The Mortgage Porter

Happy New Year!

Thank you to all who have made 2008 quite memorable!  It will be facinating to see what the New Year brings the mortgage industry. 

Mortgage Master is closed today and will reopen for business as usual on January 2, 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

From my home to yours, I hope you are surrounded by those you love most during this holiday season.

Mortgage Master will be closing early today at 1:00 p.m. in honor of Christmas and will be reopening for business as usual at 9:00 a.m. Friday, December 26, 2008.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Photo: Orson taking a Christmas break.

Social Media and Seattle's Snowpocalypse

Are you feeling like you've been trapped in snow globe and you can't get out?  Do you have images from The Shining playing in your head?  I'm a Puget Sound native and for life of me, I cannot recall so much prolonged snow!  It's beautiful and I've enjoyed taking pictures (check out my snow album) but I'm ready for some rain!

On a side note, it's been fascinating to see the level of communication that has taken place about our weather via blogs and other forms of social media, like Twitter, from the public to our local government.

I've received emails from the City of Seattle and King County over the past few days with request to post safety tips for my "community" of readers.  They are utilizing bloggers to help spread their message.   In my neighborhood, West Seattle Bloghas done a phenomenal job (as they always do) keeping everyone up to date and sharing stories about our local weather (and more).  I believe it was our big winter storm of 2006 that really catapulted WSB's readership.   If you have an neighborhood blog, this is one reason alone to subscribe.   Just this morning, I became aware of the Seattle Transit Blog.

If you're a long time reader of Mortgage Porter, you may be aware of the interest rate updates I quote.  Twitter allows you to post live updates of whatever you're doing in 140 characters or less.  Just like a blog, you can subscribe (or "follow") what the author has to say.  Local folks I'm following on Twitter who have helped with information on the storm are:

West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog)

Washington State DOT (@wsdot)

King County News (@kingcountynews)

Seattle Department of Transportation - Snow (@sdotsnow)

Seattle Times @seattletimes 

Seattle PI @seattlepi

and don't forget Mortgage Porter (@mortgageporter)

Last, but not least, you can search terms on Twitter using "Twitter Search".  Twitter-er's will use the # sign to create a short code/phrase that can be used to follow a specific event or thing.  For this storm, the code is "#seatst".  Whenever someone posts a comment (aka tweet) on Twitter about this storm, if they include #seatst.  When you enter #seatst in the search field on the Twitter search page, you'll see a list of what EVERYONE is saying right now about the storm.

Do you have a Twitter profile? 

Tips for being prepared for this weekend's snow storm

I just received this email from King County with a request to post this safety information on my blogs for our local community:

Are you prepared?  Steps to stay safe in this weekend's storm

With high winds forecast for this weekend and possible power outages, it's time to take steps to stay save and avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide can kill you or cause serious injury.  Carbon monoxide gas comes from burning fuels such as gasoline, propane, oil, kerosene, natural gas, coal or wood.  Here are some steps to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

• Never use a gas or charcoal grill, hibachi, or portable propane heater to cook indoors or heat your home.

• During a power outage or at any other time, do not operate fuel-powered machinery such as a generator indoors, including in the garage.

• Avoid combustion "space heaters" unless there is an exhaust vent.

Carbon monoxide poisoning can strike suddenly and without warning.  In some cases, physical symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include splitting headache, nausea and vomiting, and lethargy and fatigue.  If you believe you could be experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning, get fresh air immediately.  Call for medical help from a neighbors home.  The fire department will tell you when it's safe to reenter the home.

For a full list of carbon monoxide prevention tips and other safety and disaster information in English and other languages, visit www.kingcounty.gov/health/disaster

Other important safety tips

• Make sure you are wearing enough warm clothing before going outdoors.  Wind speed can create dangerously cold conditions even when the temperature is not that low.
• If you think power will be out for several days, check with your city for location of warming shelters.
• Watch for signs of frostbite and hypothermia-slurred speech, confusion, uncontrollable shivering, stumbling, drowsiness and body temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit or less.  Get medical help immediately if you think someone has frostbite or hypothermia.
• Check on elderly friends, family, and neighbors to make sure they are safe.
• If power goes out where you live, keep food safe by keeping the doors closed on your refrigerators and freezers as much as possible.  A full freezer can stay at freezing temperatures about two days'' a half-full freezer about 1 day.  Potentially hazardous foods, like meet and fish, should be discarded if thawed and warmer than 41 degrees.

Update: News Release from the City of Seattle

Happy Thanksgiving

There are so many things to be thankful for in this world.  For starters, I have a wonderful family.  At this time, I would also like to thank my many clients, friends and those of you who are reading this blog.  I truly appreciate all of you.  I hope you are surrounded with loved ones this holiday.

Mortgage Master is closed today and tomorrow in observance of Thanksgiving.  We will reopen for business as usual on Monday, December 1, 2008.  Soon I'll be working on the appetizers that we're bringing over to my sister's home...today I'll be enjoying the company of family.  Although my office is closed tomorrow, I will be working on Good Faith Estimates for clients who are interested in our current low rates.

Happy Thanksgiving!  By the way, if you're still trying to figure out how you're going to cook your bird, here's my recipe for smoked Turkey Breast on a Big Green Egg.

Veteran's Day

Mortgage Master is closed today in observance of Veteran's Day to honor those who serve our Country to protect our freedom.

This photo is of Lady Liberty at Alki in West Seattle. A gift from the Boy Scouts in 1952, she was recently restored to her original beauty.

Don't forget to Vote!

You can't gripe about who ever's in office if you don't vote.  At least that's how I feel about it.  Even if you feel hopeless, as if your vote won't make a difference; voting is your one true right as an American. 

Don't Forget to Fall Back

Just a reminder to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed tonight or you could always stay up until Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 2:00 am in observance of Day Light Saving Time.

An Announcement You Will Never See from a Traditional Broker

"Today Redfin laid off roughly 20% of our employees" writes Glenn Kelman, Redfin CEO on his corporate blog.   

You won't hear these words from the traditional real estate brokerages where agents are not paid salaries.  They're living (or trying to) from closing to closing.  Some are doing better than others and others are having to make hard choices about their careers and personal finances.

The traditional brokerages do not announce that 10 or 20% of their agents have not received a commission check in the past few months or are not able to pay their desk fees.  Agents move to less expensive offices or they just move on.

It is a very challenging market.  And while the many will focus on the struggles of Joe Six Pack, who opted for the wrong mortgage at the wrong time; very few will have sympathy for the struggling real estate agent who made their living from the Joes of this world. 

Glenn's announcement is a sad one.  I don't have established "relationships" with Redfin agents.  I do with home buyers who have utilized Redfin.  I admire Glenn's honesty and wish everyone in the market well.  I have been very fortunate to work with Washington State buyers and home owners who read my blogs, my past clients who return for their mortgage needs and who refer their friends to me and real estate agents who are trying to stick out this market.  At this time and always, I THANK YOU ALL.

Hopefully with today's gains in the market, we'll have the confidence that our markets need to stabilize.

Mortgage Porter is in the PINK

Do not adjust your screen, Mortgage Porter is pink during October to recognize National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you're a long time reader of this blog, you know that breast cancer has taken two wonderful ladies from our office.  Both were around 40 years young and neither had cancer in their family.  Breast cancer does not discriminate, men may be diagnosed with this disease as well. 

In addition to the pink background, I have a button you click on the left which will help provide free mammograms.  (All you need to do is click the button--that's it!)

Want to do more?  Start with your own self-exam and consider a donation of your time or money.  You can also help spread the word by going pink!

A special thanks to Mike Mueller for adding the pink ribbon to my mug shot and to Jay Thompson for giving me the idea of pinking out Mortgage Porter.