Two things to ponder. Traffic laws and old age.

Have you ever been sitting in the office, amongst the acres of cubicles, and hear some one laughing? I did the other day at Homes for Heroes. What is it about us humans that has to find out what the laughing is about? If I had heard just normal talking I would not have given it a second thought. So I get up and hunt down the source of the laughing. I see my boss and my other boss standing by the water cooler having a chat. I ask them what was so funny. They looked at me and said nothing.

Being a Ninja prepares you for these moments. That awkward silence is easily handled. I let my eyes fill up with tears and ran away. Later I regrouped and did some stealthy sniffing around to find out what had them chuckling like old busy bodies. I was successful and I will share that information with you now.

A Police Officer was out patrolling one fine afternoon and witnessed a young driver that had just rolled through a stop sign. The Officer proceeded to pull him over and when he approached the vehicle he asks the young driver why he was pulled over.

“I don’t know.”

“Young man, you did not come to a complete stop at that stop sign.”

“I did too!”

“No, you did what we call a roll through. You slowed down but did not stop.

“Yeah, well what’s the big deal, slowing down is the same thing.”

“Please step out of the car, sir.”

As soon as the young kid gets out of the car, the Police Officer pulls out his baton and starts to mercilessly beat the snot out of him. As the kid is falling to the ground in agony the Police Officer asks him.

“Should I stop or just slow down?”

An interesting perspective. The next tidbit is just as telling. Read on you won’t be disappointed.

An elderly couple had just retired and were looking forward to a lot of travel and relaxation. They decided that with the new life style change they should see the doctor for a physical check up. They made their appointments and showed up at the set date. After the check up the doctor came in to give them the results.

“Well folks, you guys are both physically fit and really have nothing that I see to be alarmed about. Enjoy your retirement. However, your memory is not as it used to be and that is normal. I suggest that the two of you carry around a small notepad and pencil and jot what you are going to do so you won’t forget.”

That same evening the two were watching television. The husband decides it is time to have a beer and gets up to go get it.

“Hon, I am going to get myself a beer, is there anything I can get you?”

“Oh, thank you. I think I would like a bowl of ice cream.”

“Sure thing, dear.” He starts towards the kitchen.

“Honey, don’t you think you should write that down like the doctor told us?”

“Naw, it’s just a bowl of ice cream and a beer. I think I can handle that.”

“Vanilla ice cream.”

Okay, one bowl of vanilla ice cream and a beer.”

“Well I would like strawberry topping on it too.”

“Hmm, one bowl of vanilla ice cream with strawberry topping and a beer. Easy.”

“And don’t forget the whipped cream!”

“Is there anything else?”

“No. Thank you dear.”

“A bowl of vanilla ice cream with strawberry topping and whip cream and for myself a nice cold beer. You see nothing to worry about.”

The husband heads off to the kitchen and is gone for a half an hour. When he returns he sits down in his chair with a plate of scrambled eggs and a cup of orange juice.

As he starts to eat, the wife gives him a disgusted look and says to him.

“WHERE’S MY &#@*ING TOAST?!?!

NEWS FLASH!! First time home buyers race is on.

Attention all Homes for Heroes affiliates!

Attention all Homes for Heroes affiliates!

For you Homes for Heroes affiliates in the Twin Cities area pay attention. There is some serious coinage being thrown around by Minneapolis and St. Paul first time home buyers. A federal program called Take Credit is providing $8 million in federal tax credits. First time home buyers need to purchase a home in Minneapolis or St. Paul before December 1 in order to get an $8,000 tax deduction. According to the article only 130 first time buyers will be able to take advantage of this program. To get the details on the Take Credit program do the obligatory click here and read more.

To sweeten the pot and make it more interesting, the City of St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority has just voted on a first time home buyers program. They are putting up $500,000 for 33 first time “Hero” home buyers that want to live in St. Paul. Veterans, Police, Firefighters etc. will be able to get up to $15,000 in a zero percent loan to use towards down pay or principal reduction. In fact, no payments are necessary until you sell the home or no longer use it as a primary residence. Even bigger news is that if the buyer lives in the home for 10 years the loan will be retired.

Spread the word, the tax credits and the 33 loans will not last long. This HRA program combined with the benefits of the Homes for Heroes program will surely make home ownership for our heroes an easier reality. This program will launch later this month, so get moving and get some heroes into homes.

This will link you to the HRA’s web site. Click on yesterdays date and the meeting notes will be there.

There are a few more details outlined in the attachment from the HRA meeting notes.

Okay, quit dilly dallying around and get your hero into these programs.

Knotek knows his tech.

Since Homes for Heroes started doing Bio’s on our affiliates, we have asked the affiliate to provide some background information for us. With that info we would put together a post and put it out there. Reading this affiliates bio, there was not much more we needed to do. In his own words, Homes for Heroes, would like to introduce you to Mikal Knotek.

In 2006, the economy was beginning to unravel. The mortgage industry was the stone that broke the camels back with fraud and poor lending practices acting as the heaviest weight. I saw misinformed loan officers through out the industry using poor judgment and taking advantage of unknowing clients.

In 2007 I re-evaluated my business plan and included room to give back. I wanted to give back because the greedy side of our industry had taken so much. I wanted to change public perception and bring confidence back to my clients. It was important for them to know that Bell Mortgage was one of the good guys in the industry

I searched for several months to find an organization to align myself with that would take advantage of my skills in the finance industry. I knew right away after speaking with David Cohen and Ruth Johnson (Homes for Heroes) that Homes for Heroes would be the perfect fit.

The HFH philosophy is easy, do what’s best for our heroes. Homes for Heroes unites a whole industry on behalf of the Hero. No other program that I have seen does this. Becoming a Homes for Heroes affiliate has given me the opportunity to say thank you to the people who give everything of themselves every day.

MIkal Knotek

Mikal Knotek has been a successful mortgage professional, manager, technology entrepreneur, and industry consultant.

 

Mikal entered the mortgage industry in 1991 after the purchase of his first home.  Learning the business from the ground up, he quickly moved his way up the ladder and became a leading roll in production.  In 1997 he co-founded The Harrison-Knotek Group with his residential business partner, Kathy Harrison.  In 1998 they moved their group to Bell Mortgage and helped evolve Bell into one of the area’s premier residential mortgage lenders.  His residential origination’s exceed 300 million dollars over the past 15 years.

 

While still in the mortgage industry, Mikal founded Audit Technologies, a lender based audit and consulting firm.  His keen industry insight gave new light to how lenders manage their service portfolio.

Audit Technologies and Mikal’s growing residential mortgage business led to the founding of Clear View Software, Inc. in 2001.  Mikal used his industry knowledge and technical background to develop ground breaking industry technology that moved data to and from consumers and lenders with the highest level of speed and security.   His company was later purchased by a leading Minnesota lender.   Mikal’s extensive technical insight keeps Bell Mortgage at the forefront of industry changes and improvements.

 

In addition to Mikal’s residential originations, he is also co-founder of the Bell Mortgage Commercial Lending Group and oversees its day to day operations.

 
 
 

Best if used by…..

Every month or so we at the Homes for Heroes office try and have a pot luck lunch. It was always a success, and in some ways it still is. People stopped eating my offering when one asked why my “stews” were so tasty. I gave them the recipe. Two cans of cream of mushroom soup and all the left overs I find in the office fridge. Everyone started for the bathrooms and my boss asked me to see her in her office.

She wanted to know why I was trying to poison everybody at the pot luck. What? How could being frugal be considered poisoning someone? I let my boss know that the food in the fridge was slated for the weekly garbage dump and….. “Exactly!” She proclaims. I look at her incredulously and simply state. “A ninja knows what bad food is and my meals are far from being bad.” I also point out that our society’s perception of spoiled food is terribly misguided.

Pick off the green pieces, mix in soup and Voila! Lunch.

“Mister if you know what is good for you, you will stop cleaning out the fridge for pot luck lunches.” I start to object but there is a twitch in her eye that makes me pause. An Ninja knows when a battle is lost. I nod my head and shuffle out of her office knowing that I may have lost the battle but not the war. I go to my desk and start doing a little research.

I plunk down at my desk and type in “food expiration”. There was some interesting points. Did you know that all food expiration dates are voluntary? There is not federal law requiring that information be put on labels. Well it is required on baby formula and some baby foods. But other than that expiration dates are a courtesy of the food manufacturers.

The other thing that I found at WebMD’s site was a comprehensive description of all those “use before”, “best if used” and all those other freshness dates. This new information has brought some relief to my family. I have a big can of Parmesan cheese that was “packed” on November 3, 2002 and we still use it on spaghetti nights. Now I have proof that there is “nothing” wrong with it.

Here is a quick break down of what all those dates mean. For more detailed information you can visit WebMD.

The “sell by” date is telling the stores when the manufacturers would like the item pulled off the shelves. Which is fine, it is more of a quality move by food manufacturers. So if you have something in the house that is past the sell by date, don’t panic, odds are it is still okay.

This next one has cost me a lot of money. The kids will see the date and through the offending package away. It is the “best if used by (or before)” date. This date has absolutely nothing to do with spoilage. This is a manufacturers quality move. If McDonalds used this they would have a twenty minute date stamped on each order of fries they send out the drive through window. Have you ever gone through the drive through and noticed that the fries you eat while pulling out of the parking lot taste a heck of a lot better than they do by time you get home? You still eat those fries though don’t you? So keep that in mind the next time you find something in the fridge that is past the “best if used by” date.

“Use by” date is very similar. This would tell someone when the product will be at its peak freshness. It does not mean that if you eat it a week after that date you will die a horrible death.

There is a couple more date descriptions on the site, but these have done my household the most damage. I have posted these descriptions on the fridge in hopes that I can undo the brain washing my kids have learned.

Tonight, we are having the last of the Christmas ham in a fantastic Ham and Potato soup. They always eat it and never question how fresh the products are. I should probably keep it to myself that I only make soups to mask those old refrigerator smells of 2 week old left overs. We won’t EVER discuss my chili….

I do think that by understanding what these dates will really help the family food budget. You don’t have to through out the milk when the date is passed. Smell it. If it smells bad then I suppose you can through it out, but not before. Another thing to keep in mind. Eggs will last up to 5 weeks past the sell by date in the fridge. These economic times will soon require a more frugal look when we through out that loaf of bread or lunch meat.

See you tomorrow

Semper Fi

We are on a mission from God. (Elwood would be proud)

Homes for Heroes would like to introduce to you another Homes for Heroes affiliate here in Minneapolis.

David Cohen

David A. Cohen has been a Residential Realtor since 1995. He has built his career based on determination to protect and advocate for his clients best interests. His goal is to educate his clients so that they can make the best possible buying or selling decision for their families’ lifestyles as well as their financial future.

David has well balanced skill set to insure a well thought-out and well informed transaction. He prides himself on his analytical skills for assisting buyers and sellers interpret the vast market data. He is a master marketer who knows how to expose his seller’s properties by using old school gorilla marketing and using cutting edge online marketing technology.

Most importantly David understands the human and emotional element of Real Estate. He truly cares and takes a personal stake in each of his clients’ transactions. He treats his clients like they are family. That is what has driven David to join Homes for Heroes. He has a passion for giving back to our nation’s heroes! He said,” It is least I can do to back those individuals who have chosen to put their lives at risk to protect our society’s well being and defend our freedom.” He also believes in giving back to The Silent Heroes like the Nurses who are on the front line of health care and our educators who we are trusting with our number one resource, our children. David thinks that participating in Homes for Heroes is the right thing to do! It is the least he can do to say THANKS!

Now I had mentioned that David Cohen has an eye for marketing and now I can get to Elwood. You all remember the great car chase scene from the Blues Brothers. Homes for Heroes and David Cohen had an opportunity to meet the real Elwood at a local wine shop. The idea hit David hard and the rest is Home for Heroes history.

This last Saturday, Dan Aykroyd (aka Elwood Blues) was in Minneapolis promoting his new Wine and Vodka Products. He generously offered Police, Firefighters and Military (our heroes) a free autographed bottle of wine! And of course David was there clad in his Home for Heroes sweatshirt. Never missing an opportunity to spread the word of Homes for Heroes to a captive audience; David seized this highly publicized event to stand in line for FOUR HOURS to hand out lovely Home for Heroes T-shirts he digitally prints himself. When finally his turn in front this celeb for a signed bottle of wine, David offered Mr. Aykroyd his very own Homes for Heroes t-shirt. Seeming to welcome a chance to take a break from the repetition of signing bottles endlessly for hours, he happily replied ” Thanks, that’s a great program!”

Elwood driving got David to the event on time.

David and his gift for Dan Aykroyd

The driving and the wait pays off.

The day was a success for David Cohen and Homes for Heroes. If you are looking for a truly dedicated Realtor that will ensure you receive top notch service with enthusiastic marketing knowledge visit our web site to get in contact with David.

How to save space for more clutter

As you know Homes for Heroes is a Real Estate program so many of its affiliates are realtor’s. One of the many skills they must possess is an eye for space. When most people feel it is time to sell their home they do not think of all the years of clutter they have accumulated. Why would they? They are comfortable enough living there so why would it bother anyone else? The answer is in the question. They are not everyone else. As hard as it is to believe this, people are different and have different tastes. Think of your distant aunt and why your parents would never go to visit her. Something to do with owning 9 cats or some such crazy thing. To poor old aunt Bertha, it would never occur to her that cats leave a smell that most people find stomach turning.

Realtor’s will tell home owners they have to make their home attractive to the largest block of people. They can do this by cleaning, removing clutter, painting and repairing the most obvious things. Who would think it normal to have a teetering toilet? The biggest and easiest thing a home owner can do though is getting rid of clutter.

Can you find the toaster? If you can't how can potential buyers?

Make the counters counters again instead of appliance storage. You know that book shelf that now holds hats, mittens, assorted boxes and empty bottles? Make it a book shelf again. That front closet? Yup, just have a few coats in it and nothing else. This makes the home look tidy and neat and maybe just comfortable enough for some one else.

Most times that works, but there are a few home owners that look the realtor in the eye and say “And just what am I supposed to do with all this S&#@T!” If the realtor is smart they just get up and leave, but if they are like most realtors, (lighten up guys) they will let the home owner know that there are many options out there to deal with the excess clutter. Box it up and put it in the basement in nice neat piles is one way and it shows how much storage is down there. Another is renting a storage pod. A pod is like an empty semi truck that shows up at your door, you put your crap in it and it drives away till you want it back again. The bold realtor suggests renting a dumpster for a week. The smart realtor will show them this neat trick.

Can the kitty litter box go here?

Turning your stairs into storage space. It is not that hard and not that expensive. Just make sure that you don’t leave them open during an open house. The home owner and insurance company may frown on the injury claim.

Another great space saving idea is found in this video. For the Mid West, an in-ground pool does not always help in selling a home and sometimes it can hamper. We can only use them about 2 weeks a year and Dad doesn’t like cleaning them all summer for just two weeks. In the winter they are just a big eye sore in the middle of your back yard. So this video shows what can be done with that pool. Turn it into an outdoor rec room.

Putting in a pool table in a pool is appropriate. I think the one below would be perfect. Easy in and easy out when the home sells.

Another fine example of Recycle, Reuse, Replenish.

Any other ideas on saving space? Let me know and I will get it in the blog. So from yesterday we had heard that one of my buddies in the Marine Corps wanted to marry a local girl while we were on temporary duty in the Philippines. We had tried to talk him out of it, or at least give it some time but instead we were invited to a party. That is where we pick up today.

We entered a neighborhood similar to this video. There were 4 of us including the Groom to Be. We were a little nervous. None of us knew the neighborhood nor any of the people we were visiting. We, okay I and another, were expecting the worse. We would be kidnapped and held for ransom or be forced into some diabolical plot against our country. Nothing like that happened. A lot of people were there and there was lots of beer and lumpia.

After a few hours of great fun and camaraderie, a cheering grew from the party. I scooted over to where the commotion was taking place. I found that the father was bringing a goat into the house. Okay, I thought, what kind of game can be played with a goat. I followed the precession up the stairs and we all crowded around the bathroom door as the goat and the father entered. The father picked up the goat and placed it in the bath tub.

Just to show you how naive I was, I couldn’t figure out why every one wanted to see a goat be given a bath. The father had turned on the water (which was a large bucket mounted on the wall with a water tap) and started to get the goat wet. Then out of the blue some one hand old Dad a large knife. I still didn’t know what was going on. I thought they were going to shave the darn thing. Nope. Next thing I knew, blood was spraying the wall, Dad was holding the goat down and the crowd was cheering like crazy. Naivety was soon replaced with reality at seeing my first slaughter. I did not want to look like a rube so I asked if anyone wanted a beer, took orders, and headed back down stairs. I headed to the cooler outside only to find I was the only male on the ground floor. All the men had gone upstairs to partake in the slaughter of a goat. So feeling like a rube, I grabbed the beers and headed back up the stairs.

Shall I continue? It gets better. I haven’t even got to the cat part yet.

Talk to you tomorrow

Semper Fi.

HFH discovers how to embed YouTube into blog!!

I think the cold is getting to me. -20F when I got up this morning. What the heck happened to Al Gore and his prediction of boiling oceans. Which we could use right about now. I had to plug the car in last night as to keep the oil from turning to a gelatinous stew. We woke up to a warm engine that started right up but had a tire dislike the cold temps and showed us by deflating itself. We were late getting to the Homes for Heroes office because the valve stem stubbornly refused air.

As you all know I am new to this blogging thing, only been doing it about a month now. It has been a learning process and I think I am getting the hang of it. However, there has been one thing that I have been trying to figure out from the beginning. How to embed a YouTube video into the blog. I can easily link YouTube, but from the onset I wanted to have the video right there. The problem, I found, was trying to get it to work with my service provider, WordPress. If you added an embedded video as one would normally, the blog became a ruined mess of digital pixels and data. Well I finally got it. Want to know how I came to this new knowledge? The Google. Just ask it a question and it provides something like 22 billion answers. All I had to do was check a box.

So todays blog will be practicing this newly added tool to Todd’s arsenal of great blogging tools. To date I have learned how to add pictures, hyper link, bold characters, start paragraphs and many more. I am excited so let’s get started.

Remember the other day I was questioning the full moons impact on animal behavior? You all doubted the existence of werewolves, but had to accept that perhaps the moon might be key to odd behavior. I have a couple of videos that may offer some visual insight into this phenomenon.

Here is a dog pulling another dog to safety.

Did it work? Cool. Here a brave dog saves a total stranger. That we have heard of before, but this vid has a little bit of a twist. There is a 1200 pound bull trying to gore a bullfighter. Watch how the dog takes command of this large and angry creature.

How many of you are pet owners? To be more specific, dog owners? Here is a simple test to see if you should trade the poor pup in. I have never been a fan of small dogs and this video hasn’t changed that.

Okay, Okay. I have had my fun but I still have to show you one more piece. This pet owner should be heading to the patent office right now and start purchasing infomercial time. I see a market for this. Exorcise your dog while at work? For four easy installments of $49.99 you never have to worry about your dogs health again. I also see paper delivery people drooling over the super deluxe model.

I think I am confident enough where I can take a rest, unless you want more? I see. Well from time to time in the future I will add some videos to the blog and they will be entertaining and you will all laugh and cry with the best of us.

No, I did not forget the $800 dollars in change. I will get to that soon enough, are you really that interested in what $800 in coins weighs?

I am starting to see reports that housing sales are on the increase. Here in the Twin Cities sales for 2008 were up considerably over 2007. That means that prices will start to reflect the reduction of product on the market. You know that whole supply and demand thing. Get a hold of your Homes for Heroes affiliate and see how they can put, oh say, $2500 bucks in your pocket at closing. That kind of money gets rid of that duck print wall paper in the kitchen or puts a whirlpool tub in the master bath. Get moving people.

See you tomorrow

Semper Fi