The eenager found her own ride home. Neighbor’s 7-year-old got picked up as did my 8-year-old 15 minutes later seven miles away (don’t ask … I think hydroplaning was involved.)

Ten-year-old son didn’t expect a ride and walked home in the rain while I spent 20 minutes in line waiting for him to come out of his school’s main entrance. He took the back way. Grrrr.

Elapsed time for this whole escapade: 90 minutes.

Far be it from me to mock the gods of weather again. It’s been pouring for the past two-plus hours solid. If form holds, by this time Sunday my winter lawn will be six feet high.

That’s it from the update desk. See below for the rain posts today:

Rain in Tucson (Home of Nogales Technical Institute)

It’s Raining in Phoenix

The tide is high but I’m moving on.

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Not what you’re probably expecting if you’ve been singing along the last month, but in light of tomorrow’s game against Nogales Tech, it’s the ONLY appropriate melody …

Oh … and Happy Birthday, Dad! That song got bumped, too.

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(This is the part where you imagine dramatic graphics of rain splashing against the pavement, cars sending up rooster tails as they navigate through a flooded intersection, flashes of lightening and the ever-important theme music pounding in the background. Just like a CNN Special Report. Work with me.)

Rain has been spotted on the Doppler radar. Not in the Phoenix metro area, mind you, but sitting over the Gulf of California and slowly working its way toward southern Arizona.

This has not prevented the children from asking for a ride to school. However, given there is neither rain nor three feet of snow impeding their four-block stroll, they’re on their own.

That’s how I roll.

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This Phoenix Mortgage Rates Report is a SPECIAL EDITION: Why it makes sense to refinance…TODAY.

If refinancing the mortgage, for your home in Phoenix, has been on your mind, two things just happened which should compel you to do just that:

1- 30 year fixed rate mortgages dropped below 6% for the first time since October, 2005. While I am a staunch advocate of ARMs, as the least expensive mortgage, Wall Street seems to be rewarding the credit-worthy borrowers who are willing to lock-into a fixed rate mortgage. Wall Street may be trying to push people into locking into loans, because they believe that rates are dropping, but I think that a fixed rate loan under 6% is about as good as it gets.

2- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make borrowers jump through more hoops…again. Next month, borrowers who do NOT have a FICO score of at least 680 will be assessed with a healthy penalty; 1-2% of the loan amount. What that means is that the interest rate charged could be as much as .75% higher than the rates offered to borrowers with stellar credit (or the cost of the loan will be 1%-2% more).

If you are holding out for lower mortgage rates, that may happen next month. You might be left out in the cold if your credit score isn’t high enough. I’ve seen people who have perfect credit histories with a credit score under 680 so don’t get cocky; this could happen to you ! While rates could drop another .25%, you could be forced into a rate that is .25 higher than you could get today.

ACTION PLAN: Call me today at 858-699-4590 for a mortgage rate review.

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Speaking of technological stupidity, I posted the beginnings of a post meant to be a draft and now find myself writing the post as quickly as possible for those who are wondering why there are only scattered notes on a page.

Still with me?

One of the cool things about the boys at sellsius is their penchant for thinking outside the box. I happened upon this comment on a post from Shaun McLane’s “Every Kid Deserves a Yard” blog in Orlando. Shaun was terminated by his broker for failing to remove a blog post to which she objected.

The comments generally were supportive of Shaun’s right to post what he chooses but a sub-theme became prevalent … does the video in question and his blog in general meet state real estate advertising standards. That brought the following from Rudy at sellsius:

is blogging really advertising? how about a forum? what about a wiki? what about an email?

isn’t it really a platform for communicating? teaching? educating? learning? venting? etc…..

when a journalist writes an article for the newspaper is that advertising?

If you are the author of a real estate blog, I can’t see how you can avoid conforming to local real estate advertising statutes. If you’re writing as a member of the public about your dogs then that’s a different story. But if you’re a licensed real estate professional and you’re discussing real estate on a website you own, that has to be advertising … even if the blog is primarily informational in nature.

Every real-estate related post is an advertisement of your knowledge about a given subject. There’s no way around that. Throw in the ubiquitous home searches, real estate market stats and everything else and it seems clear cut.

Journalists writing for a newspaper create an apples-to-oranges comparison. They write because they are paid by an employer to do so.

Fortunately for Shaun we’re in a business where we choose our employers to a far greater degree than we are hired by them. There ALWAYS are other brokerages from which to choose. And failing that there’s also the option of setting out on your own with your own broker’s license, which Shaun has.

Incidentally, Shaun’s isn’t the only blog where the broker’s information is not provided in a prominent location. It’s a 30-second fix should the state real estate department ever take a look, but it’s a tangential non-issue for the most past.

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