March 20th, 2009

It looks just like any other date. But today marked an important day in my journey to better use and understand the technology that is available to me. Today is the day I stopped using MS Outlook and started using Gmail exclusively.

The fact that I've made the change to Gmail is even hard for me to believe because if you would have asked me 6 months ago if I could do without Outlook I would have said "absolutely not". And I would probably still be using it had I not read an article from another real estate broker touting Gmail's many uses. I read the article back in December of last year and it has taken me this long to realize Gmail is, at least for me, better. Not to mention that when I signed up for a Gmail account I also got a lot of other neat things like, Googledocs, Calendar, Blogger, Reader and a few other things I'm yet to fully explore. But if they are as user friendly as Gmail I suspect I will like them just as much.

I know not all of the readers of this blog are involved in real estate but if you are interested in using Gmail just follow this link: Or just do a Google search for "uses of Gmail". I'm sure there will be plenty of articles that will be beneficial to read.

May all your journeys be as rewarding as this one has been for me.

Monday Morning Meeting

Today was the first time I’ve been to one of our Crestview Office’s Monday morning meetings. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. I enjoyed seeing everyone there and really learned a lot. It was my favorite kind of meeting too; it was short and to the point.


We started out by hearing from two representatives, Sue and Lorena, from one of our Preferred Lender companies, Wells Fargo Mortgage. They brought us all up to date on many of the happenings in the market. Particularly they provided an FHA overview which included the 2009 max loan amounts, maximum loan to value limits, down payment requirements and loan information for single and double mobile homes (they can do them with land).


They also reminded us all of the benefits of an USDA Rural Development loan, there are many. It is the only 100% loan program that I know of that is available within the lending market. It does have income and geographic limitations but if one qualifies and the home they want to buy is in a qualified area it is one sweet deal. They also did similar updates on VA and Conventional lending and there was plenty of information to absorb. Fortunately they provided great hand-outs. If you’d like to get in touch with either of them let me know and I’ll pass on their contact information.


Now enough with the serious business stuff. If you’ve been reading my blog for any time you know what’s coming next; social media. Thought you were going to get away without hearing about it again right? Well you should have known better. I can’t help talking about it. I continue to find new and better ways to use social media for all types of things. Whether I’m accepting invitations to “Scotch and Cigar Night, Bring Your Own” or using the group functions within Facebook to collaborate on single and multi-part projects, this medium appears to be a highly efficient tool. And in this quickly and ever changing industry at least for me efficiency has become more valuable than ever.

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Before I go I’d like to share a few links with you. I recently found that several of my co-workers have blogs as well. If you get a chance check them out at http://michellehass.blogspot.com http://jenniferneris.blogspot.com and http://era-mike.blogspot.com. We are all really just stepping into the blogosphere and at least for me I can say it has been a fun and enjoyable learning experience.


I’m off to IBC in San Antonia from Wednesday of this week and will be back on Monday. I’m looking forward to a great convention and will hopefully have some good stories to share here once I return. Not the real, real good ones though.