Clark County WA, VA Home Loan, VA Real estate, VA Home Real Estate Clark County Washington Veteran Home Loan

Watch DOGS Dads

February 15th, 2010

Last Friday was a great day. I had the wonderful privilege of volunteering at my daughters school under the the Watch DOGS (dads of great students) program. Its an amazing program run around the entire United States founded by a father with a vision. Through an adverse situation at his childs school this amazing gentleman realized that there needed to be a more prominent male role in the schools across America. So the vision that was Watch Dogs became a reality. There is such a program in nearly every school today. Its such a huge success that it should be mandatory, but that is not the case. Believe it or not there IS resistance in some situations.

I have now witnessed first hand what the children and faculty gain by allowing fathers to come into their childs school, and volunteer for a day of Watch DOGS. Its amazing, the kids interact with you far beyond your expectations…….your looked up to and most if not all of the teachers and staff appreciate what it is your doing too. I have hit on a common thread here the last couple of posts here and that commonality is giving back………Community…getting involved and volunteering…….getting in touch wtih the pulse of your town or county in which you reside. If we all did a little bit of this it would make such a tremendous impact in where we live and it would only spread from there. This stuff is contagious I’m telling you. It really is. For there is so much enjoyment out of being around children and seeing all those smiling faces and adorable personalities. If you come across a little one that is not so happy, and you so happen to engage them and find out what is wrong, you have the ability to change that unhappiness into happiness…..for some children have no male role model so for them maybe the Watch DOG has a huge impact on their life.

Thats what its all about. Making a difference. Impacting a childs life for the better. Treating people right. Giving back to the community. If your busy, thats fantastic. Make a half day out of it to give it a shot. You’ll soon wish you were signed up for the full day. Myself, I cannot wait to get back to my daughters school to be a Watch Dog for the day again.
Kevin J. Lawson

Good IS Being Done…..

February 11th, 2010

I was fortunate enough to attend our counties Veterans Resource Committee meeting yesterday, seeking membership along the way. The duration of the meeting consisted of proposal after proposal in search of funds for veterans relief, assistance and new plans to assist veterans in a variation of ways. I attended representing Creekside Mortgage, Inc., and can attest that we are veteran owned and operated, and have nothing but the Veterans best interest at heart, as we consistently do 85 to 90 percent of our transactions assisting veterans in VA Loans.

Lets back up now to the doom and gloom that our nations media paints so often on the many news networks, internet and published accounts. Its easy to get the perception that there are no institutions or individuals, countries or anyone for that matter that is out to make a positive change in peoples lives. Well I can positively tell you that there are good people doing great things in abundance. Getting involved in your community is a great way to find out what is being done and also find out how to assist others. There are a great many ways to get plugged in; all you have to do is pick up the phone or get on the Internet and spend fifteen minutes researching what area might make the most sense to you.

Creekside Mortgage, Inc. is heavily involved in several associations that assist with Veterans needs. We do it out of respect and a sense of loyalty to our fellow brothers and sisters that have served and protected this great nation. There is a great feeling one will achieve after giving and its so worth the time that one invests, for its giving a little and knowing you have done the right thing. I know that Jeannette Karis of Remax of Spokaneis heavily involved in doing many of the same things and she doesnt volunteer out of obligation but of genuine honor and loyalty to her community.

The next time your down and think that there is no good going on in the world or your community you can rest assure that there is; and if you were so inclined you can make an effort to invest an hour to three hours per week, and that will go a LONG way. I saw first hand all of the amazing programs going on in Clark County, Washington that assist Veterans. There really is an abundance of good going on in our communities, and if you actually look out into your community you can find good and contribute to it as well. Its the right thing to do.

Kevin J. Lawson

Welcome to 2010!

January 4th, 2010

It’s the first Monday of the new year…… Here we go!

Even though I know this industry has more changes coming in 2010, I am ready for it. I fulfilled the OR and WA requirements as a loan officer, and am preparing to take the new, national test coming this year. I’m not concerned of the training and actually appreciate all of the education that is required of me and my colleagues.

I do find it interesting that the loan officers that work for a bank do not have to have this training and education. That bothered me at first, until I remembered that knowledge is power. Knowing that the loan officers at mortgage brokers will be more trained, educated and held more accountable then those loan officers who work at banks, I feel pretty good. No, I feel really good.

It is paramount that a borrower have complete trust in their loan officer, as they are probably making the biggest purchase of their life! I am proud to be able to declare being held accountable to a higher standard, and to be more educated and knowledgeable. Yep….. Welcome 2010!

Bonnie Miller

Thank You For 2009

December 30th, 2009

Creekside Mortgage would like to thank all of our 2009 clients.for their business this past year. We would also like to take this time to share with you something we are proud of. Our charity work! Each loan officer at Creekside Mortgage donates a portion of their earnings from every loan closed to our charity fund. It is really true that giving is much more gratifying then receiving! I know I blogged Monday about Operation Homefront, but there were several other charities we were able to contribute to that I would lke to mention today.

Special Warrior Operation Foundation - $100 contribution with every VA home purchase loan we complete. This we have the Greenwald family to thank for setting this up. Kerry Greenwald, the owner of Creekside Mortgage, Becky Greenwald, Kerry’s lovely wife and our CFO, and Floyd Greenwald, Kerry’s father and a senior VA loan officer.

FISH - Friends In Service to Humanity – Vancouver, WA - a pallet of food, including a gob(ble) of turkeys; Carole Collett-Wheeler, Mike Frakes and I donated our time sorting food from the Walk and Knock; and we held a Winter Weather Clothing Drive that brought in 4 huge boxes of warm clothing! Special thanks to Kevin Lawson, who bought several brand new coats for children and Kathy Ramage and Pam Conrad for buying many, many brand new gloves!

Newspapers in Education, a special request by Carole Collett-Wheeler because of her passion for education.

Humane Society of Southwest Washington, a special request by Cara Suter because of her passion for animals.

Janus Youth Program - Vancouver - a special request by Kathy Ramage and Jenn Stanford because of their passion to help troubled teens.

Operation Homefront – Oregon/Southwest Washington - a special request by yours truly, Bonnie Miller, on behalf of the entire Creekside Mortgage team because of the passion we all have to support our troops!

5 Local Families - a special request from Kerry and Becky Greenwald because of their passion to provide support for struggling families within the community. We were able to provide car loads of food to each family, and Christmas trees and children’s gifts upon request.

As we are closing the books for 2009 it warmed our hearts to see all the good we were able to do this year. We just felt we needed to thank you again for your business. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.

I can’t close this article without giving a special tribute to Kerry Greenwald and all of my co-workers here at Creekside Mortgage, for their particpation, enthusiasm and generosity with the charities this year. What a great place to work!

Thanks again for a great year in 2009 and special wishes to you and your family moving forward to 2010.

Happy New Year!

Bonnie Miller

Operation Homefront

December 28th, 2009

I took a special drive to Linn County on behalf of Creekside Mortgage to donate a nice sum of money to Operation Homefront! It is a wonderful charity that supports the troops and the families of the deployed. While I was there, I was able to witness the organization at work again! This time it was a wife of a deployed serviceman and his children whose water was going to get shut off. Operation Homefront got on the phone and paid the bill right there on the spot! Wonderful!

92 cents of every dollar donated benefits a service member or family in need. Operation Homefront helps with their home repairs, emergency mortgage payments, travel expenses to a wounded warrior’s bedside and other urgent needs. To name just a few more ways Operation Homefront supports our troops and their families while they are deployed - they ship care packages to deployed troops; provide technology to bridge the long miles between the front lines and the homefront; host toy drives and other programs during the holiday season. I could go on and on.

A large focus of Operation Homefront is to provide emergency assistance to military families in need so the next generation of vets aren’t homeless. Unfortunately, an estimated 1 out of 4 homeless is a veteran. Operation Homefront is dedicated to saving a whole new generation from this same fate through many of the progams they have in place, such as their housing initiative and the Wounded Warrior Wives program.

Operation Homefront is a national non-profit organization. I hope you take time to educate yourself about this wonderful charity and find a way to support the troops and their families.

A flyer posted at Operation Homefront by the parents of Spec. Rulon J. Anderson III puts it so well, “SLEEP WELL MY FRIENDS, OUR SON HAS YOUR BACK“.

Happy Holidays to each of you and your family during this wonderful time of the year.

Bonnie Miller

What is a VA Loan??

December 14th, 2009

The VA loan began in 1944 through the original Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, also known as the GI Bill of Rights. The GI Bill was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and thus provided veterans with a federally guaranteed home with no down payment. This feature was designed to provide housing and assistance for veterans and their families, and the dream of home ownership became a reality for millions of veterans.

VA guaranteed loans are made by private lenders, such as banks, savings & loans, or mortgage companies to eligible veterans for the purchase of a home, which must be for their own personal occupancy. The guaranty means the lender is protected against loss if you or a later owner fails to repay the loan. The guaranty replaces the protection the lender normally receives by requiring a down payment allowing you to obtain favorable financing terms.

Kevin Lawson

Winter Weather Clothing Drive

December 8th, 2009

We’re launching a Winter Weather Clothing Drive today. Drop off any new or used (in good condition) winter clothing such as coats, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, warm socks here at the Creekside office. We will be taking them down to FISH on 12/18. Help keep our community warm this year! FISH is also in need of volunteers. I will be spending the afternoon there sorting and boxing food. Come on down and join me!

Bonnie Miller

Mixing Business with Pleasure

December 7th, 2009

Friday I traveled down to Linn and Benton Counties to mix some business with pleasure. After stopping in at the recruitment centers for The Army, The Marines and The Navy, it was time for a quick break. I decided to peek into The Heritage Mall for the first time in 8 years! As soon as I walked in I saw red, white and blue in the corner. I wandered in to see what it was. It was the headquarters for Operation Homefront of Oregon. I spent a good part of the afternoon learning about the charity. Dale Clark, the Chapter President and Karen Carver, the Operations Manager, were very gracious with their time.

Operation Homefront offers a wide variety of services for our service members and their families. They provide emergency financial assistance; support for wounded warriors and their families; boost morale with care packages; home and appliance repair…. The list goes on and on!

While I was there I had the pleasure of seeing a serviceman drop in to thank Operation Homefront for the care packages he received while in Iraq. The tears were flowing and hugs were plentiful, while the young man told them how important those packages were to him and his morale! What a gift that was for me to witness the gratitude on that young soldiers face! And before I left, an older gentleman came in to donate money to Operation Homefront. I read about charities, and I hear about what they do for others, but to experience the generosity of a donation and the gratitude of a recipient all in one day, was really a pleasure!

I explained to Dale my interest in veterans, and the experience we have with VA Home Loans at Creekside Mortgage. Dale agreed to display the Creekside VA Home Loan brochures to help educate veterans on VA Home Loans. We both agreed to stay in contact with each other, looking for ways to help each other and our businesses out.

Thank You Operation Homefront for all you do for our soldiers and their families! And Thank You, Dale and Karen, for spending time with me on Friday!

Bonnie Miller

SHORT SALES!

December 2nd, 2009

As I am arrranging my current files in my office I realize that 80% of all my current purchases are short sales.. A total of 14 offers to purchase. I have approval, ( verbal- not worth much) on some, some are in the waiting game ( months now) and some at the very beginning of the process. Closing short sale offers can be a very dicey proposition… A short sale is when, as an example the home owner owes 200k on their home and can only sell it for 170k so the homeowner is 30k short of having enough to pay off the existing lien or liens on the property. Here is where the fun begins! A buyer comes along as says fine, I will pay 170k for the home as that is what it is worth now. The seller says great I will take that offer of 170k and we are off an running. The bank or banks that hold the liens on the first and second ( most short sales have a first and second) have to agree on the purchase price and how the amount the sale will be short of covering the existing liens will be handled. ( How much first and second lien holder agree to take in funds or from amount short of full payment of liens). The fact that you get a seller to sign a contract on their home when it is a short sale really doesnt mean much at all, just that they will agree to the price if the bank does. The decision is completely the bank or banks involved as to whether they are OK with the price. Their will be a negotiator from the bank, there will be a BPO (Broker Price Opinion) done by the bank to see whether the price being offered by the new buyer meets their minumum for current market conditions. Now when the bank says OK if they do…then the sellers will be presented options from the bank/ banks on how in this case the roughly 30k short to cover existing liens will be addressed. The bank,banks can forgive the debt, the sellers may have to pay income tax on the 30k as it is income if the bank forgives the debt, could be a lien which would have to be paid back some how. Any number of things can happen in the end game. So after waiting for 1-6 months the deal can be off in a matter of minutes if the seller balks or is not willing to go along with the terms the bank / banks offer. Here is a couple examples that have happened to me in the month of Novemeber. With one buyer we waited for 4 months and got the offer approved with the bank and were going to be able to beat the looming foreclosure that would occur if not closed by a specific date. On this home there was a small first mortgage and a large second mortgage. The bank that owned the first mortgage took out a mortgage insurance policy on the second to protect their interest in the property. So… in the eleventh hour after a verbal approval but before the written approval was issued the bank that held the first withdrew their approval and decided to let the home go into foreclosure. This is a business decision and really can not fault the bank for proceeding this way as now they can get the insurance money and most likely collect more money in the final sale of the property than what my buyer was offering. My second example was a transaction that had one condition left to get the loan documents out to title… the seller decided to file bankruptcy in the 12th hour which terminated all proceedings in the sale of the home. Now it will be up to a judge. I speculate that the terms the bank offered the seller were not possible for the sellers to meet. Probably figured that better to file Bankruptcy and wait a few years and buy again. So in short …. Short Sales are very time consuming and have a lower chance of funding than a bank or seller owned property. Tomorrow I will write about what the Feds are doing to put the pressure on banks to expedite, and standardize the procedure for selling Short Sale Properties.

Michael Frakes

Tax Credits Beyond Home Buyers for 2009 - BE INFORMED!

December 1st, 2009

Do you ever ask yourself, what does it take to get into a home these days? An act of Congress? Well, kind of yes, given the home buyer tax credits we have available to us during this short, temporary time period. I’m certain that you have all heard about the tax credits, but here is a great link that will explain all the tax credits available for 2009 and those that we know so far for 2010. It’s a great resource to have, especially this time of year. Tax season will be here before you know it! Don’t leave any money on the table!

Get the details for the topics below at the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204335,00.html?portlet=6

Information for Individuals

· Making Work Pay Tax Credit.

· First-Time Homebuyer Credit Expands.

· Money Back for New Vehicle Purchases.

· Education benefits.

· Enhanced Credits for Tax Years 2009, 2010.

· Increased Transportation Subsidy.

· Up to $2,400 in Unemployment Benefits Tax Free in 2009.

· $250 for Social Security Recipients, Veterans and Railroad Retirees.

· Health Coverage Tax Credit.

· Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Incentives

Information for Businesses

· Making Work Pay Tax Credit.

· Work Opportunity tax credit.

· COBRA: Health Insurance Continuation Subsidy..

· Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Incentives.

· Net Operating Loss Carryback..

· Municipal Bond Programs.

2008 and 2009 Tax Returns

The law could affect some 2008 tax returns due in 2009. However, most of the changes in ARRA will affect 2009 individual tax returns filed next year and due April 15, 2010.

Bonnie Miller

Article Archive Page 2

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Clark County, Washington VA Home Loan Team - Since 1992 (Veteran Owned And Operated)

We Have Helped

Watch DOGS Dads

Good IS Being Done…..

Welcome to 2010!

Thank You For 2009

Operation Homefront

What is a VA Loan??

Winter Weather Clothing Drive

Mixing Business with Pleasure

SHORT SALES!

Tax Credits Beyond Home Buyers for 2009 - BE INFORMED!

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