This economy is SMOKING...so LUNCH IS ON US!! 

Here's a fact...You're probably not going to hear that jargon in the news any time soon. But you have to know it's not all in a Doom and Gloom right now. As a Payment Reduction Specialist, I see and hear bad news every day. People are losing jobs, homes are being repossessed and people filing for bankruptcy. Even an upbeat guy like me can catch the bad mood bug.

But just yesterday, 2 separate individuals came in and had upbeat stories. Hearing those separate stories back to back kicked me in gear and I ended out the day strong accomplishing more then I had in previous days.

Being around happy people is like fuel to a fire. I'm ready to kick Negativity to the curb!!  I'm going to Kung-foo-Panda negativity stuff. Although I try to surround myself with positive people it doesn't always happen. So I'm going to make sure it happens this week and next week and in months to come.

Legacy Lending Group is offering a FREE LUNCH to a good upbeat story posted on our blog. What more can you ask for?!?!  They say you can't get a FREE MEAL? We'll prove them wrong. Our company is going to take a random happy story posted on our blog and take them out to lunch next Wednesday.  If you're out of town...we'll take care of you too!  We just want the goods on our site.

In order to promote more people posting, if you Email this Information to your friends and they get randomly drawn, we will take them out and you out as well. They just have to tell us you referred them, it's that simple !! So it's really a WIN/WIN, and that's what we're all about. ANYONE CAN WIN!! The more you email this out the more chances you have for a free lunch. (But truthfully, I know it's us you really want to have lunch with whether it's free or not, don't lie now..... *smile*)

I believe we need to hear what's going on good in society right now, not just the downer info. So Kick it in gear and tell me something that is happy or good in your life !!!!

So post a story right now and then forward this site to all your friends and have them post a story on our blog as well.

The only catch is the winner has to be signed up on our weekly Emails because the person that wins has to be signed up before I send out my next Tuesday,s Weekly Email.  So if you're not signed up then go to the home page and do so now!

Free lunch???  HECK YES!  I love this site...we're always giving away free stuff.  NO STRINGS ATTACHED - Just ask Clancy...winner of January's iPod Give A Way!  

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A lot can happen in a week. Yesterday most had the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and today we have the new Presidential Elect Obama's Inauguration. Whether you voted for him, or not, we're hoping his passion and attitude will get something done in the upcoming days, weeks and months ahead!!!

What else is new? Well, Super Bowl XLIII is Sunday Feb 1st. We know that will be like Christmas to some, and just another day for others. For me and my team at Legacy Lending we know we're all talking at least a little about the game.... and commercials!!!

So with the game coming up, you need to be prepared, even if you're not a huge sports fan. So often, I'm running out the door Saturday evening to buy chips, drinks, and something to snack on for myself and/or a few buddies that end up showing up at my place. Have you seen the food shelves the day before the "big game"??? It's like Louisiana during a hurricane. So I wanted to remind you that you should plan ahead and pick up some goodies this weekend and not wait till the last min.

Common snacks can be as simple as Doritos's and pop...... to more elaborate items like Potato skins with Sour cream, Pig's in the blanket, Spinach dip bowls or Stinky Breath Pretzel mix.

Also, one of my favorite recipes I've passed onto my kids is the Potato Skins I mentioned above. Here is a good recipe that I use:

Quick Potato Skins
 
~About a dozen small potatoes, washed and scrubbed
~Shredded cheddar cheese
~A half-package of bacon

Take the bacon and throw it into a pan over medium heat. Cooking the heck out of that bacon until its extra tasty crispy. Take all of those potatoes, slap them down on a glass plate and microwave them. Cooking a dozen potatoes like that will take you 20 minutes, at least, so in the meantime, brush up on your playbook. Take them out and cut them in ?. Arrange the potatoes on the baking dish and place in a 500 degree oven for 10 minutes to crisp 'em up. Top them with crumbled bacon and pressure the offensive line with deep cheese coverage. Pray for a turnover, run down the clock when you get the ball back and remove from the oven when the cheese goes golden brown. Touchdown baby!!!

It's that simple!

Well, it's officially in the books!  The very first (of more to come) free Legacy Lending Group marketing give-away has been completed!  Today at 3:00pm MST we drew the winner of the 8GB iPod touch!  The winner will be announced tomorow morning around 9:00am in our weekly Rates Report.  If you're not a subscriber then make sure to take two seconds and register on our home page.

Thank you to everyone that registered and particpated!  We had a ball meeting/talking with all of the new people and friends we met.  This is something that we'll do again very soon...if not every month, we'll be doing it every other month.  So, make sure you bookmark our page and check back often.  

In our weekly Rates Report we give you useful information that will help you make educated financial decisions, keep you plugged into the most current rate trends, and announce new promotions or or give-aways.  We welcome comments on the site!  Keep dialed into Legacy Lending Group!

Our drawing for the completely FREE, absolutely NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED 8GB iPod Touch will be held on Monday, January 12 at an undisclosed location at 1759 S. Millennium Way, Suite 100, Meridian, Idaho under armed guard's surveillance!

We've had quite a few questions about the contest.  Here are some with the answers:

1. What strings are attached to win the iPod?  Honestly, there are no strings attached.  We're wanting to meet some new people, get our name out, and see how well the Social Marketing really works.  It has been a BLAST to see how the Facebook wildfire spreads.  This will not be the last time we try something like this.

2.  Do we have to write a loan with LLG in order to win?  NO!  Although you'd be much cooler if you did!  The iPod is going to have a stink bomb secretely included into the casing.  The stink bomb will know if you do a loan with LLG and will not detonate.  So, strictly in the interest of safety, you'd probably better take advantage of the historical low interest rates and let LLG.  Nobody likes a Stinky Pete.

3.  When will the drawing be held?  The drawing will be held at lunch time on January 12th (Monday).

4.  When and how will the winner be notified?  I'll call my wife and tell her to come to the office to pick up her winnings!    Actually, we're going to announce the winner in our FREE weekly email Rates Report.  If you're not currently signed up for the rates report go to out home page and sign up immediately!  You don't want to miss out!  Once the winner is announced via our Rates Report they'll have 24 hours to contact us.  If the winner doesn't contact us we'll put the iPod back into the pool and draw a new winner.  I know, doesn't seem fair, but we have to put at least one shameless plug in here!!

5.  Rates?  Yeah, they're still awesome.  If you haven't contacted your Legacy Lending Group loan advisor you really need to do it now.  Here are a couple of the loans we've locked just yesterday and today:

         $301,000 loan amount on a 15 year mortgage - 4.5%

         $298,000 loan amount in Nampa on 30 year mortgage - 4.875%

         $149,000 loan amount in Boise on a 30 year FHA mortgage - 4.75%

You can't afford to miss this boat!!

Good luck on the drawing!  

Jason O.

Another week has gone by and we are now in a New Year!!!! Hopefully you haven't broken 50% of your New Year resolutions like I have. My two goals were to get in shape, and stay on top of my weekly emails. And you got my weekly email so unfortunately that means I haven't been to the gym yet this year. It's still early though, RIGHT ?!?!?!

A few weeks ago I told you about our company's new website and Facebook company page. I told you about a FREE GIFT if you would participate. Remember >>>>??

Recap :

Here is our Facebook.com company page :

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Idaho-Legacy-Lending/39384579626 

Here is our company Blog :

http://www.idaholegacylending.com/blog.aspx 

I then told you about a FREE GIFT we were giving away for participation in the Blog and Company Facebook page. I think you were waiting for the gift because I didn't see you sign up or post on either one.

So, here it is. I'm not playing around any more. I'm giving away an 8 GIG I-POD TOUCH !!! This I-POD is a $250 value.

What does it take to get a shot at it? Here is the deal to get your FREE 8 GIG I-POD TOUCH :

You get ONE entry for posting on our company Blog.
You get ONE entry for becoming a "FAN" of our Facebook Company page.
You get FIVE entry's for doing the above and posting a link in your Facebook or Twitter or other social media link site.
You get EIGHT entry's for the above and adding a blog entry on your Personal blog about our company and it's website.

Think about how much you've had to do to get a chance at a $250 value prize before. Your odds are good on this one. To show you've done the above just reply back to me with your Blog address and post.

As a side bonus, if you forward this to all your friends you think would be benefit from getting our Weekly Email we'll kick you 2 extra entries!!  That's a total of 10 entries!  Simply carbon copy me on the email so I know you've sent one out.


As far as Rates, they are stable as of today. The good news is that the Fed's have started buying Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). Basically this will mean that the money that the government allocated to secure loans is starting to hit the market and should, in theory hold the rates down at the lower levels.

As of right now here are today's rates. Although a little fluctuation, rates are right at where they were last week around this time.  Feel free to distribute this to anyone that you may think would be interested in this information.

Have a great day!!

Current Market Interest Rates:

30 Yr. Fixed: 5.125% (5.49% APR)
15 Yr. Fixed: 5.0% (5.34% APR)
FHA 30 Yr. Fixed 5.0% (5.54% APR)
IHA 30 Yr. Fixed: 4.88% (5.12% APR)


Assumptions: These rates are based on an assumption of at least 20% down payment (with exception of IHA which is 95% LTV), with a minimum FICO score of 700, and full income documentation.

Note: There are many different loan products/programs to fit nearly every client's needs. Each situation is unique to the individual, thus rates are subject to improve/worsen depending on the buyer's ability to meet qualification requirements. As you can see from the above rates, fixed rate products are much more advantageous than ARM products currently.

Please call me with any questions.

Oscar Williamson