| |
active rain: Four Days Without Rain, And I'm Parched - 03/14/11 07:26 AM
It's been four days without Rain, and I'm getting parched.
The cool thing about a good habit is that when you don't do it, you begin to feel out of step with your world.
I take that back. I begin to feel out of step with my world. I'm like that bee on the right, looking for nourishment and carrying no pollen.
Something's missing.
That something for the last four days has been interacting with friends and co-workers across the continent on the Active Rain Real Estate Network.
The earthquake and subsequent tragedies in Japan are a shock to my sense of … (22 comments)
|
active rain: CONGRATULATIONS ACTIVE RAIN! 200,000 MEMBERS! - 01/17/11 06:04 AM
Active Rain just hit a milestone ~ 200,000 members!
I've been keeping an eye on this number as it moved up, and was guessing that we wouldn't hit this number until Valentine's day.
When I joined (with 100 total points,) in July of 2007, there were 41,000 real-estate-related professionals in this wonderful community. (EDIT: I may have that number wrong; see Mike Jaquish's comment below)
How did I find AR? I found it in an article on Inman News. Reading that article, I thought to myself "I'll bet I can do this. I wonder if it will bring me … (20 comments)
|
active rain: Real Estate Professionals With Chronic Illness - 11/25/10 01:06 AM
Who do you know who struggles with chronic illness? Maybe it's you, (or as it is with me, your spouse.)
In any case, it's one more difficulty layered over an already difficult profession.
Kimberly A Norgard has started a group specifically for Active Rain professionals who work in spite of chronic illness. It's called Realtors With Chronic Illness.
Please spread the word about this group. The lady on your right is my Darlin', and she was diagnosed 30 years ago with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE.) In spite of her chronic illness, she was named NJ Employee of the Year in 1997, … (13 comments)
|
active rain: 190,000 Active Rainers, One by One by One... - 08/25/10 06:55 AM
190,000 Active Rainers! That's where we'll be by next week. That blows me away! And we did it one by one.
One by one by one by one... Just like that August field in the photo above, watered by summer rain and blanketed with sunshine.
Does one make a difference?
These are difficult times. Difficulty can bend our focus inward, and that's not good. It's not how we're made to function in this life. We're made for each other.
Discouragement makes me think small. "I'm just one person, one blogger, one insignificant vote."
When I'm discouraged, I ask the wrong … (49 comments)
|
active rain: For Newbies & Rainers Alike: Never Give Up - 07/05/10 02:56 PM
When the business cycle of mortgage lending or real estate sales really slows down, I've noticed a correlation in blogging activity on the Active Rain Real Estate Network.
DESPAIR
People just give up, it seems. They stop blogging.
Someone told me last week "It doesn't matter right now whether I blog or advertise. Nothing's working, and I'm not going to waste the time."
RENEWAL
I'm old enough to have gone through this cycle more than once, and I can tell you that it's not "good thinking" to give up on something that keeps your name and business in front of others. Out of … (58 comments)
|
active rain: How Do Automate The Process of Publishing Your Active Rain Post to FB, Plaxo, LinkedIn... - 02/06/10 10:13 PM
Special thanks to Elaine Carmack, Maureen McCabe, and Kim Dillon for asking how I automated the process of exporting my blog post on Active Rain to my outside social media outlets. (Elaine, I couldn't find you in AR, or I would have linked to you, too.)
A picture is worth 1,000 words, so there it is. One caveat: Only the posts linked in Active Rain to your Active Rain Outside Blog will be exported. At least, that's the way it works for me. That's cool, too, because when I publish "Members Only," I don't want it published to Facebook, Plaxo, … (25 comments)
|
active rain: Please Welcome My Friend - & New Rainmaker - Lynette Bruster to Active Rain! - 08/05/09 11:35 PM
Please click the link to go visit Arizona's newest Rainmaker, Lynette Bruster. Leave a comment on her blog, and MAKE HER WELCOME!
Earlier today...
"Lynette," I asked, "may I show you what makes the Active Rain Real Estate Network such an awesome business tool?"
"Look at this." I launched a Google page, and typed in the search term "loan officer."
"You drive," I said, turning the keyboard over to Lynette, a REALTOR at Long Realty here in Tucson. "Type in two more words in that search term so that it reads "loan officer in tucson."
… (19 comments)
|
active rain: For Newbies Only: So Why Are We Blogging Anyhow? - 06/29/09 01:33 PM
I took a little heat last week about a post that complained about the HVCC appraisal process. "Hey," said the email, "you didn't answer my comment."
Here's the reason for that: (It took a little time for it to percolate in the old brain.)
I'm a newbie. I've only been in the lending business since 2003. My relative inexperience is one reason that I'm so active on Active Rain. I learn from colleagues who have been at this for decades, and I appreciate them for their knowledge and willingness to share it with people like you and me.
Prior to April, … (18 comments)
|
active rain: Buying an Investment Property? No One Is Willing to Sell You Mortgage Insurance - 10/03/08 08:00 PM
The REALTOR called me from a cruise ship. Our pre-qualified borrower--who has been waiting months for the market to fit his budget--finally decided to make the plunge and purchase a rental property in Tucson.
His FICO score is 780. The buyer is a W-2 employee with more than 16 years on the same job. The asking price for the home he wants to buy is 70% of what he figured he'd have to spend. He planned on buying with 10% down and living with mortgage insurance.
The REALTOR was on cloud nine until I told him that the borrower will have to … (11 comments)
|
active rain: Please Welcome My Friend Mike Carsten to Active Rain! - 10/01/08 01:25 PM
Mike Carsten is almost a native of Tucson, having moved here from Toledo, Ohio seventeen years ago. (Please leave a comment, and then click the link to go comment on Mike's blog.)
Mike is a captain in the Tucson Fire Department, and I've just hired him as a loan officer in my office. He found me on Active Rain! (What a great place this community is!)
It turns out that Mike's brother in law is a Rainer as well--Kevin Wood with Realty Executives here in Tucson. I didn't figure that out until after Mike came on board.
Some things are just … (27 comments)
|
active rain: Improve Your Sales Results Right Now! The Picture In Your Mind Becomes the Story of Your Life - 09/03/08 08:30 AM
"The pictures in your mind becomes the stories of your life."Cody Bateman
I've been a National Sales Manager for OPEX Corporation, an international manufacturing company based in Moorestown, NJ, so I bring something to the table.
Here's how it works:
(1) What you think shapes the words you say, and (2) our words create images in our minds.
Stick around for the lesson. I promise it can change your outlook.
Let's use my record in inviting people to join Active Rain as the example. (The sales manager in my mind tells me I'm not doing such a good job at … (23 comments)
|
active rain: Tucson Artist Tom Murray Captures the Essence of the Southwestern Sky - 08/20/08 05:19 AM
Arizona skies are awesome. So is painter Tom Murray. I've never seen clouds captured on canvas with such realism and painterly beauty.
I first met Tom at Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson on River Road near Campbell.
That's where you'll find original paintings like the one you see featured here.
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.Think of me as your local expert.
… (22 comments)
|
active rain: Unique Little Property in Tucson Begs for Unique Buyer! - 08/09/08 10:50 PM
This must be 70 years old; it hasn't been a service station for a long time.
I drive by it often. It sits on a corner in a residential part of the older town of Tucson, near downtown.
What could it become?
An ice cream shop? A flower shop? ____________________ You fill in the blank. If you were a neighbor, what use would make you smile?
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.Think of me as your local expert.
photo copyright Mike in Tucson
YOUR IDEAS SO FAR...
Ice Cream Shop Flower Shop Produce market Real estate / … (22 comments)
|
active rain: Initiation to Blogging: Please Welcome My Friend Debbie Bachel - 07/30/08 12:00 AM
Debbie's (left) agency is just upstairs from my office, and it's a pleasure to refer business to her. That's because Debbie goes the extra mile for my clients, and is more interested in what's good for the client than what's in it for her.
Vicki Altadonna of Tucson (right) can take the blame for initiating Debbie into Active Rain. She (Debbie) joined some time ago, but until today, had not written a post on her blog. That's changed, so please click on her Active Rain profile photo there to the left. It's a link to her blog. (Please tell her who sent you.)
… (10 comments)
|
active rain: Unique Mailbox on Soldier Trail in Tucson, AZ: a Mailbox Series Update - 05/15/08 05:01 AM
Chris Griffith, an Active Rain giant and successful REALTOR in Bonita Springs, Florida, is a gem! Newbies would do well to subscribe to her blog, both for content and ideas.
Chris's post The Mailbox Series - First Time Poster's Welcome caught my eye tonight.
Real estate bloggers here in the Rain often complain of writer's block. There's no such thing, IMHO, and Chris proves it with The Mailbox Series.
Carry your camera at all times, and you'll never run out of things to do, or places to visit.
Here's my first Mailbox Series submission. (I'll be on the lookout for more.)
This … (21 comments)
|
active rain: Highway Visibility: Yesteryear's Real Estate "Hook" - 05/07/08 11:42 PM
Minnesota has its Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox. Small towns across the country have the 15' tall lumberjack holding out a tractor tire. This huge bug was a new one for me.
We were in Colorado Springs last year for our daughter's wedding, and I had some free time.
One of my all time favorite things to do is to explore roads I've never driven, and to see things I've never seen.
That's how I found this beautiful bug.
Feel free to comment, but I'd appreciate you inserting a photo with your comment. (Size it down to a width of 200 or so, … (23 comments)
|
active rain: Agents and REALTORS: The FHA Mortgage is a Fantastic Sales Tool in Tough Markets! - 05/04/08 11:42 PM
My REALTOR partners are closing sales for Tucson buyers who have income, but have saved little towards a downpayment. Buyer demand is strong for zero down homes, or nearly zero down. Here's what you need to do to close more sales using the advantages of an FHA mortgage:
This is a MUST: Make sure your preferred lender is FHA savvy. (For more on that, read Jeff Belonger, Eleanor Thorne and Mike Mueller. Subscribe to their blogs.) FHA isn't the same program you remember from ten years ago.Bone up on DPAs like Ameridream. Your FHA savvy lender will help you here. Down Payment Assistance programs are … (21 comments)
|
active rain: Silly Tucson Saturday Night Post - 05/04/08 12:27 AM
Some time ago, I wrote a short post about these pigeons camped out at the car wash, just waiting for the happy car owner to drive under the light standard.
Bird brains!
Then today, a realtor from South Carolina sent me a series of photos from a car wash showing starlings going down into the change machine and emerging with quarters in their little beaks.
I want those birds to come work for me! LOL
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.Think of me as your local expert.
… (15 comments)
|
active rain: Jazz at the China Rose, Tucson, Arizona - 05/04/08 12:15 AM
I love Chinese food. I love good jazz. Until coming to Tucson ten years ago, the two never shared the same file space in my brain.
That was before I visited the China Rose on Speedway in Tucson, AZ.
Frank Hartline invited me to join him and his wife Cheryl for dinner last night.
The vocalist was excellent, and her partner Ely made the keyboard into an orchestra, with harmonica, horn, saxaphone and other instruments accompanying the vocalist. Tucson is a cosmopolitan town, and this duo from the Phillipines made our evening!
This short post doesn't do them or the China Rose justice, so … (5 comments)
|
active rain: Oldie But Goodie: Antique Truck Still in Service in Tucson, Arizona - 05/04/08 12:01 AM
They say it's a dry heat. Summers get into the triple digits, but with the lack of rain and humidity year round (not to mention NO salt on the roads in winter) Tucson preserves its vehicles better than just about any place in the country. Here's a great example.
I was pulling into one of my favorite watering holes for a cup of Joe and a hard salami pannini sandwich when the nose of this old truck came into view.
By the time I got my camera up and running, I missed the front license plate, which would tell you the year, … (6 comments)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Jones
Tucson,
AZ
More about me…
SUNSTREET MORTGAGE, LLC
Address: 2840 E Skyline Dr, Suite #230, Tucson, AZ, 85718
Office Phone: (520) 344-6943
Cell Phone: (520) 349-9090
Email Me
 Listings
Links
Archives
|
;)
;)
;)
