I did a homebuyer class with Gene Blinick today at De Anza. Do you enjoy like me the glory of questions and people who are inquisitve? I love the discovery and wonder I see in a students eyes who is alert and enjoying this moment. The test of a tough questions to debate with another it is overall a real gift.
Today's topic is the importance of yopur credit report and score. Mortgage loans are priced on loan amount, equity, credit score and other factors. I ran out a 30-year fixed at a $417,000 loan and dig these results.
$417,000 30-year fixed rate loan 0 points plus closing costs
10% down Townhome purchase loan
760 credit score 3.25% (apr 3.389%)
740 credit score 3.375% (apr 3.409%)
700 credit score 3.50% (apr 3.578%)
660 credit score 3.625% (apr 3.79%)
Credit scores are critcal in pricing loans. Take your score seriously. Pull your credit for free once a year through www.annualcreditreport.com and you pay for your score. Use your credit, pay it full, do not be late and establish 3-4 trade lines with 2 plus years history.
More on this later
Alan
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Daniel Pink great pieces
September 27th, 2012
How are free agents doing these days?
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote a book about the rise of people working for themselves.A lot has happened since then — a historic recession, the emergence of widespread broadband, the explosive growth of smart phones, the further erosion of job security, lower barriers to entry for small entrepreneurs, and so on — that has reinforced the underlying trends.
But for a clear and illuminating look at the current state of one group of independent workers, check out Ed Gandia’s 2012 Freelance Industry Report. Or if you’re too swamped to read the whole thing, look at this cool graphic summary of its main points:
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September 12th, 2012
Friday on Office Hours: Why do some kids succeed and others fail?
That’s the question at the center of a fascinating new book by New York Times Magazine and This American Life contributor Paul Tough. It’s called How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (Buy it at Amazon, BN.com, or IndieBound). And Tough will be talking about it, and taking your questions, on the Friday edition of Office Hours, our monthly radio-ish program that we call “Car Talk . . . for the human engine.”The book takes on what Tough calls the “cognitive hypothesis,” the idea that success hinges on mental processing speed and traditional brainpower. Instead, citing lots of interesting research, Tough shows that “non-cognitive skills” – perseverance, optimism, self-control, and so on – are actually what matter most.
To listen to an interview with Tough – and to ask him any question at all about kids, education, or your own career – tune in this Friday September 14 at 1pm, EDT.
Just dial (703) 344-2171 x203373 at the appointed hour to listen live and participate in a lively back-to-school conversation about preparing our kids and ourselves for the future.
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are you ready for some weather?
Preparing Your Yard for Winter
Preparing Your Yard for Winter
Welcome to part 3 of our 4 part series on preparing your home for winter. Here in Northern California, we’re fortunate in that we don’t get snow. But we do need to prepare for frost and heavy rains. Some meteorologists are predicting that we’ll be getting an El Nino year. So the good news is it will be a warmer winter (unless you enjoy snow sports), but the bad news is that we will get more rain which could also be considered good news since we would be filling up our reservoirs and aquifers.So here’s what you can do to get your yard ready for frost and heavy rains:
Remove Debris
First things first, you need to remove the debris before winter arrives including leaves, rocks, sticks, trash, and dead flowers. This will keep your yard and flowerbeds looking nice throughout the fall and winter months, as well as reducing the amount of yard work you will need to do in the spring.Bushes
Roses, azaleas, and hibiscus will need to be protected against the cold weather. You can get creative with cardboard or garbage bags if you know there is a frost warning. Make certain you hold the cover down in place with stakes, bricks or heavy rocks.Add mulch around the roots, but make sure it doesn’t touch the base of the plant. Give the plants a good watering before you turn off your sprinklers.
Trees
While the weather is still pleasant, put mulch around the base of the trees to help the tree retain water in the roots, and keep the soil at a steady temperature. This also cuts down on the weeds you will have to pull in the spring.Mulch can be bark chippings, straw, pine needles, or a mixture of things. You can get free chippings by contacting your local tree removers and asking if they’ll drop off some mulch. But be aware that they may have a minimum amount that they drop off.
In a few weeks, you will want to trim your trees, bushes and roses. But, don’t prune now because the buds that will open in the spring have already formed, and you might clip them off accidentally. So what should you trim? Snip off unhealthy or dead sections, and trim off dead flowers.
Also, check to see if branches are close to your house. If they are, trim them back as you don’t want them banging against the house during strong winds.
Garden
If you have strawberry plants, they should be covered with layers of straw to keep them protected from getting frostbitten. Plant those bulbs now before the ground gets too hard to dig. You will be well rewarded in the Spring.You can pull out your summer vegetable garden, or you can leave it to overwinter and see what pops up in the spring.
Consider planting a few cold weather flowers to brighten up your garden.
Sprinklers
If you know you’re not going to turn on your sprinklers at all during the winter, then drain them of any water. You would turn off the water supply going to the sprinklers, and then open the drains including the backflow to get all of the water out. Leave the drains open for several hours to ensure it’s completely drained. You can remove the sprinkler heads to allow the water to drain more easily, and you can hook up an air compressor to blow air through the system. Make certain that you’ve set the controller to Off or Rain.If you’d like more detailed information, check out Irrigation Tutorials’s winterizing directions. There are detailed instructions for both temperate and cold weather.
Hoses
Make sure your hoses are drained completely, roll them up, and store them away in a shed or garage. Keeping them out of the elements will also prolong the life of the hose.When do you expect the frost to hit in your area?
If you missed the other two blogs in our series, you can find them here:
Part 1: Fall Maintenance, Top to Bottom
Part 2: Storing Your Outdoor Items for Winter
Two articles I enjoyed
Real estate in Silicon Valley tends to follow the NASDAQ, but soon there is likely to be a bit of a burst as the employees of IPO companies come off their lock-out periods and begin to be able to sell their stock. Check out this article in today’s Wall Street Journal.
http://on.wsj.com/rbpMgj
http://on.wsj.com/rbpMgj
{ 0 comments }
Forbes Magazine has just published the top 500 most expensive zip codes in America. While not a big surprise, it is pretty impressive that Silicon Valley had 12 out of the top 51! Way, way more than any other area of the same size. The entire state of New York does have a similar amount of top ZIP codes, but we have about 1,500 square miles that we call Silicon Valley, and New York State has some 54,000 square miles! 36 times larger. How come?? Our situation is so different due to the fact that our economy continues to produce new jobs and new wealth, where most of the country does not.. Not to mention the really good weather, great little towns, top universities, access to capital, etc.
Here is where we all came out:
Here is where we all came out:
| Rank | ZIP, City | Median Price | Price Change |
| 2 | 94027, Atherton, CA | 4,295,000.00 | 7% |
| 4 | 94010, Hillsborough, CA | 3,499,000.00 | 19% |
| 18 | 94022, Los Altos Hills, CA | 2,797,000.00 | -8.30% |
| 23 | 95030, Monte Sereno, CA | 2,522,500.00 | 53.10% |
| 24 | 94022, Los Altos, CA | 2,522,000.00 | -17.30% |
| 31 | 94062, Woodside, CA | 2,300,000.00 | 3.20% |
| 36 | 94301, Palo Alto, CA | 2,199,950.00 | 27.10% |
| 39 | 94028, Portola Valley, CA | 2,176,500.00 | -13.30% |
| 40 | 95030, Los Gatos, CA | 2,169,950.00 | -5.40% |
| 47 | 95070, Saratoga, CA | 1,925,000.00 | 16.50% |
| 51 | 94024, Los Altos, CA | 1,895,000.00 | -36.30% |
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
John Miller QBQ
Perspective: It's
Everything
So as to not cause you any emotional pain, let me say this right now: This longer-than-usual QBQ! QuickNote has a happy ending!
Perspective.
In a nanosecond, the "important" became trivial.
And that sums up last Friday night.
Karen and I sat here in Denver at 8pm, watching a movie, hanging out, living life—all while getting reports on our daughter Kristin Lindeen (Miller Child #1) and her imminent delivery of our second grandchild. Everything was wonderful! Except, of course, the minutia of life that had gotten in the way of total joy and happiness on that average day.
- That driveway guy who didn't
quite do as I asked regarding the laying of our new asphalt. “Why don’t
people listen?!”
- That client who'd promised to
commit that day but didn't respond to my email. “When will people honor
their promises?”
- Politics, of which I am a
junkie, going back to 1976 when I shook the hand of the president at a
rally—twice! I even remember his profound words as the crowd pressed
toward him: “Don't push!” and to a helpful policeman, “Thanks, officer.” I
didn't wash my hand for three days! "Who will win on November
6?!?"
- And those all-important Denver
Broncos. Would Peyton Manning demonstrate that his salary was worth it or
will the Broncs have yet another disappointing season. “Why can’t we have
a championship team again???”
And Karen had some frustrations Friday, too.
With a friend, her horse and a possible health problem, and something one of
our still-at-home kids had done that morning.
Life.
But suddenly … Who cares?!
Because the text that will forever be burned into my brain came into my phone.
Daughter Tara Gallagher, Miller Child #2, who made it down to Madison, Wisconsin from Minneapolis just in time for the birth, sent this text:
“Baby arrived. Heartbeat strong. Not warming up to the world very quickly.”
We found out a day later that Kristin had told Tara, in those early moments, to not tell us exactly what was happening. For those who understand, the baby's APGAR scores were dismal—mostly because the breathing component of the total score was … zero. Meanwhile, hubby, Erik, knew even more than Kristin and was doing his best to stay strong for her.
Perspective.
The baby disappeared to the neonatal intensive care unit—and an hour later Kristin and Erik got the report:
The doctors didn’t know what went wrong, nor did they know what would come of all this. Somewhere in the conversation, Kristin, Erik, and Aunt Tara heard these horrible words: “potential brain damage.”
My cell rang. I grabbed it. With tears in her voice, Tara said, "Dad, it's not good news."
Within a minute or two my knees buckled from the strongest emotional pain I’ve felt since my mom died of an aneurysm on an average day in 1975 when I was sixteen.
Feeling sick to my stomach while Karen cried on the phone with Tara, I tried to not go crazy. It seemed Rebecca Elizabeth—nicknamed by her parents “Baby Boo” while still a precious life in the womb—had gone eight long minutes after being delivered with nary a breath. The outstanding medical staff at St. Mary's Hospital—moving swiftly into action—had “bagged” Becca, which means to use a manual pumping device to artificially force air into her lungs.
Perspective.
Becca, they were told, would now begin a relatively new “cooling therapy.” Laying on a special bed, wearing nothing but a tiny diaper for the next 72 hours, her body temp would be lowered to 91-92 degrees with the purpose of minimizing secondary brain damage.
But that didn’t mean there hadn’t been any from the initial trauma.
After the early turmoil and confusion, we all began to “settle in” for what would be the longest three days of our lives. Since brain damage is irreversible, we could only pray that during those eight scary minutes, “Baby Boo’s” brain had been protected; had gone unscathed.
While what we now believe was up to a thousand people prayed for Becca, the doctors dutifully reported to Kristin and Erik what they knew—which wasn’t much. And yet everyone knew exactly what they didn’t know: The condition of Becca’s brain.
Saturday crawled by, Sunday dragged (NFL? Replacement refs? Who cares!!!), and Monday was a day to try to find things to do. Finally, at 12:30am Tuesday Becca’s cooling therapy was discontinued and the staff began to warm her tiny body, watching for brain irregularities.
A text came from Kristin at 3am with very early disheartening news: The ICU nurse had come to say they felt the baby was experiencing small seizures. There were “blips” on the EEG and they were monitoring her closely. Then the nurse was gone again and Kristin was alone with the truth that nobody really knew where this was going.
Perspective.
But then, everything turned—for the better. By 9am, the seizures were gone, the EEG wires were coming off, and for the first time in her life little "Becca Boo" was dressed, swaddled, and placed in Kristin's arms. She’d never been held! ... other than for that brief terrifying moment when she was first delivered and put on Kristin's chest—and everybody knew something was horribly wrong.
Perspective.
So things were looking up. Becca was showing many normal baby behaviors: Rooting, sucking, squeezing big people’s fingers, and opening her eyes to take in the world, as best a newborn can. But there was one last big step: the MRI.
At noon on Tuesday, 7 1/2 pound Becca was whisked away for the procedure. The neurologist doc warned Kristin and Erik, along with Grandma Karen and Aunt Tara—still by her big sister’s side—that she might not be back for several hours with news, no matter good or bad. She simply had a whole hospital to cover.
Then, four hours later, the doctor returned to simply say …
“All is well. The MRI showed no damage to the brain.”
And somewhere in that moment, she uttered these words: “I expect a full recovery.”
Can you say “miracle”?
And “perspective”?
To be clear:
Since Friday night at 8:42pm Colorado time …
Absolutely. Nothing. Else. Mattered.
Each of us can draw our own “learning lesson” from this story. For me, it’s simply about working hard each day to ask great questions like, “How can I love life?” “What can I do today to focus on what’s really important?” and “How can I spread more joy to those around me?”
As most of you know, we call these "QBQs." But today, on this unusually cloudy, cold, and rainy—and beautiful—Colorado September morning, I call them …
Perspective.
A final thought: As I was writing this QuickNote in my home office, the power in our neighborhood went out. When I called the power company to let them know and they told me they had no idea how long the outtage would last, I responded with, "No biggie! Who cares! It's a great day!" and left the phone rep a bit stunned.
Perspective.
Learn more about Becca's journey here: https://www.facebook.com/erik.lindeen
John G. Miller
Author of QBQ!
Denver, Colorado
John@QBQ.com
Life.
But suddenly … Who cares?!
Because the text that will forever be burned into my brain came into my phone.
Daughter Tara Gallagher, Miller Child #2, who made it down to Madison, Wisconsin from Minneapolis just in time for the birth, sent this text:
“Baby arrived. Heartbeat strong. Not warming up to the world very quickly.”
We found out a day later that Kristin had told Tara, in those early moments, to not tell us exactly what was happening. For those who understand, the baby's APGAR scores were dismal—mostly because the breathing component of the total score was … zero. Meanwhile, hubby, Erik, knew even more than Kristin and was doing his best to stay strong for her.
Perspective.
The baby disappeared to the neonatal intensive care unit—and an hour later Kristin and Erik got the report:
The doctors didn’t know what went wrong, nor did they know what would come of all this. Somewhere in the conversation, Kristin, Erik, and Aunt Tara heard these horrible words: “potential brain damage.”
My cell rang. I grabbed it. With tears in her voice, Tara said, "Dad, it's not good news."
Within a minute or two my knees buckled from the strongest emotional pain I’ve felt since my mom died of an aneurysm on an average day in 1975 when I was sixteen.
Feeling sick to my stomach while Karen cried on the phone with Tara, I tried to not go crazy. It seemed Rebecca Elizabeth—nicknamed by her parents “Baby Boo” while still a precious life in the womb—had gone eight long minutes after being delivered with nary a breath. The outstanding medical staff at St. Mary's Hospital—moving swiftly into action—had “bagged” Becca, which means to use a manual pumping device to artificially force air into her lungs.
Perspective.
Becca, they were told, would now begin a relatively new “cooling therapy.” Laying on a special bed, wearing nothing but a tiny diaper for the next 72 hours, her body temp would be lowered to 91-92 degrees with the purpose of minimizing secondary brain damage.
But that didn’t mean there hadn’t been any from the initial trauma.
After the early turmoil and confusion, we all began to “settle in” for what would be the longest three days of our lives. Since brain damage is irreversible, we could only pray that during those eight scary minutes, “Baby Boo’s” brain had been protected; had gone unscathed.
While what we now believe was up to a thousand people prayed for Becca, the doctors dutifully reported to Kristin and Erik what they knew—which wasn’t much. And yet everyone knew exactly what they didn’t know: The condition of Becca’s brain.
Saturday crawled by, Sunday dragged (NFL? Replacement refs? Who cares!!!), and Monday was a day to try to find things to do. Finally, at 12:30am Tuesday Becca’s cooling therapy was discontinued and the staff began to warm her tiny body, watching for brain irregularities.
A text came from Kristin at 3am with very early disheartening news: The ICU nurse had come to say they felt the baby was experiencing small seizures. There were “blips” on the EEG and they were monitoring her closely. Then the nurse was gone again and Kristin was alone with the truth that nobody really knew where this was going.
Perspective.
But then, everything turned—for the better. By 9am, the seizures were gone, the EEG wires were coming off, and for the first time in her life little "Becca Boo" was dressed, swaddled, and placed in Kristin's arms. She’d never been held! ... other than for that brief terrifying moment when she was first delivered and put on Kristin's chest—and everybody knew something was horribly wrong.
Perspective.
So things were looking up. Becca was showing many normal baby behaviors: Rooting, sucking, squeezing big people’s fingers, and opening her eyes to take in the world, as best a newborn can. But there was one last big step: the MRI.
At noon on Tuesday, 7 1/2 pound Becca was whisked away for the procedure. The neurologist doc warned Kristin and Erik, along with Grandma Karen and Aunt Tara—still by her big sister’s side—that she might not be back for several hours with news, no matter good or bad. She simply had a whole hospital to cover.
Then, four hours later, the doctor returned to simply say …
“All is well. The MRI showed no damage to the brain.”
And somewhere in that moment, she uttered these words: “I expect a full recovery.”
Can you say “miracle”?
And “perspective”?
To be clear:
Since Friday night at 8:42pm Colorado time …
Absolutely. Nothing. Else. Mattered.
Each of us can draw our own “learning lesson” from this story. For me, it’s simply about working hard each day to ask great questions like, “How can I love life?” “What can I do today to focus on what’s really important?” and “How can I spread more joy to those around me?”
As most of you know, we call these "QBQs." But today, on this unusually cloudy, cold, and rainy—and beautiful—Colorado September morning, I call them …
Perspective.
A final thought: As I was writing this QuickNote in my home office, the power in our neighborhood went out. When I called the power company to let them know and they told me they had no idea how long the outtage would last, I responded with, "No biggie! Who cares! It's a great day!" and left the phone rep a bit stunned.
Perspective.
Learn more about Becca's journey here: https://www.facebook.com/erik.lindeen
John G. Miller
Author of QBQ!
Denver, Colorado
John@QBQ.com
Grandma Karen, Mommy Kristin, Aunt Tara ... and Becca Boo!
Vicki garcia what a great piece
The One Where I Confess…
Ok, I just have to get some things off my chest. This is a confession of sorts. Not that I’ve been hiding anything on purpose. If you read my blog with any regularity you know I’m a pretty open book. It’s just that I haven’t been blogging. How can you know what’s going on if I don’t tell you? Well, I’m about to tell you. You might want to go get a drink before you start reading.So, this transition I wrote about (the one where we pack all our stuff, say goodbye to everyone and move to Washington). It kinda sucks more than I thought it would. It’s most definitely a great time for me to practice all the tools I’m always telling you about. I am going to be THE BEST COACH EVER, if practicing has anything to do with it.
Here’s what I’m confessing:
- I can’t think of a damn thing to write about. I know tons of stuff I could share with you but when it comes to writing it down, I suddenly become empty of any and all knowledge, ideas, opinions or useful information. My goal was to blog at least once per week. I actually kept that up until the time of our move and then everything went to hell in a hand basket. Please, someone tell me what I should write about!!!!
- I’m crying. A lot. I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss having a network of people nearby who know me and love me anyway.
- I don’t feel motivated to do anything with my business. Nada.
- I’m drinking way too much coffee and um, other types of beverages…
- I’m not eating all the healthy stuff I used to.
- I’m giving myself a break on the blogging thing. I’m doing it when I can and when I can’t, I don’t. You have to just give yourself a friggin break sometimes.
- When I feel like crying, I cry. I don’t try to be all brave and hold it in. I cry like a baby. It’s healing and gives me perspective and reminds me of all the wonderful people and things I have in my life. Crying is good stuff, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Also, I don’t try to go it alone. I call a friend and vent and cry and laugh. Why suffer alone? Pain is an inevitable part of life. Suffering is completely optional.
- I know that feelings lie. All the time. Feelings are big, fat liars. So, I am paying attention to my feelings and doing my best to act on my commitments. Never act on your feelings or you’ll probably do something you’ll regret. Take it from me. I know this from lots and lots of experience.
- Yep, too many beverages are being consumed. The answer, sign up for a 10 day detox. That should do the trick! J
- See answer #4.
Ooooh, look at me! I just wrote a blog post. See, talking to you always helps.
Two Daniel Pink blogs
Friday on Office Hours: Why do some kids succeed and others fail?
That’s the question at the center of a fascinating new book by New York Times Magazine and This American Life contributor Paul Tough. It’s called How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (Buy it at Amazon, BN.com, or IndieBound). And Tough will be talking about it, and taking your questions, on the Friday edition of Office Hours, our monthly radio-ish program that we call “Car Talk . . . for the human engine.”The book takes on what Tough calls the “cognitive hypothesis,” the idea that success hinges on mental processing speed and traditional brainpower. Instead, citing lots of interesting research, Tough shows that “non-cognitive skills” – perseverance, optimism, self-control, and so on – are actually what matter most.
To listen to an interview with Tough – and to ask him any question at all about kids, education, or your own career – tune in this Friday September 14 at 1pm, EDT.
Just dial (703) 344-2171 x203373 at the appointed hour to listen live and participate in a lively back-to-school conversation about preparing our kids and ourselves for the future.
Share on Facebook
September 10th, 2012
Obama and Romney in a word
In a survey last week, the Pew Research Center asked a question whose form I’ve come to find interesting and useful: “What one word best describes Barack Obama/Mitt Romney/Joe Biden/Paul Ryan?” (As it happens, in my upcoming book, I use this type of question to show what people really think of sales.)The answers to these questions are revealing in a way that other types of polling often are not. For instance, a quick look at the responses for Obama (below) and Romney (below that) reveals the amount of vitriol coursing through the election of 2012. ”Socialist,” “loser,” and “sh**” for the incumbent; “liar,” “jerk,” and “crook” for the challenger. And the responses for Biden and Ryan show that the former has an image problem and the latter, at least in my opinion, has gotten an easy ride so far in the campaign.
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