As I am sure everyone has heard, rates are near all-time lows. My phone has been ringing off the hook with new and old clients trying to take advantage of the sub 5% interest rates that are available right now.
!!!NEWSFLASH!!! I am not the only Loan Officer experiencing this.
There is a refi wave rolling through the entire nation and lenders are entirely SWAMPED! Turn times have increased, Wells Fargo today released a note saying to lock no shorter than 45 days and were wanting 60day locks to be safe. Some lenders like Chase reprice for the worse half way through the day (even when the MBS Bond market is climbing and showing no reason for a reprice) to keep new applications from coming in. They don't have the manpower to process and underwrite the amount of loans they have. The lenders that were starving for loans a few months ago have more than they can handle! We are in unprecedented times. Sure we had refi booms in the past. As early as a few years ago, but the army of Underwriters were there to take on the load. With the lenders losing money hand over fist this past year major cuts were made, and the processing and UW departments were not spared. Now with the immense amount of applications submitted, they can't keep up!
It is now common to see loans take up o 22 BUSINESS days from submission to funding!
Guess what? I have not experienced these turn times. Matter of fact, I just closed a purchase in less than 2 WEEKS from start to finish.
Why? We do EVERYTHING in house! We have our own processing and underwriting team, great relationships with title companies, and appraisers. Our streamlined system offers 24hr UW turn times, and on top of all this, we have some of the best rates out there!
If you have a purchase transaction that needs a quick turn time, give me a shot. If you are looking to refinance, but don't want to wait a month or more for the transaction to go through, give me a call. With turn times only going to get WORSE in the near future, I pride myself on my speed, accuracy and white gloved service.
But not so bad for Spokane Valley. CQ Press City released their annual Crime Rankings today and Spokane out-ranked Seattle and Portland, while Spokane Valley, Bellingham and Bellevue came in toward the bottom of the list. In Idaho, Boise and Nampa also came in toward the bottom.
"We're faced with more and more violent crime than in the past," said Spokane Police Sgt. Joe Peterson. "It's a more violent world for sure."
Here is how the Washington and Idaho cities stacked up on the list. FYI 385 cities were polled nationwide.
No. 39: Tacoma No. 55: Everett No. 84: Yakima No. 98: Kent No. 123: Spokane No. 165: Seattle No. 166: Federal Way No. 192: Vancouver No. 220: Nampa, Idaho No. 258: Boise No. 274: Bellingham No. 299: Spokane Valley No. 337: Bellevue
After graduating from the University of Oregon, a good friend of mine moved to Seattle to begin his career. An avid UO Duck football fan, he found it frustrating to find a local bar to watch his Alama Mater play on Saturday. He knew he couldn't be the only one, so he developed:
University of Oregon graduate Ryan Lewis '02 founder of www.FanSpan.com has a solution. www.FanSpan.com gives sports fans the opportunity to search for a local, fan-friendly sports environment to watch their favorite teams. The website locates and categorizes these bars/restaurants as watch sites, and identifies them by the teams and sports they associate themselves with.
Lewis says, "Our vision for FanSpan.com is to connect sports fans in both a virtual environment as well as a physical one. With FanSpan.com, people will be able to find a local fan-friendly atmosphere to watch a game, get a hold of old friends, and make some new ones. We want to help foster the community that sports create."
"Macadam's Bar & Grill (an Official UO Watch Party Location in Portland, OR) is one of many watch sites on FanSpan.com," said proprietor Ryan Steele. "FanSpan.com allows us to promote our establishment to sports fans looking to watch their favorite teams, but it also allows us to promote other events that are going on that will appeal to our patrons as well."
Membership on FanSpan.com is free; however, non-members will be allowed to use the watch site search function. Logged-in members have the ability to:
~ Search for watch sites ~ Review and critique watch sites based on different criteria ~ Upload personal photos and videos to their profile ~ Locate friends and fans in their community or around the nation ~ Post blogs ~ Create and join groups
The current watch site list covers over 2,500 bars and restaurants across the U.S. pertaining to the following sports: Football (NFL & NCAA), Soccer (MLS & English Premier), Mixed Martial Arts, NASCAR, Basketball (NBA & NCAA), Hockey (NHL & NCAA), Rugby and Baseball (MLB & NCAA).
My, recently married into the family, greek brother-in-law had told me about Opa! Pizza and Greek Cuising in north Spokane months ago and today I finally had the chance to check the place out. Short and to the point, it will NOT be the last time to go! That's for sure!
I met my wife and daughter there for lunch. Unfortuantely, I did not have a chance to check out their pizza (which they boast is the best in Spokane), however you know I am next time we go there! Both my wife and I ordered the gyro and my daughter tried their pita pizza. We all loved it. Prompt attentive service that was perfect. There seemed to be an extensive wine list and the menu blends Greek and Italian flavors. Amazing appetizers, salads, soups and pastas, as well as authentic family recipies from the kitchen.
Opa strives to have fresh, authentic Greek and Italian cuisine, and consequently they receive many compliments for this authenticity. My borther-in-law absolutely loves it and reminds him of his grandmothers home made dishes...especially the baklava!
Branch out and check something out that North Spokane lacks - a selection of cultural foods. Below is the website to their restaurant and feel free to fire off any questions to me about it. I loved the place and would be thinking of going back for dinner if I wasn't so full!
After graduating from the University of Oregon, a good friend of mine moved to Seattle to begin his career. An avid UO Duck football fan, he found it frustrating to find a local bar to watch his Alama Mater play on Saturday. He knew he couldn't be the only one, so he developed:
University of Oregon graduate Ryan Lewis '02 founder of www.FanSpan.com has a solution. www.FanSpan.com gives sports fans the opportunity to search for a local, fan-friendly sports environment to watch their favorite teams. The website locates and categorizes these bars/restaurants as watch sites, and identifies them by the teams and sports they associate themselves with.
Lewis says, "Our vision for FanSpan.com is to connect sports fans in both a virtual environment as well as a physical one. With FanSpan.com, people will be able to find a local fan-friendly atmosphere to watch a game, get a hold of old friends, and make some new ones. We want to help foster the community that sports create."
"Macadam's Bar & Grill (an Official UO Watch Party Location in Portland, OR) is one of many watch sites on FanSpan.com," said proprietor Ryan Steele. "FanSpan.com allows us to promote our establishment to sports fans looking to watch their favorite teams, but it also allows us to promote other events that are going on that will appeal to our patrons as well."
Membership on FanSpan.com is free; however, non-members will be allowed to use the watch site search function. Logged-in members have the ability to:
~ Search for watch sites ~ Review and critique watch sites based on different criteria ~ Upload personal photos and videos to their profile ~ Locate friends and fans in their community or around the nation ~ Post blogs ~ Create and join groups
The current watch site list covers over 2,500 bars and restaurants across the U.S. pertaining to the following sports: Football (NFL & NCAA), Soccer (MLS & English Premier), Mixed Martial Arts, NASCAR, Basketball (NBA & NCAA), Hockey (NHL & NCAA), Rugby and Baseball (MLB & NCAA).
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked California, Connecticut and Oregon at the top of a list of states improving energy efficiency to respond to high prices, energy security and global warming.
A report released Monday rated Idaho as the most improved state in this category, moving from 25th two years ago to 13th. California, Connecticut and Oregon were followed in the Top 10 by Vermont, New York and Washington state. Also, Minnesota and Massachusetts were tied, and New Jersey made the top tier of states.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy rated the states on "a wide range of the proven effective and readily available efficiency strategies." Among areas examined were building codes, transportation and land-use policies, utilities' efficiency programs, financial incentives and support for research.
The West is doing something right in regards to Energy Efficiency! With 3 of the top 6 states in the nation and Idaho making the biggest jump in 2 years, it looks like we are taking the necessary steps to improving our future.
The 6th Annual Spokane River Clean-Up is THIS WEEKEND.
Saturday, October 4 at High Bridge Park.
Start making your plans now and sign up to volunteer for this years event.
Come join me and hundreds of other volunteers as we clean up the Spokane River. Last year over 750 people picked up over 4 1/2 tons of trash and recycled over 2,500 pounds.
Here are a few quick tips that I found useful and thought you would too! The coffee groudns really work!
LIGHT BULBS:
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Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs always trump compact fluorescents (CFL's) in terms of efficiency. LEDs are a little more expensive but it's a compensatory decision since they use half the energy as CFLs (and 1/10th less energy than incandescent, saving more than $700 in a lifetime.) In addition, LED's last 60,000 hours, while CFLs last 10,000. Here's the clincher: Unlike CFLs, LEDs contain no mercury.
The winner: LED!
COFFEE: Are you one of the more than 50 percent of Americans who drink coffee everyday. While a lot of that is visitng Starbucks, a lot of us still brew our own in the morning. But what to do with those left over coffee grounds? Here are some solutions.
Clean kitchen drains - Boil about 6 cups of water. Pour a half of cup of used coffee grounds down the drain, followed by the hot water. Cat and pest repellent- To help keep cats and pests from the garden area, mix coffee grounds with used orange peels and spread the mixture around the outside of your garden. Mulch- Toss your used coffee grounds onto the soil. The dark color absorbs heat from the sun, which helps the soil warm up, adding nutrients to the soil as the grounds break down.
GAS: 54 million Americans mowed their lawns on weekends using an estimated 800 million gallons of gas per year and the EPA said gas-powered lawnmowers are guilty of up to 5% of US air pollution.
Here are some tips to cut that down a bit
Mow later. Mowing late afternoon or evening reduces the amount of gas vapors in the air during the day, when ground-level ozone is forming.
Avoid gas spills. One shot glass (1oz) of spilled gas is equivalent to the pollution emitted by driving 25 miles
According to the EPA, Americans spill more than 17 million gallons of fuel in their yards each year - more than Exxon Valdez dumped into the ocean.
Maybe it's time to switch to the old-fashioned manual model...
Tucked away in a little corner behind the Looff Carrousel is a staple of Spokane's Riverfront Park that is known by locals, but often over looked by vistors in lieu of the Carrousel, the river, or other sculptures or fountains. At first sight, one would think it is strange that there is a statue of a single goat in the corner of the park. But once you see the power of this little goat, all your questions will be answered.
A button to the right of this little guy, when pressed creates a powerful vacuum that is designed to suck garbage through the mouth of the goat and shoot it out the *ahem* other end into a trash compactor. Watching kids learn the power of the goat is a kick! Heck even parents! I have seen parents get that little kid look in their eye as they walk up to feed the Garbage Goat. All of a sudden it is a search to find a piece of garbage to "feed" the goat! People of all ages try this guy out and he has dutifully kept garbage off the ground for the last 34yrs. Needless to say there is no garbage within a 50 yard radius of this little guy...now if we could figure a way to get these all over the city! :)
Created by Sister Paula Turnbull and donated by the Spokane Woman Council of Realtors for the Worlds Fair in 1974 (Yes, believe it or not little old Spokane hosted the worlds fair in 1974:)) it has been a staple in the park ever since. There was a total of 5 goats, that have been removed throughout the years, but this once has remained. As you can imagine, there is not a cleaner part of the park then the area around the Looff Carrousel!
Next time you are in Spokane, check out the Garbage Goat, you and your children are sure to get a kick out of him! Known and respected by locals, he is a Riverfront Park icon.
It is finally here! The NFL Season! I am sure you have read a lot of the "Experts" choices on who will do what this year, but as always it comes down to injuries. If our team can stay healthy (and if our running game can come back a bit) I feel confident stacking us up against any team in the league! First victim? The Buffalo Bills on the road! Bring it on BABY!
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