We live in an amazing part of history, got up at 4 this morning, drove Marilyn to Oakland airport with no traffic. She flew out to Midway and then home, arrived safely to the cold and other world of the east coast. It was great to have her here for a few days.
Came home and slept for a couple hours, then up to see a property in Brentwood, then tried to see yet another home but could not get through the gate, a second bolt lock at the bottom of the gate was secure, got to be another way in!
Picked up Keanna at 11:50 and she worked on homework until her daddy came at 3 to pick her up. He had been seeing properties in Berkeley, a very challenging and interesting place. I'm so proud of his accomplishments.
Worked in until an evening run to CostCo and some food. At CostCo I took a chance on Strawberries and Blackberries. They are incredibly good, I'll enjoy them a lot over the next few days.
Up and to Rio Vista at 9:30 in the morning to see a place, then on to Lodi to see Bob's home for an appraisal, then to lunch with him afterwards.
Now to bed, fresh sheets tonight, it will be nice.
Love to all,
Tim
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
A short message
Leaving house at 4:15 am with Rhode Island house guest in tow tomorrow morning.
Just finished with the Sacramento appraisal for about the 4th time. Even had to drive back to Sacramento again today to do an interior inspection. I pray that the final edition will take care of the issues raised.
This afternoon Keanna came to visit and then Kallie and eventually we all went to dinner in Brentwood.
Very stressful last night, someone butt dialed me at 4 am this morning and I never went back to sleep afterwards so I'm very tired.
God is good.
Love to all
Tim
Leaving house at 4:15 am with Rhode Island house guest in tow tomorrow morning.
Just finished with the Sacramento appraisal for about the 4th time. Even had to drive back to Sacramento again today to do an interior inspection. I pray that the final edition will take care of the issues raised.
This afternoon Keanna came to visit and then Kallie and eventually we all went to dinner in Brentwood.
Very stressful last night, someone butt dialed me at 4 am this morning and I never went back to sleep afterwards so I'm very tired.
God is good.
Love to all
Tim
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Its getting warm
Have you noticed the weather, feels like summer here in Northern California.
Rolled out and into more complications from an appraisal I completed on a Sacramento purchase before Christmas. Its easy to lose sleep over the trash that can happen on a report. This is over a review by a person located in southern California who does not even have the the MLS board for Sacramento yet she felt comfortable ripping the report apart. Not a pleasant experience.
I inspected a semi custom home located in Antioch this morning. The agent was everything, lovely to look at, super pleasant to work with and very helpful and I think she mentioned she was single, or am I just dreaming that part. Once the appraisal was completed in Antioch I remembered that long ago I was asked to go to a doctors office and pick up the last report from a colonoscopy I had done several years ago. I've put it off or forgot for years. So I stopped, went up to the office and discovered I owed $227 for the 5 minute consult I had with him after the procedure was over, anyway its paid now and I then took the report to Kaiser and entered it into the records department. Since I was out I decided to go to the club and make arrangements for a personal trainer, her name is Andy and she is really friendly. Then since I was close to the place that fixes the bug I stopped and made an appointment for a new fuel filter to be installed on Friday along with the ambient temperature sensor and even the break light repairs. Its only been out for about 5 years. And since I was so close to Ace I stopped and returned a part Ray and I did not need for the motorhome and got one we do need. Then I finally made my way home but stopped at Safeway for a few things.
During the afternoon my phone rang and since I was on another line using Magic Jack I did not get to the cell phone in time. When I picked it up it was totally dead. Nothing I could do would bring it back, so finally I went on line, found a phone number and called AT&T wireless. They had moved but could see me. I expected to have to purchase a new phone but when I walked in a guy took it and in a few second came back with it working. He said it had just failed and needed to be rebooted. He told me how. On an IPHONE you push the power button on the top and at the same time you push the button on the front that lets you move from function to function. All the while the phone has to be plugged into power. It is as good as new now. I was so thankful for the good news. I did learn that because my phone is so perfect in appearance they will give me about $135 for a trade in so moving to a new IPHONE 5 won't be that much money. Good news to know.
So then it was back home to work and I've been cranking on a tough duplex report for Berkeley every since. I just shipped it out and I hope that solves it for awhile.
So now its bed time for bonzo.
By this time I'm pretty tired and I so enjoy climbing into the little nest on my sleep by number mattress. Alone for now but not forever.
Love to all,
Tim
Rolled out and into more complications from an appraisal I completed on a Sacramento purchase before Christmas. Its easy to lose sleep over the trash that can happen on a report. This is over a review by a person located in southern California who does not even have the the MLS board for Sacramento yet she felt comfortable ripping the report apart. Not a pleasant experience.
I inspected a semi custom home located in Antioch this morning. The agent was everything, lovely to look at, super pleasant to work with and very helpful and I think she mentioned she was single, or am I just dreaming that part. Once the appraisal was completed in Antioch I remembered that long ago I was asked to go to a doctors office and pick up the last report from a colonoscopy I had done several years ago. I've put it off or forgot for years. So I stopped, went up to the office and discovered I owed $227 for the 5 minute consult I had with him after the procedure was over, anyway its paid now and I then took the report to Kaiser and entered it into the records department. Since I was out I decided to go to the club and make arrangements for a personal trainer, her name is Andy and she is really friendly. Then since I was close to the place that fixes the bug I stopped and made an appointment for a new fuel filter to be installed on Friday along with the ambient temperature sensor and even the break light repairs. Its only been out for about 5 years. And since I was so close to Ace I stopped and returned a part Ray and I did not need for the motorhome and got one we do need. Then I finally made my way home but stopped at Safeway for a few things.
During the afternoon my phone rang and since I was on another line using Magic Jack I did not get to the cell phone in time. When I picked it up it was totally dead. Nothing I could do would bring it back, so finally I went on line, found a phone number and called AT&T wireless. They had moved but could see me. I expected to have to purchase a new phone but when I walked in a guy took it and in a few second came back with it working. He said it had just failed and needed to be rebooted. He told me how. On an IPHONE you push the power button on the top and at the same time you push the button on the front that lets you move from function to function. All the while the phone has to be plugged into power. It is as good as new now. I was so thankful for the good news. I did learn that because my phone is so perfect in appearance they will give me about $135 for a trade in so moving to a new IPHONE 5 won't be that much money. Good news to know.
So then it was back home to work and I've been cranking on a tough duplex report for Berkeley every since. I just shipped it out and I hope that solves it for awhile.
So now its bed time for bonzo.
By this time I'm pretty tired and I so enjoy climbing into the little nest on my sleep by number mattress. Alone for now but not forever.
Love to all,
Tim
Monday, March 11, 2013
Challenging day
Good evening
While Jason is going to Law school I'm being deposed for an appraisal I did in 2003 if you can believe it. Its so long ago that the file has been shredded but we still have the electronic records, thank good ness.
So this afternoon I arrived in Walnut Creek, found parking and was in place at 12:35. The lawyer came and spoke to me and I waited. We went into the room and waited some more. The other sides lawyer thought it was 1:30, right! so came in late, then I was exposed to questioning from both lawyers and I didn't get to leave until about 2:45. What an experience, fortunately I know more about appraising than anyone in the room but still the questions come this way and that trying to trip one up. I think I did OK. Shocking was the fact that they used my day and only paid me mileage, $77 for the day, that was a bummer. Not only that it looks like its going to trial so I'll probably have to testify again but at least that time I'll be paid better.
When I arrived back at the office Jessy had things ready for me, I received an email from New York letting me know that the Sacramento appraisal I had finished had been shredded by a reviewer from San Diego who does not even have access to the local MLS board.
It was a real blow and one I'll have to deal with tomorrow. Will that one ever end?
The girls came this evening for awhile and played, then Marilyn prepared a wonderful meal and then I headed back to work some more.
Now its time to go to bed. Yes!
Love to all,
Tim
While Jason is going to Law school I'm being deposed for an appraisal I did in 2003 if you can believe it. Its so long ago that the file has been shredded but we still have the electronic records, thank good ness.
So this afternoon I arrived in Walnut Creek, found parking and was in place at 12:35. The lawyer came and spoke to me and I waited. We went into the room and waited some more. The other sides lawyer thought it was 1:30, right! so came in late, then I was exposed to questioning from both lawyers and I didn't get to leave until about 2:45. What an experience, fortunately I know more about appraising than anyone in the room but still the questions come this way and that trying to trip one up. I think I did OK. Shocking was the fact that they used my day and only paid me mileage, $77 for the day, that was a bummer. Not only that it looks like its going to trial so I'll probably have to testify again but at least that time I'll be paid better.
When I arrived back at the office Jessy had things ready for me, I received an email from New York letting me know that the Sacramento appraisal I had finished had been shredded by a reviewer from San Diego who does not even have access to the local MLS board.
It was a real blow and one I'll have to deal with tomorrow. Will that one ever end?
The girls came this evening for awhile and played, then Marilyn prepared a wonderful meal and then I headed back to work some more.
Now its time to go to bed. Yes!
Love to all,
Tim
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Gentle day
Good evening family and friends,
With the time change I did not rise until after 9 this morning. I took a rare day off from pushing paper. Instead I cleaned up my office including vacuuming the floors, wading through piles of paper that had collected, cleaning the Heap Filter on the vacuum, hammering on the web site for PNC bank until I finally broke through and found the right path to making the monthly payment on the second loan on my house on line. I had a very funny moment. After waiting for many minutes I finally was connected to someone, when I mentioned I wanted help with paying my second, she responded, what does that mean? I said, well like there is a first and second loan on my property, she said, I'm not familar with those terms, I was quiet for a minute and then said slowly, you work for PNC bank and don't know what the terms first and second! She replied, she worked for the bank end, not the mortgage end so had not been exposed to such terms. Once I was transfered to the mortgage department the lady I spoke with could not believe what I was telling her when I relayed what had just happened. Once she stopped laughing we proceeded. Of course by then I had gotten the web site to allow me in and with a little bit of help from her I can not click on an icon on the computer, put in one password, my account spreads out before me and I can pay instantly. I was so relieved to finally make the connection.
Ray and Lois came by and we tried to make the ipod work with the new radio in the bug and finally did have it working, it is very complicated but will be simple once I learn how. Then wanting to avoid doing appraisal work with Rays help I pulled the motorhome out of storage and we worked on repairing the door, creating a new place to store the dump hose and worked on the dump hoses that reach from the motorhome when it is in the driveway to the cleanout up by the front of the house. That lets me dump at home instead of trying to locate a dump station somewhere which is never fun.
Ray and I decided to take it out for a spin and we were hardly started when wasps came buzzing around Ray's head. How they got into the motorhome I have no idea but using the fly swatter we helped them die. There may be more so I'll have to keep an eye out. The motorhome drove so nicely into town to Ace where we purchased more parts for the dump hoses, came home and assembled them. Then when all the fun was over we parked the motorhome back into is storage place and I headed back in to work. We had gone through the freezer in the garage, a freezer that Dr. Glover helped us buy many years ago with a gift for our house warming when we moved to a little house we had built in Tracy. That freezer has been faithfully working for these last 25 years but I rarely open the door. This afternoon Ray and I checked out what was inside. We found some stuff that was obviously freezer burned and threw it out but other items looked like they might be OK.
Later I pulled back the corner on a box of noodles and sauce and put it in the microwave oven. At 3 minutes it smelled great, at 4 minutes not so good and at 5 minutes black smoke was pillowing out of the microwave oven. I turned it off and the box of food was burned black, not sure what happened but it was no good. So I searched for another box and that one had potatoes and veges with sauce and it was great tasting. I warmed up green beens to go with it and then cut up some beef stake tomato slices. It was a great meal and I ate it on the back deck in the warm afternoon.
Marilyn returned from her visit to Diane in Sacramento and we caught up on our stories, for me the wedding and our fixing things, for her doing taxes, going to the casino and visiting. Now she is reading and I just finished an appraisal. My first of the whole day, such a bad bad boy!
I'm including a photo taken this evening looking across the lake to the sunset. What a huge blessing it is to live here, listen every morning to the geese and ducks, watch the little birds in the trees, feel the breezes that blow off the lake. I am indeed thankful. I remain hopeful that someday I can share these blessings with someone special. God knows, I don't.
Sending love to all,
Tim
With the time change I did not rise until after 9 this morning. I took a rare day off from pushing paper. Instead I cleaned up my office including vacuuming the floors, wading through piles of paper that had collected, cleaning the Heap Filter on the vacuum, hammering on the web site for PNC bank until I finally broke through and found the right path to making the monthly payment on the second loan on my house on line. I had a very funny moment. After waiting for many minutes I finally was connected to someone, when I mentioned I wanted help with paying my second, she responded, what does that mean? I said, well like there is a first and second loan on my property, she said, I'm not familar with those terms, I was quiet for a minute and then said slowly, you work for PNC bank and don't know what the terms first and second! She replied, she worked for the bank end, not the mortgage end so had not been exposed to such terms. Once I was transfered to the mortgage department the lady I spoke with could not believe what I was telling her when I relayed what had just happened. Once she stopped laughing we proceeded. Of course by then I had gotten the web site to allow me in and with a little bit of help from her I can not click on an icon on the computer, put in one password, my account spreads out before me and I can pay instantly. I was so relieved to finally make the connection.
Ray and Lois came by and we tried to make the ipod work with the new radio in the bug and finally did have it working, it is very complicated but will be simple once I learn how. Then wanting to avoid doing appraisal work with Rays help I pulled the motorhome out of storage and we worked on repairing the door, creating a new place to store the dump hose and worked on the dump hoses that reach from the motorhome when it is in the driveway to the cleanout up by the front of the house. That lets me dump at home instead of trying to locate a dump station somewhere which is never fun.
Ray and I decided to take it out for a spin and we were hardly started when wasps came buzzing around Ray's head. How they got into the motorhome I have no idea but using the fly swatter we helped them die. There may be more so I'll have to keep an eye out. The motorhome drove so nicely into town to Ace where we purchased more parts for the dump hoses, came home and assembled them. Then when all the fun was over we parked the motorhome back into is storage place and I headed back in to work. We had gone through the freezer in the garage, a freezer that Dr. Glover helped us buy many years ago with a gift for our house warming when we moved to a little house we had built in Tracy. That freezer has been faithfully working for these last 25 years but I rarely open the door. This afternoon Ray and I checked out what was inside. We found some stuff that was obviously freezer burned and threw it out but other items looked like they might be OK.
Later I pulled back the corner on a box of noodles and sauce and put it in the microwave oven. At 3 minutes it smelled great, at 4 minutes not so good and at 5 minutes black smoke was pillowing out of the microwave oven. I turned it off and the box of food was burned black, not sure what happened but it was no good. So I searched for another box and that one had potatoes and veges with sauce and it was great tasting. I warmed up green beens to go with it and then cut up some beef stake tomato slices. It was a great meal and I ate it on the back deck in the warm afternoon.
Marilyn returned from her visit to Diane in Sacramento and we caught up on our stories, for me the wedding and our fixing things, for her doing taxes, going to the casino and visiting. Now she is reading and I just finished an appraisal. My first of the whole day, such a bad bad boy!
I'm including a photo taken this evening looking across the lake to the sunset. What a huge blessing it is to live here, listen every morning to the geese and ducks, watch the little birds in the trees, feel the breezes that blow off the lake. I am indeed thankful. I remain hopeful that someday I can share these blessings with someone special. God knows, I don't.
Sending love to all,
Tim
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Lizzie Miller gets married
Good evening
I'm just back from a ride through the back country. I spent a very enjoyable evening helping Lizzie celebrate her wedding. It was held at the Grand Island Mansion in Walnut Grove. Funny thing is my GPS decided that I needed to go all the way up to Twin Cities road to get there so I was a bit late. Most of the people who relied on a paper map or google did much better. It was a beautiful wedding under the setting sun and many of our life long friends were there to celebrate. The Mansion is really quite spectacular and well maintained. There was a ball room on the lower level and thats where everyone was when I left. Jason and family came and seeing the little kids on the dance floor was great, Timothy and Mia just had a blast.
The food was great and of course everyone was dressed to look their best.
I started the day by taking the girls to Sabbath School. That was an adventure and then we drove to Brentwood where we met up with Steve and Kallie tried out for the swim team. She passed, got her cookie and then we went to McDonalds where they played and played and did some eating as well. Eventually I left them with their father and I drove home. Took a brief nap in my work chair and then dressed for the wedding.
Its nice to leave work totally behind sometimes and Sabbath provides that opportunity.
Sending love to all,
Tim
I'm just back from a ride through the back country. I spent a very enjoyable evening helping Lizzie celebrate her wedding. It was held at the Grand Island Mansion in Walnut Grove. Funny thing is my GPS decided that I needed to go all the way up to Twin Cities road to get there so I was a bit late. Most of the people who relied on a paper map or google did much better. It was a beautiful wedding under the setting sun and many of our life long friends were there to celebrate. The Mansion is really quite spectacular and well maintained. There was a ball room on the lower level and thats where everyone was when I left. Jason and family came and seeing the little kids on the dance floor was great, Timothy and Mia just had a blast.
The food was great and of course everyone was dressed to look their best.
I started the day by taking the girls to Sabbath School. That was an adventure and then we drove to Brentwood where we met up with Steve and Kallie tried out for the swim team. She passed, got her cookie and then we went to McDonalds where they played and played and did some eating as well. Eventually I left them with their father and I drove home. Took a brief nap in my work chair and then dressed for the wedding.
Its nice to leave work totally behind sometimes and Sabbath provides that opportunity.
Sending love to all,
Friday, March 8, 2013
Safely through another week
Dear Family and Friends,
What a week this has been, some high points and some lower ones as the challenges of operating a small business in today's world present themselves.
When I've inspected a property, shot the comps photos and brought the file back to the office its next stop is Jessy's desk. She lays out all the different sources of data and begins to enter the information in the report. She does not make any judgements, just puts the details on paper but there are hundreds of details and she knows how to do most of them by now.
Once Jessy is through and places the file on my desk and logs the appraisal report onto the server the rest is up to me. Once I can get to it I spread out the pages of data once again and begin putting the finishing touches, make specific comments, render judgements about various differences and similarities between the subject property and the comparable sales.
I put the photos into the report, about 20 photos for the subject property and the photos of the comparables that were shot as I drove about. Then I ask the program to create a map showing the subject with a red flag and the comparables with green flags, I rearrange the flags to represent their relationship and then save the map, then I find the subject red flag which is pointing at the subject's property location on the map, click another button and the map become a picture taken from space, an actual picture which I then zoom to a larger more specific map showing the subject with its yard, pool, patio etc. I memorize that second page into the report as well.
The program automatically prints the distance from each comparable to the subject property in this manner .76 mi SW. At this point I click on a check mark and the computer begins to check everything in the report to make sure it conforms and is correct. There are usually a few needed corrections, sometimes several and one by one they need to be considered and corrected.
Once this is completed than I look over everything and write a summary of how I arrived at the value estimate I did. At this point I print a file copy on my trusty little printer and ask the computer program to create a PDF file of the final report and also something called the XML file. The XML file can be read by computers at FANNIE MAE or FREDDIE MAC automatically and without it the loan is denied. Everything is getting much more tight now, some of it is good, some of it is typical overkill and will eventually be relaxed to a workable level. For now its very tough to get a file accepted as is, they almost always want something to be changed. Steve does the best at getting his files accepted, he tried very hard to meet every ones expectations. He is pretty amazing.
At this point I click on one of the icons on my desktop and put in the password for that management company, then I follow its instructions and upload the PDF or XML or both to their web site. After that the next thing coming back is the check for the work, in 2 weeks for the good companies and up to 6 weeks for the jerks.
So that is a bit of what I do over and over again. This afternoon Jessy asked if she could go on an appraisal assignment in nearby Clayton. She did the sketch today as I measured the home so learned more about the whole process. The property was supposed to be 1300 sf, that's what public record said but when we got there we found the owner had remodeled turning the house into 1800 sf and adding 2 bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The home was beautiful, a big pool glistened in the back yard and there was a pool house, a sport court and an RV parking pad. It was a great house and the owner was the nicest guy one could hope to meet.
After coming back to the office on Marsh creek Road, a beautiful country lane, Jessy headed home and I headed to Tracy to see another nice home. I had a lock box code, the place was empty and the inspection went fast.
What a nice feeling it is to head home after a busy week.
So saying I send love to all,
Tim
What a week this has been, some high points and some lower ones as the challenges of operating a small business in today's world present themselves.
When I've inspected a property, shot the comps photos and brought the file back to the office its next stop is Jessy's desk. She lays out all the different sources of data and begins to enter the information in the report. She does not make any judgements, just puts the details on paper but there are hundreds of details and she knows how to do most of them by now.
Once Jessy is through and places the file on my desk and logs the appraisal report onto the server the rest is up to me. Once I can get to it I spread out the pages of data once again and begin putting the finishing touches, make specific comments, render judgements about various differences and similarities between the subject property and the comparable sales.
I put the photos into the report, about 20 photos for the subject property and the photos of the comparables that were shot as I drove about. Then I ask the program to create a map showing the subject with a red flag and the comparables with green flags, I rearrange the flags to represent their relationship and then save the map, then I find the subject red flag which is pointing at the subject's property location on the map, click another button and the map become a picture taken from space, an actual picture which I then zoom to a larger more specific map showing the subject with its yard, pool, patio etc. I memorize that second page into the report as well.
The program automatically prints the distance from each comparable to the subject property in this manner .76 mi SW. At this point I click on a check mark and the computer begins to check everything in the report to make sure it conforms and is correct. There are usually a few needed corrections, sometimes several and one by one they need to be considered and corrected.
Once this is completed than I look over everything and write a summary of how I arrived at the value estimate I did. At this point I print a file copy on my trusty little printer and ask the computer program to create a PDF file of the final report and also something called the XML file. The XML file can be read by computers at FANNIE MAE or FREDDIE MAC automatically and without it the loan is denied. Everything is getting much more tight now, some of it is good, some of it is typical overkill and will eventually be relaxed to a workable level. For now its very tough to get a file accepted as is, they almost always want something to be changed. Steve does the best at getting his files accepted, he tried very hard to meet every ones expectations. He is pretty amazing.
At this point I click on one of the icons on my desktop and put in the password for that management company, then I follow its instructions and upload the PDF or XML or both to their web site. After that the next thing coming back is the check for the work, in 2 weeks for the good companies and up to 6 weeks for the jerks.
So that is a bit of what I do over and over again. This afternoon Jessy asked if she could go on an appraisal assignment in nearby Clayton. She did the sketch today as I measured the home so learned more about the whole process. The property was supposed to be 1300 sf, that's what public record said but when we got there we found the owner had remodeled turning the house into 1800 sf and adding 2 bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The home was beautiful, a big pool glistened in the back yard and there was a pool house, a sport court and an RV parking pad. It was a great house and the owner was the nicest guy one could hope to meet.
After coming back to the office on Marsh creek Road, a beautiful country lane, Jessy headed home and I headed to Tracy to see another nice home. I had a lock box code, the place was empty and the inspection went fast.
What a nice feeling it is to head home after a busy week.
So saying I send love to all,
Tim
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