Tucson By Choice!

There's a magical combination of light and texture in the clouds at sunset during Tucson's monsoon season.

The rains have been spotty this summer, leading some to call this our Nonsoon Season.  But all good things come to he who waits, and last night as I drove over Gates Pass on my way home, I could see that I needed to find a place to pull over and pick up the camera.

I took this photo at about 7:20 p.m. on Kinney Road, just north of the intersection with Gates Pass Road. That's the location of Old Tucson Studios, for you movie buffs.  I pass it most nights on my way home.

The westerly sky was already fading as I parked the old Ford Explorer at one of the pull-outs on this scenic road.  (No cash-for-clunkers for me.  Mine's paid for.)  Looking south, though, this was my view. 

That flat horizon could almost be an ocean, couldn't it?  It's deceiving.  There are rolling hills and mountains to the right and to the left of my vantage point.

Okay.  It's almost 4:45 a.m., and I want to get this on the blog before I go walk.  I promised Bill Archambault in Houston that I would.  Morning, Bill!

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage.
(520) 349-9090

 photo copyright Mike in Tucson

For two years now, I've turned to my friends on The Active Rain Real Estate Network for help, and I've never been disappointed.

You read my post on 7/11, Unemployed At 60 (But Not In The Least Discouraged).  You rallied around me with the most encouraging comments, phone calls and emails, and I'm so very grateful for all of you.

If that had to happen, the timing couldn't have been better.  I had just renegotiated my lease (on this beautiful office suite to your right) downward by 23%, and the landlord and leasing company couldn't have been more helpful.

Now that I'm miles away at SUNSTREET MORTGAGE, I need a creditworthy tenant to sublease this 3 office suite.

The unit is available for $950. per month. 

• 3 private offices
• comfortable reception area
• work area
• kitchenette
• covered parking space available for under $30. per month extra

Please email a link to this post to anyone you know who's looking for beautiful, professional office space in greater Tucson.

Here's a link to the Craigslist post with all the details.

THANKS!

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage.
(520) 349-9090

For immediate lease:  $950. per month ~ 710 sf +/-  (curved wall)

See yourself in this beautiful, affordable office space in Tucson, AZ.  A private, professional 3 office suite, this unit is centrally located at 3131 N Country Club, Tucson, AZ 85716.

This private, professional single story 3 office suite has been the business location for Mike in Tucson since May of 2007, shortly before I became a member of The Active Rain Real Estate Network.

When I leased the space from the previous owner of the complex, I had looked at more than 30 different spaces over a three month period. 

None had  combination of location, layout and ambiance provided by this professional office garden plaza setting, with its palm trees, eucaplyptus and olive trees. 

Now that I've moved to SUNSTREET Mortgage, LLC, at Sunrise & Campbell, it's available for you.

For more information on this beautiful, affordable office space in Tucson, AZ, please see the ad on Craigslist Tucson.

Contact me at (520) 349-9090.

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage.
(520) 349-9090

In the cartoons on Saturday morning, it's the Coyote who chases the Roadrunner, but ends up hungry.  "Meep! Meep!"  In the desert southwest that's my back yard, I often see both the coyote and the roadrunner within yards of each other, both intent on a meal, but neither hunting the other.

The roadrunner, in its hunt for prey, will often "put up" a rabbit in which it has no interest.  The coyote has learned this, and uses that knowledge to his benefit. 

Aren't you glad you don't subsist on snakes, lizards, scorpions and spiders?  No matter what "lizard" you're hunting for this weekend, I wish you success!

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage.
(520) 349-9090

 photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Commercial Real Estate Lender

Justin Martinez isn't your ordinary banker.  Sure, he shows up in a suit and tie at the National Bank of Arizona, but that's his vocation.  He's good at what he does for a living, but it's only one of Justin's passions in life.

Musician

The Justin Martinez you see on the left is a Rock & Roll musician performing here in Tucson, AZ.  He's the Jimmy Page of his generation!  (Okay, he doesn't have the hair...  LOL)

You meet the most interesting people on the Active Rain Real Estate Network! 

Please click the link to visit Justin's first post in the Rain.  Make him WELCOME!

___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage;
(520) 349-9090

There's a word for numbers that look like this - they start out one way, reverse in the middle and end up the same way they started.

Words can do that too:  the name "Otto" for instance.

I just can't remember what it's called.  "File guy" has a lot more searching to do in the old brain at 60 than he did thirty years ago.

What's that word?

Video Biz, a class on "how to maximize the use of videos in your business," is taught by Len Elder and Theresa Barnebei, national speakers and owners of a Tucson-based business called Course Creators.

Len Elder and Theresa Barnebei will be speakers at the upcoming NAR convention in San Diego.  If you're going to be there, don't miss these two.

Video for business

While many of you jumped right in with Flip Video last year, I was not an "early adopter" of the technology. I was intimidated by it.

That changed on Thursday of this past week.  I signed up for Course Creator's Video Biz seminar, knowing full well that the curve for learning about using video in my business had passed me by.  I knew I'd have to huff and puff a little to catch up with the rest of you.

In a room filled with REALTORs, I was the only lender.  I was encouraged, however, to see that I was not the old man of the group! If my count is right, there were 15 attendees.  The seminar accomplished much more than I expected.

I've always believed that my fingers have to do the walking if my brain is going to remember what I just heard.  Course Creators subscribes to that belief.  Elder & Barnabei produced a "hands on" class, and by the end of the day, all 15 or so students, ranging in age from twenty-something to seventy, had...

• chosen a topic
• written a storyboard,
  
• shot and edited video,
  
• inserted video clips, 
• created transitions,
• inserted still photographs to fill out the story,
  
• created and inserted charts and graphs,
  
• dubbed voice-over commentary,
  
• added music in the background, and
  
• produced a finished product. 
  

We even learned how to upload the movie to YouTube!  All for $99.

Theresa Barnebei has a passion for three things in her classes.  She tells her seminar students:

I want you to get it.

I want you to use it.

I want you to become more successful because of it.

I collected all three brass rings!  The Video Biz seminar was a huge success for me.  Len Elder and Theresa Barnabei have given me an effective new business tool. 

As a result, I'm looking forward to my next seminar with Course Creators.

You'll be seeing the results in future posts to my Active Rain blog and my two outside blogs.  Stay tuned!

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage;
(520) 349-9090

 photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Tucson Mountain Park's entrance is only a mile or so from the community of Tucson Mountain Sanctuary. 

I'm up and out at five thirty in the morning, and dawn's breaking in the east.  In the western sky, the full moon is setting over this canyon wall.  The coolness of the desert night is still with us, especially down on the canyon floor, and the sandy wash where I'm walking is easy on the feet. 

By noon, the summer temperature will have soared to 103 degrees, but at 5:30 a.m. this might as well be another world -- a magical world for Tucsonans who, like me, are early risers.

Tucson Mountain Park is one of those very special places on the planet.  Make plans to come visit.  Who knows?  You just might make Tucson Mountain Sanctuary your second home.

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage;
(520) 349-9090

 photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Please click the link to go visit Arizona's newest Rainmaker, Lynette Bruster.  Leave a comment on her blog, and MAKE HER WELCOME!

Earlier today...

"Lynette," I asked, "may I show you what makes the Active Rain Real Estate Network such an awesome business tool?" 

"Look at this."  I launched a Google page, and typed in the search term "loan officer."

"You drive," I said, turning the keyboard over to Lynette, a REALTOR at Long Realty here in Tucson.  "Type in two more words in that search term so that it reads "loan officer in tucson."

The results narrowed down to 122,000.  The Google page displayed the first ten results.  "Please notice that numbers 1 and 2 out of 122,000 are Active Rain "Rainmakers,"  I said. 
"That's the power of being a 'Rainmaker!"

"Are you ready to upgrade from Active Rain member to Rainmaker?"  "You bet!" was her response. 

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage;
(520) 349-9090

Where do you turn for pest control in Tucson, AZ?  Truly Nolen (that's actually the man's name; truly it is) has one of the best known brands in town.  The company has nothing on this fellow, though.

The Great Horned Owl frequents both urban and rural properties in Arizona, snoozing by day, and hunting from a high perch at night.  You'll see them atop telephone poles, sitting on rooftops or perched in Eucalyptus trees in town. 

Rodents - pack rats here in the desert - make up most of the menu for these magnificent night predators in Arizona. 

One owl regularly sits on the finial that tops the flagpole in my front yard, twenty feet off the ground.  He (or she--they look alike) calls "Whoo! Whoo Whoo!"  Out of the night sky comes the return call of another owl, perhaps its mate.

The Great Horned Owl has the distinction of being the only animal that regularly eats skunks.  They also kill and eat other owls, such as this barn owl on the right.

If you're looking for pest control in Tucson, AZ, you might just want to sit outside on a summer night and listen. 

Somewhere on your street, the Great Horned Owl is doing the job for free!

 ___________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE
Call me if I can help you or someone you know with a purchase or refi mortgage;
(520) 349-9090

 photos copyright Mike in Tucson

EDIT: 

We went to the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum last night and watched a live presentation on raptors of the Arizona Desert.  The owl was sitting on the Docent's leather-gloved hand, and (as always) I happened to have my camera.