the ELEMENT age Lending in Mortg
2 0 2 0 Q U A R T E R LY E D I T I O N
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Sell Yourself
without selling out
Just out for a Drive
HEALTH in the NEWS
Is your backpack giving you pain?
A rare second chance Sitting down to dinner together—
IT’S HEALTHY
Spotlight
Kevin Blair Team Tennessee Mortgage Advisors
Kevin Blair Loan Officer
Loan Originator in the Spotlight
Kevin Blair NMLS# 151159 | GA MLO 59188 Element Funding 5617 Hwy 153 Suite 201 Hixson, TN 37415 Phone 423-488-7571 www.kevinblairteam.com kevinblair@elementfunding.coma
Kevin has over 40 years of lending experience including 20 years as a Top Producer in the mortgage industry. He is also part of Element Funding’s Elite Circle for Top Producers. Licensed in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, he has closed more than 2,500 mortgages assisting thousands of people in realizing the dream of home ownership. Kevin takes pride in quoting exact fees and giving sound financial advice and has a common sense approach. He is a straight shooter and will tell you the truth every time! His attention to detail is unmatched in the industry. Under his management, in the last 11 years, he has had only 2 loans not approved in underwriting after he said yes giving him a 99.9% closing rate. When he Kevin says you are approved… you can start packing! Kevin is CE Certified in the state of Georgia and Tennessee and enjoys teaching real estate professionals about the mortgage process to better equipped them to serve the mutual client. Kevin is the host of the popular real estate radio show, “Mortgage Cents with Kevin” on Chattanooga’s NoogaRadio 92.7. You can listen to him every Saturday at noon. Kevin resides in Chattanooga along with his wife and has three children and nine grandchildren. When he is not working on mortgages you will find him riding his Harley Davidson or cheering on his Dallas Cowboys.
Just out for a
…
Drive A police officer stops a minivan full of elderly ladies being driven by an old gentleman because they’re only going 25 mph, stopping the mid-day traffic. The policeman asks the driver why is he going so slow. “Well that’s the speed limit, isn’t it! There was a sign saying 25 and
everything!” the driver defends himself. The policeman sighs, “No, that number’s the highway you’re on. It has nothing to do with the speed limit.” “Oh, so that’s what it means…” says the driver, shocked.
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The officer looks at the rest of the van and notices the grannies are looking somewhat frozen and stiff. “What’s up with the ladies?” he asks the driver. “Um…” the driver scratches his head, “you see, we just got off highway 150…”
TALK TOWN OF THE
@ELEMENT FUNDING
Talk of the Town is Element’s latest monthly circular that highlight comments shared by fellow colleagues about other members of the organization who continuously make a positive contribution to the workplace through areas such as productivity or quality gains.
Ray Evans: He is a great leader and truly cares for our clients.
Brad Roche: In just a couple of brief conversations, he has elevated my idea of value.
Ashley Campbell: Ashley has some of the hardest files yet she always seems to make it happen. She goes the extra mile.
Marlene Pena: She is so helpful with everything.
You all are true difference makers....every day.....thank you all!!!
Element Funding’s EXCELLENCE AWARD EXCELLENCE AWARD nal and Awarded for Exceptional Inter nd Element Expectations
External Service Above and Beyo
Founded 2007
Laura Zanetti Awarded April 2020
Congratulations!
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WITHOUT SELLING OUT
It’s one of the oldest clichés in the business: Sell yourself. But lots of people loathe the idea of selling at all. They associate it with con-artistry and insincerity. The biggest problem with the concept of selling is that it puts the focus on something that is outside rather than inside. It poses the impossible task of climbing into the heads of clients or customers and pretending to know what they want.
But if you want to improve your career opportunities, you’ll want to start with a clear focus on yourself. The first step is to know yourself. You do this by knowing what you want and where you want to go. Ask yourself some clarifying questions. What strengths do I possess? What are my most common stumbling blocks? How can I enhance my effectiveness? What is my biggest challenge? You also need to know your value. What accomplishments are you
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most proud of? What do you do best? How are you unique? Once you know what you want and what your value is, the next step is to communicate. True communication will reveal a genuine passion and will be conveyed clearly and honestly. When you do this, you might be surprised how things start “falling into place.”
Easy Shrimp Ceviche Shrimp ceviche is a simple and tasty dish that can be made in very little time. No fancy ingredients are needed and no cooking is involved in the preparation of this full-flavored ceviche recipe. Ceviche can be served as an appetizer with tortilla chips for scooping or with crackers.
Ingredients
2 pounds raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed 1/2 cup red onion, diced 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced 1 seedless cucumber, diced 2 tomatoes seeded and diced 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped finely 1/2 cup lime juice 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/3 cup orange juice Salt and pepper to taste 1 large avocado peeled, seeded and chopped
Directions Chop the shrimp into 1/2 inch pieces. Place the shrimp, red onion, jalapeno, cucumber, tomatoes, and cilantro in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix the lime, lemon and orange juices. Pour over the shrimp and vegetable mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Add the chopped avocado and gently mix to combine. Serve.
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Health in the News If it’s not the flower, it could be the flour
Make fitness a part of your daily routine
National Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month serves as a reminder to tackle your spring cleaning projects to maintain a safe environment for optimal health. There’s no better time than now to address these areas: • Around the house. Shampoo carpets and upholstery, clean window treatments, vacuum out corners and crevices, and address those areas in your home where dust, mold, and allergens could be lurking and waiting to trigger an asthma event. • In the kitchen. If you or someone in your family is one of the 32 million Americans with a food-based allergy, you’ll want to check your pantry and cupboards. After you toss out all the expired food items, take time to review the ingredients of those remaining for known allergens such as wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, nuts, tree nuts, fish, and seafood.
Here are four strategies that will help you get active. They’re inspired by Cat Kom, a working mom, physical trainer, and CEO: 1. Make it a part of your day. Check your schedule and you’re sure to find 30-minutes to an hour you can set aside for a workout. It might not be the same time each day, but surely you have free time you can commit doing something for your health. 2. Do what you love, and then some. Start with an activity you like and will be easy for you to commit to. Once you’ve found your groove and your plan is become a consistent part of your routine, begin to incorporate some different workouts to make sure you are addressing all muscle groups. Don’t forget to make warm ups, cool downs, and stretching a part of your routines. 3. Try something new. There are so many different ways to stay active these days and you should try some of them. Consider spinning, hula hooping, working out with resistance bands, or a cardio trampoline class. You’ll never get bored trying new things, and it will help you continually develop fun and diverse goals. 4. Be reasonable. Some weeks will be more challenging than others, and there just won’t seem like there is enough time to squeeze in a workout, but you can. If you only have 15 minutes you can jump rope, hula hoop, walk/jog around the block, or repeat a circuit of push-ups, planks, and burpees. The point is to do something physical every day.
Here are a few more areas you’ll want to check for allergens that might be hiding in plain sight: • Your child’s room. Make sure stuffed animals and bean bag toys aren’t filled with nut shells, crayons are soy free crayons, and play dough is the wheat-free version. • Fido’s corner. Your dog loves those biscuits and bone treats you give him, but if they contain peanut butter or milk by-products, more sensitive members of your household might have adverse reactions. • The bathroom. The biggest culprit here might be your shampoo, conditioner, soap, or lotion, so read the labels carefully.
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Is your backpack giving you a pain? Did you know that a heavy or poorly adjusted backpack can cause back and neck pain? If you are going to carry a backpack, you might want to follow these tips: • As a rule of thumb, your backpack should not weigh more than 10% of your body weight—and it should never exceed 15%. If your pack is too heavy you might start leaning forward or sideways or arch your back. This can cause pain. • Use both shoulder straps. Flinging your pack over one shoulder puts all the weight on one side. • If you must carry more weight, buy a sports backpack with padding, belts, and lots of compartments to help support and distribute weight.
A rare second chance It’s rare that second chances come our way. Yet when they do, we’re often foiled by others’ unwillingness to allow us to redeem ourselves. Here’s a tale of one man’s strange odyssey from throwing love away to picking up the pieces. He was in the hospital for heart bypass surgery. He was not a model husband or father: He’d fueled his last 20 years with alcohol and routinely abused his wife. Now, his heart had stopped beating, and because a doctor’s job is not to judge, the attending surgeon worked for three hours to revive the 70-something-yearold man. The effort was successful with one mysterious exception: The man suffered a brain injury during the resuscitation and could no longer remember the last 20 years of his life. In fact, he was convinced he was a 50-something-year-old man—had the strength and energy
of one—and began behaving as such. And something else happened when the clock turned back: He stopped drinking and he stopped abusing his wife. He now treated her with love and respect. After a few months, he began to recall about 10 years of his past life, but that didn’t nudge him back into his old habits.
Sitting down to dinner together—it’s healthy Harvard researchers have found that children who sit down and eat dinner with their families are more likely to eat vegetables and fruits than their peers. Eating dinner at home means kids are less likely to consume junk foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar.
Eating a family dinner might improve diets because that kind of dinner tends to be healthier than grabbing something on the run. The study included more than 16,000 children between the ages of nine and 14.
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For the next year, his family had the opportunity to know him and love him as a model father and husband. And then one night, this second chance at love and life unexpectedly ended: The man died in his sleep. His legacy? A message to love as well as you can, whenever you can, as much as you can.
PROUDLY PROVIDED BY Kevin Blair NMLS# 151159 | GA MLO 59188 Element Funding 5617 Hwy 153 Suite 201 Hixson, TN 37415 Phone 423-488-7571 www.kevinblairteam.com kevinblair@elementfunding.coma A DIVISION OF PRIMARY RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE INC
A HIGH POWERED MORTGAGE COMPANY
with a hometown feel
www.kevinblairteam.com Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc., DBA Element Funding, NMLS #3094. PRMI is an Equal Housing Lender. Some products and services may not be available in all states. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change and aare subject to borrower(s) qualification. This is not a commitment to lend. Florida Office of Financial Regulation MLD646. NMLS# 341166