MORTGAGE RATES REPORT

Searchlight Crusade: Monthly Consumer Articles Catalogue

Dan Melson, the other mortgage blogger in San Diego, hosts a monthly contest on Searchlight Crusade.  I missed the top tier by a smidge.  Here are the recommended articles from Dan:

RECOMMENDED

I disagree with some of what Brian Brady writes in San Diego Real Estate and Housing Outlook for 2009, but it is well reasoned and he makes a good case. Were it of broader area applicability, I would have put it in the "strongly recommended" section.

Fed Policy, Economics 101 & the Housing Market talks about some of what causes housing prices to rise or fall.

Dave McCormick On Restoring Global Stability has some good macro-economic information.

$7500 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is a good basic overview.  It is called a tax credit, but it really is a tax loan, not a tax credit.

Your host presents Will I Qualify for the Loan to Buy Real Estate During The Market Meltdown?

I had the pleasure of meeting Dan at the SDBloggers Meetup, earlier this week.  I tried to bribe him with the offer of a free drink but the man is completely beyond corruption.  Notwithstanding, it was a pleasure to meet Dan and talk industry talk with him all night. 

Both Dan and I contribute monthly to the San Diego Special Edition, hosted by Carole Lane. Carole was at the SDBloggers meetup.  I tried to bribe her, too but she is as virtuous as Dan.

Follow Camp Pendleton Fires News On Twitter

Here we go again:

More than 1000 acres of land on Camp Pendleton goes up in flames, after a wildfire breaks out on the base Wednesday.

If you want to follow the action, check out this Twitter feed and this blog.  Social media are the 21 century version of the ham radio operators. Twitter played a big role during the 2007 San Diego Wildfires; it should be even more useful this year.

Originally posted on Bloodhound Blog

ActiveRain.com v. Move.com

Active Rain sued Move.com for failure to complete a contractual agreement to buy the network.

Rather than has out all the details here, I'll lead you to some interesting reading:

That "nosy NELA lady", Cheryl, breaks the news.

Owen lays out the complaint

Stefan begs you to judge whether Active Rain has the "secret sauce"

Joel wonders about the catfight.

Greg suggests that those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

Kevin attempted a two minute valuation with a specific guess about Active Rain's value.

I chose sides, then guessed about who the star witness will be and why both parties got in bed.

Oh, if you're not in the real estate or technology business, you just don't care about this drama.  If you are, then this will consume you for 2-3 days.  Come Monday, we'll be back to approving the un-approvable loans and selling the un-marketable houses.

But...for now, a brief RE.net soap opera.  We will return to our original programming tomorrow.

Remembering Aaron

Lani Anglin and I write on the acclaimed Bloodhound Blog.  We've never met but we share a whole bunch of things in common.  We've developed a "friendship" commenting on each other's weblogs these past few months. 

Lani lost her brother, yesterday, in a tragic car accident, as he drove to her home.  She reports:

To me, the important thing to know is that the crazy kid in the funny video is my newly 24 year old little brother Aaron who died yesterday on impact. He was driving to my house (to make another silly video) and was driving with his wife (Aleisha Anglin, 25) and their two babies (Eleanor who turns 1 THIS week and McKenzie who is only 6 weeks old).

Aleisha & Eleanor should be released today and McKenzie is in the ICU in improving condition. We have tons of family surrounding us and St. Thomas More parish is providing food this week for our entire family!

Aaron was awesome and his marketing work can be found at http://benaaronanglin.carbonmade.com. He was confirmed in the Catholic faith last week, laughed his butt off at ICanHasCheezburger.com with me this week.

We were born 18 months apart (Irish twins) and grew up as best friends with so many lame stories.

Greg Swann points out the practical needs of the family:

Aaron Anglin is survived by a wife and two very young daughters. The way I’m reading things, he died without life insurance, which puts those three ladies on a very hard road.

If you can spare something for them, put it in the form of negotiable funds — cash, cashier’s check or money order — and overnight it to:

      Aleisha Anglin
      c/o Lani Anglin
      2719 Costa Azul Cove
      Leander, TX
      78641

April is working on setting up a donation account with Bank of America, and I’ll amend this post when that account becomes available.

But: I will promise you that there are people who will want to be paid now, and this young family will have immediate and ongoing needs. There was a time in your life when fate could have hit you this hard. Now is your chance to redeem that good fortune.

Please join me by remembering Aaron and his family in your prayers.  Any help you might give the family will be appreciated.