A New Season (In More Ways Than One)

It that's time of year.  The time when school supplies are chaotically strewn about the big box stores, kids are sporting new shoes and backpacks, and social media sites are buzzing with "The first day kindergarten or middle school or high school or college" photos posted by joyful, and perhaps tearful moms and dads.  Yes it's back to school time and the end of summer break.

As I viewed wonderful photos of the smiling children of family and friends it made me reflect on our own family situation. We too are experiencing new seasons in life with this school year. As in years past, the beginning of school also indicates that football season is upon us.  I love the game and at any level (pro, college, high school, pee-wee).  I have found myself walking around the house singing "Its the most wonderful time of the year" from the top of my lungs while Jenny is rolling her eyes! Yes I love football, but more than that I love watching our oldest son Kade play.  I'm probably living vicariously through him, but I really don't take that as an insult.  He's a joy to watch and much of our life has revolved around his football career (I even coached his pee-wee team for several years). You could say we are VERY into it, but hey we do live in Texas.

This year however, marks a new era in our life. WE NOW HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT.  That's right....Kade is a freshman.  So not only is football season much different this year, life is much different. Football activity is fast and furious, school is more intense, homecoming dates are a mainline topic of conversation (Some parents are referring to it as "The Homecoming Hunger Games.")   How did this happen? Where did time go?  It seems like yesterday that I was helping a cute and innocent second grader put his football pads on and today he woke up a young man. 

2nd Grade

 

Freshman

Regardless, he brings us as much joy now as he did back then.  He's a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. We are exited to see him grow in the years to come.  Okay - As a Dad I admit I am including physical growth in my definition here, but more importantly his growth spiritually (growing relationship with Jesus Christ), intellectually, in maturity, and his desire to be a good human being.

As parents Jenny and I will continue to guide, coach, teach, and train Kade, but we know that he is now also becoming an individual with his own thoughts, actions, and accountability.  We have to let go a bit but continue to support, honor, and love him as he continues on his path! 

Here's to you Kade - "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth."  Psalm 127:4. 

Our quiver is full!

Kade and the Gang

Pop (Me) and his boys - Camp Copass for "Two-A-Days"

Problem Solved

Ryan IS a problem solver.  It's his gift, his talent, his God-given ability.  It's THIS character trait that obviously makes him very good at his job.

I didn't always realize that his problem-solving ability was what made him so successful at work.  I attributed his success to intellect, charm, and hard work, to name a few.   But lucky for me, his problem-solving talent comes in handy in his {our} personal life as well.

Let me share with you how his gift was revealed to me...

It was 2004 and we were about to be married.  We were busy packing, planning, and organizing--not only for our wedding but for our California honeymoon that would follow.  We lived in Texas and the wedding would be held in New Mexico so we had to make sure nothing was left behind.  Check, check, check---we are good to go, let's do this!

On our journey to New Mexico, we made a pit stop at my parents' home.  As I unpacked everything to spend one evening at their house, I.REALIZED.SOMETHING.AWFUL.

My arm pits were wet, my face was breaking out in a sweat, my heart was pounding, and like the bridezilla that I was, I yelled Where are all of my clothes for the honeymoon?

Naturally, my clothes were exactly where Ryan I left them.  In a suitcase in Texas.

My first immature instinct was to yell at Ryan and blame him for the whole darn predicament.  I would now have nothing only my wedding dress to wear as we cruised Pacific Coast Highway.  I know that my reaction to this incident gave him cause to reconsider asking me to be his bride.

Well, fortunately I didn't worry about it for too long.  I was excited about the wedding and I was truly excited about the man I was marrying.  The wedding went great and the next day we headed off to jump on a plane to LAX.

When we arrived at the Fairmont in Santa Monica, I checked in and the hotel attendant presented me with a very special "gift."  It was a big box wrapped in brown packaging, and I was curious as to who sent us a wedding gift TO OUR HOTEL?  Ryan encouraged me to open the gift and as I ripped open the box, I discovered all of my honeymoon clothes neatly folded and ready to wear!

I looked questioningly at Ryan, who explained that he had overnighted our house key to a friend in Texas, who then went over to our house and grabbed all of my clothes.  The friend then used Ryan's FedEx account to send them directly to our hotel.

Looking back now, it seems like such an easy obvious solution, but at the time, it felt like a miracle for him to pull off this feat: my honeymoon clothes were indeed going to be worn on the honeymoon!

Ryan continues to build on his problem solving skills and I'm proud to say that he is as creative as ever at making solutions, both personally and professionally.  I share this story with you today to make you aware of his talents and let you know that his problem-solving abilities are well-utilized on each and every loan that he does.  If you want someone who can make things happen and work hard to make your loan experience successful, you've come to the right place!

2004

The Creative Process Behind the Logo

Although we've had our new logo for about three weeks now, we just unveiled it this past week.  We've received A LOT of positive feedback, and so we want to share the making of the logo.

We hired THE GREAT Rob Shiflet @ Tailfish Solutions to curate a logo that was reflective of who we are.

Ryan really didn't have any specifics to give him, so he only made suggestions on what he thought we would both like:

• Ryan liked the idea of a "G" (representing our last name and obviously the corresponding company name).
• Ryan also had the idea of somehow incorporating a crown with the "G". This was a nod to me, because my maiden name is King, and I loved the crown idea because of another meaning: we are the son and daughter of The King.  (My mom also pointed out that Ryan is the "king" of my "castle.")
• Ryan hoped that whatever Rob made would reflect the industry that we are in.

Being the creative genius that he is, Rob hit a home run and conceived a rustic skeleton key that incorporated all of the above elements.   A skeleton key is generally used to mean an antique key; however the term skeleton key derives from the fact that the key has been reduced to its essential parts.   

Here are the essential parts of our skeleton key:

• The key symbolizes opening a house, which our clients do shortly after they receive their loan from us.  
• The bow (top) of the key is in the shape of a "G."
• The shank of the key has grooves/bits that establish a crown.

We are so very happy with the finished work that Tailfish Solutions has done for us!  Thanks to all of you for your support and compliments!

Open for Business!

We are so excited to be in our new 900 square foot office space!  One thing that we love is the history of the old building--before it was us, it was:

1.  Wild Bliss - boutique gift store
2.  Southern Charm - boutique gift store
3.  Capital Title - a title company (who is now 2 doors down but is about to move to a new building in Argyle)
4.  The Real Estate Station - a real estate brokerage who is now in another cute old yellow building in Argyle.
5.  A carpenter's shop

We aren't sure on the history of it beyond that, but we think it's a pretty neat place!

We are a part of a set of three buildings built with similar architecture and style.  One of those buildings was previously an open-air farmer's market.  After the market shut down, the building was enclosed.

We signed the lease on the building back in December but the office needed new paint and some other clean-up before we could start to move in.

The walls and cabinets and trim were baby blue from the previous tenants.  See picture below!

There were other details that we didn't like, such as brass hardware on the doors, and in the bathroom, that Ryan had to replace.

Because the previous business was a clothing boutique, we had to take down some of the wall clothing racks (seen above, behind Ryan).  We also had to do a lot of new business "stuff"; including turning on the utilities, obtaining a certificate of occupancy, having a fire inspection, etc. etc. etc.

Then came the paint.  Generally my area of expertise.  Picked out the following colors:

From left to right: ceiling, wall, trim, cabinets.  In my mind: off-white, tan/khaki, barn red, dark gray. Got Ryan's approval.  Check.

Well, the paint was completed and here is what it looked like:

Not sure what your opinion is…but Ryan thought the red looked pink.  Any man of reasonable character cannot have a pink office.  Obviously.  My thoughts?  It was a more "earthy" red.  But the bright white fluorescent lights were throwing things off and Ryan just wasn't having it.

He also did not like the cabinet color: said they looked brownish/greenish instead of gray.  I have to say that I agreed with him there, but at least the color was masculine.

So….

He called the painters and asked them to paint a small area that would be a darker red so that we could get an idea of whether or not we really wanted to paint again.

Obviously now we are dealing with the reality that the "organic earthy red" is indeed pink.

So...here we go again.  Painters please come back and paint our trim "dark red."  Fortunately we were not moved in yet so it wasn't a big deal.  That is, if you don't count the extra cost.

Skip forward: we have moved our furniture into the office, got everything kind-of arranged (but not organized) and I just can't stand the color of the cabinets.  I suggest we change out all 48 of the fluorescent bulbs: from bright white to soft white.  I think this will help because:

1)  The lights already give me a headache.
2)  I cannot stand cool white lights (think Wal-Mart).
3)  I believe it will change the color tone of the cabinets.

Well, the bulbs make the place look A LOT better: warmer, inviting, more house-like instead of office-cubicle-like.  BUT I still hate the cabinet color.

Re-enter painter.

Please come paint the cabinets black.  I cannot even bare to pick out a shade of gray for fear that it will have any color tone in it that I do not like.

And now?  We have matte black cabinets.  We also have less money.

Final result:

Please note: these are iPhone pictures and they aren't high-quality!

We are both happy, happy, happy--and now we can move past painting and work on things that will actually earn us money instead of cost us money!

We are now working full-time in the new office and although we haven't decorated yet, we are completely functional!  Come by anytime and have some coffee!

All In!

Happy {soon to be} New Year!  I am very excited for 2014!  For the past several months, I have spent much time thinking about where I am at and where I want to go…

(Image found on Pinterest)

In April of 2013, I ended my time as employee, and began my journey as self-employed.  This has been a very different, but very rewarding experience.  Although I've experienced typical start-up challenges, I've grown more and more excited about my business each and every day.

After much thought and prayer over the past two months, I decided: I'M ALL IN!

Yes, I'm all in.  I've been blessed to have opportunities that allow me to make some changes to my business and give.it.my.all.  Folks, I get to live.out.my.dream!

I'm glad to be at this place, with this mindset.  I feel good about where I've been and even better about where I'm going.

I've been brainstorming, using both my business and creative abilities to make changes that I've long dreamed of and that will benefit both me and those I serve.  Talented people surround me and are working with me to help me achieve my goals.

Image courtesy of Hack College

Here are just a few updates that are already in motion for 2014:

1. New business name
2. New location
3. New website
4. New client services
5. New people at my office

And there's much more on the horizon!

Image courtesy of MyUrbanAccess

I'm going to be unveiling each of these changes over the next two months and I literally can't wait to share them with you.  I'd love to have you connect with me on one (or more) of these social media sites as I announce the details of each change online:

Facebook
Twitter
Linked In

Thank you for your support in 2013!  I'm wishing each of you a very blessed year!

Cheers!

Thank You!

As I take the day off of work to spend time with the ones I love, I'd like to share with you just a few of the things I'm thankful for:

• My wife and children, who bring me the deepest of joys.
• A thanksgiving family gathering at an ice exhibit, even though it involved: waiting in line for an hour, being dressed in a parka, thousands of people in a small space, and wrestling a toddler in my arms!

Can you see the joy on my face?! Haha.

• The mortgage industry, which has allowed me to provide for my family and to serve others.
• The Thanksgiving Turkey Trot that my family participated in yesterday morning.

Ready to run! (Myself, my wife and kids, and my in-laws.)

Jenny and I, post-race

• Leftover turkey, which will undoubtedly be my lunch for the next week!
• Not being a participant in "Black Friday"
• The upcoming joy of the Christmas season, in which we will celebrate the birth of my Father.
• You! 

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Congratulations are in order!

Jo Scheel, of Montgomery ERA Real Estate in Carlsbad, was recently voted "Best Realtor in Carlsbad" by the readers of the Carlsbad Current-Argus.

Jo Scheel, of Montgomery ERA Real Estate

As someone who has worked in the real estate industry for many years, I can attest to the fact that it is very hard to please your clients.  And the reason that it is so difficult is because purchasing a house is typically the BIGGEST purchase of most people's lives.  It is a major decision and there is so much that goes into the home search as well as the mortgage process, so there are many opportunities for clients to become stressed.

Which makes this award even that much more special...her clients voted on her as THE. BEST. REALTOR.  {The greatest sign of a job well done is the client's appreciation of that job.}

Jo is very special to me, not only because she refers her clients to Xcel Lending, but because she is my aunt!  Congratulations Jo on a job well done.  I am so proud of you, and am blessed to work together with you on your real estate transactions.

Wishing you continued success in your profession!

Refinancing: A Good Deal!

I completed a refinance today for a family who will save $295/month on their monthly mortgage payment!  It's one of those closings where you feel really good about what you do, and how you can help people.  Putting an extra $3500/year into a family's budget is great.  GREAT!

Photo courtesy of doityourself.com

Refinancing usually isn't hard and the closing costs can be financed (rolled) into your loan.  Typically you will make back in a year those closing costs with the reduced monthly mortgage payment.

Who else is ready to refinance?!

Freed Family Closing

Congratulations to the Freed Family on their closing today!  We have enjoyed working with you and wish all the best in your new home!

"The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Intensity

The mortgage process is INTENSE!  Let me repeat that: the mortgage process is INTENSE! There are many different aspects of a loan: shopping around for the best rates and fees, completing an application, collecting data and statements, submitting forms and paperwork for underwriting, understanding closing costs, and much more.

Let's be honest: applying for a mortgage is not the easiest thing in the world.

Source

Why?  Because the lender who is loaning the borrower the money wants to make very certain that the borrower is credit worthy.  And all lenders have different requirements.  Which is why no mortgage is ever identical (and why I have to be ready to handle any and every situation).

And also: most people don't purchase or refinance their home on a regular basis; so therefore they aren't completely versed or up-to-date in how everything works.  Applying for a mortgage is more like having surgery (something that happens not very often) than it is going through the drive-through (something that happens often).  It is hard to manage expectations due to the infrequency with which mortgages take place in one household.

I have explored the idea of making some videos to help explain the loan procedure A to Z so that our clients can better understand how the process works.

While browsing around on the Internet, I found this short and easy video about closing costs that I really liked.  (Much credit to the title company who created this video.)

This video, as well as others, has inspired me to work on having a library of information that my clients can turn to for quick and easy explanations.  I will update you as I work on creating a painless, less intense, mortgage process for you!

A Kindred Spirit

Oddly enough the phrase, a kindred spirit, has been coming to mind a lot lately.  Maybe it's because I recently watched Anne of Green Gables, an all-time favorite book and movie from my childhood.  Anne refers to anyone she admires or loves as a kindred spirit!

Well, one of my kindred spirits is moving to the DFW area.  She is one of my oldest bestest girlfriends and we played AAU basketball together for many years.  We spent lots of summers together, literally thousands of hours of basketball playing time.  When you spend that much time with someone, you can't help but develop an awesome bond!  Her move to this area is an answer to prayer and God is good!  I can't even wait for her, and her family, to move here!

1992ish? She is on the front row to the left (#15) and I'm standing up behind her (#11)

Young Guns @ Salt Lake City, UT

National AAU Championships (she on the front row in the middle and myself on the second row to the far left)

She will be here in July, and I am so blessed because Xcel is working on her mortgage and assisting her as she and her husband purchase their very first home!  We love working with our friends!

Happy day!

Everyday I'm Hustlin'

The fact that we now have a Texas license has most certainly taken things up a notch around here!  This week was full of busy-ness and craziness!  Ryan came home with comments like, This feels like the good ole days back when I was a loan officer and I did lots of multi-tasking today and I've got a lot to do tomorrow.  You know, it really feels great to work.  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. --Colossians 3:23

The kids had lots of activities this week, so the dropping off and the picking up combined with the things that needed to be done in the office equaled one busy week.  I worked on our Facebook business page and our CRM system, which is a really sophisticated database management system.  I'm pretty excited about the CRM because it will put us ahead of the game technology-wise, and it will be a huge benefit to our clients.  More on that later.

Also considering creating some videos for our clients to view as they work through the mortgage process.  Ryan speaks Mortgage-ese and I speak Real Estate-ese, but we realize that not everybody (and especially first-time homebuyers) speaks our languages.  So we hope to create some videos that will clearly explain the basics of interest rates, closing costs, the mortgage process, etc.

Realizing that many of our clients prefer social media (rather than telephone), we plan to amp up our social media presence over the next few weeks.  We love social media but we also love good old-fashioned talking on the phone too.  Anybody remember what a land line is?

It feels great to hustle!  Looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

Pop Open the Bubbly!

Well after a very frustrating morning, we were elated to find out this afternoon that our Texas license has FINALLY been approved!  We have been waiting for months to get over this hurdle so that we could start working on some Texas loans.  Two words: Divine Intervention.

We are now ready to serve our Texas clients!

Happy day - we will be toasting with some bubbly tonight!

My Perspective

I'm so proud of Ryan and the perseverance he has in beginning his own company.  Starting from scratch!  He has always been a hard worker with more than adequate dedication to his job, and I admire his ability to build...whether it is building a company, building a family, or building me a desk for my art studio...he always builds with his whole heart.

Xcel Lending will be a place he can pour his big heart into: he can leverage his strengths and enjoy serving the needs of others using his expertise and natural abilities.

We have both laughingly said how exciting and wonderful this time is because it's like when we first moved to Texas and began our careers and we had this whole huge road in front of us with no clue what was to come.  (It's kind-of like when you are dating and you don't know the other person yet but you are just blown away by what you do know.  The infatuation stage!)  This is how the business is for us right now: super exciting, hard to sleep at night, eager to build and serve, challenging in a marvelous way, anticipating the future!

My role for now at Xcel (as we start from the beginning and start small) is accountant, social media helper, and personal assistant (i.e. director of Ryan Grandi's happiness)--ha!  I'm really just trying to use my experience and knowledge to contribute however I can.  I am enjoying this sweet time with Ryan when we communicate throughout the day, work together using our strengths, and problem solve together.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all roses and loveliness--however most of the time it's wonderful and exciting!

Have a great weekend!

A Logo!

We have a new logo for our company!  We like the black and white color scheme; very classic, but we also have the logo in blue when we feel like we need a little pop of color!  The design of the four houses with the "X" in the middle was something that we felt like just fit with our business.

We are excited to start on this new venture, and to use the logo in all of our business correspondence!

Office Photos

I am happy today to share some of the photos that I've taken of Ryan's office.  It has turned out pretty well, although I'm still figuring out how to deal with the yellow-ish walls, florescent lights, and lack of a window.  None of these things are bad, but I think we need a different shade of lighting in his office to brighten things up a bit.  I haven't put my finger on it yet!

A larger view of Ryan's desk, and office space

The wood grain, and contrasting trim and bolts

Beautiful texture

Cropped view of his desk

Dual monitors connected to the desk top, very efficient

Working away

The piece behind his desk that holds all of his accessories

The top of the unique furniture piece, including his antique fan

A close-up so you can see how rusty this piece is!

Awesome leather chair that we took out of our home office

Client chair

Rustic detail of chair

Getting systems set up

We are still working on getting everything put together, but I like how it's turning out so far.

Fabulous Furniture

Ryan and I finished his Canton furniture projects and moved everything up to the office this week.  I want to share one picture I have, with the following disclosures:

• I took this photo with my iPhone
• It is not a good photo, and does not do the furniture justice
• I will soon post updated photos that I've taken with my camera, which will be much more detailed

Ryan finished his desk up with a handsome black matte base and a glossy chestnut top.  In addition, he added some handsome silver bolts to the corners of the desktop.  It's hard to see the contrast and details here, but it looks awesome!

The unique piece behind him holds all of his paper, files, folders, cards, junk, etc.  It is a rustic silver finish and it is in one word: cool.  We pressure washed it and added wheels to the base, but other than that we left it in it's original rustic state.  I like.

We brought up the old fan that Ryan got a bargain on, and it added some additional rustic-ness to the room.  The Texas flag framed up is a nice pop of color to the other neutrals in the office.

Ryan, being the technology lover that he is, made sure that he shoved up all of his cords and power strips under the desk so that they wouldn't show.  His dual screens are pretty cool because not only can he work more efficiently but he can also turn a screen around when he has a client in the office so that the client can view the screen. Which, by the way...the chairs in front of his desk that are for clients turned out well.  We cleaned them up a bit but again didn't do too much because we wanted to keep things rustic.

The big chair behind his desk actually came from my home office.  It's comfy and has a great leather hide on it and is really more fitting for him than myself.  And it also gives me an excuse to find a unique chair next time we go to Canton :)

More pictures soon, I promise.

Weekend Work

I spent the weekend (mostly Saturday since Sunday was Easter) working out in my shop.  My goal was to get the furniture refurbished as quickly as possible so that I could move it up to my new office.  The new office is a little executive suite in the town where we live.  Good-bye long commute every day.

Here are some photos that Jenny had our son (13) take of me working on the furniture over the weekend.

Photographic credits here

Me in the midst of all of our "treasures"

Ready to get started

The beginnings of my "new" desk

Cut the legs down some and stripped the current paint

Sanding the top of the desk

Looking pretty smooth

My little helper

I painted the base black and stained the top walnut

A classic Easter photo 

I'll have Jenny post pictures of the final office set-up once everything is complete.