blogging: (Rain)Camping in San Francisco: SMOKIN' HOT (Without the Marshmallows) - 12/03/09 03:05 AM
San Francisco is known for many things, neither of which have a thing to do with RAIN or CAMPING.
We haven't seen any wilderness suitable for camping since the Gold Rush transformed this place.
Unlike Seattle, we get only a little drizzle of rain in the winter (never enough).
Buy if you put RAIN and CAMP together, add a dose of SEATTLE, then put it all on a stage in SAN FRANCISCO, what do you get?
RainCamp in San Francisco, of course.
The place literally crackled with electricity and excitement as hundreds of Rainers, poised with laptops open, skipped a day … (2 comments)

blogging: Buying a Laptop...Looking for Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down Input - 08/28/09 04:49 AM
I am buying a laptop and need your help.
If you are my reader, you know I am no computer geek.
But I do write alot,  and get inspired in the weirdest places. 
I have a fuzzy dream of writing on my laptop on a beach somewhere while palm trees sway in the background...and mortgage madness is FAR FAR away.....
Okay, back to reality. More likely I am at a seminar with it sitting on my lap, or at a client's house filling out credit info.
Does anyone have a suggestion of what computer would fulfill the needs of a serious blogger and mortgage … (7 comments)

blogging: Inman Connect Take Away: The Social Media Explosion! You Gotta Be One of Their Peeps If You Want to Be Their Agent - 08/11/09 03:53 AM
If you are a regular reader of Mortgage Advisor, you know I actually WON my ticket to Inman Connect from the Real Estate Tomato.
To Jim Cronin, and the Tomato Crew, thank you.
I say this even if Jim's blogging presentation at Inman was waaaaay over my head (Mike Mueller, you warned me! I was too damn headstong to believe you).
Luckily, Jim Cronin is good-looking enough that what he says does not need to be on my level. LOL
I got 3 glorious days away from the mortgage madness to hobnob in San Francisco with the elite "Who's Who" of the real estate, … (79 comments)

blogging: My 2008 Success Story: LOL! I Made A Lot of Loans Happen This Year Because of LOE's - 12/30/08 03:00 AM
Okay, this is MY official ActiveRain success story of 2008.
This year, I closed an amazing amount of loans the rest of the world considered IMPOSSIBLE. Wait. Almost every loan was considered impossible to close in 2008.
But I scaled mountains. I crossed wide rivers. I sat at the closing table wearing a goofy grin. I signed "congratulations" cards with these 3 words: "WE DID IT!"
You see, I have a powerful secret weapon, thanks to ActiveRain. Becoming a blogger has taught me how to write one helluva LOE. In mortgagespeak, that stands for LETTER OF EXPLANATION.
LOE's are something that … (10 comments)

blogging: The Company Has Changed, But I'm Blogging Just the Same - 11/01/08 01:30 PM

I am pleased to let you know that I now am working at RPM Mortgage in Alamo, California, a city adjacent to Walnut Creek, and only a few miles away from my old location.
Many of you know from my last post that my former company closed their location in Walnut Creek as a cost cutting measure.
A group of us elected to stay closer to home and joined RPM. We have finally settled into our new quarters there.
RPM is one of the largest mortgage banks in the Bay Area, and it is an honor to be a part … (13 comments)

blogging: Brad Andersohn Told Me To GET OVER IT (How Blogging Put Me On the Evening News) - 09/11/08 01:32 PM
Rich, you ask us why we are here on ActiveRain on your featured post of today. Of all the ways I can think of to answer this question, the one I never would have said is this: "For Free Publicity".
You see, while I see the value of free publicity, I didn't start blogging to get noticed by the media.
Here's the truth:  I fight the irresistible urge to place a paper bag over my head when I am asked to be interviewed on camera. It is happening more and more often these days, thanks to my blogging.
When I had … (63 comments)

blogging: How To Get Business From Localism, Even If No One EVER Reads Your Blog! - 07/10/08 05:39 AM
When we post to Localism, we are the neighborhood reporter covering a beat.  In exchange, we get to cast our line out to the Internet in hopes our blog will attract those that are interested in buying real estate LOCALLY.
But I say, why wait for Google to get business? You can be out and about LOCALLY, making connections with LOCALS, all in the name of your LOCALISM post.
Sure beats cold calling.
As a hopeless Barbara Walters wannabe and journalist, I have worked on various newspapers and newsletters my entire life in the role of reporter. And here is something you may not know: Calling up prominent members of the community … (93 comments)

blogging: I'm Just Not That Into Your Video - 06/01/08 06:26 PM
It has been with great interest that I have followed Mike Mueller's blog the last few weeks, which to my amazement, has included an informative video on each post. Envious (as always) of his technical savvy, with no hope of EVER catching him (in points OR tech savvy...darnit), I finally came to a conclusion that surprised even me: I'm not that into video.
What the heck? Didn't Brad Andersohn tell us all to get with it? Flipcams, all around, we're talking about the wave of the future!!!!! 
So when Mike posted statistics showing his readership had actually gone down since including the videos, that got me thinking. Why do I prefer to read … (39 comments)