This is a sad blog for me to post...

August 14th, 2007 5:36 PM

If you have tried to contact us in the last couple of weeks and things seemed a little crazy here, it is because half of the office had to rush to Arizona. On July 25, 2007, my adored little grandson passed away in Casa Grande, apparently of SIDS.

I have yet to come to terms with this tragedy, but working helps me from losing my mind. He was a remarkable child and my heart is forever broken.

The following is his eulogy.

July 30, 2007
Deborah A. Seivers
A Letter To My Grandson

Dear Oliver, my precious little man,

From the very moment that I looked into your eyes, though I was thousands of miles away from you, I knew that you were an extraordinary baby. You were far more awake and alert than any other newborn that I had ever seen. When I finally got to hold you in my arms, you quietly studied my face for the longest time, like you were trying to memorize every detail.
I pulled Mama’s rocking chair up to the side of your crib that first night and held your little hand. I would doze off now and then, and every time I awoke, you were watching me; shining a light on my heart and looking right into my soul.

We are all here because you touched us all. We all carry a special memory of a special moment with you. And, so, in return for all that you gave to us, we all make these promises to you today, Oliver – our precious little man.

• We will not become splintered with sorrow – we will honor your happiness by welcoming joy into our hearts.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not descend into despair – we will honor your exuberance by rocking to the music of our lives.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not become worn with weariness – we will honor your endless energy by stepping eagerly into each new day.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not deaden our hurt to dullness – we will honor your curiosity by exploring that which is new and different to us.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not be broken by bitterness – we will honor your sweetness with a smile for a stranger.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not succumb to stupidity – we will honor your intelligence by seeking wisdom and growth.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not infix ourselves in isolation – we will honor your friendliness by reaching out to each other.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not become fractured by fear – we will honor your sense of daring by attempting that which daunts us.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not anchor ourselves with anger – we will honor that twinkle in your eye with the acceptance that dark days will sometimes come into all of our lives.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  



• We will not harden ourselves with hate – we will honor your love by holding each other close.
  And, then, we will pass it on.
  

So, you see, my dear Oliver, my precious little man, by all of us keeping these promises that we make to you here today, your little life will change the world.
And, now, I understand, my sweet little Ollie Boo, why it was so important to you that I listen to what your bright little eyes were saying to my soul.



Love always – until we meet again.
Grandma D

The Saga of A Mortgage Broker

Appraisal Pros Prose

Saga Of A Mortgage Broker

July 19th, 2007 10:11 AM

I found this story interesting - just another one of thousands of sad, sad stories of the greed, fraud, and crime that accompanied the housing frenzy in the last 10 years that will continue to haunt every aspect of all of our lives for another 10 years!

The Saga of A Serial Broker:

Name: Altaf Shaikh

State of Business: California

1989: Altaf comes to US from Pakistan and begins work at a Taco Bell and sells leather jackets at a flea market.

1994: Takes a job as a car salesman and averages $3,000 per month.

1997: Encouraged by a friend, takes a job as an assistant manager at Ameriquest Mortgage Co., then a small subprime mortgage lender.

1999: Moves to Atlantic Financial Mortgage's San Jose branch.

2000: Hired as assistant to a loan officer at Home Advantage Corp. in Fremont.

2001: Signs on at Hampton Financial in San Jose. In the same year, he opens his own office where his business is called West Coast Marketing. He scouts for potential customers and assists them in filling out mortgage applications to send to Hampton Financial.

2002: Hampton terminates relationship with Shaikh due to borrowers' complaints.

2003: Altaf moves on to Golden Gate Mortgage in Hayward, California. Uses an alternate name - Zak Khan. Buys a $2M home with swimming pool.

2004: Moves on yet again to Secure Financial, where he brokers loans using the name Atlya Khan.

2005: Honored by World Savings Bank, along with Secure Financial, with a "Top Broker Award".

Present: Working as a car salesman once again in the Fremont, California, area.

In May 2007, Mr. Shaikh, 46 years old, pleaded no contest to charges of grand theft in a plea agreement with 9 California counties. He lied to borrowers about the terms of their loans, forged documents, and had checks written to companies that he controlled without the borrowers' knowledge. Zak Khan will be sentenced in August 2007 and will hear the amount of restitution he must pay and find out if he will serve the one year jail term requested by prosecutors.
Not present at the hearing will be the hundreds of borrowers scammed by Mr. Shaikh, including the elderly and the poor. Though some have sued the unlicensed broker, their chances of ever collecting a dime seem slim.

One year in jail seems a very light punishment for someone who has taken such advantage of those in desperate situations......

'Til next time - it's all good!

Does It Really Matter Who Tells You How Much Your Property Is Worth?

Appraisers have been accused of "sour grapes" on the whole AVM vs. human valuation of residential real estate. So, just out of curiosity, I ran six addresses that we appraised in the last six months through the Zillow software to see how close the numbers would come up. I was shocked at the results! I had always assumed that Zillow would tend to overvalue property and that only fueled homeowners' beliefs that their property is worth more than it really is. But, not one property came in at the value that we appraised it for! In fact, every single property came in on Zillow for thousands less than we appraised it for! The smallest difference was a paltry $12,000.00 (enough to make or break a purchase or a refi, for sure!), and the largest difference was an astounding $280,000.00! Averaged over the six properties I researched, Zillow undervalued properties at $141,000.00. There are many factors that contribute to the differences, but no matter which side of the argument you are on, the numbers prove that there is no substitute for the human factor in property valuation!
I read a great article recently, also, in The Detroit Free Press about AVM vs. Appraisal. It was written by Kenneth R. Harney, who is the Washington Post's real estate guru. He says, "Bottom Line: Even FNC calls appraiser-collected data "the gold standard." AVMs can be useful starting points - although Zillow's free "Zestimates" have been criticized for frequent inaccuracy by a variety of groups,.......If you truly want to know what a property is worth, don't settle for less than an experienced appraiser, live and on site."
To read the entire article, visit washingtonpost.com and search for articles by Kenneth R. Harney.
I welcome comments on both sides of this argument! Have a great day!

Oh, Happy Days!

So, let's start with some good news and pics of those dear to my heart!

On May 11, 2007, my beautiful, sweet little girl , Danielle Marie, married the man of her dreams, Roger Dale Reynolds, Jr. They are an adorable couple and we are all very happy for them! We are postponing the wedding reception until August, so family members who are in the Armed Forces may attend.



What a whirlwind of events during their wedding week! My other beautiful, sweet little girl, Hannah Catherine, came home from Arizona, and brought her beautiful, sweet little boy, Oliver Andrew! (He is the love of MY life - sorry, hubby!)


And, in the middle of all of this commotion, my handsome, sweet son's beautiful, sweet girlfriend, Sarah, threw him a surprise 30th birthday party. You may witness from the photos (they all look much too happy!), that I was not in attendance at this party - I had the honor of keeping company with my first grandchild, Oliver.

Oh, Happy Days - I promise not to bore you often with all of this sweetness! We will get back to business next week!

I now have a live blog on my website, so I will just copy and paste news from one to the other. My website blog is not as pretty as this one!

Photos: Danielle and Roger on their wedding day

Danielle, Hannah, and Jacob at his surprise 30th birthday party.

Jacob and Sarah at his surprise 30th birthday party.

Oliver Andrew - the love of my life!

Breaking News

BREAKING NEWS

Ford's 2006 loss totals record $12.7 billion.....

Pfizer to Lay Off 10000, Close Plants in Cost-Cutting Moves.....

Michigan's average unemployment rate for the first ten months of 2006 has been 2.1 percentage points higher than the corresponding national figure.....


Okay, so none of this is "breaking news"! We all know firsthand how Michigan is suffering, again! Having lived here all of my life (with the exception of two years spent in New Mexico when I was young and adventurous), I know that this is the downside of a cycle that we will pull out of and Michigan will survive, if not flourish!

With that thought in mind (I mean the thought that Michigan will turn around again!), I opened this company last year; and at that exact same moment, the real estate bubble burst....and no, that was not part of my business plan! But, like Michigan, Appraisal Pros has just kept plodding along, always thinking forward, doing everything we can think of to reach our customers.

In the nine months that we have been operational, we have contacted thousands of potential customers, done mass mailings, practiced guerilla marketing over the internet (sorry about that!), hosted a contest, and printed dozens of different coupons. We are registered with at least 30 appraisal management companies (one of them must be yours!), and are listed in over 40 internet directories. We made sure to have the best possible technology upon opening, and even learned how to use it all! I have done the necessary networking, made personal deliveries of our introductory packet; in short, done everything that I know to do that is within our budget to attract your attention.

So, do you want to know what the "breaking news" is?

In spite of the fact that 90% of our contacts are Michigan based, only 2% of our orders are coming to us from Michigan companies!

We have received orders from companies in:

Irvine, California
San Ramon, California
El Segundo, California
Lake Forest, California
Warwick, Rhode Island
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Raleigh, North Carolina
Knoxville, Tennessee
Chicago Heights, Illinois
Toledo, Ohio
Frisco, Texas

and we are very appreciative of all of our new friends and customers!

And, we have received a handful of orders from our wonderful Michigan friends in Taylor, Oak Park, Southfield and Brighton.

But, if Michigan companies don't help each other, who the heck will?

So, come on, we are not asking for all of your appraisal business!

If each of our Michigan contact companies would send us one appraisal a month, we would be rockin'!

Now, if all of our wonderful Michigan contacts and friends send us one appraisal all at the same time, we will be in trouble! So, just keep us in mind over the coming weeks and send a little work our way!

I know it's hard to leave your comfort zone and do the extra work to take on someone new. But, with Michigan losing jobs faster than any other state, it is important that we support each other, and help sustain the new entrepreneurs out there!


And, now, for the other breaking news! Let me introduce you to my first grandchild, Oliver. He was born December 16, 2006; just a little peanut at 5lbs 6oz. But, he is gaining quickly now! He is wonderful! But, sadly, he lives about 3 thousand miles away in Arizona and cannot yet talk to me over the phone or the computer.....I did get to meet him for a few days in January, and am hoping to get back there soon!
















Questions?

I am posting this on my blog space, also, which you can locate near the bottom of the home page of our website http://www.appraisalpros.biz.

I guess it is possible to respond to a blog, though I have never attempted to do so. Please feel free to respond to our "breaking news" through my blog page, if you'd like, or ask us any questions that you may have.

Or call us at (313) 292-3200 if you have any questions or need more information from us.
Hope to hear from you soon! Thx!

Another new person to be....

My baby girl had her baby boy on Saturday, December 16, 2006. The little peanut was not due for another two weeks! I was able to watch him eat, cry, and sleep on video via his Daddy's MySpace page. So, MySpace is good for something! All I ever hear about MySpace is bad, bad, bad.....
So, now I have another new hat to wear. Grandma.....oh, boy.....not having had any grandmas to speak of (one Grandma had already passed on by the time I was born, and the other Grandma was very old and I never really knew her), I only have this wonderful image of what a Grandma is supposed to be....chubby, wearing an apron, baking cookies....oh, wait, maybe that's Aunt Bea. I have only just started getting used to wearing this "owner of my own company" hat...good thing the poor child is three thousand miles away and doesn't expect this Super Grandma person to appear every day to spoil him!
I am happy to say that this week has been busier than I expected! My predictions were that this week and next would be dead, due to the holidays, but I received orders and quite a few inquiries today....yeah! If you would like to see the video of my new, and quite adorable, grandson, visit www.myspace.com/debseivers. I hope to put some new ones on the page tomorrow, but I know that my baby girl is very tired and Baby's Daddy needs to tend to her before MySpacing.
So, until tomorrow, it's all good!
Deb Seivers
http://www.appraisalpros.biz
http://www.myspace.com/debseivers

Shame on ME!

It has been two months since my last blog....not good! I know that I am supposed to post new "stuff" every day, or at least every week! And the blog has not been neglected because we are too busy. In fact, quite the opposite! We have been so slow, that I have been spending all my time looking for and entering new contacts into our database. Poor Michigan suffers so when the economy is bad....or even semi-bad!
But, along with the silence of slow business comes the craziness of the holidays! How is it that my children are all grown and gone from the nest and Christmas still takes so much time? I love to decorate the outside of the house, which I guess takes up a big chunk of time. If I can get a decent night picture of the lights, I will post it for you. I am the absolute worst photographer in the world and have never gotten a decent shot of either the outside Christmas lights or my oh-so-cheerful indoor Christmas tree.
I promise today to do a better job at keeping you informed about The Appraisal Pipeline and my own personal Pipeline!
So, until next time, Happy Holidays and it's all good! Deb Seivers