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    <title>Ventura &amp; Los Angeles Counties Mortgage News &amp; Info</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/donne4loans</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362023/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:  Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:&amp;nbsp; Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/3/3/1/ar125962948313309.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;210&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This completely remodeled &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; pool home located at 2829 Royal Ave. with&amp;nbsp;3bd/2ba has more than 1000 sq. ft. of living space on a more than 7000 sq. ft. lot.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This home is absolutely move-in ready and is not a short sale or an REO so there's no waiting around for some bank to approve your offer but an actual real live seller and Realtor who will respond to your offer in hours not days.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With beautiful vaulted ceilings, this home has been tastefully redone from top to bottom with&amp;nbsp;new tile floors and carpet and&amp;nbsp;freshly painted in neutral colors.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The large back yard is also great for entertaining with a large redone pool&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/0/2/9/ar125963037792015.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;219&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/9/8/2/ar125963090928978.jpg&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/8/5/ar125963111258092.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;221&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't miss this remodeled beauty.&amp;nbsp; It's nothing like the dilapidated REO dumps you've been looking at, making offers on and &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; getting.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But, there's more too.&amp;nbsp; This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; home is just minutes away from both Ranch Simi Community Park and Sycamore Community Center.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/5/1/0/8/ar125935214580152.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/6/1/5/ar125935234151657.jpg&quot; height=&quot;167&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;225&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/8/6/9/ar125935409696897.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;212&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This&amp;nbsp;wonderful homes is also just minutes away from the both the Arroyo equestrian center and the Arroyo bike trails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/7/7/6/ar125935745967703.jpg&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;327&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/4/1/4/ar125935755641437.jpg&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;328&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But that's not the best part!&amp;nbsp; The best part about this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is that it's eligible for nearly &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$140,000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in down payment assistance from the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/1/4/3/ar125935789934107.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;241&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As far as affordable housing programs go, the city of Simi Valley has one of the best down payment assistance programs I have ever worked with.&amp;nbsp; For more info on their program, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;, for program guidelines and requirements.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Basically, qualified low-medium income, first time buyers can purchase a four bedroom home up to $414,000 with as much as $200,000 in down payment assistance or a three bedroom home up to $345,000 with as much as $150,000.&amp;nbsp; The down payment assistance comes in the form of a &quot;silent second&quot; so you make no payments on it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not all active properties are eligible for the program because they do not meet the program guidelines for sales price and size.&amp;nbsp; But guess what?&amp;nbsp; This incredible &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is eligible.&amp;nbsp; As of today, this property is still available which means you're not competing with a gazillion other buyers for the property.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on this wonderful &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact Steve Szakos of Keller Williams Realty at 805.7601506 or at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&quot;&gt;stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on how you can qualify for down payment assistance to purchase this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/donne4loans&quot; title=&quot;Donne Knudsen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt; of Cobalt Financial Corp, at 805.5278554 or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:info@donne4loans.com&quot;&gt;info@donne4loans.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's real estate market and lending environment can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search.&amp;nbsp; Finding out more about affordable home loan options and getting pre-approved is an absolute must.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pre-approval process is relatively simple so contact me today to get pre-approved for this incredible program and make&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;fantastic property your next home.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:04:47 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362023/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362019/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:  Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:&amp;nbsp; Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/3/3/1/ar125962948313309.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;210&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This completely remodeled &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; pool home located at 2829 Royal Ave. with&amp;nbsp;3bd/2ba has more than 1000 sq. ft. of living space on a more than 7000 sq. ft. lot.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This home is absolutely move-in ready and is not a short sale or an REO so there's no waiting around for some bank to approve your offer but an actual real live seller and Realtor who will respond to your offer in hours not days.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With beautiful vaulted ceilings, this home has been tastefully redone from top to bottom with&amp;nbsp;new tile floors and carpet and&amp;nbsp;freshly painted in neutral colors.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The large back yard is also great for entertaining with a large redone pool&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/0/2/9/ar125963037792015.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;219&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/9/8/2/ar125963090928978.jpg&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/8/5/ar125963111258092.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;221&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't miss this remodeled beauty.&amp;nbsp; It's nothing like the dilapidated REO dumps you've been looking at, making offers on and &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; getting.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But, there's more too.&amp;nbsp; This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; home is just minutes away from both Ranch Simi Community Park and Sycamore Community Center.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/5/1/0/8/ar125935214580152.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/6/1/5/ar125935234151657.jpg&quot; height=&quot;167&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;225&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/8/6/9/ar125935409696897.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;212&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This&amp;nbsp;wonderful homes is also just minutes away from the both the Arroyo equestrian center and the Arroyo bike trails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/7/7/6/ar125935745967703.jpg&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;327&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/4/1/4/ar125935755641437.jpg&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;328&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But that's not the best part!&amp;nbsp; The best part about this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is that it's eligible for nearly &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$140,000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in down payment assistance from the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/1/4/3/ar125935789934107.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;241&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As far as affordable housing programs go, the city of Simi Valley has one of the best down payment assistance programs I have ever worked with.&amp;nbsp; For more info on their program, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;, for program guidelines and requirements.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Basically, qualified low-medium income, first time buyers can purchase a four bedroom home up to $414,000 with as much as $200,000 in down payment assistance or a three bedroom home up to $345,000 with as much as $150,000.&amp;nbsp; The down payment assistance comes in the form of a &quot;silent second&quot; so you make no payments on it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not all active properties are eligible for the program because they do not meet the program guidelines for sales price and size.&amp;nbsp; But guess what?&amp;nbsp; This incredible &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is eligible.&amp;nbsp; As of today, this property is still available which means you're not competing with a gazillion other buyers for the property.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on this wonderful &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact Steve Szakos of Keller Williams Realty at 805.7601506 or at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&quot;&gt;stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on how you can qualify for down payment assistance to purchase this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/donne4loans&quot; title=&quot;Donne Knudsen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt; of Cobalt Financial Corp, at 805.5278554 or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:info@donne4loans.com&quot;&gt;info@donne4loans.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's real estate market and lending environment can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search.&amp;nbsp; Finding out more about affordable home loan options and getting pre-approved is an absolute must.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pre-approval process is relatively simple so contact me today to get pre-approved for this incredible program and make&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;fantastic property your next home.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:03:41 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362019/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362012/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:  Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:&amp;nbsp; Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/3/3/1/ar125962948313309.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;210&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This completely remodeled &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; pool home located at 2829 Royal Ave. with&amp;nbsp;3bd/2ba has more than 1000 sq. ft. of living space on a more than 7000 sq. ft. lot.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This home is absolutely move-in ready and is not a short sale or an REO so there's no waiting around for some bank to approve your offer but an actual real live seller and Realtor who will respond to your offer in hours not days.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With beautiful vaulted ceilings, this home has been tastefully redone from top to bottom with&amp;nbsp;new tile floors and carpet and&amp;nbsp;freshly painted in neutral colors.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The large back yard is also great for entertaining with a large redone pool&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/0/2/9/ar125963037792015.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;219&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/9/8/2/ar125963090928978.jpg&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/8/5/ar125963111258092.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;221&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't miss this remodeled beauty.&amp;nbsp; It's nothing like the dilapidated REO dumps you've been looking at, making offers on and &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; getting.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But, there's more too.&amp;nbsp; This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; home is just minutes away from both Ranch Simi Community Park and Sycamore Community Center.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/5/1/0/8/ar125935214580152.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/6/1/5/ar125935234151657.jpg&quot; height=&quot;167&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;225&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/8/6/9/ar125935409696897.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;212&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This&amp;nbsp;wonderful homes is also just minutes away from the both the Arroyo equestrian center and the Arroyo bike trails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/7/7/6/ar125935745967703.jpg&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;327&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/4/1/4/ar125935755641437.jpg&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;328&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But that's not the best part!&amp;nbsp; The best part about this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is that it's eligible for nearly &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$140,000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in down payment assistance from the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/1/4/3/ar125935789934107.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;241&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As far as affordable housing programs go, the city of Simi Valley has one of the best down payment assistance programs I have ever worked with.&amp;nbsp; For more info on their program, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;, for program guidelines and requirements.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Basically, qualified low-medium income, first time buyers can purchase a four bedroom home up to $414,000 with as much as $200,000 in down payment assistance or a three bedroom home up to $345,000 with as much as $150,000.&amp;nbsp; The down payment assistance comes in the form of a &quot;silent second&quot; so you make no payments on it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not all active properties are eligible for the program because they do not meet the program guidelines for sales price and size.&amp;nbsp; But guess what?&amp;nbsp; This incredible &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is eligible.&amp;nbsp; As of today, this property is still available which means you're not competing with a gazillion other buyers for the property.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on this wonderful &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact Steve Szakos of Keller Williams Realty at 805.7601506 or at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&quot;&gt;stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on how you can qualify for down payment assistance to purchase this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/donne4loans&quot; title=&quot;Donne Knudsen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt; of Cobalt Financial Corp, at 805.5278554 or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:info@donne4loans.com&quot;&gt;info@donne4loans.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's real estate market and lending environment can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search.&amp;nbsp; Finding out more about affordable home loan options and getting pre-approved is an absolute must.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pre-approval process is relatively simple so contact me today to get pre-approved for this incredible program and make&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;fantastic property your next home.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:00:52 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362012/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362007/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:  Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ATTENTION SIMI VALLEY FIRST TIME BUYERS:&amp;nbsp; Incredible SUNKIST Pool Home is Eligible for Down Payment Assistance&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/3/3/1/ar125962948313309.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;210&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This completely remodeled &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; pool home located at 2829 Royal Ave. with&amp;nbsp;3bd/2ba has more than 1000 sq. ft. of living space on a more than 7000 sq. ft. lot.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This home is absolutely move-in ready and is not a short sale or an REO so there's no waiting around for some bank to approve your offer but an actual real live seller and Realtor who will respond to your offer in hours not days.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With beautiful vaulted ceilings, this home has been tastefully redone from top to bottom with&amp;nbsp;new tile floors and carpet and&amp;nbsp;freshly painted in neutral colors.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The large back yard is also great for entertaining with a large redone pool&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/0/2/9/ar125963037792015.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;217&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/9/8/2/ar125963090928978.jpg&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;217&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/8/5/ar125963111258092.jpg&quot; height=&quot;168&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;215&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't miss this remodeled beauty.&amp;nbsp; It's nothing like the dilapidated REO dumps you've been looking at, making offers on and &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; getting.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But, there's more too.&amp;nbsp; This &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; home is just minutes away from both Ranch Simi Community Park and Sycamore Community Center.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/5/1/0/8/ar125935214580152.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/6/1/5/ar125935234151657.jpg&quot; height=&quot;167&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;225&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/8/6/9/ar125935409696897.jpg&quot; height=&quot;164&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;212&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This&amp;nbsp;wonderful homes is also just minutes away from the both the Arroyo equestrian center and the Arroyo bike trails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/7/7/6/ar125935745967703.jpg&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;327&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/4/1/4/ar125935755641437.jpg&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;328&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But that's not the best part!&amp;nbsp; The best part about this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is that it's eligible for nearly &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$140,000&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in down payment assistance from the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/1/4/3/ar125935789934107.jpg&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;241&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As far as affordable housing programs go, the city of Simi Valley has one of the best down payment assistance programs I have ever worked with.&amp;nbsp; For more info on their program, check out &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley First Time Buyer Program&lt;/a&gt;, for program guidelines and requirements.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Basically, qualified low-medium income, first time buyers can purchase a four bedroom home up to $414,000 with as much as $200,000 in down payment assistance or a three bedroom home up to $345,000 with as much as $150,000.&amp;nbsp; The down payment assistance comes in the form of a &quot;silent second&quot; so you make no payments on it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not all active properties are eligible for the program because they do not meet the program guidelines for sales price and size.&amp;nbsp; But guess what?&amp;nbsp; This incredible &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; home is eligible.&amp;nbsp; As of today, this property is still available which means you're not competing with a gazillion other buyers for the property.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on this wonderful &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact Steve Szakos of Keller Williams Realty at 805.7601506 or at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&quot;&gt;stepehenszakos@hotmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on how you can qualify for down payment assistance to purchase this &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SUNKIST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; pool home, contact me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/donne4loans&quot; title=&quot;Donne Knudsen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt; of Cobalt Financial Corp, at 805.5278554 or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:info@donne4loans.com&quot;&gt;info@donne4loans.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's real estate market and lending environment can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search.&amp;nbsp; Finding out more about affordable home loan options and getting pre-approved is an absolute must.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pre-approval process is relatively simple so contact me today to get pre-approved for this incredible program and make&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;fantastic property your next home.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:55:50 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1362007/attention-simi-valley-first-time-buyers-incredible-sunkist-pool-home-is-eligible-for-down-payment-assistance</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1345885/some-dieting-tips-from-one-loser-to-another-part-one</guid>
      <title>Some Dieting Tips from One &quot;Loser&quot; to Another - Part One</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/0/6/1/5/ar125865566551606.jpg&quot; height=&quot;97&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;167&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Welcome Phat Farm fans!&amp;nbsp; I hope that this can be a place where we fellow &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;losers&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; can all be &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;winners&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; by supporting each in our quest for a healthier lifestyle.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I joined the group because after losing 44lbs last year, I know first hand how hard it was to stay focused on my goal and to not get discouraged with the struggles of getting there.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Gaining weight is easy!&amp;nbsp; Losing it takes work.&amp;nbsp; So, how did I go from a size 14 to a 9/10 in six months?&amp;nbsp; Well actually, it was a number of things that I incorporated into my daily life that resulted in reaching my goal.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First and foremost, in setting my goals, I made sure that they were realistic and healthy.&amp;nbsp; Could I have lost more?&amp;nbsp; Sure I could have but realistically, it would have been even harder than it has been to try and maintain that lower size.&amp;nbsp; So, instead of setting a goal weight, I set a goal size.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/5/5/7/ar125865573975597.jpg&quot; height=&quot;112&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;175&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;To me, losing a couple of sizes seemed less daunting than 40+lbs.&amp;nbsp; Yeah, I know, it nothing more than just a mind game with yourself but initially, a couple of sizes seems less overwhelming than some big loss in lbs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I also didn't beat myself up for slip ups in the process or the times I treated myself to a special meal or outing.&amp;nbsp; Dieting 24/7 for months on end is tough enough without lambasting yourself for a day off every now and then.&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/9/4/1/ar125865582214938.jpg&quot; height=&quot;102&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;166&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm most certainly not advocating dieting for six days a week and then going crazy on the 7&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;.&amp;nbsp; That can wreck havoc on your whole plan.&amp;nbsp; But for me, dieting for months and then going to a bar-b-que (and not dieting) was not cause for a mental and emotional whipping because I had a few margaritas, some chips and salsa as well as a plateful of food &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; two desserts.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In setting the first part of my plan in motion, my first goal was to identify my biggest issue with food.&amp;nbsp; For me, it was portion size so the first thing I had to do was to start eating smaller portions.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I once read somewhere that a person's normal and healthy stomach is the size of our fist and that we shouldn't be eating more than a handful of food at any one time and/or sitting.&amp;nbsp; So, I based my portion sizes on this concept.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Initially, it was a little tough because I was used to eating larger portions and smaller meals didn't fill me up so I scheduled my meals every few hours (3-4hrs) in order to satisfy my hunger.&amp;nbsp; By the end of the day, I was eating about five to six small meals a day, which kept my hunger at bay and helped me to maintain my smaller portion sizes.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After awhile, the smaller meals started to fill me up and I eventually reduced my meals down to about four to five meals a day.&amp;nbsp; Now, I know what you're thinking &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Donne, how can you survive on a few handfuls of food?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Well, you'd be surprised.&amp;nbsp; Stay tuned for part two where I discuss my actual diet.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/6/0/1/ar125865592310615.jpg&quot; height=&quot;123&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;Losing all that weight last year was a wonderful accomplishment for me.&amp;nbsp; I remember right before Thanksgiving and Christmas being so proud of myself that I went out and bought a few new outfits to wear during the holidays.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I remember how wonderful it felt hearing friends and relatives telling me how great I looked.&amp;nbsp; It was so great.&amp;nbsp; One year later I'm feeling a little discouraged; I've gained back 12lbs this year.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I'm not going to sit here and beat myself up for it, it's over and done with and I just need to move on, I know what went wrong; I started slipping back into some old habits like eating larger portions.&amp;nbsp; So two weeks ago, I started back on my diet.&amp;nbsp; At least this time around I don't have as much to lose and 12lbs won't be as hard to lose as 44lbs.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:39:57 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1345885/some-dieting-tips-from-one-loser-to-another-part-one</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1336603/fha-audit-is-in-and-fha-is-not-broke-and-they-don-t-need-a-bailout-</guid>
      <title>FHA AUDIT IS IN AND FHA IS NOT BROKE AND THEY DON'T NEED A BAILOUT!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I subscribe to the daily webcasts of Think Big, Work Small (TBWS), which is hosted by these two guys, Brian Stevens &amp;amp; Frank Garay.&amp;nbsp; TBWS was founded a couple of years ago by a bunch of real estate and mortgage people who wanted to teach others in the business how to work smarter to grow their business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's video was especially important because there was a segment on the FHA audit that was just released.&amp;nbsp; Turns out that FHA is not going broke and does not need a bailout.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I'm including a link to the actual FHA audit that shows they have more than 4% of reserves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.box.net/shared/xdnnpprajt&quot;&gt;http://www.box.net/shared/xdnnpprajt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyway, here is today's video and I hope you enjoy it&amp;nbsp;as much as I did.&amp;nbsp; I want to also suggest checking out some of their more recent ones too as well as their blog threads.&amp;nbsp; Very interesting discussions going on.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19978/1234553&quot; title=&quot;blocked::http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19978/1234553&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/8/2/4/9/ar125815566794282.jpg&quot; height=&quot;60&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;279&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:54:47 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1336603/fha-audit-is-in-and-fha-is-not-broke-and-they-don-t-need-a-bailout-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1334887/-i-m-mad-as-hell-and-i-m-not-going-to-take-this-anymore-</guid>
      <title>&quot;I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!&quot;</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;ATTENTION BUYERS&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Please read this post very carefully.&amp;nbsp; While it is a little long, it is so vital that you understand what this means if you choose to support this practice.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This year, so many of my buyers, especially first time buyers, have grudgingly adhered to this practice of having to pre-approve with some rep who works for one of the&amp;nbsp;big banks that received billions of dollars in bail-out money.&amp;nbsp; Very rarely, were they successful in getting their offers accepted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I even have two clients whose credit scores were negatively impacted because of all the credit checks they were&amp;nbsp;subjected to.&amp;nbsp; At this point, many of my clients are choosing to no longer view and/or make offers on properties that require them to pre-approve with some other lender.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This most recent policy of Chase is outright illegal and it will be a matter of time before they are reported for their illegal actions.&amp;nbsp; I implore you buyers:&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;don't encourage and/or promote this type of practice&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;It is simply not in your best interest.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;It is just another&amp;nbsp;ploy by Chase to take advantage of buyers and manipulate an opportunity to monopolize the market.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;reblogging_tag&quot;&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1301232/-i-m-mad-as-hell-and-i-m-not-going-to-take-this-anymore-&quot;&gt;Greg Cook (First Time Home Buyer Network)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the movie classic &lt;em&gt;Network&lt;/em&gt;, Howard Beal, played by Peter Finch in one of the iconic moments in movie history gives us the classic line: &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm wondering when we as Realtors and our clients as consumers are &lt;em&gt;&quot;not going to take this anymore!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Those of you who believe that the banks/lenders who control the REO properties are going to negotiate fairly and protect your client's interest, can probably stop reading here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you think, your job is to protect your client's best interest and negotiate the best possible terms for them, might want to read on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you haven't heard about it yet, you will. Chase Bank in a memo to its Asset Managers, announced the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Chase Finance Initiative&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. In an attempt to capture more of the loans that are being done on their REO properties, Chase is encouraging their asset managers to promote Chase financing. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Problem is, they are in violation of RESPA and FTC guidelines and more importantly putting your clients at a serious disadvantage in the negotiation process.&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm going to quote directly from RESPA Section 9 and FTC Guidelines for Antitrust Laws, so bear with me if it's a little dry. I'm also going to quote directly from the Chase memo that outlines their Chase Finance Initiative. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RESPA Section 9&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;em&gt;&quot;Section 9 prohibits home sellers from requiring home buyers to purchase their settlement services from a particular company either directly or indirectly, as a condition of sale. Buyers may sue a seller who violates this provision for an amount equal to three times for all charges made for the title insurance.&quot; &quot;Settlement service means any serive provided in connection with a prospective or actual settlement including but not limited to any one of the following: Origination of a federally related mortgage loan...Rendering of services by a mortgage broker...&quot;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws - &quot;&lt;/strong&gt;For competitive purposes, a monopolist may use forced buying, or &quot;tie-in&quot; sales to gain sales in other markets where it is not dominant and to make it more difficult for rivals in those markets to obtain sales. This may limit consumer choices for buyers wanting to purchase one (&quot;tying&quot;) product by forcing them to also buy a second (&quot;tied&quot;) product as well. &lt;strong&gt;Typically, the &quot;tied product may be a less desirable one that the buyer might not purchase unless required to do so, or may prefer to get them from a different seller. &lt;/strong&gt;If the seller offering the tied products has sufficient market power in the &quot;tying&quot; product, these arrangements can violate the antitrust laws.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Refusal to Deal&lt;/strong&gt; - Sometimes the refusal to deal is with customers or supplier, with the effect of preventing them from dealing with a rival: &quot;I refuse to deal with you if you deal with my competitor&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Chase's plan?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;3. Sell the fact that buyers are more likely to receive seller assistance with closing costs by using Chase financing&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;8. In multiple offer situations, advise the agent that the seller will generally put more weight&quot; on an offer with Chase financing than any other offer.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As a Realtor, you're really going to like this section from the Chase Finance initiative:&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;With Chase as our primary client, (asset manager name withheld) must work with Realtors who understand the importance of Chase financing on Chase owned properties and&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;we will begin to limit our relationships to those who can adhere to these guidelines.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm sure there are more examples but here are three brief ones, that amplify the disadvantage your clients would have when negotiating with Chase:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1) The lender selected by your client has a more favorable interest rate than Chase, but in order to get their offer accepted, they will have to take the higher rate by using Chase.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2) Your client asks for closing costs to be paid by Chase, but in reviewing your client's financials determines your client has the ability to pay them, and Chase counters accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3) Your client makes an offer on a Chase home that is priced below the maximum amount for which they qualify. Even though your buyers are making a prudent financial decision, Chase can counter to a higher amount solely because they know your buyer can qualify for the higher price. &lt;em&gt;Think your buyers might accept the higher price if they've already written 20 offers?&lt;/em&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This probably isn't something that can be won in a court of law, but perhaps it can be won in &lt;em&gt;&quot;the court of public opinion&quot;. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pass the word, reblog, protest, make t-shirts, just do something. As other banks follow this lead it will be more difficult for&amp;nbsp;us to best represent your client's interest. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As Howard Beal said: &lt;em&gt;&quot;I want you to get up right now! and go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell &lt;strong&gt;I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;agent_signature&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Greg Cook&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First Time Home Buyer Specialist&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First Time Home Buyer Network&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;951-265-4532&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:greg@homebuyerhelpnetwork.com&quot;&gt;greg@homebuyerhelpnetwork.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://firsttimehome.us&quot;&gt;http://firsttimehome.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:04:23 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1334887/-i-m-mad-as-hell-and-i-m-not-going-to-take-this-anymore-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1332287/attention-home-buyers-in-southern-california-real-answers-to-the-new-extended-expanded-tax-credit</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION HOME BUYERS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Real Answers to the New, Extended &amp; Expanded Tax Credit</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/0/9/6/ar125796384169003.jpg&quot; height=&quot;101&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;153&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ok, you've heard the hoopla about the extended and expanded tax credit but what does it all mean for you and how is it going to help you buy a home now.&amp;nbsp; Well, first and foremost, here are just a few of the benefits of what it means for the first time buyers:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type=&quot;disc&quot;&gt;
&lt;li&gt;First time buyers only - you must not have owned a primary residence in the last three years.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Credit effective for 2009 only - must purchase a primary residence between January 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010.&amp;nbsp; In order to receive the tax credit, you must be in escrow by April 30, 2010 and you must close escrow by June 30, 2010.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The credit is for 10% of the purchase of the home for a maximum of $8,000&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The biggest difference between the previous $8,000 tax credit and the new, extended and expanded tax credit for first time buyers are the qualifying income levels.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/0/1/8/8/ar12579639288104.jpg&quot; height=&quot;7&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;5&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/3/1/8/7/ar125796398278136.jpg&quot; height=&quot;282&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yeah, I know, you want to know how this is going to help you buy a home now while rates are still low.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With this tax credit, it will allow you to offset your tax liability by tweaking your W4 deductions and reducing your tax withholding so that you are taking home more money every paycheck.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, having said that, I must strongly advise you to seek professional advice from a tax specialist to find out just how much you can tweak your deductions and reduce your withholding to balance out with the tax credit you will be eligible for.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you don't already have a tax specialist, call me, I can give you referrals to several local tax specialists who would be happy to talk to you and help you out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another feature to the new, extended and expanded tax credit is the benefit for move-up buyers.&amp;nbsp; Move-up buyers now have the option of receiving up to $6,500 tax credit if they purchase a home before April 30, 2010 and close before June 30, 2010.&amp;nbsp; Here are just a few of the benefits of what it means for the move-up buyers:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type=&quot;disc&quot;&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Move-up buyers must have owned and resided in a home for at least five consecutive years of the eight years prior to the purchase date.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;For married taxpayers, the law tests the homeownership history of both the home buyer and the spouse. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Repeat home buyers do not have to purchase a home that is more expensive than their previous home to qualify for the tax credit.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Purchases of homes priced above $800,000 are not eligible for the tax credit.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/0/9/2/0/ar125796435102901.JPG&quot; height=&quot;163&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;230&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more information on how much you will qualify for and how to claim it, check out the Home Buyers website on the tax credit:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.org/home.html&quot; title=&quot;Home Buyer Tax Credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Home Buyer Tax Credit&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:40:30 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1332287/attention-home-buyers-in-southern-california-real-answers-to-the-new-extended-expanded-tax-credit</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328171/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part Two</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;, I wrote about the different kinds of parents I have worked with in assisting my first time buyer clients in finding affordable home loans.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/5/7/2/ar125778489827571.jpg&quot; height=&quot;133&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;171&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;More times than not, I enjoy working with my client's parents, especially when the parents who are very motivated in doing whatever is necessary to get their kids into their own home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heck, I've even received calls from people who were referred by the parents of previous clients and these people want to know if I can help their kids too.&amp;nbsp; I love calls like that.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, not all the parents I've met have been a joy to work with.&amp;nbsp; Over the years, I've worked with some really challenging parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In part one, I wrote about the unavailable/inaccessible parents as well as the withholding parents.&amp;nbsp; While these parents weren't always the easiest people to work with, the challenges I've had with those parents was nothing compared with the challenges of this next group of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE HELICOPTER PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/5/4/2/9/ar125778497092455.jpg&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;202&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;Of all the parents I work with, this is the most challenging group of parents.&amp;nbsp; What are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&amp;nbsp; They're those parents that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;hover&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; over their adult kid's home buying process, whether it's the loan transaction and/or the real estate transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They insist that they're just trying to help their kids through their first home purchase (isn't that our jobs?) and they just want to make sure they're kids don't get &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;ripped off&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (yes, they've actually said that to me and my client's Realtors).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Quite often, these may be parents that have absolutely no legal and/or financial stake in their kid's transaction; they are neither n/o/cb nor are they gift donors but yet insist on controlling every aspect of the home buying process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/6/0/6/4/ar125778549046069.jpg&quot; height=&quot;116&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;198&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Some of us have known the challenges of working with these parents.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; presents a post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/forum/index.php/topic,1040.msg8075.html#msg8075&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; of a listing agent who is having some difficulty with the parents of her seller clients.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These parents question the listing agent on her marketing of the property as well as insisting to be at all the showings and the open houses.&amp;nbsp; Needless to say, the house hasn't sold yet and isn't getting a lot of showings.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are also the parents to your buyer clients who insist on being present for every home you show your buyer clients and they insist on having the final say on every home their kids want to make an offer on.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For me, these are the parents that insist that I involve them with every aspect of the loan transaction and are adamant that I discuss all terms, conditions and details of the loan transaction with them before talking to my clients (their kids).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I understand that these parents want to help their kids through this really important step in their kids lives, many of these &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; parents end up causing more problems than help and in some cases, they can actually be detrimental to the whole process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/9/0/7/2/ar125778562927099.jpg&quot; height=&quot;171&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;190&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;I'm fortunate that I haven't had to work with too many of these types of parents.&amp;nbsp; After an especially horrible experience with some &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; early in my career, I made a vow then, to never let a parent do that to me or my business again.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I now know how to spot these people early enough in the process in order to address the problem before we ever get into escrow.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These days, escrows are tough enough already without having to deal with absolutely impossible parents.&amp;nbsp; When faced with parents like this, I make it very clear to my clients (the kids) that their parents are not my clients and that I have no fiduciary duty and/or responsibility to share with them (their parents) details of their (my clients) loan transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I explain to my clients that if they choose to share the details of their loan transaction with their parents, that is their prerogative, however, I ask them to please instruct their parents to not call me asking for details of their loan transaction because I can not discuss their (the kids) loan transaction with their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have I had to give up business because I won't allow a client's parent to control the loan transaction?&amp;nbsp; Yes I have but it was by my choosing.&amp;nbsp; I chose not to work with someone because they allowed their parents to harass me.&amp;nbsp; Is this kind of harsh?&amp;nbsp; Maybe, but this policy has saved me from working with some really impossible parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, my clients and I are able to work through any parental issues that arise.&amp;nbsp; In explaining to my clients on how I work and what I can and not do, they typically understand and are usually able to reign in their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I'm going to be absolutely lambasted by those parents who recognize themselves in this post.&amp;nbsp; Have at it folks.&amp;nbsp; I'm a pretty tough cookie and I can handle it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:14:26 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328171/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328167/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part Two</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;, I wrote about the different kinds of parents I have worked with in assisting my first time buyer clients in finding affordable home loans.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/5/7/2/ar125778489827571.jpg&quot; height=&quot;133&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;171&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;More times than not, I enjoy working with my client's parents, especially when the parents who are very motivated in doing whatever is necessary to get their kids into their own home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heck, I've even received calls from people who were referred by the parents of previous clients and these people want to know if I can help their kids too.&amp;nbsp; I love calls like that.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, not all the parents I've met have been a joy to work with.&amp;nbsp; Over the years, I've worked with some really challenging parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In part one, I wrote about the unavailable/inaccessible parents as well as the withholding parents.&amp;nbsp; While these parents weren't always the easiest people to work with, the challenges I've had with those parents was nothing compared with the challenges of this next group of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE HELICOPTER PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/5/4/2/9/ar125778497092455.jpg&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;202&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;Of all the parents I work with, this is the most challenging group of parents.&amp;nbsp; What are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&amp;nbsp; They're those parents that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;hover&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; over their adult kid's home buying process, whether it's the loan transaction and/or the real estate transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They insist that they're just trying to help their kids through their first home purchase (isn't that our jobs?) and they just want to make sure they're kids don't get &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;ripped off&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (yes, they've actually said that to me and my client's Realtors).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Quite often, these may be parents that have absolutely no legal and/or financial stake in their kid's transaction; they are neither n/o/cb nor are they gift donors but yet insist on controlling every aspect of the home buying process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/6/0/6/4/ar125778549046069.jpg&quot; height=&quot;116&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;198&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Some of us have known the challenges of working with these parents.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; presents a post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/forum/index.php/topic,1040.msg8075.html#msg8075&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; of a listing agent who is having some difficulty with the parents of her seller clients.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These parents question the listing agent on her marketing of the property as well as insisting to be at all the showings and the open houses.&amp;nbsp; Needless to say, the house hasn't sold yet and isn't getting a lot of showings.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are also the parents to your buyer clients who insist on being present for every home you show your buyer clients and they insist on having the final say on every home their kids want to make an offer on.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For me, these are the parents that insist that I involve them with every aspect of the loan transaction and are adamant that I discuss all terms, conditions and details of the loan transaction with them before talking to my clients (their kids).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I understand that these parents want to help their kids through this really important step in their kids lives, many of these &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; parents end up causing more problems than help and in some cases, they can actually be detrimental to the whole process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/9/0/7/2/ar125778562927099.jpg&quot; height=&quot;171&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;190&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;I'm fortunate that I haven't had to work with too many of these types of parents.&amp;nbsp; After an especially horrible experience with some &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; early in my career, I made a vow then, to never let a parent do that to me or my business again.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I now know how to spot these people early enough in the process in order to address the problem before we ever get into escrow.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These days, escrows are tough enough already without having to deal with absolutely impossible parents.&amp;nbsp; When faced with parents like this, I make it very clear to my clients (the kids) that their parents are not my clients and that I have no fiduciary duty and/or responsibility to share with them (their parents) details of their (my clients) loan transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I explain to my clients that if they choose to share the details of their loan transaction with their parents, that is their prerogative, however, I ask them to please instruct their parents to not call me asking for details of their loan transaction because I can not discuss their (the kids) loan transaction with their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have I had to give up business because I won't allow a client's parent to control the loan transaction?&amp;nbsp; Yes I have but it was by my choosing.&amp;nbsp; I chose not to work with someone because they allowed their parents to harass me.&amp;nbsp; Is this kind of harsh?&amp;nbsp; Maybe, but this policy has saved me from working with some really impossible parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, my clients and I are able to work through any parental issues that arise.&amp;nbsp; In explaining to my clients on how I work and what I can and not do, they typically understand and are usually able to reign in their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I'm going to be absolutely lambasted by those parents who recognize themselves in this post.&amp;nbsp; Have at it folks.&amp;nbsp; I'm a pretty tough cookie and I can handle it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:13:20 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328167/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328100/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS:  Part Two</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;, I wrote about the different kinds of parents I have worked with in assisting my first time buyer clients in finding affordable home loans.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/5/7/2/ar125778489827571.jpg&quot; height=&quot;133&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;171&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;More times than not, I enjoy working with my client's parents, especially when the parents are very motivated in doing whatever is necessary to get their kids into their own home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heck, I've even received calls from people who were referred by the parents of previous clients and these people want to know if I can help their kids too.&amp;nbsp; I love calls like that.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, not all the parents I've met have been a joy to work with.&amp;nbsp; Over the years, I've worked with some really challenging parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In part one, I wrote about the unavailable/inaccessible parents as well as the withholding parents.&amp;nbsp; While these parents weren't always the easiest people to work with, the challenges I've had with those parents was nothing compared with the challenges of this next group of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE HELICOPTER PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/5/4/2/9/ar125778497092455.jpg&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;202&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;Of all the parents I work with, this is the most challenging group of parents.&amp;nbsp; What are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;?&amp;nbsp; They're those parents that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;hover&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; over their adult kid's home buying process, whether it's the loan transaction and/or the real estate transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They insist that they're just trying to help their kids through their first home purchase (isn't that our jobs?) and they just want to make sure they're kids don't get &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;ripped off&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (yes, they've actually said that to me and my client's Realtors).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Quite often, these may be parents that have absolutely no legal and/or financial stake in their kid's transaction; they are neither n/o/cb nor are they gift donors but yet they insist on controlling every aspect of the home buying process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/6/0/6/4/ar125778549046069.jpg&quot; height=&quot;116&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;198&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Some of us have known the challenges of working with these parents.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; presents a post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/forum/index.php/topic,1040.msg8075.html#msg8075&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; of a listing agent who is having some difficulty with the parents of her seller clients.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These parents question the listing agent on her marketing of the property as well as insisting to be at all the showings and the open houses.&amp;nbsp; Needless to say, the house hasn't sold yet and isn't getting a lot of showings.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are also the parents to your buyer clients who insist on being present for every home you show your buyer clients and they insist on having the final say on every home their kids want to make an offer on.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For me, these are the parents that insist that I involve them with every aspect of the loan transaction and are adamant that I discuss all terms, conditions and details of the loan transaction with them before talking to my clients (their kids).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I understand that these parents want to help their kids through this really important step in their kids lives, many of these &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; parents end up causing more problems than help and in some cases, they can actually be detrimental to the whole process.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/9/0/7/2/ar125778562927099.jpg&quot; height=&quot;171&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;190&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;I'm fortunate that I haven't had to work with too many of these types of parents.&amp;nbsp; After an especially horrible experience with some &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;helicopter parents&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; early in my career, I made a vow then, to never let a parent do that to me or my business again.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I now know how to spot these people early enough in the process in order to address the problem before we ever get into escrow.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These days, escrows are tough enough already without having to deal with absolutely impossible parents.&amp;nbsp; When faced with parents like this, I make it very clear to my clients (the kids) that their parents are not my clients and that I have no fiduciary duty and/or responsibility to share with them (their parents) details of their (my clients) loan transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I explain to my clients that if they choose to share the details of their loan transaction with their parents, that is their prerogative, however, I ask them to please instruct their parents to not call me asking for details of their loan transaction because I can not discuss their (the kids) loan transaction with their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have I had to give up business because I won't allow a client's parent to control the loan transaction?&amp;nbsp; Yes I have but it was by my choosing.&amp;nbsp; I chose not to work with someone because they allowed their parents to harass me.&amp;nbsp; Is this kind of harsh?&amp;nbsp; Maybe, but this policy has saved me from working with some really impossible parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of the time, my clients and I are able to work through any parental issues that arise.&amp;nbsp; In explaining to my clients on how I work and what I can and can not do, they typically understand and are usually able to reign in their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm sure I'm going to be absolutely lambasted by those parents who recognize themselves in this post.&amp;nbsp; Have at it folks.&amp;nbsp; I'm a pretty tough cookie and I can handle it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part One&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:56:42 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328100/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326720/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT&#8217;S PARENTS:  Part One</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/7/3/0/8/ar12577072780375.jpg&quot; height=&quot;147&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I just recently read a post on the&amp;nbsp;website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; and there was a post from ChicagoSoul about dealing with her client's parents.&amp;nbsp; It got me to thinking about some of my own experiences with my own client's parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I work primarily with buyers and a lot of first time buyers at that so I meet a lot of parents.&amp;nbsp; I've discovered that there are a few different kinds of parents when it comes to my own personal experiences.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some I actually love working with and others I can certainly do without, and if necessary, have no problems whatsoever of cutting loose in order to maintain my sanity and my business.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/6/5/7/ar125770754075637.jpg&quot; height=&quot;142&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;When working with first time buyers, where a large percentage are young, unmarried 20somethings, it's inevitable that you may&amp;nbsp;be working with some of their parents.&amp;nbsp; In my business, parents can take on a number of different roles.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are the parents that contact me, who will do anything to get their adult kid out of their house even if that means helping them qualify for the loan or giving them the down payment.&amp;nbsp; These parents often become non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb) on their kid's loans or they become gift donors.&amp;nbsp; I &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LOVE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; working with these kinds of parents; they're my favorite kind of parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But then they are the other kinds of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE UNAVAILABLE/INACCESSIBLE PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/0/9/6/ar125770968469066.jpg&quot; height=&quot;122&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;189&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is typically one of the most common types of parents I work with.&amp;nbsp; This is the type of parent who wants all communication and documentation to go through the children.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Depending on their role in the transaction, I'm usually pretty agreeable to this.&amp;nbsp; The one scenario where this type of relationship is unacceptable to me is when the parents are non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As n/o/cb, the parents are clients of mine just as much as their kids are and as such, I need to be able to speak to them regarding the terms and conditions of the loan they are applying for with their kids.&amp;nbsp; I need to be certain that they understand what they are doing just as much as their kids do.&amp;nbsp; I can't leave any room for error in translation from the kids to their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That being said, the biggest challenge I have with these parents is getting access to them in order to speak with them as well as them making themselves available to speak with me.&amp;nbsp; While there are many LO's that probably never meet their clients because they're not local, my clients are typically local so I like to be able to meet my clients at some point during the transaction.&amp;nbsp; With the unavailable/inaccessible parent, this is not always possible so I have learned to adapt and adjust when necessary.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE WITHHOLDING PARENT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/7/9/7/ar125771040879714.jpg&quot; height=&quot;149&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;214&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This can be a difficult group of parents to work with, if I allow them to be.&amp;nbsp; This is the kind of parent who will refuse to provide the necessary documentation I need in order to meet the conditions and guidelines of the loan that they and their kids are applying for.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For example, if the parents are n/o/cb, they have to provide the same exact documentation as their kids do and sometimes they parents don't understand why they have to provide their personal information if they're just helping their kids buy the house.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The most common response I hear is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I didn't have to do that when I helped buy their car or rent their apartment&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Well folks, buying a house is nothing like buying a car or renting an apartment.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, once I educate and explain that being a n/o/cb on a home loan is very different from co-signing for a car loan or an apartment, then they begin to fully understand why I need what I'm asking for.&amp;nbsp; On occasion, I have had been asked by some parents to change their status from being an n/o/cb to being gift donors because this is a role that they are more comfortable with.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As some of us have learned by now and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer&lt;/a&gt; states on her &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; website, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;help from family in a real estate transaction is rarely helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; For the sake of our businesses as well as our sanity, we must take control of our transactions and not allow parents to interfere with us doing our jobs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stay tuned for part two tomorrow when I discuss other kind of parents that we will deal with when working with our clients.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:00:15 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326720/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326718/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT&#8217;S PARENTS:  Part One</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/7/3/0/8/ar12577072780375.jpg&quot; height=&quot;147&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I just recently read a post on the&amp;nbsp;website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; and there was a post from ChicagoSoul about dealing with her client's parents.&amp;nbsp; It got me to thinking about some of my own experiences with my own client's parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I work primarily with buyers and a lot of first time buyers at that so I meet a lot of parents.&amp;nbsp; I've discovered that there are a few different kinds of parents when it comes to my own personal experiences.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some I actually love working with and others I can certainly do without, and if necessary, have no problems whatsoever of cutting loose in order to maintain my sanity and my business.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/6/5/7/ar125770754075637.jpg&quot; height=&quot;142&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;When working with first time buyers, where a large percentage are young, unmarried 20somethings, it's inevitable that you may&amp;nbsp;be working with some of their parents.&amp;nbsp; In my business, parents can take on a number of different roles.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are the parents that contact me, who will do anything to get their adult kid out of their house even if that means helping them qualify for the loan or giving them the down payment.&amp;nbsp; These parents often become non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb) on their kid's loans or they become gift donors.&amp;nbsp; I &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LOVE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; working with these kinds of parents; they're my favorite kind of parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But then they are the other kinds of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE UNAVAILABLE/INACCESSIBLE PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/0/9/6/ar125770968469066.jpg&quot; height=&quot;122&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;189&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is typically one of the most common types of parents I work with.&amp;nbsp; This is the type of parent who wants all communication and documentation to go through the children.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Depending on their role in the transaction, I'm usually pretty agreeable to this.&amp;nbsp; The one scenario where this type of relationship is unacceptable to me is when the parents are non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As n/o/cb, the parents are clients of mine just as much as their kids are and as such, I need to be able to speak to them regarding the terms and conditions of the loan they are applying for with their kids.&amp;nbsp; I need to be certain that they understand what they are doing just as much as their kids do.&amp;nbsp; I can't leave any room for error in translation from the kids to their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That being said, the biggest challenge I have with these parents is getting access to them in order to speak with them as well as them making themselves available to speak with me.&amp;nbsp; While there are many LO's that probably never meet their clients because they're not local, my clients are typically local so I like to be able to meet my clients at some point during the transaction.&amp;nbsp; With the unavailable/inaccessible parent, this is not always possible so I have learned to adapt and adjust when necessary.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE WITHHOLDING PARENT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/7/9/7/ar125771040879714.jpg&quot; height=&quot;149&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;214&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This can be a difficult group of parents to work with, if I allow them to be.&amp;nbsp; This is the kind of parent who will refuse to provide the necessary documentation I need in order to meet the conditions and guidelines of the loan that they and their kids are applying for.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For example, if the parents are n/o/cb, they have to provide the same exact documentation as their kids do and sometimes they parents don't understand why they have to provide their personal information if they're just helping their kids buy the house.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The most common response I hear is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I didn't have to do that when I helped buy their car or rent their apartment&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Well folks, buying a house is nothing like buying a car or renting an apartment.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, once I educate and explain that being a n/o/cb on a home loan is very different from co-signing for a car loan or an apartment, then they begin to fully understand why I need what I'm asking for.&amp;nbsp; On occasion, I have had been asked by some parents to change their status from being an n/o/cb to being gift donors because this is a role that they are more comfortable with.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As some of us have learned by now and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer&lt;/a&gt; states on her &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; website, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;help from family in a real estate transaction is rarely helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; For the sake of our businesses as well as our sanity, we must take control of our transactions and not allow parents to interfere with us doing our jobs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stay tuned for part two tomorrow when I discuss other kind of parents that we will deal with when working with our clients.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:59:14 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326718/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</guid>
      <title>THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT&#8217;S PARENTS:  Part One</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/7/3/0/8/ar12577072780375.jpg&quot; height=&quot;147&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I just recently read a post on the&amp;nbsp;website &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/forum/index.php/topic,1040.msg8075.html#msg8075&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;from &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer Allen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer Allen&lt;/a&gt; and there was a post from ChicagoSoul about dealing with her client's parents.&amp;nbsp; It got me to thinking about some of my own experiences with my own client's parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I work primarily with buyers and a lot of first time buyers at that so I meet a lot of parents.&amp;nbsp; I've discovered that there are a few different kinds of parents when it comes to my own personal experiences.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some I actually love working with and others I can certainly do without, and if necessary, have no problems whatsoever of cutting loose in order to maintain my sanity and my business.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/6/5/7/ar125770754075637.jpg&quot; height=&quot;142&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;When working with first time buyers, where a large percentage are young, unmarried, 20somethings, it's inevitable that you may&amp;nbsp;be working with some of their parents.&amp;nbsp; In my business, parents can take on a number of different roles.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are the parents that contact me, who will do anything to get their adult kid out of their house even if that means helping them qualify for the loan or giving them the down payment.&amp;nbsp; These parents often become non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb) on their kid's loans or they become gift donors.&amp;nbsp; I &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LOVE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; working with these kinds of parents; they're my favorite kind of parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But then there are the other kinds of parents...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE UNAVAILABLE/INACCESSIBLE PARENTS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/0/9/6/ar125770968469066.jpg&quot; height=&quot;122&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;189&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is typically one of the most common types of parents I work with.&amp;nbsp; This is the type of parent who wants all communication and documentation to go through the children.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Depending on their role in the transaction, I'm usually pretty agreeable to this.&amp;nbsp; The one scenario where this type of relationship is unacceptable to me is when the parents are non-occupying co-borrowers (n/o/cb).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As n/o/cb, the parents are clients of mine just as much as their kids are and as such, I need to be able to speak to them regarding the terms and conditions of the loan they are applying for with their kids.&amp;nbsp; I need to be certain that they understand what they are doing just as much as their kids do.&amp;nbsp; I can't leave any room for error in translation from the kids to their parents.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That being said, the biggest challenge I have with these parents is getting access to them in order to speak with them as well as them making themselves available to speak with me.&amp;nbsp; While there are many LO's that probably never meet their clients because they're not local, my clients are typically local so I like to be able to meet my clients at some point during the transaction.&amp;nbsp; With the unavailable/inaccessible parent, this is not always possible so I have learned to adapt and adjust when necessary.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THE WITHHOLDING PARENT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/7/9/7/ar125771040879714.jpg&quot; height=&quot;149&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;214&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This can be a difficult group of parents to work with, if I allow them to be.&amp;nbsp; This is the kind of parent who will refuse to provide the necessary documentation I need in order to meet the conditions and guidelines of the loan that they and their kids are applying for.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For example, if the parents are n/o/cb, they have to provide the same exact documentation as their kids do and sometimes they parents don't understand why they have to provide their personal information if they're just helping their kids buy the house.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The most common response I hear is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I didn't have to do that when I helped them buy their car or rent their apartment&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Well folks, buying a house is nothing like buying a car or renting an apartment.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, once I educate and explain that being a n/o/cb on a home loan is very different from co-signing for a car loan or an apartment, then they begin to fully understand why I need what I'm asking for.&amp;nbsp; On occasion, I have been asked by some parents to change their status from being an n/o/cb to being gift donors because this is a role that they are more comfortable with.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As some of us have learned by now and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/sellwithsoul&quot; title=&quot;Jennifer&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jennifer&lt;/a&gt; states on her &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sellwithsoul.com/&quot; title=&quot;Selling with Soul&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Selling with Soul&lt;/a&gt; website, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;help from family in a real estate transaction is rarely helpful&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; For the sake of our businesses as well as our sanity, we must take control of our transactions and not allow parents to interfere with us doing our jobs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stay tuned for part two tomorrow when I discuss another kind of parents that we will deal with when working with our clients.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1328100/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-two&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot;&gt;THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH MY CLIENT'S PARENTS: Part Two&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:43:27 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1326692/the-joys-and-challenges-of-working-with-my-client-s-parents-part-one</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1323842/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-incredible-property-eligible-for-lipa-down-payment-assistance-</guid>
      <title>ATTENTION LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRST TIME BUYERS: Incredible Property Eligible for LIPA Down Payment Assistance </title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/6/1/9/1/ar12574864219169.jpg&quot; height=&quot;143&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;229&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At the base of the Verdugo Mountains, just south of Shadow Hills and minutes from the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants is an incredible home located at 11770 Snelling St. in Sun Valley.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This 3bd home with nearly 1,100 sq. ft. of living space sits on a large lot of more than 11,000 sq. ft., which is listed for $265,000 and is move-in ready.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/2/8/4/ar125748664348207.jpg&quot; height=&quot;137&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;229&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't worry about having to fix up this home after the close of escrow because this isn't another run-down and dilapidated dumpy REO like all the rest of the properties you've probably been seeing.&amp;nbsp; This home is not a short sale or an REO.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/8/5/0/0/ar125748677300588.jpg&quot; height=&quot;147&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;241&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The best part, this home is eligible for up to $75,000 in down payment assistance.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As part of HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Grant Program, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) is offering their Low Income Purchase Assistance (&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1202582/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-lahd-offers-new-down-payment-assistance-program&quot; title=&quot;LIPA&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LIPA&lt;/a&gt;) program.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/1/2/3/4/ar125748693243211.jpg&quot; height=&quot;77&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;800&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;The&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LIPA program offers assistance in the form of a &quot;silent second&quot; of up to $75,000 to low income households for down payment and closing cost assistance for homebuyers who wish to purchase properties in NSP eligible areas.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Eligible buyers are those who do not currently own a home, whose household income meets the programs income guidelines and who plan to occupy the property as their primary residence.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more info on this incredible home, contact Robert Saldana of Onyx Real Estate at 818-339-2103 or at &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Caesarro1@gmail.com&quot;&gt;Caesarro1@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; For more info on how you can qualify for the LIPA down payment assistance to purchase this wonderful home, contact me, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/donne4loans&quot; title=&quot;Donne Knudsen&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt; of Cobalt Financial Corp, at 805.5278554 or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:info@donne4loans.com&quot;&gt;info@donne4loans.com&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's real estate market and lending environment can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search.&amp;nbsp; Finding out more about affordable home loan options and getting pre-approved is an absolute must.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pre-approval process is relatively simple so contact me today to get pre-approved for this incredible program and make this fantastic property your next home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:32:30 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1323842/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-incredible-property-eligible-for-lipa-down-payment-assistance-</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1319608/call-to-action-help-save-small-community-lending-sources-from-being-driven-out-of-business-by-the-tarp-kids</guid>
      <title>CALL TO ACTION:  Help Save Small, Community Lending Sources From Being Driven Out of Business by the TARP Kids</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I subscribe to the daily webcasts of Think Big, Work Small (TBWS), which is hosted by these two guys, Brian Stevens &amp;amp; Frank Garay.&amp;nbsp; TBWS was founded a couple of years ago by a bunch of real estate and mortgage people who wanted to teach others in the business how to work smarter to grow their business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's video was especially important because there was a call to action to help save small, community wholesale lenders.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Barney Frank and his big, national bank friends, the TARP kids, are at it again.&amp;nbsp; They have&amp;nbsp;come up with new regulation to try and drive out comsumer lending choices, the small, community wholesale lenders.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Currently, small, community wholesale lenders&amp;nbsp;are generating approx. 40% of originations today and more than 50% of FHA originations, which is why Barney Frank and the TARP kids&amp;nbsp;want to create more&amp;nbsp;regulation in the name of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;consumer protection&quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;in oreder to get rid of these small, community wholesale lenders.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We need to let the House Financial Services Committee know that this legislature will not protect consumer choice but rather limit it to just a few lending sources.&amp;nbsp; Who will those lending sources be?&amp;nbsp; You guessed it - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;THE TARP KIDS!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm attaching the links to the letter that we need to send out to the House Financial Services Committee in order for our voice to be heard.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.box.net/shared/nlaegaax9p&quot; title=&quot;Letter to HFSC&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Letter to HFSC&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.box.net/shared/4nvk5b76cp&quot; title=&quot;Roster to HFSC&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Roster to HFSC&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.house.gov/&quot; title=&quot;Find Your Rep&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Find Your Rep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/tbws&quot; title=&quot;Watch Video&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/5/2/3/ar125735794432503.jpg&quot; height=&quot;60&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;279&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:12:37 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1319608/call-to-action-help-save-small-community-lending-sources-from-being-driven-out-of-business-by-the-tarp-kids</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317587/this-goober-wants-to-raise-fha-down-payment-to-5-from-3-5-</guid>
      <title>This Goober Wants to Raise FHA Down Payment to 5% from 3.5%</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;ATTENTION MORTGAGE PROFESSIONALS &amp;amp; REALTORS AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please notify your local representative, senators and congress people that this bill, HR 3706, is not the way to address the current foreclosure problem and the rising default rates.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;FHA is one of the best loan products out there right now putting millions of people into homes.&amp;nbsp; The last thing we need to do is start %^&amp;amp;#!^% up this program so that less people qualify for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div id=&quot;reblogging_tag&quot;&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1275327/this-goober-wants-to-raise-fha-down-payment-to-5-from-3-5-&quot;&gt;Bill Ladewig Your FHA Guru - FHA and VA Loans Since 1970&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday, October 5, The FHA Taxpayer Protection Act of 2009 - HR 3706 - authored by Rep. Scott (Goober) Garrett (R-NJ) was introduced to Congress. &amp;nbsp;If passed It would increase the minimum down payment for &lt;strong&gt;FHA &lt;/strong&gt;insured mortgages from 3.5% to 5% and the law would &lt;em&gt;prohibit financing FHA closing costs&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This ill advised legislation will not help our recovering market or even our future mortgage stability. &amp;nbsp;FHA is not the culprit or even one of the culprits in the recent mortgage fiasco. &amp;nbsp;That blame lies at the feet of sub-prime mortgages and Wall Street greed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One tiny&amp;nbsp;fact that looms large and questions the Congressman's competence to propose any&amp;nbsp;laws governing FHA is that &lt;strong&gt;FHA already no longer allows closing costs to be computed in the loan amount&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; This changed last year.&amp;nbsp; See FHA &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/handbooks/hsgh/4155.1/41551HSGH.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Regs 4155&lt;/a&gt; page 35&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Originally FHA loan amounts were computed by adding FHA allowable closing costs to the purchase price to calculate an &quot;Acquisition Price&quot;.&amp;nbsp; Then a series of percentages were applied to calculate the loan amount which usually resulted in about 97.75% LTV.&amp;nbsp; The FHA Allowable Closing Costs varied from High Cost to Low Cost States.&amp;nbsp; Remember FHA is a government program and therfore must be very complicated.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;FHA, with a 3% downpayment had been stabile source of financing for almost 80 years.&amp;nbsp; Actually, because closing costs used to be computed in the loan the previous&amp;nbsp;LTV was more like 2.25%. &amp;nbsp;The minimum down payment was recently increased to 3.5%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you feel Congressman Garret's bill must be defeated then email your congressman at: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/&quot; title=&quot;Congressional email&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;P.S. I know it serves no intelligent purpose to Gooberize&amp;nbsp;Congressman&amp;nbsp;Scott but it makes me feel good.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title=&quot;Your FHA Guru&quot; src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/3/6/1/9/ar125501753791631.jpg&quot; height=&quot;160&quot; alt=&quot;Your FHA Guru&quot; style=&quot;float: left;&quot; width=&quot;150&quot; /&gt;Bill Ladewig, Your Fha Guru&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:bill@yourfhaguru.com&quot;&gt;bill@yourfhaguru.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:04:52 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317587/this-goober-wants-to-raise-fha-down-payment-to-5-from-3-5-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317536/barney-frank-and-his-big-national-bank-friends-are-once-again-trying-to-stick-it-to-the-small-community-wholesale-lender</guid>
      <title>BARNEY FRANK AND HIS BIG, NATIONAL BANK FRIENDS ARE ONCE AGAIN TRYING TO STICK IT TO THE SMALL, COMMUNITY WHOLESALE LENDER</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I subscribe to the daily webcasts of Think Big, Work Small (TBWS), which is hosted by these two guys, Brian Stevens &amp;amp; Frank Garay.&amp;nbsp; TBWS was founded a couple of years ago by a bunch of real estate and mortgage people who wanted to teach others in the business how to work smarter to grow their business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's video was especially interesting because it seems that Barney Frank and his big, national bank friends are at it again.&amp;nbsp; They have once again come up with new regulation to try and drive out the big, national banks competition - small, community wholesale lenders.&amp;nbsp; Currently, small, community wholesale lenders&amp;nbsp;are generating approx. 40% of originations today and more than 50% of FHA originations, which is why Barney Frank and his big, national bank friends want to create more&amp;nbsp;regulation in the name of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;consumer protection&quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;in oreder to get rid of these small, community wholesale lenders.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyway, here is today's video and I hope you enjoy it&amp;nbsp;as much as I did.&amp;nbsp; I want to also suggest checking out some of their more recent ones too as well as their blog threads.&amp;nbsp; Very interesting discussions going on.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19476/1234553&quot; title=&quot;blocked::http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19476/1234553&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/7/3/8/9/ar125726630398374.jpg&quot; height=&quot;60&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;279&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:39:50 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317536/barney-frank-and-his-big-national-bank-friends-are-once-again-trying-to-stick-it-to-the-small-community-wholesale-lender</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315943/appraisal-fraud-up-even-with-hvcc-could-the-big-banks-and-the-bank-owned-amc-s-be-to-blame-</guid>
      <title>APPRAISAL FRAUD UP EVEN WITH HVCC - Could the Big Banks and the Bank Owned AMC's be to Blame?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I subscribe to the daily webcasts of Think Big, Work Small (TBWS), which is hosted by these two guys, Brian Stevens &amp;amp; Frank Garay.&amp;nbsp; TBWS was founded a couple of years ago by a bunch of real estate and mortgage people who wanted to teach others in the business how to work smarter to grow their business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's video was especially interesting because appraisal fraud is up even though HVCC was supposed to eliminate appraisal fraud.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Could the big, national banks and their AMC's be behind the increase in appraisal fraud.&amp;nbsp; Hmmm...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyway, here is today's video and I hope you enjoy it&amp;nbsp;as much as I did.&amp;nbsp; I want to also suggest checking out some of their more recent ones too as well as their blog threads.&amp;nbsp; Very interesting discussions going on.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19432/1234553&quot; title=&quot;blocked::http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19432/1234553&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/1/7/6/3/ar125719096736713.jpg&quot; height=&quot;60&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;279&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:44:29 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315943/appraisal-fraud-up-even-with-hvcc-could-the-big-banks-and-the-bank-owned-amc-s-be-to-blame-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1312425/friday-funny-pumpkin-pooches</guid>
      <title>FRIDAY FUNNY:  Pumpkin Pooches</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hubby sent this to me because he knew as a long time dog mama that they would make me smile.&amp;nbsp; He knows me so well.&amp;nbsp; Have a great night everyone and an absolutely wicked weekend.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/4/3/5/ar125695251453471.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/6/9/4/0/ar125695255104962.JPG&quot; height=&quot;250&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/8/2/9/3/ar125695260639283.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/8/6/5/ar125695264056876.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/8/4/6/7/ar125695267476487.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/2/2/1/ar125695273612296.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/0/0/9/7/ar125695276979006.JPG&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:34:39 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1312425/friday-funny-pumpkin-pooches</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1312407/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-3</guid>
      <title>USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp; PROSPECTS: Part 3</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/0/7/4/ar125695067447022.jpg&quot; height=&quot;118&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;176&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As the last part of my series that started with Bob Stewart's challenge to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;use our blogs to enhance our relationships to prospects and clients&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, I recently had the opportunity to use my blog to market to people that I don't typically consider prospects or clients.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For most of my mortgage career, I have focused on generating relationships with buyers, predominantly first time buyers and most of my marketing efforts are geared towards providing affordable home loan options to low-medium income buyers.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I spent a brief period of time in the beginning of my mortgage career marketing to Realtors, I discovered very quickly that targeting Realtors was not the most effective use of my time, energy and marketing dollars.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/1/6/9/7/ar125695074679612.jpg&quot; height=&quot;161&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;166&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;So when a Realtor friend of mine recently asked me to be a part of a Realtor workshop she was putting together for one of our local MLS boards, I immediately responded with a resounding &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;NO&lt;/span&gt;&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As is this incredible woman's nature, she is very persistent when she wants something.&amp;nbsp; Several phones calls later and with a considerable amount of reluctance, I agreed to be a part of the workshop.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My friend let me know that the reason she invited me was because of my knowledge and experience with all the local first time buyer and down payment assistance programs.&amp;nbsp; She told me I would have a designated amount of time to present my services and explain the products I offered to the workshop attendees and would also be given space on a table to provide any additional information and/or marketing materials.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/8/6/1/5/ar125695082751681.jpg&quot; height=&quot;117&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;128&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I prepared for the workshop by printing up copies of many of my blog posts, which proved to be a somewhat challenging task (there must be an easier way of doing this than the way I did).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I printed up the posts on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1176624/down-payment-assistance-eligible-for-los-angeles-county-reo-s&quot; title=&quot;NSP&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;NSP&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1202582/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-lahd-offers-new-down-payment-assistance-program&quot; title=&quot;LIPA&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LIPA&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/978292/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-new-hero-program-offers-up-to-75-000-for-first-time-buyers&quot; title=&quot;HERO&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;HERO&lt;/a&gt; dpa programs for Los Angeles county as well as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925594/city-of-simi-valley-first-time-home-buyer-program-part-3&quot; title=&quot;Simi Valley&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Simi Valley&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925538/city-of-port-hueneme-home-buyer-assistance-program-hbap-part-2&quot; title=&quot;Port Hueneme&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Port Hueneme&lt;/a&gt; dpa programs for Ventura county.&amp;nbsp; I also included the posts on my &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1195039/first-time-buyer-options-in-los-angeles-ventura-counties-part-1-fha-is-the-best-option-for-first-time-buyers&quot; title=&quot;FTB series&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FTB series&lt;/a&gt; as well as my post on &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/933054/attention-ventura-los-angeles-county-home-buyers-100-financing-still-exists-for-some-prospective-home-buyers&quot; title=&quot;100% financing&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;100% financing&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Lastly, I included my posts on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/940517/attention-first-time-buyers-in-ventura-los-angeles-counties-real-answers-to-the-8-000-tax-credit&quot; title=&quot;FTB tax credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FTB tax credit&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1044002/just-a-little-incentive-to-get-ca-first-time-buyers-off-the-fence&quot; title=&quot;C.A.R.'s FTB mortgage protection program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;C.A.R's FTB mortgage protection program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My presentation went well and I did get a few questions from the audience and afterwards, I did have a few people stop my table and pick-up some of my blog post flyers.&amp;nbsp; However, there was this one woman who kept looking at me who I couldn't quite place the face with the name.&amp;nbsp; I knew I knew her but I just couldn't remember where (don't you hate that?).&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even when she came up to me and said, &quot;you don't remember me do you?&quot; I still couldn't remember but I did let her know that she did look familiar.&amp;nbsp; After introducing ourselves, she reminded me of the transaction that we had worked across the table on a few years back and we got a really good laugh remembering it (my &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;really&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; patient &amp;amp; understanding buyers and her whacked out seller from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;#%!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She told me she had a client that she wanted me to speak with and said she would pass on my contact info to her client.&amp;nbsp; She gave me some basic info on her client and the scenario they were looking for (low income ftb with good ficos and some money) and I told her I'd be happy to speak with her client and see if I could help her.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The next day I followed up with an email to her about her client and reminded her that if she had any other questions and/or concerns or if I could be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/9/3/3/ar125695168233935.jpg&quot; height=&quot;124&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;203&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;Then last week, I got another one of those calls, you know, the calls that start out with, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;I read something on your blog.....&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;love&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; those calls).&amp;nbsp; After a couple of minutes of talking and few questions, I found out that she had actually gotten my info from the Realtor that I had run into again at the MLS workshop.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It was really nice to find out that the Realtor had actually passed on my info to her client and that the Realtor had even shared with her client the story of how we had met a few years back on a transaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/9/0/7/7/ar125695180177093.jpg&quot; height=&quot;136&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;166&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I am now in the process of getting the buyer pre-approved and hopefully soon we can get her into escrow.&amp;nbsp; I'm actually looking forward to the transaction; the Realtor is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;really&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; nice woman and I'm excited about working with her again.&amp;nbsp; I already know how she works, especially under pressure and she is a true professional.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, that's how I used my blog to enhance a relationship with someone else's client.&amp;nbsp; That actually didn't come out right but you all know what I'm talking about - right?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303739/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-1&quot;&gt;USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp;amp; PROSPECTS: Part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1307063/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-2&quot;&gt;USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp;amp; PROSPECTS: Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:22:43 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1312407/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-3</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1309663/do-you-pass-the-grumpy-test-</guid>
      <title>DO YOU PASS THE GRUMPY TEST?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If at least one of these pictures does not make you smile, then you are grumpy and need to go back to bed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/4/6/6/4/ar125683182546649.JPG&quot; height=&quot;232&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/7/6/5/ar125683187256757.JPG&quot; height=&quot;233&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;340&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/1/6/5/6/ar12568319565619.JPG&quot; height=&quot;254&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;323&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/5/0/6/8/ar125683202186056.JPG&quot; height=&quot;259&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;323&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/7/5/0/8/ar125683260680573.JPG&quot; height=&quot;313&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;319&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/1/6/5/ar125683264456192.JPG&quot; height=&quot;305&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;337&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/4/8/1/9/ar125683326391844.JPG&quot; height=&quot;263&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;333&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/1/1/2/ar12568332321109.JPG&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;321&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And my personal favorite.......&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/7/6/4/ar125683385046738.JPG&quot; height=&quot;450&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;600&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Because I have a Corgi &quot;fur baby&quot; who &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LOVES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt; ice cubes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have a good day rainers and don't be grumpy!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:35:39 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1309663/do-you-pass-the-grumpy-test-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1307063/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-2</guid>
      <title>USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp; PROSPECTS: Part 2</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/0/8/6/6/ar125670425966802.jpg&quot; height=&quot;139&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;185&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;As part of Bob Stewart challenges, I illustrated &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How I am using my blog to enhance my relationships with prospects?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in my Part 1.&amp;nbsp; In Part 2, I want to illustrate &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;How I am using my blog to enhance my relationships with my clients?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For the most part, I work with low-medium income first time buyers.&amp;nbsp; Many of my clients are utilizing local down payment assistance programs in order to purchase their first home.&amp;nbsp; Because of the many advantages and benefits of an FHA loan, almost all of my clients choose to go with an FHA in conjunction with their down payment assistance.&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/9/0/5/ar12567043450935.jpg&quot; height=&quot;151&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;137&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Initially, this is route that is best suited for most of my clients.&amp;nbsp; However, for many of my clients, once they start looking at all the various properties in their price range, they become extremely discouraged with the condition of most of the properties.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For these clients, I will often forward links to my blog about programs that may serve their needs in buying a fixer upper.&amp;nbsp; For example, when a client calls me inquiring about how they can finance repairs for the property into the loan, I follow it up with an email that includes a link to from blog about an &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/667477/got-rehab-&quot; title=&quot;FHA 203k&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FHA 203k&lt;/a&gt; loan program.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another way that I use my blog to stay connect to my current clients and enhance the relationship we've already started to build is to inform them of pertinent info about the real estate market or our local market.&amp;nbsp; For example, I forwarded a link to clients info about a recent &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1259743/blatant-misinformation-about-getting-a-home-loan-shame-on-you-cbs&quot; title=&quot;CBS segment that was blatant misinformation&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;CBS segment that was blatant misinformation&lt;/a&gt; on getting a home loan.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/8/0/4/2/ar125670533924089.jpg&quot; height=&quot;77&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;705&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I also recently sent out an email to all my &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1202582/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-lahd-offers-new-down-payment-assistance-program&quot; title=&quot;LIPA&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LIPA&lt;/a&gt; clients a link to my blog post about a &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1252070/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-hud-waives-90-property-flipping-rule-for-nsp-buyers-eligible-areas&quot; title=&quot;change to FHA guidelines for NSP eligible areas&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;change to FHA guidelines for NSP eligible areas&lt;/a&gt; along with another link that informed them of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1201337/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-lahd-expands-nsp-eligible-areas-&quot; title=&quot;expanded NSP areas&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;expanded NSP areas&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like most bloggers, it's important to me to know that the time and energy I spend building a relationship with my clients is time and energy well spent and that what I'm doing is generating customer satisfaction and actually creating client loyalty.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/4/5/4/ar125670569945466.jpg&quot; height=&quot;97&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;155&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;A few months ago, I was talking on the phone with one of my clients Realtors (who is actually a friend of mine) and she informed that our client had told her that he didn't want to see anymore properties where the designated lender that he had to pre-approve won't work with me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He told her that if the lender refuses to speak with me and work out some kind of arrangement to get him pre-approved then he's not interested in making an offer on the property.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While I silently relished in my client's act of loyalty, I did feel for my friend who now feels that she needs to screen REO bank reps to find out if they will work with me.&amp;nbsp; Since then, I have heard similar reports from some of my other clients Realtors.&amp;nbsp; While one was more than a little perturbed by the request (I strongly suspect that he'll drop our client) the others understand and will try and do what they can to weed out the uncooperative bank reps.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I, of course, will do whatever I can to make the process easier for my clients Realtors and have asked them to forward me the contact info for the REO bank reps and I will call them to see how agreeable they will be to working with me, which is really the most I can do to respect my clients requests.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, on that note, this is how I have used my blog to enhance the relationships that I have built with my clients.&amp;nbsp; By the time my clients get into escrow, I've spent a lot of time and energy on their file at it's important to know that my clients and I are committed to working together to closing their escrow as quickly and as smoothly as possible.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303739/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-1&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot;&gt;USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp;amp; PROSPECTS: Part 1&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:25:17 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1307063/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-2</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303788/driving-the-final-stake-through-hvcc-s-heart</guid>
      <title>Driving the Final Stake Through HVCC's Heart</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I subscribe to the daily webcasts of Think Big, Work Small (TBWS), which is hosted by these two guys, Brian Stevens &amp;amp; Frank Garay.&amp;nbsp; TBWS was founded a couple of years ago by a bunch of real estate and mortgage people who wanted to teach others in the business how to work smarter to grow their business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today's video was great because there was a segment on the progress of of HR 3126, the bill to eliminate HVCC.&amp;nbsp; We've won a battle rainers but the the war continues.&amp;nbsp; If you haven't signed the HVCC petition yet, please do so now.&amp;nbsp; We need the strength of the entire industry to wipe out HVCC.&amp;nbsp; There was also a funny segment on napping pilots.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyway, here is today's video and I hope you enjoy it&amp;nbsp;as much as I did.&amp;nbsp; I want to also suggest checking out some of their more recent ones too as well as their blog threads.&amp;nbsp; Very interesting discussions going on.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19123/1234553&quot; title=&quot;blocked::http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/19123/1234553&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch Video&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/0/3/2/3/ar125657174832305.jpg&quot; height=&quot;60&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;279&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:43:44 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303788/driving-the-final-stake-through-hvcc-s-heart</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303739/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-1</guid>
      <title>USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp; PROSPECTS:  Part 1</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/2/8/7/9/ar125657012297821.jpg&quot; height=&quot;132&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;166&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Bob Stewart is at it again!&amp;nbsp; He's issued another one of his blogging challenges and for those of us who are up for the challenge, Bob has offered a wicked amount of points for those who can blow Bob out of the blogosphere with our blogging mastery.&amp;nbsp; All we have to do is answer one question, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;How are we using our blog to enhance our existing relationships with clients and prospects?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like all of Bob's challenges, he compels us to think of ways that we can best utilize the time we spend here in the rain on how to improve and/or increase our businesses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For many here, blogging is their primary marketing method - they do very little marketing anywhere else.&amp;nbsp; For these folks, they must be using their blogs to their fullest extent.&amp;nbsp; While blogging isn't my only marketing strategy, it is one where I definitely want to improve my numbers in order for it to be more effective for me.&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/1/5/3/8/ar125656908983519.jpg&quot; height=&quot;137&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;163&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Earlier this year, I learned a way to do this by one of AR's own blogging Guru's, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/tutas&quot; title=&quot;Broker Bryant&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Broker Bryant&lt;/a&gt; (BB).&amp;nbsp; If anyone doesn't know this &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;extremely&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; successful (and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;really&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; funny and entertaining) broker and blogger, then you need to check him out immediately.&amp;nbsp; BB is an absolute wealth of incredible info about real estate, sales &amp;amp; marketing, negotiating and blogging.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So what did I learn from BB about using my blog to enhance my existing relationships with clients and prospects?&amp;nbsp; Don't keep my blog posts simply restricted to my blog.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For example, when a prospect calls me inquiring about getting pre-approved, after the phone call, I follow it up with an email that includes links to a couple of my blog posts about a particular loan program we may have talked about like &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1176624/down-payment-assistance-eligible-for-los-angeles-county-reo-s&quot; title=&quot;NSP&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;NSP&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/978292/attention-los-angeles-county-first-time-buyers-new-hero-program-offers-up-to-75-000-for-first-time-buyers&quot; title=&quot;HERO&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;HERO&lt;/a&gt; program or maybe the &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/933054/attention-ventura-los-angeles-county-home-buyers-100-financing-still-exists-for-some-prospective-home-buyers&quot; title=&quot;USDA Rural&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;USDA Rural&lt;/a&gt; program.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I follow this same practice when someone emails me inquiring about &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/925278/attention-ventura-county-realtors-their-first-time-buyers-down-payment-assistance-is-still-alive-in-ventura-county&quot; title=&quot;local down payment assistance programs&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;local down payment assistance programs&lt;/a&gt; (dpa) that they may have read about on my blog.&amp;nbsp; When I follow-up with a response to their requests, I will include links to blogs posts that pertain to info about our market that they need to know like &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1259386/the-practice-of-demanding-prospective-buyers-get-pre-approved-with-designated-loan-reps-just-got-a-whole-lot-sleazier-&quot; title=&quot;pre-approving with REO bank reps&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;pre-approving with REO bank reps&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1044002/just-a-little-incentive-to-get-ca-first-time-buyers-off-the-fence&quot; title=&quot;California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) mortgage protection program&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) mortgage protection program&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/0/4/4/ar125656974644096.jpg&quot; height=&quot;140&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;189&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;In doing this, it not only got more visitors to my blog but it inspired me to blog more consistently.&amp;nbsp; Like most bloggers, it's important to know that the time and energy we spend building our blogs is time and energy well spent and that it's actually working.&amp;nbsp; I recently shared a story about when it really hit me that my blogging was working.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Shortly after I started promoting my blog to prospects that contacted me, I got a phone call from a woman who had contacted me about getting pre-approved.&amp;nbsp; Several phone calls and emails later, I had collected all of the necessary documentation I needed to begin her pre-approval.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We agreed to get together so that she could sign off on a mortgage application and all of the necessary disclosures.&amp;nbsp; She wasn't able to get away from her office to meet me at mine so I agreed to meet her at her office.&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/2/7/9/ar125656986697235.jpg&quot; height=&quot;122&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;181&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When I got to her office and sat down with her at her desk, I noticed she had my blog up on her computer screen.&amp;nbsp; She asked me about one of my recent blog posts and afterwards when she closed down my blog, I noticed she had an icon to my blog on her computer desktop.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I was so beside myself that someone I had just met would be that interested in me to put an icon to my blog on their desktop, it took everything I had at that moment to not just start gushing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/2/8/1/ar125656994818238.jpg&quot; height=&quot;109&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;127&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;I had an ear to ear grin for the rest of the day thinking of that.&amp;nbsp; That's when it really hit me that my blogging was working and I was making some really great connections because of it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So on that note, thanks BB for great tip on promoting my blog - it's working fabulously, so much so that I started using it on my clients but I think I'll save that for part 2.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1307063/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-2&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot;&gt;USING MY BLOG TO ENHANCE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS &amp;amp; PROSPECTS: Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:21:32 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1303739/using-my-blog-to-enhance-relationships-with-clients-prospects-part-1</link>
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