And We Wonder Why the Banks Are in Trouble

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So one of my employees and her husband just closed on their first house last night, but only after their mortgage company put them through the ringer on Monday and Tuesday.  They'd submitted all their paperwork in early July and had been assured that everything was in order.  On Monday they called just to make sure everything was cool and that's when the mortgage company pulled the "well we don't have everything we need from you" routine even though everything had been submitted and receipt had been confirmed weeks earlier. 

One of the things that the mortgage company said was missing was verification of my employee's employment so she gave them my direct number and they said they would call right away. That was mid-day on Monday and by five they hadn't called so she called back and the woman she was dealing with said that she'd talked to me and everything was okay.  In other words the mortgage company's rep lied or had a conversation in her head that she confused with a phone call to me.

Cut to this morning. I received a call from the mortgage company to confirm my employee's employment.  Like I said, they closed last night so really the horse was out of the barn.  I guess if she had lied the mortgage company could have taken possession of the house as a recourse, but I can't imagine there are many banks out there that would want to take possession of another house in this day and age. 

Sheesh.

Only at Wal Mart

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OnlyAtWalMart I tried to post this from my Blackberry last night, but for some reason Typepad's mobile function ain't working for me right now.  Anyway, I took this picture at Wal Mart on Hanes Mall Blvd last night.  Those who know me well know that I rarely shop and I only go to Wal Mart under extreme duress, so let's just say that I had to do a little searching to find what I needed: table leg levelers and table cloths for work.  While searching for the levelers I found myself in the hardware aisle and stumbled on the display in the picture.  Only in Wal Mart would you find a jockstrap, golf tees, golf head covers and batting gloves displayed next to the furniture gliders and other various and sundry hardware items.  And yes, they were supposed to be there according to the price labels on the hangers.

BTW, did you know it's damn near impossible to find a plain white table cloth?  I tried, desperately, to find them at any place but Wal Mart last night and I struck out.  Damn you, Target.  I did find two ivory table cloths at Wal Mart fresh off the boat from China, but unfortunately when I unpacked them this morning they were stained.  As in big, gigantic coffee looking stains.  Had to happen at the manufacturer because the plastic containers they came in were sealed (not opened and returned). 

On a positive note the lady at the check out aisle was very nice to me.  She was ready to close down but saw me in the next line with my two items and said she'd take care of me before she closed down. 

Always lookin' for that glimmer of positive, I am.

links for 2009-08-19

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  • Association Inc.: When “A-ha!” Meets “Well, Duh”
    My favorite part of this post: "If you define membership as entrance into a community, then you’ve just commoditized your membership — and if you don’t have higher aspirations than “bringing people together” then you will find yourself struggling with a steep uphill battle over the next several years. Connections are just too easy. Leveraging connections (whether made through you or someone else) to provide real value and influence? Now, that’s hard, and a lot more fun."
    (tags: association)

links for 2009-08-18

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links for 2009-08-17

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  • The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do " blog maverick
    According to Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the most patriotic thing you can do is: "Bust your ass and get rich.

    Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes."

    He also says:
    "I’m not saying that the government’s use of tax money is the most efficient use of our hard earned capital. It obviously is not. In a perfect world, there would be a better option. We don’t live in a perfect world. We don’t live in a perfect time. We live in a time where the government plays a big role in an effort to help lead us out this Great Recession. That’s reality.

    So I will repeat my point. Get out there and make a boatload of money. Enjoy the shit out your money. Pay your taxes.

    Its the most Patriotic thing you can do."

    (tags: entrepreneurship entrepreneur economics business politics taxes money innovation)

  • NY Times: Believers Invest in the Gospel of Getting Rich

    I truly don't know how these people sleep at night.

    (tags: religion)

  • Vie de Malchance: FHA Continues Subprime Lending

    Just when I started seeing light at the end of the tunnel Fec goes and screams "Train!"

    (tags: economics)

  • Cool Business Card Idea

    Guerrilla Marketing has a cool biz card idea.

    (tags: marketing)

  • Health Care Stats for 2009

    Some interesting health care stats for the developed world. Two numbers that grabbed my attention: US spends higher percentage of GDP (16%) on healthcare than other countries, yet has fewer doctors per capita than the others (2.4 per 1,000 vs. the 3.1 per 1,000 that is average in rest of developed world).

    (tags: healthcare)

  • NY Times: Why We Need Health Care Reform by Barack Obama

    The President submits an op-ed to the Grey Lady. He states his case for health care reform. His final paragraph: "In the end, this isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives and livelihoods. This is about people’s businesses. This is about America’s future, and whether we will be able to look back years from now and say that this was the moment when we made the changes we needed, and gave our children a better life. I believe we can, and I believe we will."
    On a side note I must say that I'm fairly certain that the President engaged his staff to help write this piece, but at the same time I'm also fairly certain that he has the ability to pen the piece on his own if he so desires. Can't say I think the same about his predecessor's writing ability.

    (tags: healthcare government)

links for 2009-08-15

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links for 2009-08-13

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Coldwell Banker Triad Launches Mobile Site

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Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors has launched a mobile version of their listings so that house hunters can use their Blackberries, iPhones, etc. to look up listings.  Not sure how many local realtors have done this, but I think if they haven't then they'll need to get on the stick pretty quickly.  I think the days of carrying around listing printouts are numbered.

Anyone know if ListingBook has a mobile version?

A Little Good News for Forsyth County

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According to this report Forsyth County saw the largest increase (5.9%) in visitor spending in 2008 of the large tourist destinations in North Carolina. And here are some interesting stats:

Visitor expenditures directly generated 190,500 jobs and nearly $4.2 billion in payroll income within North Carolina in 2008. Payroll increased 3.9 percent from 2007. Visitor spending in the state also directly generated close to $2.7 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments in 2008, up 3.6 percent from 2007…

Mecklenburg County received more than $3.6 billion in domestic travelers' expenditures to lead all 100 of North Carolina's counties. Wake County ranked second with more than $1.5 billion, followed by Guilford County with close to $1.1 billion.