Bye the way, I network with a group of more than fifty business owners each week who are some of the very best in the fields they represent. My network covers just about every product and service a person or business might need. If you have a need in any of the following areas I will be happy to hook you up!  Please post your contact info in the comment section below and I will forward it on to the appropriate provider. You won’t be disappointed.

Accounts Receivable Services
Acupuncture – Chinese Medicine
Audio/Video & Home Automation
Automotive Body Shop
Automotive Detailing
Automotive Repair
Bookkeeping
Business Advisor
Business Trainer
Business Attorney
Commercial Insurance
Chiropractor
Carpets Floors Upholstery Cleaning
Commercial Banker
Computer Tech
Credit Card, Merchant Services
Dentist
Electrician
Family Attorney
Financial Advisor
Flooring: Carpet, Tile, Wood, etc
Florist
Health & Wellness Products
Health & Wellness Services
Health Insurance
Heating-Air Conditioning-HVAC
Interior Designer
Landscape Contractor
Life / Pension Insurance
Marketing Consulting
Massage Therapist
Mortgage Broker
Painter
Payroll Service provider
Personal Trainer
Photographer
Plumber
Printer
Property & Casualty Insurance
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Publisher
Realtor
Remodeling Contractor
Solar Engineer
Trainings & Seminars
Veterinarian
Water Damage Restoration
Web Design and Development

(Most of these providers serve  Orange County California and surrounding areas. )

~ The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it’s the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friend. ~
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bill Fletcher
www.lightbrightlistings.com

Not long ago I posted an article called “A Web Designers Answer to SB 133.” This article was in reference to California Senate Bill number 133 which became effective early this year. The bill was aimed at putting a stop to practices that many argued amounted to illegal compensation for the referral of title insurance business. I am sure the goal of the bill was to give the consumer a better deal on the title insurance required when buying and selling property in California. My article was aimed to start a discussion among title company representatives to find new web based ways for them to add value in the real estate transaction and promote solid relationships with their clients.

A funny thing has happened. I am starting to get calls and messages from consumers who are finding that they can no longer get the kind of useful public record information from title companies that they used to be able to get. I have to tell you the consumers that I have been in touch with are not happy about this at all. Their general attitude has been “If this is how the government is going to help me, please don’t help me any more!”

While the title companies and I try to sort this out, you consumers have one option. California SB 133 is enforced by the California State Department of Insurance, under Commissioner Steve Poizner. They have a web site where you can send them a comment on your experience. If they hear from enough of you that this bill is causing hardship to the people it was meant to help, perhaps it will be revisited.

The Commissioner’s site is located at:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/0400-talk-to-us/

The link on the page says:
For general questions or inquiries only, please click contact us.

This link is a quick and easy way to send a comment to the DOI via email. It will only take you a minute. Please let them hear from you. If this is how they are helping us with real estate matters, I can’t wait to see how they are going to help us with our healthcare!

Sincerely,

Bill Fletcher
www.lightbrightlistings.com

When Gibson’s carved-top guitar luthiers in Memphis began building the magnificent ES-137 Classic in 2002, it was an instant success that lived up to its name. The ES-137 is an instant “Classic” because it combines the glories of two classic styles of Gibson cornerstone instruments. Players sang – and still sing – its praises, citing the ES-137 Classic’s great feel and gorgeous appearance, as well as its astonishing sonic versatility, from the smooth, round, clean tones required for old-school jazz to the snarl and distortion of cutting edge rock.

Gibson ES 137 Classic Guitar

Closet Classic condition.  Asking $1495

Additional images may be viewed here

Sincerely,
Bill Fletcher
(949) 813 3861

It is time to invest my time and resources into my new career so the toys must go!

I am selling a 2006 KTM 450 EXC that has been legalized for street use with a current California license and registration. the bike is in exceptional condition with about 1000 miles, and about 50 hours on the clock.

2006 KTM 450 EXC California Steet Legal.

$6200 Price Reduced $5895

follow this link for more images.

Thanks,
Bill

Every once in a while you just have to pause and admire someone who has developed amazing skill at something.  Please do that now and watch this video of a bicycle rider who will drop your jaw.   Now I know you have probably seen kids who have no fear and little sense, who sail off jumps thirty feet in the air.  This is not that.  This is Danny MacAskill, a young Scottish man who has truly mastered his craft.

The video takes awhile to build. If you watch the first minute-forty five, I don’t think you will be able to turn away until it is over. Enjoy!

This is an experiment to see if I can embed an HTML button in a post.  If you can see a green button above this sentence please try to press it.

Thanks,

Bill

After originating mortgages in California for 22 years, I returned to school and have now made the leap to an account manager position for White Ink Studio, a web design firm here in California.  One of the first things I recognized about my new field is how we might solve some of the business challenges of my previous field.

One of the first glaring opportunities I have uncovered is the major limitation now imposed upon Title Insurance Representatives here in California by the recently enacted Senate Bill 133.

The main thrust of SB133 is to license Title Representatives, and to reign in the practice of “buying” title business with offers of food, entertainment, office equipment, and other goodies.  I must admit I enjoyed the ball game, or concert tickets that I was plied with from time to time, but I really do agree that the selection of a title insurance vendor should be based on the needs of the consumer instead.

Title insurance is a critical requirement and major expense in most every real estate transaction in California yet buyers and sellers are usually happy to allow the Realtor or lender to select a Title Insurance Company for them.  This did create a scenario where the selection of a title insurance company may not have always been based on the best interests of the consumer.  All too often the perquisites offered to the agents involved by representatives of the major insurance vendors figured into the decision.  

Bill Fletcher is hunting for lazy websites!”   – I recently posted this statement on my Facebook profile.   The response was immediate.

“What the heck is a lazy website?”

I falsely assumed everyone would know exactly what I meant, forgetting that not everyone has  spent the last two years studying web development and design.  I thought for a minute about how to explain what a lazy website is in just a few words on Facebook.  I came up with this:  “A lazy website is one that costs you a little money rather than making you a lot of money.”

Ultimately, I could not do justice to a subject as diverse as next generation website design in a Facebook word bite.  To appreciate the next generation in web site capability you really have to look at what led to the sites most of us have currently.

The Internet was developed out of a need to facilitate the sharing of vast amounts of information among groups of researchers located in various locations.  Once the general public got a hold of it, we tried our best to turn this revolutionary life changing information engine into a colossal swap meet.  The rise and fall of this effort led to the infamous dot.com bubble we witnessed in the early part of this decade.

During the years since the bubble burst, several things happened:

1. Most of the “BuyMyTrinkets.com” operations have withered leaving only those with an actual viable e-commerce business plan.
2. Most businesses have gone ahead and put up a website anyway.
3. A vast majority of people now use the Internet regularly and can not imagine going back to life without it.

Even thought we business owners had witnessed firsthand the burst of the dot.com bubble, most of us knew we needed to have a website nonetheless.  We just weren’t sure what it was supposed to do.  We felt certain the first thing a prospective customer would do is check out our website to make sure we are legit.   To have no website was to risk failing that first test our prospects would put us too.  I still believe this may actually be true.

  

 

 

 

As many of you know, while Cindy has kept the wheels turning at Laguna Beach Mortgage, Bill has spent the last year studying and working to learn all of the many technologies behind the scenes in the exciting field of web marketing and development.  I continue to study because it is my ultimate goal to master the internet, and then invent the next big thing in social marketing, thereby becoming fabulously wealthy.  (I will invite you all to visit me on our private tropical island.)

 

My quest for mastery continues but I have reached a point where it is time to put my skills to work!  I have joined an advertising and web marketing agency that shares the same values that have always guided Cindy and me in whatever we do.  The firm is called White Ink Studio and represents a brand new alliance of seasoned veterans from the marketing, commercial design, and web development disciplines.   

 

My role with White Ink Studio will be to go out into the world and find lazy web sites so my colleagues Pete, Corey, and Jamie can do their magic and show the folks what is possible with the right team behind them.   

 

Many of you who I now count as friends started out as clients first.   I can not leave the mortgage industry after twenty two years without first letting you know how much I appreciate the blessing of your loyalty and support.   I welcome the opportunity to assist you in any way I can in my new capacity.

 

Sincerely,

Bill Fletcher 
White Ink Studio | P: 949.813.3861 | F: 949.544.0215 | E: Bill@WhiteInkStudio.com

 p.s. Cindy is still turning the wheels at Laguna Beach Mortgage and she would love to hear from you too!

If you follow real estate, politics, or life in general, you have probably heard about the latest effort to help support this vital market.  A new program launched on March 4th will offer help to many who have to who have not been able to take advantage of the low interest rate climate because they no longer have the required amount of equity in their property.  Although the program was launched effective immediately, most lenders are still trying to work out details of the implementation.  I have seen memos from some who expect to begin accepting applications  on April 4th.  Some of the details are likely to change between now and then but here are some of the guidelines as we know them.  There are actually two parts to the program.  the first part is a simple refinance of an existing FNMA program. For this program here is what we know: