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Our company made it on the six o'clock news because of my blog!

By
Real Estate Agent with Nick Sadek Sothebys International Realty DRE# 01118449

I wrote an article, titled, "Home loan modification, is it possible?"  It expressed my disappointment about the home loan modification process and it was a little scary to put out there because it was opinionated. I continue to get calls and emails from people looking for help.  I followed that article with a series of resources to get help for home loan modifications in Sacramento, CA. 

Yesterday, I recieved a phone call from Walt Gray, of KCRA channel 3 News station here in Sacramento, CA. 

Chrystina Tovani gets phone call from Walt GrayIt was a complete shock and surprise.  As soon as he said, "Hi Chrystina, this is Walt Gray and I'd like to ask you some questions about home loan modifications."   He kept talking but I couldn't focus on what he was saying. I went blank.  My mind became distracted and I was thinking, "Is this a joke?" 

I had to stop him and tell him that I didn't really hear anything after he said his name.  He laughed and said, "Okay, we'll back up."  Then he proceeded to tell me that he was on his way to interview the Mayor of Loomis and wanted to know if he could stop by my office after and interview me for the segment on the six o'clock news that evening.

Chrystina Tovani gets phone call from Walt Gray

Wow!  He read my blog!  He said he liked my article and wanted to know if I would be available to meet him at my office in an HOUR.  Well, this was a day that I was working off site at my home office.  It had been a hectic morning and I had just gotten off the phone with a client who is getting ready to buy a home and was about to run direct underwriting and I was not "put together" with make up and hair and dress PLUS I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on camera.  It was all happening so fast and so unexpected. 

Hey!  I'm a woman and it takes me longer to get ready for something like that!  I require make up! 

This was a huge opportunity.  If I couldn't do the interview, I knew someone who could.  I told Walt to plan on being at my office with the news crew and I would have someone there for him to interview.  I immediately called my business partner, Mark Teran, and he was at the office!  Big relief!  So, all of a sudden, Mark was going to be on the news.   He was stunned too.  In fact, at first, he wondered if it was real.  Would they show up? 

Well, they did show up and we made the six o'clock news. Here it is.

Chrystina Tovani, Stanford Mortgage

Just goes to show the power of writing articles about what we are passionate about.  And, even if it seems like nobody is reading because you may not get a lot of comments, you'd be surprised at who IS reading.  

Posted by
 

Copyright © 2012 Chrysti Tovani

Sharon Parisi
United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX
Dallas Homes

Congratulations!  Another bonus of being on Active Rain! May your business increase ten fold!!

Mar 04, 2010 03:01 PM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

It's great to realize that people outside of AR are actually paying attention to your blog.  Congratulations!

Mar 04, 2010 03:20 PM
Roland Woodworth
Blue Cord Realty - Clarksville, TN
Blue Cord Realty

Congratulations Chrystina. Just goes to show that people are reading our post. Now you may get many calls for loans because they seen your compnay on the news.

Mar 04, 2010 03:40 PM
Ken Asher
Cherry Creek Properties (719) 930-7817 - Colorado Springs, CO

Awesome you just never know whos watching you. I hope you get tons of business from the exposure.

Mar 04, 2010 03:43 PM
Chrysti Tovani
Nick Sadek Sothebys International Realty - Sacramento, CA
Sacramento Real Estate Agent

Wow!  I'm astonished by all these comments!  Thank you so much! 

I got featured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Jumping up and down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I've never been featured before.    I have a gold star. 

And after reading all of your comments I want to thank each one of you personally. 

Kyle:  Yeah, but Roaring is usually reserved for TLW.  =)  Okay, I'll try it... ROAR!!!  Yeah, feels great!

Niema: Alot of folks are skeptical for good reason.

Maureen: It is neat, huh?  I've known Mark for about 18 years.  I think we've both stepped in and helped each other a few times.  He's a good friend.  I am fortunate and glad he was at the office.  Anybody else, and I wouldn't have been as thrilled.  But Mark deserved the spotlight.  He's done a lot for me too. 

Damon:  I don't know if any news is good news.  LOL!  Congrats on your 14 seconds.  =)

Robert:  Options are optional.  I'm just being silly.  Thanks for commenting. 

Carla:  But it's so warm and cozy in my shell.  I know, gotta stick out necks out on this playing field.   Great comment. 

William James:  Blogging works.  And for those who are new to it, I was new one time too.  It takes sticking with it and I'm still learning. 

Diane:  Yes it did feel good to have someone considered "relevant" respect my opinion.  Very good, in fact.  I was on cloud 9 for a day.  Shaking in my boots, but in a good way. 

Rene:  But I usually get in trouble when I just say what I'm thinking.  LOL!

Megan/Hannah:  Thank you!

Teri: That's the Power of Pinesol Active Rain  Loved it!

Sarah:  Yes, and I was so shocked and he did want to move fast.  Now, at least I have an idea of what to expect and I AM going to be more prepared.  It can't hurt. 

Lola:  Yes it is nice to see.  Loomis is a small town and a wonderful community.  I noticed that the Mayor was nervous doing the interview as well.  He's trying to do a good thing. 

David:  That's cool.  My friends are sort of forced to follow my blog because it feeds to my Facebook.  LOL!  They comment over there.  But it would be great if someone told me they actually subscribed or sought it out. 

Mike:  I have a feeling it will bring business.  In fact most of my calls come from someone who found my blog.  Plus, what I really love about writing is that I can refer a new client to a couple of helpful articles to educate them on what we'll be doing and how we work together to get their loan approved. It's building a bank of info. 

Tina: Thank you! 

I will be back to continue....

Thank you for your support!

~ Chrystina

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 04, 2010 04:38 PM
Chrysti Tovani
Nick Sadek Sothebys International Realty - Sacramento, CA
Sacramento Real Estate Agent

Chris:

I would guess that he did a search for home loan modifications and mine came up.  My opinion fit with the story he was doing.  He said he liked my website so I assume he checked that out but he also mentioned he like my picture with the glasses and that one is on the Active Rain Profile and on my SacramentoVAHomeLoans.com site but not on my TheSmartMortgageAdvisor.com site.  So, other than those sites, I think he found my Active Rain blog.

The link to the article I wrote should work but it is going to my outside blog and lately I have been getting errors when I try to go to that link.  The domain there is ASacramentoHomeLoan.com but it won't let me go there so here's the one from the inside blog: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1365401/home-loan-modification-is-it-possible-

Mar 04, 2010 06:25 PM
Cheryl Ritchie
RE/MAX Leading Edge www.GoldenResults.com - Huntingtown, MD
Southern Maryland 301-980-7566

I had a similar thing happen. I had an email letting me know that comments from  my post about Xobni were featured in Realtor magazine this week.

Mar 04, 2010 07:46 PM
Richard Johnston
San Fernando Valley - RE/MAX Grand Central - Sherman Oaks, CA

Wow Chrystina!  Great article and thanks for sharing.  Hopefully you get a lot of business from the new story.

Mar 04, 2010 09:08 PM
Pam Turner, REALTOR®, e-PRO®, SFR
Century 21 Belk Realtors Dalton GA - Dalton, GA

That's wonderful Chrystina! Congratulations, and I think it will bring you some business too!

Mar 04, 2010 10:28 PM
J. Philip Faranda
Howard Hanna Rand Realty - Yorktown Heights, NY
Associate Broker / Office Manager

Hurrah! We made the news from the blog too once and it was very exciting and a morale builder for our company. Good for you and i hope it brings good things to the company. If you can embed the video, start your own youtube channel. 

Mar 04, 2010 11:32 PM
Michele Cadogan 917-861-9166
Fillmore Real Estate 2990 Av U, Bklyn , NY 11229 - Brooklyn, NY
Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker -

WoW   congrats!  good for you.  keep blogging

Mar 05, 2010 01:06 AM
Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®
Lewisburg, WV
Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

This is what I love to hear great feedback about blogging on Active Rain...congratulations Chrystina.

Mar 05, 2010 01:27 AM
Don MacLean
New England Real Estate Center Inc. - Easton, MA
Realtor-Homes for Sale- Easton, Mass 02356

It just goes to show you, we don't know who reads the blogs or in your case where they might just show up.

Great job.

Enjoy the day

Mar 05, 2010 02:05 AM
Jeani Codrey
RE/MAX Corridor - New Braunfels, TX
Director of Opportunity & Agent Development

How cool is that!  Congrats on the great blog, the recognition and the great PR!!!  Keep up the good work!

Mar 05, 2010 02:26 AM
Richard Glick
Kingsway Realty - Lancaster, PA

congrats!  that is very cool

Mar 05, 2010 02:54 AM
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Chrystina,

Congratulations, what an accomplishment!

Mar 05, 2010 04:23 AM
Peter Di Eduardo
West End Residential - Morristown, NJ

More power to the blog.  I've found several mobile apps for my Android that allow me to mobile blog, thereby increasing exposure.

Mar 05, 2010 05:05 AM
Christianne O'Malley
Dickson Realty - Reno, NV
Exceptional Service - Delivering Results in Reno!

Chrystina - Congratulations on the feature, on being on the news, and on being brave enough to discuss a topic that is very sensitive to people. Giving your opinion is exactly what people need today and clearly it paid off for you! Kudos!

Mar 05, 2010 05:49 AM
Lana Robbins Realtor ® Licensed Real Estate Broker
Aloha Kai Real Estate - Clearwater, FL
Licensed in Florida, Washington, and Hawai'i

Hi Christina. With such notice? Way to go and congratulations! ~ Lana

Mar 05, 2010 01:20 PM
Chrysti Tovani
Nick Sadek Sothebys International Realty - Sacramento, CA
Sacramento Real Estate Agent

I wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate all of your comments.  I intended to address each person individually, even if it was in one post.  I did get to half of you and I apologize that I didn't get to the rest.  This week was full of priorities that kept me busy.  In fact, I have two articles that I wasn't able to get finished and posted either.

I'll be dropping by your blogs soon!  I'd rather leave a comment on something you wrote than here.  This is "old" news now.  <grin>   

Thank you!  Your comments meant a lot.

 

Mar 12, 2010 09:44 AM