Smith-Craine Real Estate Financing : CA mortgage rates and home loans

ED CRAINE SELECTED CALIFORNIA MORTGAGE BROKER OF THE YEAR FOR 2008!

Recently, Ed was named the mortgage broker of the year for 2008 by the California Association of Mortgage Brokers.

The award is the highest recognition an individual mortgage broker can receive in the state of California.

Needless to say, Ed and the team here at Smith-Craine are thrilled and honored. As Ed says: "We can still hardly believe it!"

Some of the criteria for selection include being actively engaged in working to improve the mortgage industry, being a strong consumer advocate, and being a mortgage broker with a reputation for the highest standards for quality, ethics, and fairness.

These are all goals that we team strive for every day at Smith-Craine. It is especially gratifying to be recognized for achievement in these areas in a year in which the mortgage industry was rocked with scandals concerning shoddy business practices, mistreatment of consumers, and outright fraud.

But as gratifying as the recognition is, it's not nearly as gratifying as the work we do every day on behalf of all of our clients and their family, friends, and coworkers they refer to us. Thanks for sticking with us through all these years and being a part of our success!

More on Ed Craine

HAPPY COUPLE BUILDS DREAM HOME

At Smith Craine Finance we do all kinds of construction loans. Loans to build houses, duplexes, condominiums, apartments, office and retail buildings, self-storage facilities, you name it. But our favorite, by far, is when we get to finance somebody's dream home.

Take the case of John and Alice. They each had their own home and were living quite comfortably.

But as things would have it, they decided they really wanted to build a dream home that they could live in together.

So they went out and found a the perfect piece of land and started their planning. As they moved through the process, we helped them refinance their current homes so they could buy the land and pay for their architectural, engineering, and other up front costs.

INVESTORS

We work with a lot of investors here at Smith Craine. One of the things we love to see is people improving their financial wealth through wise real estate investing.

Take the case of Henry who works a regular job with a fairly average salary for the Bay area. For years, he went about his work, bought a house and paid his mortgage.

One day, he came to one of our real estate investment classes. The rest, as they say, is history. He refinanced his house and used the cash out (his house had appreciated a great deal) to buy an investment house. His timing was perfect. As the market went up, he was able to refinance both houses, buy two more, and put away some cash in reserves.

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SMITH-CRAINE OFFERS EDUCATIONAL EVENT FOR COMMERCIAL OWNERS

Is there a strip mall in your future? If you answered yes, you may want to get to one of our strip mall conferences. Hundreds of investors, developers and real estate brokers

been saying great things about the series we've been hosting and sponsoring throughout California. The format is a day long educational event with some serious networking activities added in.

Topics include: how to save on taxes by using cost segregation, how to chose the proper insurance coverage, how to increase the value of your retail property through better management, the coming boom in retail development, and how to get the best financing for your particular situation and needs.

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