National Night Out is Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Neighborhoods across the county will be holding events to get to know each better on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 2009.  If you live in Seattle, you can register your "block party" with the NightOut09 Seattle Police Department.   Our neighborhood in West Seattle has enjoyed this chance to get together for the past couple of  years with a fun pot luck with someone from the SPD stopping by to answer our questions, informing us of recent crime trends or things to be aware of.

If you live in the Bellevue area, Crossroads Mall will be holding a National Night Out event from 4:00 – 7:00  p.m. with games and goodies for the kids.

The City of Renton will be hosting a Night Out event at the Highlands Community Center from 4:00 – 7:30 pm with free food and games.

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is designed to:

  • Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
  • Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime programs;
  • Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
  • Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

It's not too late to plan an event for your neighborhood.  Being aware and knowing your neighbors is a great first step in preventing crime.  You can start by contacting you local police department.

If you know of a local Neighborhood Night Out event, please share it with us and post it in the comment section.

Update:  I'll add neighborhood events as I receive them via comments to the body of this post.

High Point in West Seattle, will be holding a large Night Out event at Commons Park.

Kenmore City Hall from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.   Join the Kenmore Police Department at the annual National Night Out Against Crime event. The police chief will barbeque hamburgers and hotdogs for Kenmore citizens. Information will be available on block watches, house checks, personal safety, fingerprinting and ID cards for kids, bicycle registration cards and home fire prevention. FREE!

Hey LO’s! Join Me at Safeco Field on Friday, June 19, 2009

RSVP by clicking here!

 

WAMPSafecoField

Seattle Real Estate Bar Camp and Seattle Unchained is this week!

If you're not in the real estate or mortgage industry, this post might be a big *yawn* REBCSea for you.  My apologies!  However, if you are a real estate agent or mortgage originator, you should consider checking out these events (if there's still room).

The big daddy is Real Estate Bar Camp which takes place this Friday beginning at 9:00 a.m. in down town Seattle.  I'm actually leading a break-out session with Brian Brady for fellow mortgage professionals and I'll be involved (learning or teaching) other events throughout the day.   As this is an all day event, I will not be posting rates on this Friday.  You can follow my rate updates on Twitter.  If you are going to RE Bar Camp, be sure to visit the web site and chime in what you would like to learn or teach soon.

Come a day early on Thursday afternoon and you'll catch Seattle Unchained.  I'll be involved on a panel with fellow bloggers at this event.

Zillow was kind to provide space at their headquarters in downtown Seattle at 999 – 3rd Avenue, Floor 41 for both events. 

I'm really looking forward to sharpening my tools at these (un)seminars.  I'll be returning emails and phones over the weekend.   By the way, on Monday, February 16, 2009, Mortgage Master will be closed in observance of President's Day.

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.

I am back!

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Seems like I’ve been gone much longer than I have.  On Tuesday morning (July 22, 2008)  I went to San Francisco for Inman Connect and Real Estate Bar Camp.   Both events were fantastic and I met many wonderful people (I won’t even try to list everyone).   I did take advantage of being in that neck of the woods (and airfair) by extending my trip to include some Sonoma wine country with my husband.  Posts and photos will follow.

This is just a quick note to let you know that I am back in Washington and back to business to usual.   If you or someone you know need help with a mortgage (new or, if you would like me to manage–or adopt–your existing mortgage) please let me know.

Update:  Here are some of my notes from Bloggers Connect that I’ve posted over at my R TEAM Blog:

Leaving a Digital Footprint

Growing Pains: Taking Your Blog to the Next Level

Blogging Pittfalls: How NOT to get sued.

Case Study: How Four Bloggers are closing sales

I’m also working on a post about Flickr from a class I attended at Real Estate Bar Camp taught by Teresa Boardman.