Real Estate and Corporate blues

Hitting this wall again and again:  Since the interest rates have gone done I've been watching them, waiting for the perfect moment when it would be worth it to refi.  My "problem" is I have so low a rate -- 5.625 -- already that the rates really have to drop for it to be worth it.  Every time they have come close enough there has been a problem, be it a blemish on my credit report which took months to fix or now my property value being too underwater to merit a traditional refi (yet ironically not enough to qualify for the new Obama programs).

However, that doesn't stop me from trying or from mortgage brokers to contact me.  In order to cut to the chase, I have a fact sheet already prepared with all the info they would ask me.  Balance on first loan, balance on HELOC, interest rates, terms, condo info, etc.  After all, it's not the first time I'm doing this.  I do this to save time and also because these guys tend to call me when I'm sitting in my cubicle where my co-workers can overhear all this semi-private information. 

But some people just need to follow a script....

Today's Mortgage Robot:  Hello Mr Icarus, your [financial advisor connection], forwarded your info to

me...oh I see I have a lot of the info I'd need to ask you.

ME:  Yes, I'm guessing there isn't much you can do with my LTV and such but it never hurts to ask.

Mortgage Robot:  So how much is left on your first mortgage that I see here in this informative email

that says it's xxx dollars.

ME:  xxx dollars.

Mortgage Robot:  And that 30 year fixed 5.625% loan, what is the interest rate on that?

Me:  5.625.

Mortgate Robot:  and that 30 year fixed loan is for how long?

Me:  30 years fixed.

mortgage Robot:  Okay well let me look at the numbers and I'll let you know what I can do.

Me: Oh I can't wait!

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 Killing those electronic trees:  One of the things that makes working in Corporate America so Dilbertesque is that you get situations where someone decides to take a cookie cutter approach to everything.  I'm a firm believer in the exception to the rule scenario but this concept is often lost on higher ups who are more focused on following the exact letter of the law without applying any reason at all.

So we have to use this company template for all documentation.  It includes our logo in the header and a table of contents page and a separate page to track author and version edits.  [Never mind that the document management software system I was hired to manage does this.]  This was designed and is useful for large documents that get edited frequently and are collaborated upon by many. 

But some of the documentation I have to write are really simple instructions on how to do something, three or four steps at the most.  No need to have a five page document for it.  But we will.