work as doctors or lawyers, but some-- maybe only a few-- won't be that strong and will be affected enough by their life experiences in their formative years to screw up their very dreams.

And if they don't believe in the American Dream, being that they weren't allowed to socialize with whites and made to feel separate-- can we blame them? Come on now. The Supreme Court said, in 1954 mind you, that separate is not equal. Separate is not equal.

Not everyone is strong enough to tolerate being prejudiced against through their most sensitive years. It's going to hurt some more than others...

Anyway, some of the white parents became angry, so they held their own White Prom. The cowards wouldn't let the camera's in-- because racists love to deny being racist-- so we couldn't actually see the racist parents.

But some of the kids left after the parents repeatedly used the n-word when describing the other students.

Totally amazing. Charleston High School just came into the year 2009. But the parents? They'll be alive spreading their hatred for many more years to come. And what about the kids who attend the white prom and believe in their parent's hatred? What will become of them?

Well, they'll probably have kids themselves and teach them to hate also.

And I am sure there will be another White Prom next year. You can count on that.

"Kill Obama" Signs Found In Cave Creek Arizona

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:16:42 -0500

I am so proud of my fellow Arizonans.

When Obama came to town, lots of angry white people showed up brandishing guns. One guy, with an assault rifle, told our local news that "America isn't ready for a black President."

And he didn't even wear a hood like most of his cowardly brothers do.

The guns were a message and we heard it loud and clear. Thanks to you crazy, gun-toting racists! I appreciate you exposing yourselves. It's not about this or that, for some folks, it's all about color.

I wonder what the right-wing would have to say about a large crowd of black people attending a McCain rally with assault rifles and telling news cameras that they aren't ready for a white President. What do you think Rush Limbaugh would say about that?

Fox News would be all in a tizzy. It would be discussed for weeks! Scare the heck out of white people and push our much more gentle, gun-toting agenda. But blacks with guns? You've got to be kidding me.

When I attended the Phoenix Gun Show, I heard many people use the n-word when describing our Commander-in-Chief.

Is that ever appropriate?

I saw assault rifles for sale, with our President's face on the price tag and a target superimposed...as if to say "Buy this gun and kill the President."

And now this. Political signs in Cave Creek, AZ with the words "Kill Obama" on them.

In the words of Sheriff Joe: "This is a complete disgrace and gross act towards our president."

P.S.-- And if anybody knows the genius in the picture, please remind him that America has no official language, but if we did...he isn't writing it. I have tons of these totally ironic teabagger signs.

It's just so hard to choose which ones to post!

How Many of our ActiveRainers Will Develop Breast Cancer?

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:18:53 -0500

I am torn. On one hand, I don't want to scare the heck out of everybody with this post... And on the other hand, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I want to remind everyone just how insidious this awful disease is and how much it plagues our beloved wives, sisters, friends, and daughters. We really need to stay on top of it.

Because... See the picture of my wife to the right of this post? She's gone because we were not educated about the real dangers of cysts and lumps and so forth. We did not stay on top of things.

According to the National Cancer Society, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. (Edit: And, as several people commented below, men can get it also...just not nearly as often.)

This is almost too much to digest.

I don't know this for a fact, but I think women represent ActiveRain a little more than the men do. But for argument's sake, let us say that we have a 50/50 split.

As I write this, I see that we have over 160,0000 ActiveRainers.

If half of them are women, we can say that 10,000 current ActiveRain members will be diagnosed with some form of breast cancer at some point in their lives. I hope to God that's not true, but statistically speaking...it is.

Ten thousand ActiveRainers! That's the facts.

I've lived through the trauma of breast cancer and, please believe me, you don't ever want to see the things I've seen. Please be diligent with your health care. And if you have a loved one-- a wife, a daughter, a sister-- make sure she is being diligent. Sometimes we need to be aggressive for our loved ones, when they aren't aggressive enough.

Remember, cancer is only curable when caught in the early stages. You may be the 1 in 8, or one of the 10,000 [possibles] on ActiveRain-- but if you catch it at Stage 1, you have a 100% chance of survival. Early detection is the key! Please make that your personal mantra.

Stage I breast cancer has a 100% survival rate, according to the stats! So if you are the 1 in 8, this is where you want to fall. You can read more about that here.

Also, mammograms are not 100% effective. Read about lousy mammograms here. If you have a lump-- any lump anywhere: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ask your doctor to stick a needle in it. A biopsy is the only way to know for sure. Everything else leaves room for guessing. And you should never guess when it comes to cancer.

If you want to read my wife's story, you can find it at: http://www.fighting-breast-cancer.com

The first post Karen wrote is really the most important one. It tells the story of her misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis.

I am not trying to scare people right now. I realize this is a grim and depressing topic. I just don't want anybody to go through what Karen and I went through, if it can be avoided. And we could have avoided it...

Greatest Closing Gift Ever; Or At Least The Best $10 Gift!

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:30:19 -0500

Okay, now in the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to say that I have no affiliation with this company at all. They are not paying me for this endorsement, either in cash, gifts or trade.

But this is a product that I personally send to clients, and they always love it. More importantly, it's pretty cheap, especially if you buy in bulk.

I guess by now, you can see what it is. It's pretty self-explanatory.

It's a self-inking stamp with your client's new address on it. It really comes in handy for people who are sending all of their mail from a brand new address.

They will use it every week for years. (I've had one for three years now and it still inks up just fine.) And every week, when they are paying bills, they will see your name.

They cost me $10 per, because I buy in bulk. I think the high-end price is $15.

They come gift-wrapped in gold foil and are a nice little surprise for your new homeowners. They ship them for you, so you don't have to worry about that.

I cannot begin to tell you how much these things have paid off. Clients love them and I have done dozens of refinances where people have told me that they remembered to call me because of the stamp.

So where do you get them? Adstamp.com

I really think this is an awesome marketing tool.

Competition Cheating You In Google? Report Them.

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:50:53 -0500

I am number one or number two in Google for all of the phrases I want to target, for example "AZ FHA loan."

However, every once in a while, a spammy website comes up above me. I thought the Google algorithm was pretty good at knocking these sites out of the index, but not always, apparently.

I'll give you a good example. There is another mortgage company in Arizona that likes to use black hat techniques. One day, they passed me by.

Now if they passed me because I was lazy and wasn't keeping up with the demands of supplying Google with good information, so be it. But they cheated.

I did a little research by Googling their domain name and I found that they had set up free blogs on many, many free blogging sites. (But for some reason, they were not on ActiveRain.)

Anyway, all of their blogs were entirely devoid of any information. Just a short paragraph, with keywords that linked to their spammy site. (When I say "spammy", I mean that their website didn't make a whole lot of sense to humans, because they just kept repeating "Arizona Mortgage" over and over again.) Grammatically, it was a mess, but I guess Google liked it.

But they used dirty tricks to knock me out of position, so I reported them to Google.

Google is a computer. Or a computer algorithm to be more exact. Sometimes humans need to be involved. If you are getting cheated, visit Google at:

http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

Now please, please, please don't go around reporting your competition just because they are better at the search engine game then you are. You'll be wasting your time and the time of everyone that has a legitimate complaint.

But if your competition is using:

Hidden text or links

Misleading or repeated words

Page does not match Google's description

Cloaked page

Deceptive redirects

Doorway pages

Duplicate site or pages

Or any other black hat type search engine techniques, report them to Google. It took a couple of months, but the local mortgage company that I reported isn't indexed by Google at all anymore. (At least at the time of this writing.)

It's a tough market and we need to be tough. But fair... Tough but fair.

Annual Lobster Festival in Puerto Nuevo

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:01:19 -0500

If you love lobster like I do, there is the seventeenth annual Lobster Festival this weekend in Puerto Nuevo.

Puerto Nuevo is a lovely little town in Mexico, about an hour from the heart of San Diego. It's about 6 hours from my home in Arizona, but if I am going to spend a weekend in Mexico, this is the time.

The weather is absolutely perfect at this time of the year and the people of Puerto Nuevo are experts at preparing lobster.

They don't boil it-- no sir! They split it open, drizzle it with butter and garlic, and broil it until perfectly tender. They serve it with rice, beans, tortillas, guacamole and three margaritas are included. (Festival Special- $15 American Dollars) Now where can you get all of that for $15? Maybe three margaritas alone!

If you live within driving distance of San Diego, I hope you check it out. You'll be sure to have a good time. I've been there many, many times.

And don't forget your passports!

Money Saving Tips in Tough Times

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:27:28 -0500

I think that everybody is tightening their proverbial belts right now. Times are tough. I just read that unemployment in Michigan is at 25% right now. I can't even believe that is true.

Ironically, I have a friend who works only part time, but gets by wonderfully. It's truly amazing. She's always eating out, taking vacations, and generally living better than most of us do.

Last night we had dinner and I always get a laugh about her latest adventures and how she went about paying for them. She offered a couple of tips:

1. She goes to every grocery store's website every single week to "download" coupons to her shopper's saving cards. I definitely did not know about this, but I just signed up and downloaded a bunch of coupons. You just need to enter the number on your shopper card. I'm ready to go.

2. She will shop at four grocery stores per week if she has to. (Around my home in Chandler, AZ, I have six good grocery stores within a two mile radius.) One store is inevitably running a special on chicken breasts and another will have her organic milk. She claims that she often saves 75% on her food this way, which is totally worth the extra work. She just purchased a boatload of Bumblebee Tuna in water for .25 per can.

3. She never, ever goes out to dinner without an Entertainment Book coupon.

4. Finally, she is signed up as a Mystery Shopper and dines out one or two times per month, writes specific details about the bathroom cleanliness and service and so forth, submits her receipt and gets fully reimbursed. I realize that everybody is going to want to do this-- but the link she gave me last night does not work. So I am trying to find that now and I will edit this post later on. I sincerely apologize. I can't imagine where she is at, because she only works on the weekend!

I shouldn't have ended my list with the word "finally." Because she has about a thousand tips for saving money, getting free vacations and merchandise... I'll write more later on.

My Two Shelter Dogs and My First YouTube Video

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:56:46 -0500

This is really fun and easy! I realize that I tend to jump on the bandwagon about a year or two later than the majority of people...but today I discovered YouTube!

I mean, I didn't really discover it. I've been watching YouTube from the get-go. I just never thought about posting my own video until today. What would I post anyway?

My Animal Rescue League Dogs

I adopted Autumn almost exactly fourteen years ago from the Michigan Animal Rescue League. She was six months old at the time, so she is now over 102 in "people years." She has never gone grey; her teeth are perfectly intact; she is the perfect weight and she will defend me to the death. Awesome guard dog.

But she was my late wife's dog and she makes sure I know that. Ever since Karen "disappeared," Autumn resents me terribly. She is a moody dog and she wants to know where Karen is. So she's been misbehaving a bit.

I adopted Farley about 6 years ago from the Arizona Animal Welfare League.

He was so grateful to be taken home from his tiny cell at the rescue, he has never stopped thanking me. When Karen picked him out, I was a little dismayed, because he had been a stray and had no training whatsoever.

Now, he is completely housebroken. And when I say completely, I mean I've accidentally left these dogs for fourteen or fifteen hours once and neither one would go. He housebroke in two days with praise only.

I trained him to do all of the standard things: sit, stay, lay down, crawl low to the ground (I don't know- in case there's a fire), wave hello, speak, high five, and balance a treat on his nose.

But one thing that I did not teach him to do was to walk Autumn. For some reason, he started doing this on his own. When he wants to go for a walk, he goes and finds a leash and brings it to me. Then, when I hook it to Autumn, he insists on taking the other end and walking her. I have no idea why.

When considering a new pet, please consider a shelter dog first. There are many reasons why, more than I can list here.

Check out my first YouTube of my Arizona Animal Shelter dogs:

I Never Get Spam...Ever

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:17:44 -0500

Well, at least not in the past several years.

I have read several posts on AR about SPAM, and I always wonder why the "challenge / response" system is never discussed. It seems many people are missing the boat when it comes to SPAM elimination.

Filters don't work, period. As soon as you figure out a way to filter your email, three things will happen:

1. You won't get any "Viagra" jokes from your friends anymore.

2. You will undoubtedly miss an important email from a client, because they used some word or phrase that your filter misinterprets as spam, possibly blowing a commission.

3. The spammers will figure out a way around the filter. High security usually filters out the good guys. The bad guys work around security.

Here is how it works:

All of your email is currently downloaded from whatever server accepts your mail. For example, my server is AZWM.

With the challenge / response system, there is a go-between. In other words, the SPAM goes to the go-between server first, then is downloaded to your computer.

When the go-between server gets your email, it checks it against a database of everyone who has ever sent you email. If the server recognizes your Aunt Betty's email address, it just sends the email along to you. Easy peasy.

If it's an email from a stranger, this is when the "challenge" part comes in.

The server automatically sends an email to the spammer, asking the spammer to identify themselves. 95% of the time, the email is "bounced back" because spammers almost always use fake email addresses.

If the email is bounced back, it is spam, and I never see it.

If the email contains a virus, it is deleted and I never see it.

If the email is from a human being, they usually just click the "verify" link.

There is only one tiny flaw in the system: Sometimes people are afraid to click the verify link. That's perfectly okay, because I skim through the spam folder every couple of days just to make sure I am not missing anything due to paranoia.

Also, you can add "new senders" anytime you want, and they won't get the challenge. For example, everytime I email somebody new, I add them to my safe list, so they don't even know about my spam thing.

You can Google "spam challenge response", or just go with the service I use: SpamArrest. It's worth every penny at about $48 per year. I haven't had a virus or the threat of a virus since I began using it.

A Realtor Really Messed Me Up The Other Day

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:28:25 -0500

I have this deal that absolutely has to close by the Xth of this next month. I was chosen as the lender because I offered the most fair deal, and I was also well-acquainted with the Realtor, or so I thought.

Because the client was nickel-and-diming every single cost, I went with the lowest priced wholesale lender, so that I could pass on the lower fees to the client. Of course, this also meant that I went with the slowest lender, because they are overworked with their low rates and fees.

I made this clear to the borrower. There is a lot of give and take in the mortage world.

About a week before the closing, I called the buyer's Realtor and my client. I explained that underwriting was way behind and I was a little nervous.

This thing should close without a hitch. It should, anyway, except for the fact that the house inspection came today. If the buyer's realtor would just let it go, we have a good deal. But for an $80 window, I'm afraid I will have to redo all of the paperwork and adjust the home value by $80.

The seller "has no money" to pay for the window, so they want to lower the price of the home. The buyer's agent is actually doing this.

Can we just act like human beings?

Search Engine Help-- Learn how to Link

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:10:16 -0500

Google uses two methods of determining what a page is about:

1. The page itself and the information it has to offer.

2. How other people link to that page.

Most of ust have outside websites...for example mine is www.azwm.com

Now Google will find that link, just above this sentence, but it doesn't give Google any information. The best way to link is to tell Google what the link is about. For example:

Chandler AZ Real Estate

Now I am going to link those words to my site and Google will associate those words with my site...which it should. I don't care about the first link to AZWM.com, what I care is to "anchor" specific text to my website. How well does it work? Go ahead and Google me.

Get Images for Your Posts...Without Stealing Them

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:44:48 -0500

AR has had a number of problems with people using copyrighted words or photographs. Many posts have been written about the topic.

Come on folks! There are so many reasons not to duplicate the intellectual property of others and I can only think of one or two reasons to steal: Ignorance? Stupidity?

I personally use a company called IStockPhoto. I pay about a buck per image. Every time I write a post, I go to IStock Photo and type in a phrase related to the article about which I am going to write. So, today, I did a search for "copyright" and this is one of the images I received. I had over 1300 choices, by the way.

So it's pretty simple. Avoid angering the AR people and do the morally correct thing.

Either pay for your images (as I tend to do), or take your own pictures.

Personally, I think it's worth a buck to download a photo, because a good photo draws people into reading your blog. And if that's not worth a buck...I don't know what is.

AZ First Time Homebuyers

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:57:41 -0500

At Arizona Wholesale Mortgage, we work with first time homebuyers on a large percentage of our closings. We take great pride in helping first time homebuyers purchase the home of their dreams, the home that they deserve.

We offer downpayment assistance directly from the State of Arizona- up to 22% towards the downpayment of your home. The only condition is that you purchase a foreclosure, and in Arizona right now, foreclosures are the best deal anyway.

Recently, we helped one first time homebuyer purchase a foreclosed home for $83,000. The home was actually worth about $200,000 under normal conditions. The state granted her $12,000 for a down payment and her total price for the $200,000 home was $71,000. And it was a beautiful home.

If you want to learn about az state grants or arizona first time homebuyers programs, please call:

877-551-8188, as soon as the system picks up, dial #2 for Julie, our first time home buyers expert.

Attention Boaters-- Go Directly To Jail

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:47:42 -0500

This is one of those stories that'll make you laugh, but it's really not that funny. But I still laughed.

I've got a friend who's a very straight-laced guy. He was in the Marines and grew up with only sisters and he's a very honorable, all around good dude. Everybody likes him.

Anyway, he was driving the other day. I was with him and we were just running errands. It was about 1:00PM when the police pulled us over-- right in the middle of the day.

Turns out my friend had a warrent for his arrest, because-- get this-- last summer the Water Sheriffs stopped his boat and issued a "citation" for having a fire extinguisher that was about a month past the expiration date. That was the only ticket issued that day.

Anyway, so I'll call him "Bill"... Bill thinks its a "fix it" ticket and haphazardly left it in the boat's glovebox and forgets about it-- truly believing that it could only be nothing. The cops were even friendly when they wrote it. "No big deal one," of them said." I am sure of it!

I think his plan was to just bring a new fire extinguisher the next time we hit the marina and before we ever went out again....and forget about it. We are pretty responsible boaters, to be honest.

Turns out having an expired fire extinguisher on a boat in Arizona is a crime. One that you may need to go to trial for. You can go to jail.

But you always get some jailtime if you are charged with a second crime: Failure To Appear.

Bill forgot the ticket in the boat's glove box and, well, out of sight and all that jazz.

I take his car home as my friend is led off into handcuffs. He would have to go to jail-- quite literally with murderers and all kinds of baddies waiting on trial in Superior Court. One of the crimes must have been a felony, because they shipped him 45 minutes away to Superior Court. I hope it was the failure to appear. Because he should be able to explain that.

I tried to bail him out. I couldn't afford it. You see, when one of your charges is actually "failure to appear," they don't trust you as much when you ask to be let out a second time. His bail was $2800. It took me a while, but with the help of some friends, we got him out.

Can you imagine overlooking one little thing like the date on your fire extinguisher and the next thing you know, you're locked up in a very, very tiny cell for 36 hours?!? I won't even mention the food. Lights on constantly... No windows. And he decsribed things that are far too gross to find platform here.

The thing is, we only take the boat out once per month. It's not really on the forefront of our minds. Not that I checked, but the last time we took the boat out, the extinguisher was definitely good.

It was his first time in jail and it was a doozy. He's, got, like seven really good stories over the time period of 36 hours. Maybe I'll write about them here sometime.

So the point is boaters, and especially boaters in AZ: Check The Dates on Your Fire Extenguishers! (Or learn to use the toilet in tiny room with 24 men staring at you.) Be more diligent than my friend was-- it is not a "fix it" ticket, even though that seems to make sense.

Because, call me crazy, but this seems a whee bit excessive.

Here's another doozy: "Wakeless Speed"-- that means that you are in a no-wake zone, and you are good as far as you know, but if you are going over 5mph- wake or not- you are guilty of wakeless speed.

P.S.-- I can't find a an AR boater group. Does anyone know of one close to the theme?

So You Think You Have Health Insurance? Ha!

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:58:43 -0500

I have to admit; the whole "debate" about health care has me puzzled.

In February of this year, I flipped an ATV in the desert. I do have health insurance, so they were good enough to fly me to the hospital in an emergency helicopter. I spent five days in the ICU doped up on morphine. I lost sensation in my legs, below the knees. I also, for some odd reason, don't have feeling in my fingertips.

My bill came out to around $75,000 and they discharged me without a real diagnosis. It's a long story, but I have nerve damage and there is a possibility that I could end up in a wheelchair, but they aren't sure why. The scans didn't reveal a broken neck, as they initially thought.

A couple of months ago-- in July I think-- I tripped and fell while walking my dogs. I actually fall down often, because of the problem with the loss of feeling in my legs.

Anyway, I dislocated my shoulder when I fell. It was incredibly painful, but it was about to get a whole lot worse.

Because I know how insurance companies work, I was smart enough to call my insurer before I went to the emergency room. And this was definitely an emergency room situation.

When I called my insurance company, the customer service person almost started laughing. She said:

"Mr. George-- you used up your entire emergency benefit for the year this past February!"

"So now what?" I asked-- genuinely, because I really didn't know what I was supposed to do at this point.

"You'll have to pay cash."

I hung up the phone very depressed. A dislocated shoulder requires that you be anesthetized so the doctor can pop it back in. I knew I was looking at thousands and thousands of dollars.

So, like so many people without insurance, I made the decision to avoid the hospital bill. I can't afford it right now. I just don't have the money, period.

But I do "have insurance!" And I do live in the country with the "greatest medical care in the world!"

I've got a friend who told me we could pop it in by leaning against a wall. So I leaned and my buddy gave me a hard shove.

My vision went black for a second and I almost passed out from the pain. I might have screamed like a little girl, but I won't admit that. My friend laughed hysterically.

Of course, my friend is an idiot, and I am an idiot for listening, but again: What am I supposed to do?

Shockingly enough, my arm didn't heal correctly and I can't lift it above shoulder height. This makes putting on deodorant or changing my shirt very arduous tasks. I have to put my arms on the bathroom counter, take a couple of steps backward, sort of hunched over and stretched out, and very gently apply the deodorant with my good arm.

If my arm doesn't get better-- if I screwed it up permanently-- I'll never be able to do manual labor again. I am reminded of John McCain's shoulder injuries and the fact that he can't lift his arms above his shoulders to this day. He can't even comb his own hair. This terrifies me.

Of course, I have no idea what the damage is, because I can't afford to see a doctor about it until next January, when a new insurance year starts.

So this is why I am so puzzled. I don't understand how my fellow Americans can look me in the eye and tell me "tough luck." Why don't conservatives want me to get my arm fixed? Do I really deserve to be in pain and only have full use of one arm? I'm an American Citizen for goodness sakes.

What do we do with poor people who hurt themselves? Tough luck for them?

I can't even believe that this is an issue. It is truly beyond my comprehension.

Because if you think you have health insurance: Just wait until you have a real problem.

My wife had cancer and I owe the Mayo Clinic $630,000. And that was with an insurance company that was contracted with Mayo. That's what I owe after all of the B.S. denial-of-coverage letters that we received. They wore me down. After fighting them for several years and exchanging HUNDREDS of phone calls and letters, I finally just gave up.

But that's not all I owe. I also maxed out all of my credit cards paying for cancer treatments that weren't authorized by my insurance company. For example, my wife needed a PET scan and I had to pay $5000 that day, before the scan. Because of the cancer, I also have about $80,000 in credit card debt. All in all, I owe more than $700,000 in medical expenses.

So which one of you teabaggers likes the idea of maximum lifetime limits on your insurance policy? Because you've got 'em. Yes indeed you do.

And yes, you will eventually get "dropped" if you acquire enough medical bills. Even patriots. God help you.

Which one of you teabaggers has $700,000 in case your wife gets cancer?

I know. Tough luck for me and anybody else who is struggling financially. That must be the compassionate conservatism I so enjoy reading about.

Clients Will Remember Your Telephone Number Forever

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:31:21 -0500

My wife wrote about this a while ago, but I think it's worth a re-visit, since we have had so many new ActiveRainers sign up since then.

This post is about the Vanity Telephone number. I think any mortgage broker or Realtor is going to find this post very useful.

So imagine that somebody wants to recommend you to a friend-- wants to give you a referral. Of course, the former client doesn't actually have your card on him, so he tells his friend that he'll look you up and call and...

We know where this is going. You never get the referral 75% of the time.

But then...wait! The client tells his friend that he remembers your telephone number, because he would never forget it-- it's 877-777-TONY.

I'll explain the best way for you to get a number like that, within five minutes of reading this article. And it's cheap:

Visit the AT&T toll free number look-up tool and you'll see the following:

So-- and this is really the best way to do it-- take the bare minimum at first. In other words, if you would like the number 800-ASK-TONY, try starting out with just Tony. If you get results back (available phone numbers), then you can narrow it down further.

The asterisks are wild cards. Use asterisks when you are open to anything. So because I only care about the word Tony right now, I'll use asterisks for the rest of the number.

Here are the results:

Now this is important: At the very most, you will get back ten hits. So, because our search results already kicked out the maximum number of choices (10), that means there are many more "Tony" phone numbers.

I notice that they all start with 877. Let's get a little more selective.

Let's try putting in 877-77*-TONY

Maybe we'll get lucky and take home 877-777-TONY. But I put the asterisk, so I could see more options. Remember, just keep narrowing it down...

And that gives us:

Only four results. So 877-777-TONY is not available, because it would be here if it was. Remember, we used the asterisk (*) wild card in third position.

But I will tell you what: If I were a Realtor named Tony, I would snatch up 877-770-TONY.

So how much will all this cost?

Pennies. Practically nothing in the big picture-- especially if you advertise the heck out of it.

About SIX CENTS per minute, plus a small monthly fee (I think it's about $15). You can have all calls forwarded to your cell phone. And remember, you only pay for the calls that come in on that number. So worst case scenario, you spend $15 per month to keep it active and give it some time to saturate your local public.

Plus, I think you have the added bonus of looking more professional, with a big-shot national toll-free number.

Here's the link: http://businessesales.att.com/products/lookup_toll_free_results.jhtml

And one more tip: Let's say you have a name with seven or more letters. So you want "1-800-MICHELE" of course. But, let's be honest, you probably aren't going to get it.

You could always try 877-77-MICHELE. In reality your number will be 877-77M-ICHE, and everybody might dial two extra digits to reach you, but they'll remember 877-77-MICHELE whether its two digits too long or not. So get creative!

And if you get a good one, please come back here at make it known to all.

~Michael George

P.S.--

Comment by Judi Abbott:

Great idea! Just ordered mine 877-770-JUDI routed to my cell phone. Super easy! Took maybe 10 minutes and month to month service is cheap. Can't wait to plaster it all over the place. Th!anks so much for the tip

The World Just Lost Two American Heroes

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:27:10 -0500

Two firefighters died yesterday, while attempting to secure their campsite just outside of Los Angeles.

Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, 35, of Palmdale were killed in the crash, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage.

Arnaldo Quinones' wife, Loressa, is pregnant with their first child.

How awful. America lost two great men yesterday, August 31st. True American Heroes.

I really dislike the way the word "hero" is so casually thrown around. People overuse the word so much, it loses it's true value.

One time, when I was about ten years old, I was swimming in a lake that had a sudden drop-off. I was a pretty strong swimmer and I was treading water past the drop-off point and just sort of looking around, enjoying the sun.

At some point I hear a cry and to make a long story short: A kid had mistakenly walked past the drop-off and was proceeding to drown.

He was only a few feet from being able to stand up. So I swam over-- I think I might have grabbed him by the hair-- and I pulled him three feet to safety. Three feet.

Anyway, he told his parents that I "saved" him and a reporter ended up calling and, of course, they called me a bloody hero. (My face is so beet-red right now. I can't even tell this story without getting embarassed as all get out.)

There was absolutely NOTHING heroic about what I did. In fact, all I did was act like a human being and behaved in a manner that is no less than EXPECTED of every single one of us. That makes a hero? If I didn't go after the kid, I would have practically been culpable in his death. Going after him was the bare minimum thing that any human being would do in that situation. Anybody. Bare minimum.

But Firefighters? Now those guys are true heros. They don't wait until they just happen to be around if a kid is drowning. They go into the job knowing that they are going to be saving lives...and occasionally losing some.

They willingly take the job of first responders. They walk into the burning buildings while the rest of us flee in terror.

Have you ever thought about the fact that these guys only make $45,000 per year (on average) and they deal with burned-up children, motorcycle accidents, and every other violent horror that happens in our society? We hear about the child with third degree burns all over her body, but do we ever think about the guy who pulled her out of the house? How he may be scarred for life over what he saw?

Let us give thanks for men like Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones. We are all the better for having men like these among us.

Organ Donation and You

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:23:20 -0500

How many of us are organ donors?

And if you are, how certain are you that your loved ones know your wishes?

I want to share something I experienced, in case anybody ever goes through this, you can be nice and ready.

My wife Karen died on August 23rd, 2008, 4:05AM.

Sometime around 9am, they came and zipped her up in a bag. It was the most horrible blasted thing I have ever seen. Seeing her put into a damn bag and zipped up like luggage. If I ever live through this again, I will leave the house when the guy comes. I would highly recommend that my readers do the same. Highly.

Anyway, as you can imagine, this really screwed with my brain. I started freaking out as soon as they took her. I tried calling the mortician to tell him that maybe I made a mistake and that Karen wasn't dead and can you please take her out of that &%$@# bag right now? Please!!!

He wasn't having any of that. I actually begged him to bring her body back to me so I could triple-check myself. Again, he refused. I panicked. I honestly believed that Karen might still be alive and that I didn't properly check her pulse. My anxiety was through the roof. I felt like I gave my wife away like used trash. It was traumatic.

I am not going for sympathy here, I just need to set up the story.

Around 10am, I received a phone call from-- who I thought-- was a telemarketer. I almost went crazy on this poor lady.

It turned out that she was a surgeon and she called to ask if I would donate Karen's eyes to a blind child. The mortician must have alerted her that they had a fresh body and so she called me right away.

Although I am an organ donor myself and it says so on my driver's license and license plate...Karen and I didn't actually have a set plan in place regarding organ donation. Not because we didn't plan ahead though. This is because Karen had cancer, so 99% of her body would have been useless anyway. We never considered the eyes.

Now when somebody calls you 6 hours after the love of your life dies and asks to remove their eyeballs-- your first instinct might be to kill them. That was I wanted to do.

How dare they bother me!

So I yelled at her: "Why are you calling me? Are you kidding me with this right now? Leave me alone for goodness sakes!" (Okay, maybe my language was a bit more...uh...flowery at the time.)

She was very patient and understanding and she told me how a child was waiting for a set of eyes and that Karen's corneas would be of the utmost importance to a very grateful family.

So I told her to take the eyes and my heart broke in two.

It may not seem like it-- especially since Karen and I were organ donors-- but that was a very hard thing to do. The reason is because once you give permission for somebody to harvest your loved one's organs, you are really going to need to accept the fact that they are truly gone.

I asked her if she would please put something in the sockets, so that her eyes didn't look odd for the viewing. She assured me she would.

Anyway. The reason I write this post is because I was about * this * close to screaming at this woman and slamming the phone down. However, now that a year has passed, I am so very glad about it. Karen would have wanted me to do the donation thing.

So if a loved one dies, and they want to donate their organs-- just know that there is more to it. They still need permission, even if the dearly departed signed the form. They could have changed their mind. So they have to call and bother you and you will have to deal with it.

You just need to keep it together long enough to deal with this final thing. Then you can go back to freaking the heck out.

That's it. I am writing about this for another project; so while I was on the topic, I thought I would post. I really hope this helps somebody else to make a decision on such an awful day as this.

ServiceMagic.com and Their Sleazy Website

Arizona Home Loan & Mortgage — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:30:48 -0500

This is just plain ridiculous.

Has everyone seen the commercial for a new website called ServiceMagic.com? In Arizona, it pretty much runs constantly, so I am assuming it does so everywhere. I could be wrong though.

Anyway, the commercial is an insult to anybody's intelligence right from the get-go.

They boast that they will help you find the best contractors in your area, and it implies that there is a rating system or something. You know, before you use so-and-so, you'd better check them out with ServiceMagic first.

And it's all free! They point that out over and over. As if we don't know that nothing is free.

So it must be a charity right? Or maybe it's run by the government? I can't think of any way-- other than charity or government-- that a site could operate for the benefit of consumers and at a cost of zero.

They've got this nicely produced television commercial; are advertising the heck out of it; and they most definitely have employees.

But it's all...ahem..."free."

Actually, it's not free for everybody. The contractors that ServiceMagic recommends-- you know, as a free service because they love you so much-- they are the ones that pay.

On the ServiceMagic site, I clicked the link for contractors. It brought me to a page that said:

Last month, 6,687 Arizona Homeowners Came to ServiceMagic Looking for a Pro Like You.

Make sure they find you!

They also offered me some free leads. Leads? Now I'm totally confused. How do they get leads to the contractors? Because...I thought that a consumer just goes to the site and clicks on "carpet installers" and finds a few top rated guys.

So, because I actually need help with a garage door right now, I decide to check it out anyway. Just to see the name of the company that they match me up with. I'll take it with a grain of salt, because I know these guys just paid to be ServiceMagic-approved, but it doesn't mean they aren't good guys. So I'll be objective...

But guess what? You never get to see the names of the contractors. You have to fill out a 3-page form and after you give them lots of information, they ask you for your name, address, and telephone number.

After that, they sell your information-rich lead to four different contractors. Now you are going to get four guys calling you at work, because each one paid for a non-exclusive lead from this gigantic lie of a company.

Please discourage this type of dishonesty in the marketplace. Please do not use ServiceMagic.

Pass it on!