arizona: Life Is Fragile. Be Careful Tonight.
- 12/31/07 01:17 AM
For more than a year and a half now, I've passed this roadside memorial on my way home. Until last night, I had never stopped. Then I did, and when I searched Google for the name on the memorial, I realized that I had met young Elisa Gastellum. I've had the privelege of hearing her sing.
Share with me for a moment the memory of a lovely, talented young lady from Tucson, Arizona.
Elisa was only 18 years old when an auto accident took her life. She was a student at Pima College, just across the road from her memorial. She was also a rising star in … (20 comments)
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arizona: Adam Waldman Has The Best Perspective for 2008
- 12/29/07 01:26 AM
So you had a bad day? That's what I read this morning when I checked in on Adam Waldmans blog. (Real all the way to the end. This has a good ending!)
You bet I had a bad day yesterday! My client, after months of looking, found the perfect home for herself, her dog and her horse. The listing agent sent back the contract signed with no changes whatsoever.
I referred her to a favorite lender friend of mine for an FHA mortgage, because that's what she needed. (I'm a lender, but also have a real estate license, so I can't do … (46 comments)
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arizona: There's a Floor Under the Tucson Real Estate Market. How's By You?
- 12/27/07 02:36 PM
Two UP arrows. Five DOWN arrows. That's the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service sales snapshot for the month of November, 2007.
Quick glance? "Boo! Hiss! See? I told you the sky was falling!" But that's not the real picture at all.
First: Look at the UP arrows.
The average sales price is up again. Pending contracts are up as well.
Second: Look at the good DOWN arrows.
The median sales price is down. This is good for buyers coming into the market. What's good for buyers is good for real estate agents and lenders.Active listings are flat. Existing inventory is beginning … (15 comments)
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arizona: 6619 S Avenida del Arrabal, Tucson, AZ 85706
- 12/23/07 01:14 PM
Close to IBM, Raytheon, and Davis Monthan Air Force Base, this home was built new in 2006. It's half a mile from the elementary and middle schools, and within sight of the Pima Air and Space Museum, which is half a mile to the north. At only $139.59 per square foot, it's a great value. It can be yours for $177,000.
Many new homes built in new subdivisions are situated so that the back yard of one abuts the back yard of another. One's view consists of the portion of the house behind you that sticks up above the wall that separates … (10 comments)
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arizona: Grateful for the Rain? Yes, but Much More Grateful for the Rainers!
- 12/22/07 01:36 PM
As the year comes to a close, I'm particularly grateful for Active Rain, and the part it's played in developing my business this year. But it's not Active Rain, it's you, and others just like you from Hawaii, Alaska, Canada and every one of the lower 48 states who have made 2007 such a pivotal year for me.
People buy real estate from other people, preferably people they know and trust. The financing takes place as a transaction between people--not between a person and a "company."
You have touched my life by reading my blog. I've come to know you, (most of you,) and to … (48 comments)
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arizona: Housing Prices Up 10% in 70 Major Markets. This Could Be a Problem.
- 12/20/07 12:36 AM
Okay, Tucson isn't one of these. Housing prices are up in 70 major markets in China, but it could have financial implications for the United States, our mortgage funding availabilty, and our interest rates!
While we're trying to figure out how to get things going again in the US, China is trying to slow things down. Bloomberg reported today that "House prices in 70 major cities [in China] jumped 10.5 percent in November from a year earlier."
Elaine Kurtenbach, an AP writer and blogger, talked about this two weeks ago, but I haven't seen additional reporting until today.
"Of all Asia's markets, China's is the … (25 comments)
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arizona: Thanks to Active Rain I've Launched a New Website
- 12/17/07 11:05 PM
Blogging on Active Rain has transformed me. It's transformed the way I view my business. It's transformed the way my clients perceive me. And it's made my phone ring. I guess you could say I've become an AR Evangelist. (That word is based on the word "gospel," which means "good news.")
Today I launched a new website: http://www.mikeintucson.com/, and I have Active Rain to thank.
Last July I found the Active Rain Real Estate Network by chance when it was mentioned on Inman News. It took me all of three or four minutes to decide this was the place for me … (47 comments)
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arizona: Fed Lowers Benchmark Rate: Scream Till Daddy Stops the Car
- 12/11/07 05:59 PM
The Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark rate by a quarter-point yesterday to 4.25 percent. The market sure wasn't impressed, dropping nearly 300 points for the session.
I remember seeing a roadside ice cream stand with a hand lettered sign that read: SCREAM TILL DADDY STOPS THE CAR. I looked on Flickr and Google, but couldn't find a photo.
The jury's out on whether the Fed acted like Daddy driving the car. CNN referred to financial markets putting undue pressure on the Fed, calling the major players "spoiled, demanding children."
Will it help the real estate market? We'll see. Mortgage … (27 comments)
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arizona: Spammed by Allstate / IBM / Rolin Pagunsan; Actually, I'm Impressed!
- 12/11/07 05:07 PM
I guess I should be flattered. Allstate wants me to change careers. Actually, IBM wants me to sign up with Allstate. No, that's not exactly right, either. Rolin Pagunsan, resident of San Jose de Buenavista, Antique (that's in the Phillipines) wants me to sign up as an Allstate agent.
I've been under the weather for a couple of days, so I hadn't logged on to Active Rain. I had a message that read "Contact from Rolin Pagunsan: Allstate Exclusive Agent Opportunity."
I did what I always do first when someone contacts me through Active Rain. I clicked the search field, entered his name, … (23 comments)
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arizona: Active Rain, Localism, Real Estate and Car Buffs--A Great Combination!
- 12/08/07 05:00 PM
This beautiful Ford Roadster and I both came into this world in the year 1948.
I love cars. You do as well, or you wouldn't have stopped by to read my post.
The Rotary Club of Tucson held a fund raiser a few weeks back to benefit The Reading Seed program here in Tucson. According to one of the past presidents, they expected a couple hundred entries.
They had more than 500. They expected to sell 8,000 tickets. They sold nearly 14,000.
If you're selling real estate, this is one trend you don't want to ignore. Every major real estate … (32 comments)
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arizona: Looking Into the Crystal Ball
- 12/06/07 04:18 PM
Like a lava flow advancing on a home in Hawaii, the mortgage meltdown that erupted in August has advanced and slowed, only to advance again, each time a little farther.
Fortunately, the Hawaiian home is insured. Fortunately for whom?
You can see the reflection of the mortgage meltdown in the stock behavior of the world's largest insurers. AIG, according to Forbes the 6th largest company in the world and member of the Dow Industrials, has seen its stock value ebb and flow like the lava.
Since August 3rd, when it stood at better than $70 dollars a share, the stock has lost value in fits and … (36 comments)
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arizona: Carrots for the Donkey: Fed to "Re-Liquify" Credit Markets
- 12/05/07 03:26 AM
The problem with the carrot on a stick approach is that the guy holding the stick is behind the donkey. One jackass behind another, so to speak. My mind's eye conjures up all sorts of potential for disaster.
Since Thanksgiving, short term money (3 month USD) has been much more expensive than the 10 year bond yield. "So what," you ask, "What does that mean?"
It means that banks themselves are afraid to lend to other banks, fearing that undisclosed subprime exposure by the borrowing bank might make it unable to repay the loan on time.
Did you think banks only worried about … (21 comments)
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arizona: Differing Google Strategies for Active Rain: Tucson's Top Three 'Rainers
- 12/01/07 12:40 PM
I'm addicted to statistics in the pursuit of "What Works?"
For Active Rainers, "what works" is visibility to Google. It's what makes the phone ring. The top three Rainers in Tucson, AZ have achieved this visibility on Active Rain in very different ways.
Tens of thousands in the Active Rain ranks never get a call. They're the ones who joined, created a profile, uploaded a photo (maybe) and never posted a single sentence to their blog.
I say "they" because few of them can be addressed in the first person. They came, they joined, and they faded away. You--not they--are here reading my blog.
You persevered. … (113 comments)
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arizona: Moral Hazard; The Bank Made Me Do It!
- 11/28/07 11:19 PM
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)
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arizona: Real Estate Correction: I Don't Want Help From My Government
- 11/25/07 05:00 PM
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)
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arizona: I've Been Foreclosed, and that's Good News for You!
- 11/20/07 05:45 PM
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)
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arizona: Networking Heritage? Her Mom Was a Realtor
- 11/19/07 10:58 PM
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)
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arizona: For Newbies Only: Where Do I Get Those Great Signs?
- 11/18/07 02:43 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)
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arizona: Zoom Zoom! Zero to First on Google in 60 Days!
- 11/10/07 04:27 PM
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 … (156 comments)
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arizona: Mortgage Site Has Answers for Agents & Buyers!
- 11/07/07 09:26 AM
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)
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For more than a year and a half now, I've passed this roadside memorial on my way home. Until last night, I had never stopped. Then I did, and when I searched Google for the name on the memorial, I realized that I had met young Elisa Gastellum. I've had the privelege of hearing her sing.
;)
;)
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