Happy Thanksgiving! 10 Things I am thankful for.

THANKSGIVING is the holiday that we all get to take a moment to be thankful. 2009 has been one wild ride for many of us. Many times we can get so caught up in the middle of the ride we forget what we have to be thankful for. So here goes my TOP TEN things I am Thankful for:

1. Jesus Christ – He is my Lord and Savior and without him I would not have the opportunity to be thankful and reminded of the things that I am so truly blessed with.
2. My Children – I have three of the most wonderful children in the world. They love me through it all regardless of my status. To them I am famous and so is there mom as she was on TV recently. A simple hug from one of Children is a constant reminder of my many blessings.
3. My Parents and Family – For being there for me through all the things that they do. They love me unconditionally.
4. Realtors that refer me business – This is one of the most important although it is fourth on the list. I have been so blessed that there are Real Estate agents that have come to trust me enough with not only there clients but with their financial well being. As I perform they perform because no house is bought without Money:) Those people include but are not limited to: Nathan Novelo, Dayna Neuse, Karen and Robert Wallace, Peter Bond, James Herron, Keisha Mathews, Brook Terhune, Bryan Hill, Marcus Fillipi, Paula Nelson, Jennifer Walker and Melanie Wright. There are several others that I would like to mention but these mentioned I successfully closed at least one transaction and enjoyed working with them immensely.
5. My Clients – Thank you for placing your trust in me. In today’s world it can be hard to trust a Mortgage Professional as the picture that is painted s not always rosy. For whatever reason you placed that trust in me. I am thankful for you and your families and I hope to serve you for many years to come. You are the backbone of what I do and without you and the interactions and the lessons that you taught me about life I would not still be a successful Loan Officer today.
6. Adversity - adversity is the obstacle that leads to growth and change. Without it I would remain the same and would not grow. Growth is necessary always and I hope to continue to grow until my final days here. 2009 has placed so much adversity in front of me that I feel like a new man going into 2010.
7. Capitol Mortgage – Greg Teeter has done an amazing job giving us a place to work. It has been a pleasure to be part of a company that is moving forward, growing, and so Loan Officer friendly.
8. Facebook – This has giving me the opportunity to reconnect with so many great people in my life. I recently received and email from a friend I have known since Kindergarten letting me know that I have always been one of his dearest friends and that he cherishes our friendship. It came at a great time!
9. Opportunity – I am so happy to live in the United States. I am thankful for the soldiers that fight for our Freedom and Independence. I have had opportunities that some will never see. The opportunity to be a homeowner, Father, Husband, to own my own business, to get a degree, to learn grow and develop and even when I do not accomplish them at the highest level I get the opportunity to try again. I am thankful for that.
10. THE RAIDERS AND THE FACT THAT THEY PLAY THIS THANKSGIVING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are you thankful for? There is so much that I could write about that I am thankful for. This just touches some of the things. Feel free to comment about the things that you are thankful for……………………………………..

Authenticity is my style. What you see is what you get!

Some feel that in business you have to present yourself a certain way. Suit and tie, professional demeanor, correct grammar and representation and many other items that I am sure you are aware of. In many respects I do not disagree. However, I give up being someone I am not to be authentic. When I am comfortable you get the best me. The knowledge that I have is still the same. The advice is the same. When I act the part I lose a little authenticity. I am trying to be someone I am not. I am simple in spirit and I do my homework. I know what it takes to get you in to your home and that is who I am. Here is a short video about me, California Home Strategies, Capitol Mortgage and how I want to help you!!!! Enjoy!

PCAR Variety Show Fundraiser for CanTree and the Salvation Army

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to be part of an amazing fund raiser. Placer County Association of Realtors banded together with the food sponsor Capitol Mortgage and the Bar Host Chamber of Commerce to throw one heck of an event. Much of the credit for the organization of the event has to go to Val Berlin Douglas (North American Title) as she was responsible for corralling and organizing a bunch of entrepreneurial professional that like to wander around and do our own thing. Great job Val.

So what is a variety show. We did everything along the lines of musical skits that were pieces of movies like 13 going on 30′s Thriller dance a tribute to the man Michael Jackson and Santa Baby musical. There were several one and a half minute lip syncs done by many of the volunteers from artists like Rod Stewart (Geoffrey Poulos), Prince (Kevin Capps), Beyonce (Tami Hinkle), Katy Perry (Deb Newton) and so many more excellent solos. We even got a guest appearance from Willie Nelson (Bill Johnson).

The show started out with a bang and had two groups perform their stuff. That was followed by another round of songs and performances and finished off with all the solos. Then there was an encore presentation to end the night. Many of the attendees stayed after the scheduled performances to take part in some Karaoke set up and put together by Joe Crespillo of Sell State Realty First our emcee of the night.

I do not know the final count I think that it would be safe to say that we raised in the ball park of 3K -4K for the evening. This was my very first year to be a part of the event and one of the things that I learned and respected from all the volunteers is that they were all repeats. So many of the volunteers were on their 6th year of the event. I now know why. It is so much fun and the camaraderie was awesome. I was welcomed in as the newcomer and assisted and helped the entire evening.  We were able to get away from the normal stressful situations that are present in Real Estate transactions. We were able to do something that is above and beyond our own self interest which showed me the true values of the agents in this industry.

I want to say thank you to all the participants and all of the attendees that came together to make this event happen. I am already excited about what next year may bring!

Sactweetup at the Lofts

I had an opportunity to attend last nights Sactweetup at the Lofts in downtown Sacramento. The Lofts on L street were kind enough to host the event while showcasing their beautiful 1900 square foot Penthouse Suite. The suite had amazing views of Sacramento and was definitely a showcase of contemporary design.

Alejandro Reyes (also known as @Successfool) and Sierra Friend (@sierrafriend) are the creators of this amazing Sacramento event. The first event that I attended was at Panera and there were quite a few people but last nights event showed just how much the event has grown. Walking in I passed News 10 filming so they could cover the event and give it well deserved time on the news.

What is all the Buzz about? The Sactweetup is where Sacramento and Twitter meet. Local business professionals as well as some from as far as Walnut Creek and Fremont get together and share ideas about how to grow their business through Social Media. It just doesn’t stop there. I have met with many of the professionals that I first met online and then at the Tweetup outside of the event. I have been able to exchange referrals and learn more about their businesses.  Above that I have established some relationships that transcend business. I regularly get together with a friend @thisaac and we share our faith and hold each other accountable is areas of life.

Last night, at the event, I had the opportunity to meet several more people. Each time I get the chance to go I am never let down. I carpool with one of my favorite people ever @meghanwood; the meghanshow.com and we just have a great time.

Make sure to check out the L street Lofts and make sure that you make it to the next Sactweetup. Check it out at www.sactweetup.com.
Here are the great people that I met last night to name a few:

Jason Everett – Sales Partners

Rajkumar Karthikeyan – Midland National Life Insurance

Kristi LeGue – CPA

Ryan Lucia – Voyage Financial Group

Rick Pearse – American City Realty and Financial

This list is certainly not all encompassing as I met Jennifer Bourn, Mickey O’brien and spoke to several others that I have met in the past. Looking forward to the next tweetup!

Honored to be Honored

Last week, I was sitting in my office when out of the blue one of the wholesale reps that I work with appeared from around the corner. She had a bag and a square box in her hand. As soon as I got off the phone I said, “Hey Maryann how can I help you?”  She said, “I just wanted to give you this gift to you on behalf of Pinnacle Capital Mortgage.” The award to the left was what they had in the small square box. The bag was a bottle of Merlot.

The reason that I have written this is simple. Thank you Pinnacle Capital Mortgage for everything. With out you I would not have been able to help the homeowners that we helped together. I greatly appreciate your part and efforts to get these buyers in to the home.

“I am honored to be honored.” It has been a humbling few years and you never know how you are doing overall. I always know the number of loans I do and the number of people that I have blessed to help. What I do not pay attention to and what I do not know is how I am doing in the overall scheme of things. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I certainly will be drinking the wine soon enough!

Today I saw the oddest thing…………a book?

I had a meeting this morning and it was at a coffee shop. I went into the shop and began looking at all the books that they have in the bookcase. As I was scanning the books I noticed a book titled “100 Greatest Bible Verses.”  This really seemed to get to me. It raised the following questions right away:

• In what Context?
• To Whom?
• Who Said?
• Do you think that Jesus labeled one verse better than the rest?

I am certainly not an authority on the situation by any stretch of the matter. However, I do think that all verses have their time and place and that they are all very relevant at all times. The Bible is a book of Love. In the book there are several commands, parables, genealogical verses and simply verses that tie things together.

Now, I did not pick up the book to see if the author did put this into context. Something like 100 Greatest Bible Verses to me, regarding love or anxiety, or simply the best of all time? It is much like choosing the top 100 Basketball players of all time. It is so different for each and every person that I can’t believe that you can put this in a list. I also think that the list is an ever-changing list. It will change to you over time as your priorities or “core values” change.

I think that it is hard to create a list like top 100 basketball players of all time. This is very different for each person based on their perspective of what might make a player good or great. This list changes over time as the options change and there are more players to choose from. There are not going to be additional Bible verses over the coming years but perspective and impact of a verse may change for someone over time. I used to believe that there was an absolute truth. That everything had an answer that was specific to that question. Yes, this was when I was an Engineering major but over time I have changed my view on that a bit.

See our story is written in advance but we are given moments in life that one choice versus the other will have a dramatic impact on our future. God will rewrite the story based on that decision and the choice that we come to. It is a story that is also ever-changing. I think that our perfect creator has to change his plan on the go. Rewrite goals based on the actions that we have taken here.

So then why the rant on the book. I think that categorizing “greatest 100 verses” is impossible. Yet we can publish this because lists are an easy  way to read and understand something. List Posts are popular styles of writing and I have used them in my blog. However, I just can’t wrap my head around the best verses of all time. It struck a nerve in me and I had to write about it to determine whether my thoughts are silly and without merit or others think that without context this is a hard one to Categorize.I also think that it is in line with some recent thoughts I have been having on a series, on another personal blog I am creating(so I don’t commingle, next mortgage definition, work and pleasure to much) about LABELS!!!!

Thanks for listening!!!!!!!!!

******Update for clarification purposes. One of our readers made a great point. God is all knowing so when I spoke about rewriting the goals or our story I was off base from my own understanding. Our course has been set and like our very own children it may not be the path he had envisioned for us. However, he does love us unconditionally and he is graceful. Thanks again for the gentle reminder and encouragement.

Where does your Professional go when the deal hits a snag? You Deserve to Know!

In today’s market even the cleanest deal will have some hurdle or obstacle that will have to be explained. The question is when the going gets tough who is there to answer the questions and help you through the hurdle. Is it the Realtor? Is it the Loan Officer? Is it Both? Neither? Who is there by your side as a buyer and/or a seller when the road is bumpy?

I mention this because it gets to me a little bit. I think that as an industry we have to rally together to deliver the news. All too often professionals go into hibernation when the deal hits a bump. They do not answer their phone or they wait until they have it solved and call as if they did not ignore the previous 100 calls. Let’s look at this from a different angle for one minute:

I am a doctor and I just looked at X-rays for my client. I have found a mass that I have not quite determined what or how I will take care of it. I have a few ideas based on my expertise but want to do further research before providing the solution. In this case do I:

1. Inform the patient of my findings and let them know what I think may be the solutions
2. Send the patient home without any knowledge of the findings hoping that I will have the solution in a few days
3. Ignore all the inquiries I am getting from the curious nurse, patient, family members, etc.
   

I think that we all know the answer to this. It is our duty as a professional to let others know. If we do not have the answer and we have to consult other “doctors” as sometimes is the case we should let the parties know this. “Uncertainty” is one thing that every human I have ever met is inclined to dislike. We like to know what is going on and what we have to do to help the situation. Sometimes that will be nothing but knowing that we can do nothing but wait is better than not knowing what is going on at all.

I will be the first to admit that when I was first in the industry I did not like making the bad call. I still don’t but the difference between now and then is “I have been on both sides of the fence.” Solutions are derived from brainstorm and I still believe in the old saying “Two heads are better than one.”

Please feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with this?

Third Party Origination Pros and Cons

In my world I am considered a third party originator from the wholesale accounts that I deliver loans too. We are definitely an important facet of the business for the companies that we bring the business too. However, many of the companies we do business with now have their very own retail branch. It could be considered a conflict of interest if you really took an in depth look at it.

Why It does not really bother me?

The reason that it has not really bothered me to this point in my career is that they need us. A simple P and L (profit and loss) would show you why we are still needed in this business. Consider some of the largest costs to run a business. Lease Space, Marketing, and workman’s comp insurance are only a few. These are major costs to the company. As a Broker we pay for our space, marketing, workman’s comp and several other benefits. We save time by pre-screening the clients and packaging the files so that their staff can come to a quick decision and decide if this is the business that they want. It is hard for a bank to be competitive and offer a pay structure that would be attractive to originators and pay such costs themselves.

The Problem?

Third party origination is being scrutinized way more than loans within the retail branches. The profit margin on the third party origination business is good enough to keep it in place but buybacks can be a haircut they cannot sustain. If you are receiving several buybacks from lack of quality your profit will be eaten up. The cure is to scrutinize the file so much and over document it. This is what you are feeling today as a consumer. Over documentation. I hear all the time what does that have to do with anything? Nothing but they might as well put it in the file just in case. It may also cause you too seek out a loan through the retail chain driving leads to there business. An alternative form of marketing. However, as brokers we compete for the business. We have to earn your trust and respect on an individual level. We do not have the corporate branding in our back pocket. My personal belief: “consumers by from big banks for the name and they do business with brokers based on a relationship.” Since I am a relational kind of guy I choose to work for a Broker. There is no other reason. If I wanted to come in and churn through the hundreds of calls that my bank receives I would work corporate.

Dollars and Cents?

I could really get into all the details of the differences between the banks and us when it comes to cost. They are more slim in some areas and we are better in rate in many cases. The bottom line is that it all works out in the mix. The #1 reason that I do a lot of deals that were pre-approved from a bank is that I am responsive and I explain things in detail. You may call it a hand holder while I simply explain it as you are my business. If you are not comfortable with the things that I am doing I cannot get referrals. Referrals are the very nature of my business. I dont have hundreds of thousands of dollars to market so customer service still counts for something. You combine that with a well explained mortgage, the personal feeeling and responsiveness and we are left in business. Thank Goodness.

Summary

I think that it will be hard to push the broker out regardless of the rule and the regulations that they impose on us. I think that many people still like the feel that our Grandparents got by having a personal banker. The banks do not give that feel. Their response time is not as fast and they deal with you like a number not a consumer. I also think that for their bottom line it is advantageous to have us in the game. If it were not the case the Mortgage Broker would have been extinct long ago. They are just weeding out those who do not know what they are doing. Keep it up!

Mastermind Revisted: A blessing to all who attended!

Recently, I returned from the Mastermind Summit in San Diego, California. The event was in it’s 10th year and is hosted by Brian Buffini. For those of you who do not know who Brian Buffini is check out his site www.buffiniandcompany.com. He is the one of the largest Real Estate trainers in the country. His coaching and training have brought my business to a new level and I have only begun to tap into it.

Mastermind Summit is different from every other Real Estate seminar that I have ever attended in my life. I was not sold any products at all. In fact I was given gifts for attending that were not little pens. I received a book not written by Brian Buffini and I got a journal. The point of the Mastermind Summit is to take a hard look at all aspects of your life. It is definitely a more holistic approach to self examination. Brian Buffini has never been shy about his spirituality and this year was no exception. The focus of Mastermind this year was “What Matters Most.” The event started out on Sunday and the very first guest to get the event underway was Sinbad. He was hilarious. It was a great night and it was just the beginning.

The next day Brian started the day and went deep. We had to take a look at the things that mattered the most in our life. After we figured that out we also had to take a harsh look at how an outsider would perceive the order of importance based on out actions. Sometimes our heart does not align with what out actions show. We were challenged to make sure that we are giving the intention to What Matters Most in our life what it deserves. I can say that many times my business was stealing me away from what matters most. We examined that and wrote some joggers down that would assist us in a goal writing session that we would have on the final day.

We had another guest speaker that day in Hyrum Smith. He is the founder of Franklinplanner.com The leader in time management strategies. He was amazing. The take away from Hyrum Smith for me was laying the foundation of my personal Governing Values. My personal Constitution so to speak. We talked about how to come up with those. Write a descriptive sentence about each of them and commit to living them. Our first gift from Brian was a book written by Hyrum Smith with an appropriate title “What Matters Most The Power of living your values.”

Honestly, I cannot even explain all that went on at the seminar so I am going to save you the rest of the details. Go to his site and check out information regarding all the events that they do. What I really wanted to talk about was the impact that it had on my life. Since I have come home from  the event I have been by no means perfect but I have been aware. The first step in getting better at things and breaking age old habits is awareness. I have realized that the business does not go away if I handle my priorities in the middle of a day. It has caused me to be upfront and more selective with my time. It has also led me to be more effective in my work because I now crave the time with my family and have planned it in to my day. I get in do the things that I need to do and get out of the office. I care so much about the result of my clients loan that many times I would find myself micromanaging a file and putting off activities that I needed to accomplish to keep the vehicle moving. This would cause what I would call cardiac arrest results and holes in the business.

So the question that I like to ask my customers and all the readers out there is the following:

What Matters Most in your life? Let’s take that into account when we are getting you qualified for a home loan. Let’s get specific on what we want and what we need and make a plan that fits!

I am very grateful for the opportunity to have attended this event. Thank you to the Real Estate agent Brook Terhune that paid for my ticket to go. It was truly an eye opening experience.

Marketing Focus: Where do you spend your time?

Yesterday morning I was at my networking group meeting. This is not the normal Letip or BNI group it is more than that for me. It is called the Christian Business Roundtable. We are group of men that share the same Faith gathering to sharpen each other and hold each other accountable in business and in life. It was my second meeting and my very first formal meeting. Each meeting it is practice of the group to have a Best Practices portion where we can share and expand each others business arsenal if you will. Today the Question was:

You just sold your business to a conglomerate and have agreed to remain for a few months as a consultant. You will receive 100K bonus if you can increase sale by 20% in the next six months but you have been allotted only a limited increase in your marketing budget and no media advertising budget.

You have gotten together with an Advisory Board to give you straight talk about ideas to drive traffic. Start getting the advice now!

• What “out of the box” marketing steps can be taken in: Special Promotions, Network Marketing, Newsworthy Press Release, Low cost Direct Mail etc.
• What steps will drive more traffic to your product or service?

As I left that meeting I had so many ideas to work on for my business but the one that stuck out was based on affiliate marketing. When market others services our reward internally is great. In addition external reward via increase in our business is nearly always the result. However, I do not want to rest on my own understanding. I realized that Facebook and Twitter have given me a large audience of business professionals. These professionals that I have come to know are always thinking outside of the box to drive more traffic. So I figured I would ask my advisory board.

What steps would you take to increase your revenue by 20% in six months? Share them hear with all of our readers and watch the explosive power of two or more.

Don’t take my word for it:

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, the other can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

***** This information is not my own. It was borrowed from the Christian Business Roundtable that I am involved with. The post here is meant to be thought provoking and to generate a massive brainstorm session amongst a group of professionals. We all can always use a jump start of fresh ideas.*****

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