Tucson By Choice!

Free Starbucks today?  You bet!  Not the coffee.  A scone, a muffin or a pastry! Print and bring this invitation to your local Starbucks before 10:30 a.m. to get yours!  First come, first serve, until they run out of goodies to eat.

Starbucks has been on the ropes a little in this past year, and they want to see your smiling face at their retail place. 

I don't know if this will do the trick, but as long as they are offering free Starbucks today, I thought you (especially you) would like to know!  Fire up the old printer!

Free Starbucks today! 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?!

 ___________________

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

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

That's my first car, a '64 Ford Galaxie 500 XL.  The engine, a 352 with a 4-barrel carburetor, was a joy to the senses. Gas was $0.25 per gallon in Camden, SC.  That was November 1969.  I was 21.  So was a young man whose dad owned a car dealership in Liverpool, England.  His name is Lewis Booth.

Lewis didn't know it then, but Ford Motor Company was his future. Last November, as Lewis Booth turned 60, Ford Motor Co. tapped him as Chief Financial Officer.

As Booth looked over the financial landscape to plan Ford Motor Co.'s future path, he made a critical decision.  Ford Motor Co. would not take Federal bailout money.  Instead, it would conserve cash and plan to survive the recession.

Restructuring the company's debt, Booth is retiring more than $10 billion and selling off Ford's luxury Volvo line. (That's sort of like refinancing your home from a 15 year note to a 30 year note to lower the payment and selling those antiques you inherited from Grandma on Craigslist.)

In short, he's doing what millions of homeowners are doing with their own personal finances.  He's keeping current on the monthly mortgage payment, conserving cash, and looking to improve the situation with the tools available to him.  Lewis Booth, whose dad was a car dealer in England, believes that the future for Ford Motor Co. is brighter and more viable without government "help."

While a chorus of analysts are predicting that the company can't survive without bailout money and the handcuffs that come with it, Booth has no interest submitting the company's reins to a federal bureaucracy.  A Bloomberg article quotes him as saying “What we’re doing is improving our business such that we don’t need that help. That’s what drives us.”

I know a lot of homeowners who (like me) feel the same way and wish him Godspeed. 

Action item:  Buy a Ford vehicle!

-----

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

Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert.

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

The event was "An Evening at the Pops," sponsored by Long Realty in Tucson.  The hillside amphitheatre can accommodate 10,000 listeners, and it's been a favorite way to spend Sunday evening for a very long time.

People get there early to claim the best locations.  We bring food and wine, chairs and blankets, and enjoy a sort of highbrow version of a tailgate party while the orchestra tunes up.

The fellow in the Hawaiian shirt was there first with his blanket, and usually has no competition for the space in front of him, since the sound system blocks the view as you get closer. 

No one uses that little bit of real estate immediately behind the sound system guys. 

Until now...

The ladies brought chairs.  A competitive advantage.  And the real estate was available.  Our friend was clearly annoyed, but to no avail. 

He had been outmaneuvered.  The view had changed.

.............

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

Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert. 
(520) 349-9090

If you found this post by accident, click on the profile link below and give me a call.  I don't believe in coincidence.  

Subscribe to my blog!

Tucson REALTOR Ted Adamczyk and I drove from Tucson to Scottsdale last Saturday to attend a Treat 'Em Right Seminar with five hundred other "senders of cards" from as far away as Hawaii.  (I use Send Out Cards as my primary database and contact manager.)

Mapquest usually does a good job with directions, and I had printed them out.  Somehow we lost focus, and knew we were lost.

But wait!  There's help just up the road.  If anyone knows how to get back on track, it's a police officer.

That's my Element in the background.  As I approached the police cruiser, something wasn't right.  Fixated on something that I couldn't see, the officer seemed to ignore my approach.  It didn't help that the early morning sun was in my eyes, and I was having a hard time seeing clearly. 

When I got to within ten feet or so, I realized that this happy guy wasn't going to give me the time of day!  LOL

We backtracked and found our way to the Scottsdale Hilton Resort in time to get seats on the second row.

See?  This is why I always carry my camera!

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

Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert. 

Subscribe to my blog!

The problem with big wrecks, apart from the very real consequences for the immediate participants, is that everyone else stops what they're doing to gawk.  They stop thinking about the task at hand.

This spectacular accident happened in Alberta, Canada when the driver of the semi took his eyes off the road to reach for a demanding cellphone. 

Little actions can have huge unintended consequences for the participants, and if everyone else rubbernecks, traffic can back up for miles.  Commerce grinds to a halt.

This morning, that's what's happening in Washington.  Washington Mutual failed last night.  The administration didn't come away from meetings with Congress and the Federal Reserve with a consensus plan for the $700 billion dollar credit bailout. 

None of it matters--not to you or to me.  That's right.  IT DOESN'T MATTER! 

Oh, it will matter in the long run.  But my business requires my total attention today.  This morning.  While we keep our eyes glued to the networks, the business of selling and financing real estate slows down and comes to a halt.  That's only going to happen if we let it happen.

So here's what I'm going to do when I open the office at 8:30 this morning.

1. Refresh.  I'm going to thank God that I'm in the business I'm in right now.  There are one million people in greater Tucson, and a lot of them need (and will happily pay for) my expertise.
2. Refocus.  In spite of wars, pestilence and famine somewhere else on the planet, my office will run the same way it has always run.  It's quiet.  My surroundings are conducive to business.  I'm going to spend two hours on my lead tracker.  I'm going to follow up with the realtors who referred me business yesterday.  I'll update them and thank them.  I'll email Title and ask for prelims.

In short,  I won't take my eyes off the goal.  The rest of the world can stop and stare at events beyond their control.  I refuse to do so.  My family is depending on me to do my job.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Kudos to Chris Drayer, Active Rain member from Shawnee, Kansas, who wrote a post about this video clip.  AR's Mike Jaquish in Cary, North Carolina (I subscribe to Mike's blog) mentioned it in a post, and has been sending it to everyone he knows.  That's how I found it.

There's a deep seated need in the human heart to be liked and appreciated for who we are, not for what we do.  I want my customers to like me.  It's not the goal, though. 

My customers hire me to do a job for THEM.  If (and only if) I do that job in such a way that the customer achieves the goal he or she set for themselves, they'll LOVE me!  That's the goal.  It's not about me. 

It's about the person who hired me.

In a "feel-good" business world, this may not feel so good.  But it's true, and that's the real estate opinion of this Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender,

Mike in Tucson

6907 E Princeton Dr, Tucson, AZ 85710          $199,000.

Musicians at Melissa's level are rare.

So are Tucson properties like this home at this price.

3 bedrooms, 2 baths

Brand new, gleaming wood laminate floors.

2 bonus rooms.  Music room, studio, home office?

Remodeled kitchen and baths.

Detached, cooled, finished garage.  The perfect workshop.  $199,000.                                       MLS #20728424

Separate family room with...  Well, see for yourself. 

1760 square feet, $199,000

Paved street, 80' x 105' lot

Brick construction

Established neighborhood

Mature palm trees

Citrus trees in the back yard

Walking distance to city park w/pool

MLS #20728424

Edit: Sold! There's More To This Story

Contact Kay Wroldsen
Long Realty Company
5683 North Swan Road
Tucson, AZ 85718
520-918-2424