Ouch, so this the second time I am writing this. I should have saved it as a draft. Argh!
Anyhow, I really don't mind writing it again, I find it fun. A little change from the ordinary for me.
This is a perfect example of Reciprocity, highlighted so well by TLW in her post Have You Considered Reciprocating Your Comments? Hmmm? ROAR! . I was MEME'd by simply going to Ginger Wilcox's blog on AR and also outside AR, and gave her some comments. Reciprocity at it's finest. Thanks again Ginger for the MEME, it is an honor!
Here you go. I hope you learn something about me, and if nothing else, hope you had fun reading it.
1. I am an avid golfer. It is my passion, though I don't get to play nearly enough. 3 times a year is not sufficient, but with my schedule, I am happy to enjoy that much. It could be worse right? I say I am an avid golfer. I should say that I am an obsessed golfer. Reason being, I think about it all the time. The best example I can give is I think about it when I go to bed. That's right. If I can't sleep, I will think about my favorite golf course in Arnold, California, Sequoia Woods, and every shot I would take as I make my way through the course. Seriously, I do this, and am asleep by the 5th hole 90% of the time! I know every shot of this course, whether I play it right, is on me!
2. I have a little girl, who is 17 months old today! Happy Birthday R. I get to wake up every day to this little angel. Anyone that has kids knows what I mean by this. Waking up and seeing their smily face is the greatest part about being a parent. I am new! I can't wait to see what is to come.
3. I love to drive. Yes, love to drive. I think this is a kind of weird for Meme, but it just came to me. I can drive for hours and hours, listening to music, the radio, chatting with friends. I love a good road trip! Some of my favorite places are Santa Cruz, Arnold as mentioned above, Tahoe, the list can go on and on. Just after college, some friends and I drove to Las Vegas, about a 10 hour drive, and worth every bit of it!
4. I have a bad habit of not finishing my housework. My wife and I bought a home 2 years ago that needed a bunch of work. We have done a lot, but there always seems to be little details that just aren't quite there. I never seem to have the time to finish it perfectly like a professional would do. But, I guess I am not a professional contractor, but that is one thing I am going to work on. Finishing my house projects. Fortunately that doesn't translate to work!
5. For the second time in my life I got surprised for my Birthday! Ok, my birthday was 4 months ago, so I can say I wasn't on guard, but I still got surprised. 30 by the way, not as bad as I thought. About 1 month ago I got a call from one of my friends wives, who I am very good friends with as well, and she let me know that all of our college friends were going to get together for a little get together, because we hadn't all been together in a while. Sounds good to me, not thinking anything of it. I got to Pyramid Brew Company in Walnut Creek, and sure enough all 5 of us guys from college had been had. Our wives had thrown a huge catered bash with DJ and all of our friends from college and even some from high school. It was a great time, but I think I am still hung over.....Thanks to all of our wives, not for the hang over, but for a great party!
So that is it. My little explanation of who I am. You can check out my blog for information about who I am as a business person, and get a little more about me personally there. I guess now I have to MEME someone else, prepare, I am on the lookout.
Easy enough, click the link and find out! It is that simple.
So I looked through their very easy to understand website, and learned, that this site lists your top 20 most valuable search positions. Really? Something does this for me? I have to tell you, I get tired of typing in my "niche" search engine keywords every week or so. Wouldn't it be great if someone did that for me? They have...Check this out, here is what it looks like....
5. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=refinance+bay+area&btnG=Search (Not 2nd, actually about 8th)
6. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=san+francisco+refinance&btnG=Search (Actually 4th and not 6th!)
So I could go on and on. So far the results have been pretty accurate! Another great feature is it tells you the search engine you are getting the results from. Not getting enough from Google, find out why, and exploit that tag or linkage through Active Rain. MSN really strong, find the search keywords that are giving you the results and keep pushing them! This tool can give you everything you need to know to structure you website keywords, tags, and descriptive text.
Simply type in the domain at the top, and it will give you your ranking for your 20 most valuable searches. This is great stuff for improving you search engine optomization (SEO) ranking.
The second page is the Competitor Page. This is " This is a listing of websites which are actively competing of search engine positions with your website." To avoid posting links to my competitors websites, I am just going to encourage you to check it out for yourself!
Getting your SEO campaign started is important, over time, you can use the internet resources to make sure you are efficiently using your time, and getting in front of the internet surfers you want to. Active Rain is a great resource for you. Here are some great SEO posts I have enjoyed...
There are many many others. You can find this by going to the Seach page at the top, and typing in SEO. There is a lot to learn, Active Rain can help if you don't want to spend the big bucks!
By the way, my homepage, which I have so blatantly stated several times earlier, has a Google Pagerank of 0. Yes 0. This proves that pagerank, though important, is far less important than keyword, meta tag, and description text, than anything else. Don't get discouraged by a PR 0. I used to be, but with tangible results, does it really matter?
Where do you rank? Is www.rankmon.com really a good and reputable resource? What are the drawbacks? Your participation is greatly appreciated!
Disclosure, I don't not have any affilitation with Rankmon, just merely saw the use in it. I have no idea if the search results are exact.
I was approached by a Realtor I work with, whose name I won't say, but we will call him Bobby, who was buying a property in Oakland, California. I have strictly worked with Bobby's clients, never actually helped him personally. He was working with his regular personal lender (in the business for a long time), who was having trouble with the property, not with Bobby's qualifications, but the property's. The appraisal he ordered was coming back as "mixed use", because of the layout and one of the rooms that had been converted from it's original structure. Another issue was that the area is not a conventional residential area. It is about 1 mile from where the Oakland A's play baseball and Oakland Raiders play football, and Golden State Warriors play basketball, and is truly a mixed area for property type.
The prior lender had sent the loan to 3 different lenders, each one looking at the appraisal and denying the property because of it's use. Bobby had enough with the same issues, and asked me to see what I could do to salvage the transaction, because the property is unique and a great find. I agreed of course, and decided to see why this property had been having problems, and try to avoid the same issues the other lender had been having.
I went out to the property with Bobby, and looked at it. Great location, not far from the freeway, and even closer to the Ballpark, Arena, and Stadium. With the market where it is, the property hadn't had that much demand because there is so much on the market, so I had the cooperation from both the seller's agent and the seller, to do what I could to make this loan work. Everyone on my side, now I just needed to get it done!
So the property is clean, no major damage, great size, unique. What could be wrong? Well when the property was built, the city had approved it for occupancy as a Single Family Residence. Hands down....One of the previous owners had converted the garage to a "rec room" but apparently they had used it as a bakery as well. They had done this illegally, the city was not aware of this change. The zoning of the property is R-35, a special zoning in Oakland for Single Family Residences. I spoke with the appraiser who performed the initial appraisal, and he let me know that the property is tough to classify, but his opinion is that the highest and best use for the property is as a Residence. In the use type, however, he had to put the property as mixed use, because of the look of the property, and the unconventional rec room in the front of the building. He could not determine whether the property was truly residential or commercial and wouldn't do anything else to verify it's use.
Well I guess that is where I come in...
The issue is not the zoning, it is Residential, but how can I prove to the lender that this property is through and through residential, regardless of the look or "feel" of the property. I placed a call to my Account Exec, a veteran of 30 years in the business.... I have faith. His advice was to get a "burn down" letter, from the City of Oakland, stating that the property, should it burn down, would need to be built according to zoning 100% of the time, whether a complete burn down or partial burn down.
Ok, easy enough. I call and ask Bobby to go to the Planning Department for the City of Oakland, and he gets their standard "burn down letter". A "burn down letter" that is specific to what we need will take weeks. It stated that whether a conforming property or non-conforming property it would have to be built according to the current permits for the property. Alright! I have the key to the puzzle. We add this letter in an addendum to the appraisal, send in everything to the lender for approval.
The file comes back a few days later approved! Awesome, now when are they going to sign off the appraisal condition? The answer....they aren't. They aren't sure about this property, they want a 100% burn down letter. (What is the difference?)
Ugh, same old situation, but my first dose. I don't like taking no for an answer, especially since I am sure that I am right.
I get a phone call from the sellers agent, who is having to explain the situation to the seller, and the seller is pissed off! Alright, why is he pissed off. He said that he has never been denied in the past with financing that property. However he does admit that the property has had questions about it's use in the past. Same issues we were having. The seller's agent asks me to call the seller to calm him down, and reassure him that we are working on it, we just need some time. Alright, most loan officers wouldn't do this, but I will, because I have nothing to hide, and I can explain what I am trying to accomplish. We chat, he is calm, and let's me know that he appreciates the conversation.
On a hunch,I call the City of Oakland myself to dissect this property from head to toe. I ask the extremely helpful person at the office, who we will call Molly, to go through this letter with me after I fax it to her, and we can reason through it all, so that I can understand. She reads the letter, and interprets it for me. She believes that it is saying that the property, whether it completely were to burn down, or partially burn down, it would need to be built to the current permits, as I thought earlier. But, the issue is the property is a little different. Had the old owner permitted any construction when they ran a small bakery out of there? The only way to find out is for Molly to research the history of this property, to see if the property had ever been permitted.
After about an hour, yes only an hour, Molly calls me back, and let's me know that the City of Oakland, has NEVER permitted any construction on the property, other than it's original construction as a Single Family Residence. I ask her now to determine how the property would have to be rebuilt should it burn down, according to the burn down letter I sent her. Her response, if the property were to burn down, it would need to be rebuilt as it's original permitted use, as a Single Family Residence. Could this be it?
Knowing how this lender operates, I decide the best way to lay it all on the line is in a professional Letter of Explanation (LOE). In the mortgage business, an LOE is a great way to explain to the underwriter something about a file, that should be out in the open? I write the letter, spilling my knowledge about the file, pretty much disproving what the appraiser has though, what the old lenders thought, and what the new lender was thinking.
This is what I would like to call a Hail Mary.
In football terms, the pass was completed for a 99 yard touchdown!! The lender accepted my letter, and approved the property as collateral for the transaction. WooohooooO!
I am not one to brag, but I think I may at this point. The original broker sent the loan out there, praying that the lender wouldn't see the whole appraisal, miss something and it would slip through and the loan would close. That is not the proper way to do loans. You have to take all precautions to ensure that you aren't going to run into problems, and that comes out in even the most simple ways, like preparing a compliant application and disclosure package.
I take the additional steps to ensure potential problems are workable, if not fixable in their entirety. Not many other brokers will do that, and that is how this business should be done.
If you would like to learn more about me, you can view my blog at Jon's Blog.
I have been having trouble getting the coding to work perfectly everytime. If for some reason, one of the clips is not working, you can also view the seminar on my website at Jon's Website.
This is the footage from a First Time Hombuyers Seminar I hosted with Jana Cole, an exclusive buyers agent of the San Francisco Bay Area.
We hosted the event at the Land America Title Office in Daly City, California. A special thanks to Laurel and James who stayed the long night we us.
I have broken down the footage into 5 clips. I will give you an idea of the topics in each clip so that you can click directly on the play button and will know what is about to play. Please let me know if you have any questions in any way. I hope you learn something!
Clip #1
Who is involved?
Appraisal - what is it?
Types of Properties - Single Family Residence, Condo/ Townhome, 2 - 4 Unit
I hope you have enjoyed the footage. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. You can reach me at 650-465-5846 at any time.
I was trolling the recent news today on CNN Money and ran across a funny interview with Kathleen Madigan, a hilarious comedian with her comments on the "Subprime Market".
She discusses her getting involved in Real Estate and how she fell into the trap of getting over your head, and just taking the loan because they will give it to you!
For those of you who don't know Kathleen Madigan, she is a well known comedian who has been on TV shows like Last Comic Standing. She is a funny funny lady, and it shows that even people who are successful in their craft, can get sucked into Real Estate without the right education.
If you are interested in coming, please call me at 650-465-5846 or email me at jvetter@mercurylending.com to reserve one of the last seats available. It is time to act now!
We will be discussing:
Who is involved?
Types of properties
Qualifying Tools
Financing Options
Loan Structure
Budgeting
Expenses to buy a home
The seminar will take about 1:30 in total, if it does last longer, we will break for you to leave, if you choose to.
Anyone is invited, this will be a very informal presentation to answer any questions that come to mind. Come on by to have some fun!
Invite a friend!
This seminar will also be hosted on You Tube and my blog, stay tuned for footage if you are unable to attend!
It seems like the general concensus with internet websites, the best way to make money with a website is to blast your site with advertisements and get paid per click. Or get paid business from it's members.
I have loved the whole site for months now, and have never seen one single advertisement, no popups....nothing.
I also have never been solicited for a donation to benefit the Active Rain community. Thanks Active Rain!
But it still confuses me. How can Active Rain support a staff, travel the country to promote the business, and keep the boat rolling? I mean, these folks are obviously technological masters, couldn't they work for ONE healthy salary engineering for Google or Apple? They must get what they deserve here...right?
Is Active Rain funded by private investors? Is the site set for purchase by a private or public company in the future?
How does Active Rain manage to keep it going, and make all of us happy with managing the continued integrity of the site?
I have posted earlier about a seminar that I am hosting on the Peninsula of San Francisco Bay, in Daly City, California, at the Land America Title Office on July 10th, 2007, and did some research on how I can take that seminar and expose it to not only the people that attend, but also to the masses.
You Tube was the first thing that came to mind, and how to use it was the next concern.
When in doubt, search for the answer!
I went to the Active Rain search page and came across a step by step post by Nick M., at Aligning your You Tube Videos, left or right? which outlines how to take the video from You Tube, and embed it into my blog here on Active Rain.
GENIOUS!
Has this been done? I looked through You Tube for the basic keywords, and really didn't find much of substance. Some decent posts, but nothing out of the box! I think this could be a great, different way to get in front of people, and let people FEEL what we feel about Real Estate.
My partner in this seminar, Jana Cole, a new Active Rain member, and I will host this seminar on a monthly basis, and we will be able to convey our thoughts to the masses because of the internet, and Active Rain. Every month we will repost the updated video, and as our content develops and improves, so will the effect on the community.
With posting on You Tube, Active Rain, Localism, and our websites, we are sure to reach out to every one that wants the helping hand.
The hardest thing about organizing a seminar is not the content, it is merely getting the attendance to make the venture profitable. With exposure on the internet and Active Rain, the exposure becomes that much more likely, and therefore more profitable.
I have been out of town traveling the world, well maybe not the world, but I did get the chance to spend two weeks in lovely Southern New Jersey. I had the opportunity to meet with a fellow Active Rainer at PJ Whelihan's Pub, in Maple Shade, New Jersey, and one of the most respected active members of the Active Rain Community, and no doubt many people throughout the United States as a "go to" loan officer, Jeff Belonger. He was able to write about our experience, check it out.
Jeff summed up a lot about me very well. I am an avid baseball fan, though I don't get to watch nearly as much as I would like because of my crazy life. I have a 16 month old, I am sure you can understand!
I am going to highlight some of our conversation and give you my perspective on Jeff Belonger, who I believe is a great mortgage contact, locally and nationally.
Jeff no doubt has the experience. I believe 20 years in the business, I think he knows what he is doing.
Jeff has the ability to make you want to listen. I tell myself that I know all about the business, but understand that there are many many people that I can learn from. Jeff is definitely one of those people.
Most loan officers, have their set lenders, know those lenders products, if you are lucky, and fit the borrower into the product based on that persons credit score. Jeff takes it to the next level. He has the experience to think outside of the box. His abilities thrive in difficult to fund loans. Other average loan officers can't do what Jeff can do, because he understands every persons situation, and makes sure he has all necessary information, to ensure the best product and pricing for his clients. This comes out with his understand of the overall business. FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and just standard lender guidelines, Jeff has it covered, and will get the job done well.
Another thing I like about Jeff is he tells it like it is. He truly isn't afraid of saying something he believes, especially here on Active Rain. If Jeff feels one way, he will lay it on the line, and I think we all have to come to the realization that he deserves a lot of credit for that. That is one of the great things about Active Rain. Isn't it?
Some people might ask why I would write about Jeff, being that he is licensed and California and could be considered a competitor. The answer is, we really aren't competitors. I have never battled for a loan against Jeff. Jeff and I are merely people that have the "potential" to cross paths along the way, and each add what we believe is professional and positive influence on the mortgage business as a whole. If you were to ask me, it would seem like we work TOGETHER. I prefer it that way...
These are some of my insights on the Bay Area Home Mortgage market, and California and Oregon in general. Please let me know if you are liking what I am writing!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
On a hunch,I call the City of Oakland myself to dissect this property from head to toe. I ask the extremely helpful person at the office, who we will call Molly, to go through this letter with me after I fax it to her, and we can reason through it all, so that I can understand. She reads the letter, and interprets it for me. She believes that it is saying that the property, whether it completely were to burn down, or partially burn down, it would need to be built to the current permits, as I thought earlier. But, the issue is the property is a little different. Had the old owner permitted any construction when they ran a small bakery out of there? The only way to find out is for Molly to research the history of this property, to see if the property had ever been permitted. 
West meets East....... a face to face with Jonathan Vetter, loan officer.
elieves, especially here on Active Rain. If Jeff feels one way, he will lay it on the line, and I think we all have to come to the realization that he deserves a lot of credit for that. That is one of the great things about Active Rain. Isn't it?
;)
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