Moral Hazard; The Bank Made Me Do It! - 11/29/07 07:19 AM
I don't leave cash on my desk at the office.  You don't leave your keys in the car at the grocery store.  It creates a temptation for someone to make off with something of value that doesn't belong to them.
The term for creating such a temptation is Moral Hazard.  The risk in Moral Hazard is that someone will succumb to that temptation, with a result that's not desireable.  "The devil made me do it!"
That's what happened in the subprime debacle.  "Hey, it's not my fault.  They told me that even the banks called it a Liar's Loan."
Look for Moral Hazard to … (29 comments)

Fail Safe Followup System for Rainers: Simple, Sound, Safe... and Dirt Cheap! - 11/27/07 06:56 AM
It's simple.  You can teach it to the rawest recruit in your office. 
It's sound.  Nothing will fall through the cracks.
It's safe.  You'll never lose data unless the building burns down around you.
And (near and dear to MY heart) it's dirt cheap!
Last week's post Networking Heritage? Her Mom Was a Realtor (about super networker Lori Riegel) had a teaser:
Lori has a simple (and simply the most effective) two-book system for tracking her business contacts.  I'll share that with you in another post later this week.  (The system was a gift to Lori from Lois, her predecessor as Marketing Consultant at the Arizona … (32 comments)

Real Estate Correction: I Don't Want Help From My Government - 11/26/07 01:00 AM
Today's Active Rain front page Featured Posts included this title, by Lenn Harley: MASSIVE FORECLOSURES COMING? THE MARKET IS SPEAKING LOUD AND CLEAR.  You might want to read it, and the commentary it's attracted, before continuing.
By the time I read Lenn's post, almost eighty people had commented.  One comment, by my AR friend, associate and blog subscriber Kate Bourland, (also a lender with a focus on eliminating debt and creating wealth) prompted this exchange:
Kate:  "I think that what you are saying is that the free market system is broken.  The free market brought on the current real estate crisis.  Leaving it … (68 comments)

For Newbies Only: Blog Template--A Conversation With One Person--Me. - 11/24/07 01:04 PM
Edit: 4/10/08 (83,000 members)We're closing on 60,000 members in Active Rain.  Yesterday saw 44 Newbies join our ranks, from places as far from my Tucson home as Vancouver, British Columbia and Ponce Inlet, Florida.  With so many new members, and so much content to wade through, it's hard to know what to do first as a Newbie.  1st:  Read and re-read the ActiveRain Community Guidelines !  You'll come up the curve quickly, and you'll save yourself a lot of grief. 
2nd and Always:  Write a post for your blog.  Google will never find you if you don't post to your blog!  If you're from … (44 comments)

Wordpress: Can We Make It Easier for Readers to Comment? - 11/23/07 09:36 AM

I'm spoiled by the Active Rain interface that lets me comment and interact.  Todd Carpenter has an extremely useful site called Lenderama.  This screen shot is from the latest post by a writer taking advantage of Todd's "Open Microphone" feature.
Wade Young, of Red Door Home Loans, has written a piece that Real Estate Agents will find useful, and I gave him a rating of five gold stars.  Then I looked for the button to click to leave a comment.  No such button!  That's frustrating, especially because I want to leave a congratulatory comment for the writer.
I'm posting this to … (20 comments)

I've Been Foreclosed, and that's Good News for You! - 11/21/07 01:45 AM
Len Elder is my favorite teacher.  A mortgage broker, real estate broker, and attorney at law, Len writes cirricula for the Hogan School of Real Estate in Tucson, Arizona.  Sunday a couple of months ago, I found him at Starbucks, papers strewn across the little round table, writing poetry.  Len carries a book of his poetry in the trunk of his car.  If you ask, he's likely to share it with you.
This particular Sunday morning, he was writing haiku.  It's a Japanese form of poetry, consisting of 17 syllables divided (in English, at least) into three lines which consist of a "phrase" … (25 comments)

Networking Heritage? Her Mom Was a Realtor - 11/20/07 06:58 AM
Lori Riegel is, hands down, the most effective networker I've met in Tucson.  My phone rings because Lori met with someone in her capacity as Marketing Consultant with Tucson's Arizona Jewish Post.  She's a machine! 
Lori has a simple (and simply the most effective) two-book system for tracking her business contaces.  I'll share that with you in another post later this week. 
Today, I want you to meet my friend and BNI (Business Networking International) associate.
Lori's parents were both Real Estate Agents in Chicago.  In 1980, they moved to Tucson, Arizona.  Lori was in 3rd grade.  While Mom, Freddi Pakier, set about conquering the real … (23 comments)

For Newbies Only: Where Do I Get Those Great Signs? - 11/18/07 10:43 AM
Jill Fuhrer, of the tag team Lehigh Valley PA Homes - Jill & Ron Fuhrer, commented on my blog this evening, and I went looking for a sign to spice up my comment.  Here it is on the left.
When I first started blogging on Active Rain, I had no idea how to find, make, size and insert these wonderful personalized images.
So for the Newbie Group only, here's the skinny.  Start using this, and you'll outshine some of the old-timers who have never mastered the Little Green Tree icon right up there at the top.
Go to IMAGECHEF.COM. 
The home page isn't intuitive.   … (138 comments)

Word Sculpture: Creating an Active Rain Bronze - 11/15/07 01:27 AM
She's seven years old.  Maybe eight. Grandkids keep changing on you when you're not looking.  Her attention span rivals that of a six week old puppy. 
When I blog, I keep Hanna's world view in mind.  For a very short period of time,  she's very focused.  And in that way, Hanna is exactly like you--my Active Rain reader.  And you, in turn, are exactly like the real estate buyer who's clicking away on their keyboard in West Jebip, looking for just the right agent to help them buy just the right house.
So stick with me; the moral of the story just might just … (34 comments)

Amazing Grace...and Taps - 11/11/07 10:41 PM

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...  From the earliest days of childhood, we six could remember Mother humming this tune.  We have no need of the lyrics; they are part of us.
Mary Jane, at 22 a US Army nurse with the 109th General Hospital in Europe, returned safely to Haddonfield, NJ, where she married Morgan Jones.
Mary Jane instilled a love of God and Country in her children.  This Veterans Day, we are five, the youngest having been unexpectedly reunited with Dad and Mother. 
As the clear liquid notes of Taps echoed and died away across the New Jersey countryside, five strong Welsh voices took up a familiar … (31 comments)

Zoom Zoom! Zero to First on Google in 60 Days! - 11/11/07 12:27 AM
This post won't teach you anything about HTML meta tags.  Active Rainers have already paved that street.  This post is a success story for my brand, Mike in Tucson.  Three things converged to bring about that success:  
the genius of the Active Rain business model, Active Rain members who read and comment on my blog, and little things called "tags." I found Active Rain in July.  Inman News did an article on AR's explosive growth.  I signed up.
Writing is right up my alley, but I didn't know diddly about how search engines work, why a particular result comes up first on a Google … (157 comments)

For Newbies Only: The Ten Commandments of Active Rain, With Apologies to Moses - 11/10/07 04:32 AM

When Moses came down off Mt. Sinai, he brought with him ten commandments.  "Do, or don't do these things," was the idea, "and you will prosper in the land."  There are ten do's and don'ts for success in the virtual land of Active Rain as well.
Edit:  But first...  Read the ActiveRain Community Guidelines !  Then bone up on the following commandments as you move toward the Promised Land!
1.  Thou Shalt Blog.  It's the first commandment.  If you're not going to write, what are you here for?  Quick true story:  One member (score: 115,500 or so) has brought more new members into … (112 comments)

Tooting My Horn: 50,000 Points and 100 Posts! - 11/08/07 07:10 AM
...thanks to my readers, commenters and subscribers!  Today, I'll pass the 50,000 mark on Active Rain.  Not much in the scheme of things, but for me it's a milestone.  Since you're reading this, you know how much a part you've played in helping me get to this goal.  Thank You!
Special thanks to Woo Hoo Sally and Marlene Bridges!  Sally, you were the first Active Rain moderator to contact me and give some much-needed direction.  Marlene, your post My Legacy? Simply - Dust in the Wind was the first really excellent blog I read on Active Rain, and it opened my eyes to the usefulness of … (52 comments)

Mortgage Site Has Answers for Agents & Buyers! - 11/07/07 05:26 PM
 
As an Agent, you know your new buyer is going to grill you.  Some questions you can answer; others you cannot, even if you want to, for legal reasons.  If you're a buyer, I know that bugs you sometimes.  You have questions like these:
What's happening with interest rates?  I want to do my homework before I talk to a loan officer.  What is a FICO score?How much could my credit score impact the cost of my loan? I'm a visual person.  Can we look at historic interest rate trends in a graph?  Here's a very useful site.  It's Mortgage-X.com  Bookmark it.  It's a resource for … (14 comments)

Inspired by Light - 11/06/07 10:15 PM
In a market where one house competes with ten thousand others for the attention of a single buyer, you--the listing agent--have a most powerful ally in presenting your house to the world. 
Allow me to present that ally.  Meet the setting sun.  Its rich, deep yellow rays have a unique power over the imagination.  They can transform an image of your listing from dull, flat and ordinary to rich, deep, warm and inviting.
This ordinary Wal-mart geranium illustrates my point perfectly.  There's something magical about the image I've created there to your left.  You want it. 
Your attention is drawn to its complexity and texture.  … (48 comments)

Life Before Real Estate? You Bet! - 11/04/07 02:25 PM
All of us had a previous life.  This was mine.  What was yours?
I was a high end real estate developer on Long Beach Island, a barrier reef off the coast of New Jersey, six miles at sea.  This oceanside condo complex, the Breakers, exceeded the height limitation for the town of Beach Haven, on the south end of the island.  But Beach Haven's first homes were built in the 1870s by principals of the Baldwin Locomotive Company.  Those homes were Victorian mansions, with towers and complex rooflines.  The town fathers loved the design of the Breakers, and issued the variance. 
I'm … (26 comments)

Hands Up Pardner; This is Tucson, Arizona! - 11/04/07 03:33 AM
 Tucsonans take their yard art seriously.
Most places around the country, you'll see a water fountain, a reflecting ball on a pedestal, or some such thing.
Not in Tucson.  This metal sculpture guards the driveway to a relatively modest home built back in the 1950s. 
Driving past, you'll notice no grass lawn, no flowers or shrubs except for the native desert mesquite and chapparal.  Yet here stands a piece of art likely worth more than the SUV parked next to the house.
You can't help but admire the spirit of the man.  Standing eight feet tall, shotgun at the ready, cloak blowing in the … (30 comments)

Messed-up Lives and Listing Opportunities - 11/03/07 11:56 AM
They (yup, those guys) tell us that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  But human emotions sometimes go over the edge.  You see the results in this photo.
When a marital disagreement has gone this far, the house often ends up in foreclosure because the owners are so far down the well of anger, despair and depression that neither person is thinking clearly about the consequences of their actions.
While the "we buy ugly houses" crowd often steps in here, it's the REALTOR® who has a relationship who can often salvage more value for the seller than anyone else.
We don't do it.  … (45 comments)

Home Prices & Pending Sales in Tucson. Going Up! - 11/02/07 11:46 AM
We have more inventory, but new listings are drying up. 
It's taking longer to sell, but Pending Contracts are up 32%.
These numbers, published in the Arizona Daily Post, are for the month of September, year over year, and they're tremendously encouraging!
The average sale price for an existing home is up 7.8% over last year.
The median sale price is up 3%.
For builders, though, the news is still grim.  As they scramble to unload inventory, the average and median sale price for new homes is down.
That's great news for our buyers!  Don't wait until the train has left the station; call your favorite … (8 comments)

Loonie Rules! Canadian Buying Power Up 6% for Tucson Home! - 11/01/07 07:02 AM
Goooood morning, Canada!  While you're having your cuppa tea this morning, consider this:  the cost of owning your winter home in warm, sunny Tucson, Arizona went down by more than six percent yesterday. The Canadian Dollar is worth $1.06 US since our Federal Reserve dropped the Fed Funds rate yesterday. 
How long has it been since the loonie had this kind of buying power in the US?  Never in your lifetime!  You have to go back 130 years to find a south-of-the-border real estate shopping opportunity like this.
That would be the year 1877.  The main man in the Santa Cruz valley where Tucson is … (8 comments)

 
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Mike Jones

Mike Jones NMLS 223495

Tucson, AZ

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SUNSTREET MORTGAGE, LLC (BK-0907366, NMLS 145171)

Address: 2840 E Skyline Dr, Suite #230, Tucson, AZ, 85718

Office Phone: (520) 344-6943

Cell Phone: (520) 349-9090

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