The Mortgage & More Blog

Holiday Gifts

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:25:27 -0600

With the holidays fast approaching, Thanksgiving is a week away, it is important to start thinking about how you will use this opportunity to get your name back at the front of your client and business partners' mind. This time of year provides an excellent opportunity to reinforce the excellent service you provided your past clients and business partners. Sometimes clients need a little reminder of who you are and the service you offer.

The use of traditional Christmas cards is definitely one way to get in front of your clients. If however you want something that will make a bigger impression, what do you do? Calenders are always an easy idea, but honestly I have already received three from charities that I donate to so I am skipping the calender route. Since I was raised in south Georgia and most of my current Realtor partners are in Georgia, I was thinking I might send pecans. I think nut gifts would be something different and appreciated. Zenobia's online is offering free two day shipping so that makes this option more affordable. They also present the gift in a nice gold bag with a personalized gift card! Rather than going the typical route, I want to stand out and be the one in the forefront of their minds and an unusual "Happy Holidays" gift might be just the trick.

The Real Victims of this Mess

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:46:52 -0600

If you have not met Eric McGowan from Alabama yet, you need to click on his link and read more about this extraordinary guy. I have to tell you that I found him through reciprocal commenting and I am glad that I did. It is not that I do not love the original bloggers that I have grown close to already, but it is the need to expand my SOI.

Well, enough of that. Here is an article that Eric wrote. I have disabled the comments because I think that the original author is the one that you should comment too. What he says here hits home and I am sure that it will hit home to a lot of you.

Via Eric McGowan, Alabama Mortgage Expert:

Look in the mirror! Now, What do you see?

Whether you want to admit it or not you can even see it in your child's face! 2008 can and most definitely will be one for the record books.

We have had

Gas prices at all time highs

Layoffs

Bank failures

Stock Market rollercoaster rides

Automakers reducing production

The virtual death of home equity products

Stores closing

What kind of Christmas and Holiday season will this be for you? How are you and your family planning to celebrate?

This year I am personally cutting back. I won't be buying that "big family gift" as I normally do.

If nothing else be thankful for what is there---your family.

I am extremely grateful to be here and to have what I do. Life is a journey and I am just riding along with it.

*Image complements of flickr.com

Clicksmart

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:39:05 -0600

Clicksmart prescreens professionals from around the country and in various fields. Whether you are looking for a florist or a Realtor, clicksmart has done much of the legwork for you. For example lets say you are looking for Saint Louis Realtors. What are the criteria you would use to find a qualified professional if you don't happen to live in that area.

Clicksmart has very specific criteria they use. A clicksmart certified Realtor must be licensed by their state and cannot have been disciplined by any state real estate commission or department. A clicksmart Realtor has to have completed a minimum of ten transactions in the past year. These requirements can at minimum let you know that you have a licensed, ethical, and experienced Realtor.

Can I Have a Get Out of Debt Free Card?

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:05:13 -0600

Can I Have a Get Out of Debt Free Card? This is basically what all the companies that are asking for a "Bailout" are essentially asking for. In essence they want the money to help keep them afloat. They need this money because they can not manage the amount of money that they intake at this point in time. Why can they not manage the current intake of cash if the amount that they are banking is thought to be sizable enough to help them stay afloat with the bailout money.

Now, first off, let me address my take on bailouts. Anyone who has followed me know that I am against the bailout. It is not because of the implications to the tax payers even though I do not believe the burden should be laid upon us.

It is my thought that if the government agrees to bailout a company, they should do it the same as a corporate take over would. The first and foremost thing that has to happen is to cut the fat. Now, cutting the fat does not mean laying the grunts off. Let me give you an example of what I saw in my last corporate field.

Here is the food chain:

worker reports to team lead reports to branch manager reports to RVP reports to DEVP reports to 15 people above his head.

Now, that might no seem excessive, but here is where it is. DEVP is managing 8 people. RVP is managing 6 to 8 people. Branch manager is technically managing 4 people (1 asst manager and 3 team leads). Team lead is managing 4 to 6 people. To me, that was a plan that worked great for a long time, but was excessive in my eyes. This type of management chain eventually breeds micromanagement.

There is to much fat in this model and it needed to be trimmed. Instead of trimming it, they ended up losing the company as a whole.

What I would propose is the fact that if a company needs a bailout, the entire top of the company needs to be cut off and we then bring in a successful business model to rework the company and make it profitable again.

All in a nutshell, I know that this will never happen. This is why it is no more than food for thought.

Disney For The Holidays!

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:34:38 -0600

When I was a kid living in south Georgia, one of the really fun things was living so close to Florida. On several different occasions, the family vacation was all of us kids loaded into the station wagon heading for Disney World. Of course in those days Disney was a lot different than it is today. In the mid 1970's the only theme park was the Magic Kingdom; don't get me wrong, this was the cat's meow to a kid!

One of the most memorable trips to the Magic Kingdom was during the Christmas holiday. While most of my classmates were staying at home or visiting relatives for the holidays, this one particular Christmas, Mom and Dad decided to do things a bit differently. If the Magic Kingdom is magical to a kid during the summer, just imagine how wide my eyes where with it decked out for Christmas. This is probably the most memorable Christmas from my childhood.

For those of you looking to do a little something different this Christmas with your family, Disney World in Orlando has something special planned. This year, in November and December, Disney will be hosting a Christmas party as only Disney can! Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is going to be the event of the holiday season, especially if you are a youngster. Kids of all ages will be able to enjoy the Magic Kingdom in all its holiday beauty. Not to mention all the most beloved Disney characters will be on hand. Just imagine sipping complimentary hot cocoa while tiny snowflakes float through the air; that's right, snowflakes in Florida! If this sounds like the ticket for your family this holiday season then check out Orlando Fun Tickets for your discount Disney tickets to this party.

College Football Game of the Week

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:55:38 -0600

If you have yet to see Rich Dansereau's newest blog, Rich Talks Sports, then you are missing out on a great read. His articles are indepth and thorough. Having said that, his last articles was on what he calls Game of the week - College Football. Now, I will not give the jest of the article away, but I really have to say this is a great read. So, get over and check it out if you are a football lover.

Heated Jackets for Winter Cold

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:19:43 -0600

Whether you like it or not, the cold weather is here to stay. It has settled in and boy is it cold. I awoke this morning to 23 degrees and a sky that was spitting out some snow. Fortunately it was sputtering like a boat that had not been ran for some years. Still, the dogs required to be walked and firewood needed to be brought in. I would have loved to have some battery powered heated jackets and vests so that I could put them on when I went outside.

If you have waited this long to get ready for this type of weather, then you are in trouble. The weather has move in and Mr Cold has gotten comfortable sitting out on my back patio. It is mornings like this that I do not even want to take the 100 yard march to the garden to check on it. Heck, even the five foot march out back to grab some wood leaves ones body nippy.

The best thing that you can do is get on line now and find you some warm clothes and get them shipped to you ASAP. There are a lot of great prices online for this early cold weather, so it is time to get your share of them now.

In The Spirit Of The Voting Season

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:12:34 -0600

A very good friend of mine for Raleigh, North Carolina is up for the prestigious 2009 Event Solutions Spotlight Award for Rising Star Male in the special events industry. The Spotlight Award is one of the biggest honors in this industry. James Auerbach and his company are very honored to even to be in the running for this award much less be a finalist. It is not often that I call on friends to lend a hand, but I know James and I know the type of work that Showtime Events does. If you would like, you can go to Showtime Events and click on the link to vote for James.

If you would like to see more information about this contest, you can click on the links below.

You can see more info about the awards at http://www.event-solutions.com/spotlight_awards

The finalists can be seen at http://www.event-solutions.com/spotlight_awards/2009_finalists

Below is the flyer that was sent out by Showtime Events. It is only a picture, so it is not clickable. Any help here would be greatly appreciated by James as well as me.

Or you can vote directly at http://www.event-solutions.com/spotlight/vote/

Ham Hock (Wordless Wednesday)

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:11:30 -0600

The Right School For You

Danny Thornton (Home America Mortgage, INC.) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:54:19 -0600

When living in Atlanta, Home America Mortgage began offering insurance classes. They brought in an excellent instructor from Kaplan to teach the week long series of classes at no out of pocket expense to employees. Of course, I could not pass up this opportunity. I figured that with all the volatility in the market, it would be nice to be able to have a full range of insurance offerings in addition to mortgages. The classes were interesting and I really did learn quite a lot. After the class was over, home America even paid for all the participants to take the certification test. I was glad to have this great opportunity though the certification is state specific, so when I relocated to Knoxville I no longer had the capability to offer the insurance products.

As I reflect on this, I got to thinking that taking some additional classes could be a benefit. I didn't really know where to begin to locate programs and schools. So I began with that most useful of technological marvels, the internet. It did not take much to find Degree Hound. They are a great service that helps to match you with a school that has the right program to fit your needs. They can help you determine the right school regardless of the type of degree or certificate you are wanting. Degree Hound asks a series of questions to help you narrow your college search. For example, you can search for an online degree or traditional campus schools. As I think about the opportunity to improve my knowledge base and income potential, I will now be incorporating Degree Hound to help me find what works best for me.