I constantly find myself thinking in blog format. I guess that as blogging has become a way of life for me and I often think in terms of "Blog". I get a lot of good blogging ideas that hit me at the most inopportune times. Sometimes I'll get a great idea for a blog but if I can't make it to a computer in time the idea fades and when I finally do get in front of a computer the idea is gone.Some of my best blogging ideas come when I am not thinking about it. I'll just be drifting off in my thoughts and something very interesting will occur to me. I start to formulate the blog in my head and the way that it will be written and read. I begin to imagine responses that I will get from people and my answers to the responses.Eventually if I do not make it to a computer the thought is gone. I wa... 01/04/2008

I had a couple come into my office today terribly upset at the conduct of the seller. When these people came into my office they told me "Chris, do whatever it takes to get us approved for this mortgage". Their qualifications were lacking but I put the extra effort and got them approved.I am not going to get into specifics here due to the delicate nature of what my clients were upset about but I will say that they are absolutely justified in being upset. I will also say that while they have upheld every bit of their obligations regarding the transaction the seller has not.This is why this business can be so frustrating. I worked hard as hell on this loan because of the lack of qualifications. I always put 110% effort into all of my transactions, this one took 120%. I have actually been ... 01/03/2008

I just got another CTC. This is great, December was a slow month, but I closed a loan the very last day of December and I am closing one within the first full week of January. I have my eyes on the 10th or 11th as tentative closing dates for another deal in process right now. I am waiting on a couple of contracts, I have a few appraisals out and things are generally looking up. I have somewhere around 85 single site property websites up and working for my partners and I. I am plastering information about what I am doing all over the web and all over my town. I have around another 60 listings to get uploaded. I am advertising nationally and I am producing referrals for my partners.A wonderful agent just recently sent me all of her companies listings which I am working to get onto the web... 01/02/2008

I am working with a very nice couple. They are buying the home that they have been living in for quite a while. Currently they do not pay PMI, Homeowners, or taxes on the property. They only pay the rent which is pretty high. They really want to own the home. Their goal when they came into my office was simply to see if they can get qualified for a purchase as they had been turned down several times before. I hate property taxes and recognize them as a necessary evil. Without them towns and cities across the nation would be without a means of survival. Still taxes fluctuate and are rarely the same for a borrower as they are for previous owners. There are many factors that come into play but most especially special tax programs for homeowners. In NY we call it the star program. I'm sure ... 12/27/2007

I did not realize until recently just how cool merchant circle is. I signed up yesterday and I have written a couple of blogs recently that can be viewed at http://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/Christopher.Ohlsen.866-562-6930. Merchant circle is really geared toward local activity which for all of us is great. I have invited several companies to join my cirlce and I have had several accept so far.Every time you write a blog or perform certain activities on the MC you ear ad dollars, not sure what they can be used for yet but I will figure it out. Any members here? Maybe some of you know what ad dollars can bes used for. I recomend that all of you join merchant cirlce if you are not already a member. I'd also like to hear from any of you who have had positive experiences with MC. 12/20/2007

And I hope that one is me. An appraiser whom I work with regularly (Kenny McDonald-518-566-6112) who I'd say is among the best appraiser's in the entire area invited me to a free breakfast yesterday. The breakfast is taking place at the Elks Club in Plattsburgh, NY. The breakfast is being hosted by the local chapter of BNI.As I understand it there can only be one member of a given profession representing that profession in each chapter of BNI. Kenny Tells me that there is a "mortgage guy" who is in the group, but that he does not broker mortgages, he is a mortgage planner.I am not sure how important the actual job function is with regard to allowable representation per profession. Does this mortgage guy who is in the group represent the mortgage industry or does he simply represent mort... 12/19/2007

Is the closing statement in an email that I received from a Realtor partner of mine whom I am helping to advertise. It was just the closing statement, but in and of itself it is a wonderful statement that can be applied over and over again year after year.I feel that for my own personal and professional growth this statement is more true than ever. I have had my ups and downs in this business and in general since I've been old enough to work. This is the work that has really captured my heart and I am poised for success like I have never been in my life.I have so many great things going on for my business that it is very easy to get very excited. When I talk to my friends about my career many of them tell me that they hate their jobs, they only wish that they could have something waitin... 12/18/2007

I wrote a blog a while back called My prequals not good enough for you?. It was the first and only featured post that I have written so far. There were around 75 comments or so and many of them had the same tone. Many of you responded with something to the effect that Prequals are worthless, not worth the paper that they are written on. Still I am asked for prequals all the time. Many Realtors complain that they do not like prequals and that a lender or broker's prequal is worthless to them, yet they still continue to ask for prequals. I just qualified someone recently and I decided to skip the whole prequal process. I just sent over the actual approval that I recieved from DU (my findings). Wouldn't you know, I received a call moments later asking me for a prequal, the agent telling me... 12/11/2007

I know that Meta tags and Keywords are important for SEO. One thing that I did not realize until recently is the power of links. Someone told me in response to one of my posts that Google.com loves deep links. I have found this to be true for just about every search engine out there.Before I was even on my companies website just the mention of my name in a search engine brought up my companies website. I linked http://www.lakecitymtg.com/ to so many sites, blogs, and forum posts that it began receiving better ranking than it had previously without making any modifications to the site itself. That got me thinking.I realized that the more sites that I link together in my network of links the better search engine optimized each linked site becomes. By linking pages that are deep within my ... 12/06/2007

I had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I spent my Thanksgiving in Mountain View, NY which is one of the coldest places in this country. Cold but very beautiful. I was planning on taking a bunch of pictures and uploading them to my blog, but I did not get that many. I will add the ones that I did get to another post.The landscape is absolutely beautiful. There was about 2 feet of snow outside my mothers cabin and all of the trees in the back were coated in ice. There are quite a few properties for sale on the main dirt road. Each property has its own drive and is enclosed in trees.There is one that I really like that is being promoted through and listed by Marshall Realty at 7 Woodlane in Mountain View, NY (also called Owles Head/911 addresses get tricky in this area). The MLS number for th... 11/26/2007

One of the most important pieces of the real estate transaction puzzle that will come into play even before the details of the financial transaction are defined is finding the right home. Finding the perfect home is not always an easy task. There are many things to consider when determining whether or not to make an offer on a home; 1. How many people are going to be living in the home? Is the home of interest large enough or small enough to accommodate your needs? 2. What is the tax rate in the area? Are you or the home eligible for a local state government property/school tax reduction? 3. If you have children, is the home within your preferred school district? 4. How much can you afford? Are you going to be required to pay your taxes and insurance on a monthly basis along with the pr... 11/19/2007

I have closed quite a bit this month. Fee for a Mortgage Professional is a relative term. My fee this month is pretty high because of the number of loans that I have closed but for many other companies I'm sure that my numbers are low. It really has to do with the split, I can afford to keep my costs very low. I always give good honest quotes. So honest in fact that some people decide not to do business with me because they are getting a better quote from another lender. My fees are so low and my quotes are so accurate that when someone tells me the dimensions of another loan being offered to them I know whether or not it is a real deal or smoke and mirrors.                                         I never bad mouth other lenders; I wouldn't want it done to me. I do try to educate my cli... 11/16/2007

I truly believe that any true professional in this industry truly enjoys being able to help people any way that they can. We are not in it for the money, the money is a by-product of helping people; like Zig Zigglar says "if you help enough people get what they want you will automatically get what you want" I have quoted that quote by Zig a few times because it is so true. The reason I am writing this post is because I want to comment on what my manager here at Lake City Mortgage is doing. He is helping to sponsor Muscular Disease Atrophy. He is allowing himself to be arrested and he is going to live on bread and water at the jail (set up at the local Comfort Inn here in Plattsburgh) until his "bail" is raised. His bail will then be donated to MDA research for the cure.This really is a ... 11/15/2007

I was recently approached by http://www.lender411.com/ to be a guest author. I have checked the site out and it is great. I wrote one article there which I also made a post here the article is at  http://www.lender411.com/article-center/index.php?page=article&article_id=98. It was my first article and not really that rich although there is some useful information there for first time home buyers. Since then I have written 2 very good articles for Lender411.com and as soon as I hit the submit button the article disappeared and I lost it both times. I think that there is something wrong with the way that it registers time, like it auto logs me out if I am there for too long without typing. Which is the case because I read and re-read my articles and blogs before I post them. So I am going... 11/15/2007

I recently got done working with a couple whom purchased a home for the very first time. In this business we often refer to these people as FTHB or First Time Home Buyer's. I love to work with first time home buyers, it's a real joy to be the lender who had a part in making their dreams come true. Now because I work with FTHB's I want to try to help any of you out there avoid some mistakes that can have an impact on your ability to secure financing. Often times it is best to work with a lender whom was referred to you from a friend or trusted colleague. Make sure that whomever you work with has experience in working with FTHB's. There are a few things that people who are accustom to working with refinance and repeat clients forget to mention. Sometimes Mortgage Professionals whom work w... 11/12/2007

I just got a new website, I think that its pretty nifty. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles yet, but it will by the end of the work. I plan on tweaking it out like crazy over the next couple of weeks. I have used from AR how to add robots to my site to check for fresh content regularly and some other neat little SEO tricks. There is a blog on my website as well. I think that I may post many of my AR blogs there and vise versa. I would like these blogs of mine to cross reference each other. I think that makes for good SEO.I did not even know what the term SEO meant around 3 months ago, now I have a pretty strong web presence and getting stronger. Anyway I hope you all check out my need website and watch for updates regularly. 11/12/2007

Everyone says "don't worry about it" or "give it another 6 month" with regard to UW's not being so uptight and or actually getting conditions cleared when they say they are going to. That is fine but my job is to advocate for the consumer and intermediate between the borrower and the lender.I know that things will turn around, but I am becoming frustrated fast with this one file that I am working on. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING! has been uploaded into "blitzdocs" since last Friday. I am looking to get a CTC for this Friday. It doesn't make sense to me that it is taking so long. This lender has better rates and programs than most A paper lenders do but I am questioning myself as whether or not I want to do future business with them. 'I know that they are good and there process is us... 11/07/2007

I don't think that anyone is in doubt about whether or not this economy is in trouble. The average median income across the country is down, unemployment rates are up compared to not so distant years (the Clinton era for instance), the GDP is down, inflation is at an all time high, the stock market is extremely unstable, and billions of tax payer dollars are unaccounted for as a result of this nations war efforts.The price of crude oil is currently $96.00 per barrel. The cost of food and milk whole sale delivery has increased and the increased cost in production has trickled to consumers. The mortgage industry was bound to have it problems given the fact that it carried the economy for years and suddenly the seams fell apart when our government decided to go start chasing "terrorists" i... 11/02/2007

Quick Update on my mothers deal. Despite all of the obstacles that the deal underwent because of my relationship to my mother and the UW's responsibility to verify the quality of the loan by submitting the QLP to QC for final review.The final stips were cleared and we closed today, I am very happy about the fact that I was able to fulfill one of my lifelong goals of being able to provide suitable housing for my mother, father, brother, and sister. I did not have a home built for them on their property in Churubusco, NY while they were enjoying a luxury vacation at my expense like I had envisioned I would as a child. Still I was able to come through for my family in a more reasonable and realistic way. Through my adult perspective I consider myself to have in a very tangible way realized... 10/25/2007

I just got off the phone with a Realtor associate of mine. He told me that someone will be calling me today (another referral). Thing is he said that she will be asking me about Sonyma. I have never done a Sonyma loan, so I need to learn something fast. Any of you have experience with Sonyma?As I understand it Sonyma pays for all closing costs or up to 5% of them. Does this work in conjunction with sellers concessions? Or is it either or? Also what are the income and credit qualifications? As I understand it this type of loan is reserved for those with low income. I will be studying the web, but in the meantime if any of you can help me answer some of these questions I will appreciate it. Thanks for reading everyone. 10/24/2007