This was recently written by my brother-in-law, Michael Starvaggi, a Real Estate Attorney. I wanted to share it with you. 

A traditionalist is a person who . . .

• believes that science has improved our lives greatly, but cannot explain everything.
  
• believes that there is an arrogance to the notion that we, as human beings, can understand how and why we are here.
  
• sees a need for God in our everyday lives.
  
• agrees that previous generations may have been too strict, but also thinks that our society goes too far in its depictions and discussions of sex, violence, promiscuity.
  
• thinks that decency, morality and respect should not be treated as quaint old fashioned concepts but should always have a place in our culture.
  
• believes that our society has gotten too far away from many of the basic values that make us noble.
  
• feels that the scorn with which traditional values are treated is one of the greatest threats to our society.
  
• sees America as gradually going the way of Rome - where power and freedom devolved into decadence and irresponsibility.
  
• believes wholeheartedly in freedom of the human conscience and believes that change must come from human free will and not from governmental action
  
• is offended at the disrespect shown to Christianity in our country.
  
• believes that the media, which represents such a small fraction of the country, has become entirely too biased and no longer should presume to speak for the country at large.
  
• disagrees with celebrities who make elaborate fortunes in this country that they could never have made anywhere else in the world and then use their celebrity status to criticize our country in foreign lands.

Are you a Traditionalist too?  If you are, don't be ashamed.  Let people know how you feel.

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The best way to do so is by your words, and more importantly, your actions. 

Another way might be to visit our Web site, www.proudtobeachristian.com, where 10% of all proceeds from Proud to Be a Christian (or PTBAC) merchandise proclaiming your pride will go to Christian charities.

I was stopped behind an SUV with a bumper sticker posing this question on July 3 on my way home from work - and my head almost exploded! 

Talk about painting people with a broad stroke.  For some misguided reason, the person in front of me was under the egregiously mistaken assumption that those who are pro-life are somehow in favor of war.  What's more, this is also a not so subtle jab at those who oppose abortion by sarcastically mentioning pro-life and pro-war in the same sentence. 

Now, I happen to be a Pro-Life Catholic.  And this car magnet was clearly directed at Christians in general and Catholics in particular. 

But that is not what upset me.  First of all, I am simply not that easily upset.  Secondly, I recognize that we have the privilege of residing in the United States of America.  That person in the SUV has the same right to his or her opinions and beliefs as I do.  And I truly believe that.

What does bother me, however, is the fact that such displays which denigrate Christianity seem (and I emphasize the word seem) to be the voice of the mainstream and popular culture.  If it is acceptable and, one might argue, even encouraged to make such assertions, then Christians certainly have it within our rights to voice our own beliefs.  And I would argue that it might even be our duty to do this so that the country can be made more aware of our "silent majority." 

Believe it or not, that night, my brother-in-law, Michael, who happens to be a real estate attorney, called me from his car.  Call it what you like, but he had a similar experience on the Garden State Parkway.  We talked for awhile about how great and important it would be for us (and those with similar beliefs) to assert ourselves in similar manners - using car magnets, t-shirts, pins, and bracelets.  Michael eventually came up with the short yet eloquent phrase Proud to Be a Christian. 

As such, we are advocating a simple affirmation of our core belief by adopting and displaying wherever we can the brief and powerful statement - Proud to Be a Christian.  While this certainly is not in lieu of prayer or action, we have taken the time over the past 7 days to develop a Web site - www.proudtobeachristian.com- and have designed and stocked some paraphernalia.     

I hope that if you get a chance you will visit us.  More importantly, though, I hope that you will all do something - which need not have anything to do with displaying our phrase or any other, for that matter - to show that you are proud to be a Christian.

Thank you for reading.

And if so, do you know of a nice village in need of one?

While reading through the comments, someone suggested utilizing www.resellergo.com for faster submission to directories. I went to the site, and found it to be quite interesting. After a short sign-up, I found that, for free, the site facilitates the submission of your Web site along with a brief description to 150 directories. (The site does a nice job to help to automate the process by choosing the directories and populating a category of your choice [real estate, etc.], but the user still has to at least click a button and at most enter one of those unreadable, garbled codes.) Nonetheless, I was happy with the level of automation, and began to use the site.

The submissions, however, soon became like digital crack for me. I simply had to have more.

So, for $4, I signed up for the "Silver Package," which permitted me to submit my site in the above manner to an unlimited number of directories - right now the site lists 3069 directories. I have since proceeded to submit my site to an additional 150 directories.

1. Do I need to start attending meetings, or is $59 for 140 "Guaranteed Listings" and an additional 300-plus listings worth the money?
2. Is there such a thing as a Guaranteed Listing?
3. Is all of this worth the time (which I do not mind spending) in that it will help eventually with my sites SEO?
4. Finally, can anyone give me an indication of how long it takes for these sites to be crawled and resultantly show my link? (When I check to see how many links there are to my site, none of these show up.)

As always, I sincerely appreciate any assistance that those more knowledgeable than I can provide. I hope someday to be able to return the favor.

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That line is from a movie starring David Spade called Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. It was, however, the only thing that went through my mind when the events below unfolded.

The Beginning

Back in December, my company submitted a loan package to one of our Lenders. For some reason, the Underwriter who reviewed the loan became suspicious as to the validity of the applicant's W-2s. (I have since reviewed the documents a couple of times myself, and do not know what it was that the underwriter saw.) As a result, the Underwriter reasonably requested that the applicant provide his Tax Returns from 2006 to match up the income. The applicant failed to comply. Eventually, the Lender ordered a 4506, and it turned out that the IRS had no record of the applicant filing those returns.

Of course, we all hate to lose a deal, but this Underwriter did his or her job correctly, and should be commended. This applicant, needless to say, did not deserve a loan, attempted to commit fraud, and my company ceased conducting any and all business with him.

Some Filler

In the interim, our Account Executive with this lender left, and we were assigned a new one. Our new AE was someone with whom we had funded approximately $20 million in loans in 2007. Both my company and the AE were excited to renew our relationship, and he began coming to my office on a weekly basis to look at potential deals.

Disappointing News

After about two months, we finally found a deal that fit. My company submitted the loan only to find out a couple of days that we had been suspended by the Lender. I was just a bit curious as to why, and while no one would come out and say it, my suspension was due to suspicion of fraudulent activity. (Despite the fact that I did take exception to this, I do understand the Lender's position and its ability to freely conduct broker business with whomever it chooses.)

This threw me into a good, old-fashioned frenzy for a couple of reasons. First, I have never commited fraud, and the implication that my company did angered me greatly. (I am aware that I am responsible for documentation that I send to a Lender, but this was an isolated incident among thousands of submissions and closings.) Second, neither my company nor our new AE were advised of the suspension. As such, we as a company were actively engaged in trying to find loans to arrange through this Lender, which was a collosal waste of time as they had suspended us.

Swallow Your Pride, Steve

After making some phone calls, I was able to get the Lender to consider my company's reinstatement. I was asked to write a letter explaining the circumstances around the previous application. I did so, and my company was reinstated, but placed on the Lender's "Watch List." This ticked me off as well as I knew that I had done nothing wrong, but with the dearth of lenders in the marketplace, I really had no choice but to proceed.

An Ironic Turn

Last week, an appraisal done for a new client came out of review by this Lender. The review found the value to be acceptable, and I believed that we would be closing the loan this week. The Lender, however, needed an amendment by the appraiser on his report. Certainly to those of us who have been in the industry for any length of time, this is not an entirely uncommon request.

Here is what the Lender wanted: the appraiser to change the acreage of the property on which the home sat from one number to another. The Lender's reason: that is what their investors like to see. So, the Lender merely wanted me, while on its "Watch List," to commit fraud by asking the appraiser to commit fraud. Seems reasonable, no?

Needless to say, I gave the Lender an emphatic no, and explained why. The Lender then backed off, and said that the appraisal would be okay as-is. Surprisingly, the Lender has now, however, found another issue with the report after a re-review and the loan is in grave danger of dying.

This is Nuckin' Futs.

This is a Lender that placed my company on its "watch list" for suspiscion of fraud. But now, merely because it suits its needs, the Lender is asking my company and the appraiser to commit fraud. I don't know about you, but this strikes me as just a tad hypocritical.

This is, indeed, nuckin' futs? I may go home and watch Dickie Roberts again.

I am not usually one who passes along (or even reads, for that matter) those "forwarded" emails that we all receive from friends and acquaintances. Just recently, however, two emails have been passed along to me that really caught my attention.

Both contain videos made before I was born in 1975. And both are so incredibly insightful, relevant to our times, and emotionally moving that I thought that I would share them with you.

The first shows comedian Red Skelton's serious and riveting interpretation of the Pledge of Allegiance, filmed in 1969. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfz2XDXaeqc

The second features Dean Martin and John Wayne discussing the values that Mr. Wayne hopes to instill in his young daughter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AucxqtpCZL0

I don't want to say that they "don't make 'em like they used to." There are still plenty of us out there who believe in and stand for the values shown in these clips. There are, unfortunately, fewer being made as all of us - particularly those my age and younger - are compelled to endure the endless onslaught of the liberal media and its perversion of all that is good.

God bless you all. And God bless America.

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This information has been brought to you by First Rockland Financial, a division of Domus Mortgage Services, Inc., a Registered Mortgage Broker with the State of New York Banking Department, with a great reputation for honesty and customer service. Headquartered in Rockland County, First Rockland Financial has the express mission of catering to the needs of existing and potential homeowners in Rockland County, NY. First Rockland Financial has been formed to leverage the existing industry knowledge and contacts of the Company along with the experience it has gained while arranging in excess of $400 million in residential mortgage purchase and refinance loans to assist Rockland County residents in obtaining the best financing possible.

Moreover, as a lifelong resident, I, Steve Odierno, the President of the Firm, take great pride in our County. As such, all at First Rockland have been given the mandate to do their share to ensure that our Firm becomes part of the housing industry's solution instead of exacerbating the housing industry's existing problems in Rockland County. So, if you live (or are planning to live) or work in the County, we hope that you will give us the opportunity to earn your business. Should you be interested in purchasing a new home (real estate) or refinancing an existing one in Rockland County, please contact us at 1-866-403-6687 or visit us on the Web at http://www.firstrockland.com/.  

Insurance Quotes Online by www.insurancequotehero.com.

YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A DUMMY 

We all remember those public service announcements created and run by the US Department of Transportation in the 1980s and 1990s.  Well, if "you can learn a lot from a dummy,"then you certainly can gain knowledge from the smart and savvy writers on AR.  And I do not just mean by reading the blogs.

The content and quality of the blogging on AR is second to none.  However, as a one relatively new to the world of blogging, I was mistakenly under the impression that the blogs themselves were where the reading began and ended.  

BLOGS ARE ONLY THE BEGINNING

I have learned over a short period of time, though, that while the blogs are invariably clever, engaging and informative, they are only the beginning.  The thoughts of the author are oftentimes the catalyst for discussion and debate, particularly when the topic is a timely, hot-button, industry related one.  To me, this is where the real fun and opportunity to learn begins.

DON'T FORGET TO READ THE COMMENTS

I am certainly not taking a self-righteous stand, here.  I am not proposing that in order to properly participate in AR one must read each comment on a blog.  For many, this may be quite impractical or even not all that interesting.  I can tell you from my own experience, however, that there is just as much if not more to be learned from these comments. 

We must remember that AR provides a forum for people within the same industry (real estate) but with different specialties (sales, finance, SEO, staging) and from all over the country and Canada to share ideas.  Much of this knowledge sharing, I have come to learn, occurs in the comments section.  There are instances where I am reading a relatively brief comment and wishing that the author would expound upon it in a longer post.

A DUMMY SUMMARY

Anyway, the advice from this dummy is to read the comments.  Not because it is right, wrong or indifferent to skip them.  I encourage you to do so simply because it makes good business sense, and you will learn something.

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As a lifelong resident, I, take great pride in our County. As such, all at First Rockland have been given the mandate to do their share to ensure that our Firm becomes part of the housing industry's solution instead of exacerbating the housing industry's existing problems in Rockland County.  So, if you live (or are planning to live) or work in the County, we hope that you will give us the opportunity to earn your business.  Should you be interested in purchasing a new home or refinancing an existing one in Rockland County, please contact us at 1-866-403-6687 or visit us on the Web at http://www.firstrockland.com/.   

Insurance Quotes Online for Auto, Life, Health, Motorcycle and Home at www.insurancequotehero.com.    

The Mortgage Guys of First Rockland Financial would like to welcome into the world and to Rockland Countyone of its newest residents, Aiva Clare Reid.  Born today, just before noon, to one of The Mortgage Guys, Matt Reid,and his wife AnneMarie, Aiva weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and is 19 inches long.  Both mother and baby are resting comfortably and doing very well, all things considered. 

The proud father is, as one might expect, walking on air.  I have known Matt for 25-years, or since we were 7.  We went to St. Anthony Grammar School, St. Joseph Regional High School, and attended Boston College together.  We have also worked together for the past 8 years.  He was the best-man at my wedding and is Godfather to my son.  Matt is one of the truly good people out there, and he is a credit to the mortgage industry.  His wife, a Nurse Practitioner in the Neo-Natal Care Unit at ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center/ New York-Presbyterian Hospital, is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  She has dedicated her life to caring for severely premature infants and working with their parents.

I hope that you will join me, everyone at First Rockland Financial, as well as all of the Reid's family and friends in welcoming Aiva and wishing the new family all of the best for the future.

Insurance Quotes Online for Auto, Life, Health, Motorcycle and Home at www.insurancequotehero.com.