The mortgage market has really taken a tumble over the last couple of years. The subprime market is what is being blamed for the downturn in the mortgage market as well as what has turned into the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. That doesn't mean that all mortgage originators, subprime borrowers or banks are to blame. There are just a few bad apples in the bunch. Mortgage originators have been forced to scale back on their underwriting guidelines which has slowed their business. Home values have also depreciated which wiped out a lot of equity for potential refinances.

           Mailing leads are very important for mortgage companies in order to solicit potential customers. There are a lot less potential customers to reach than in past years. It's very important to have a good mortgage mailing list to reach the customers most likely to use your company for a mortgage when refinancing a current loan or purchasing a new house. My husband's friend, who is a mortgage broker, said the most valuable asset is his marketing list from www.heritagelists.com.

          My husband just returned from a conference in New York. While he was there he met with several potential clients to give them a presentation of the new services being offered by his company. The presentation was very large and he didn't want to print out copies for everyone and try to take them on the plane. He couldn't burn it onto CD either because there wasn't enough space for the entire thing. Instead, he used a customized flash drive he ordered when he was looking for custom USB drives to use as promotions during the conference. His customized drive has his company's logo on it. It has 2 gigabytes of memory so it had no problem holding his presentation. He decided to burn the presentation onto 20 USB drives with his company's logo. Whenever a potential client asked for a copy of the presentation he would hand them the flash drive with the logo. My husband said they all seemed so impressed. Everyone else was handing out hard copies.

          My husband has to travel again next week for a mediation hearing. He has so much documentation he needs to take and was worried he would have a suitcase full of it. When he was looking for custom USB flash drives he had that in mind so he ordered a couple extra and had all the imaged documents saved onto another flash drive. This way he'll just be able to plug it into the computer and have all the documents he needs to feel confident about his testimony.

          My niece started her tourist visa application process.  I am not sure how long it will take for her to get an appointment for her interview at the US embassy.  I hope she will get a visa.  I am not sure if the embassy will give her a visa because she is still young and single.  She is 21 years old.  She is really excited knowing that we want her to come visit us.  

          My sister from Germany is going to visit my mom this August which is the reason my mom will not visit us this year.  

          My husband, Von and I will hopefully go home to the Philippines next year so my family will be able to see Von!  We’ll see!  It depends on whether or not we have the money and time to vacation in the Philippines.

          I am happy that my baby likes to sleep in his crib now.  He was having a hard time sleeping in his crib the first night, he was being cranky.  I wasn’t able to sleep that night either!  He got tired after few hours of being fussy and cranky and he finally fell asleep.  He managed to sleep for 6 hours, maybe because he was really tired!  The next night, I put him in his crib again and whaaaalahhhh!!!  He fell asleep after a few minutes and slept for 9 hours.  I had to wake him up.  I was worried because he didn’t cry for milk for that long!?  After I fed him I went back to our bed and left him in his crib.  I heard him cooing for a little bit and then all of a sudden, he was so silent. I got up and checked on him and oh boy, he was sleeping again!  Heheehh… Thank goodness!  It wasn’t that hard for him to learn to sleep in his own room.  It’s been a few days now and sometimes after feeding him I will just leave him in his crib and next thing I know he is snoring! LOL

          Looks like the Colorado Rockies have been playing well now since they have a new manager.  I was surprised when my husband told me that Clint Hurdle was fired.  I used to be a big fan of the Colorado Rockies.  I stopped watching their games because Matt Holliday was traded to Oakland.  I like Matt Holliday because I saw how good a player he is!  I always cheered for him!  Hehehe, even at home!  Now the Rockies are back on track again!  They have won 8 games in a row now.  Yeeehaaawww!  Go Rockieeeeeees!!!!

          My husband wasn’t working yesterday, so I asked him to drop me off at Lizel’s place so we could work out together in their clubhouse because they have a small gym.  Lizel and I had fun.  When we arrived there were two people using the gym but they left after a few minutes.  It was just Lizel and I mao nag tagbaw mi, mura naka tag iya! Heheheh

          When I woke up today my body was sore all over.  It was worse when I start walking because I could feel the pain on my legs too.  I used the treadmill for 45 minutes which is why I was so sore!  I am hoping to feel better soon.