You are receiving this letter because you are one of my Spartans - my top-producing brokers and investor clients - of whom I am allowed to have 300. Removal instructions are below. Today we'll talk about a surprising indicator of the strength of this economy. And, of course, like always, we have lots of cute, clean jokes and three funny pics.

Joke Du Jour

For weeks a six-year old lad kept telling his first-grade teacher about the baby brother or sister that was expected at his house. One day the mother allowed the boy to feel the movements of the unborn child. The six-year old was obviously impressed, but made no comment.

Furthermore, he stopped telling his teacher about the impending event. The teacher finally sat the boy on her lap and said, "Tommy, whatever has become of that baby brother or sister you were expecting at home?"

Tommy burst into tears and confessed, "I think Mommy ate it!"

Sometimes You Don't Want To Know The Answer...

Private Money Commercial Loans Nationwide From $100,000 to $3.5MM

Is your client's commercial property partially vacant? Do you need a lender who will allow the seller to carry back a second mortgage? Does your client have a balloon payment coming due on his commercial property? Has your bank offered him a discounted pay-off? Does your borrower have less-than-stellar credit? Is your client's company losing money? We make slightly scratched-and-dented commercial loans.

Our hot, new product is a blanket loan against a portfolio of rental homes. Rental homes? Yup, as long as there are at least five homes or units, we consider this to be a commercial loan. We even offer a partial release clause. This loan is ideal for speculators.

Here is our latest rate sheet.

Blackburne & Sons is looking for commercial real estate loans that are not quite clean enough for a bank. Please click here to submit a hard money commercial loan or call me, Tom Blackburne, at (574) 210-6686.

Problem Child Joke

The mother of a problem child was advised by a psychiatrist, "You are far too upset and worried about your son. I suggest you take tranquilizers regularly." On her next visit the psychiatrist asked, "Have the tranquilizers calmed you down?" "Yes," the boy's mother answered. "And how is your son now?" the psychiatrist asked. "Who cares?" the mother replied.

Usually Positive Indicator

This is old man Blackburne writing to you, and I am attorney. One of the requirements of the Bar is 40 hours of continuing legal education every three years. Therefore this week I spent 12 boring hours in a continuing education class getting updates on the latest changes to the law.

One of the speakers was an expert in bankruptcy law, and he mentioned something that just stunned me. This bankruptcy law expert reported that fewer companies filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year than at any time in the past 20 years!

He complained that he and his bankruptcy attorney friends were starving for lack of work. Folks, this has to be extremely bullish for those of us in commercial real estate sales, leasing, and commercial real estate finance (CREF).

Need a commercial loan? Simply complete this super-easy mini-app.

Dinner Joke

Waiter: "How did you find your steak, sir?"

Diner: "Well, I just pushed aside a pea, and there it was!"

Small Balance Preferred Equity ($100K to $1MM)

If an investor wants to buy a leased commercial property, banks today will seldom lend more 58% to 62% LTV. Your buyer only wants to put down 25% of the purchase price

Quick, easy preferred equity from Blackburne & Sons fills in the missing piece of the capital stack. We'll add our $150,000 in equity dollars to your client's $250,000 down payment to create a down payment large enough to satisfy the bank. Think of our preferred equity as tiny Joint Venture investments.

For more information, please call Tom Blackburne at (574) 210-6686.

Parking Tickets Joke

"According to a new report, Nigeria owes New York City over $500,000 in unpaid parking tickets for its foreign diplomats. Nigeria apologized and said they'll pay the fines right away if we would just send them our bank account number, our PIN, and our mother's maiden name." -- Seth Meyers

Terrible Twos? Try Arsonist Eights...

New Apartment Program for "A" Deals

Because we have been in the commercial mortgage business for over 34 years, and because we own CommercialMortgage.com, Blackburne & Sons has been allowed to join just five other mortgage bankers to offer an incredible new apartment loan program for "A" quality deals. These loans close in our name and are sold to an institutional investor which purchased almost $400 million in apartment loans last year.

The rate is adjusted according to the desirability of the property and the area, but it starts at 3.87% and 1 point for a 30-year fully-amortized loan. For more details, please call Tom Blackburne at (574) 210-6686.

Hurricane Joke

"A bachelorette party missing since Monday after a hurricane hit has been found and safely returned to California. When asked about the ordeal one of the girls said, 'We were screaming, everything was spinning, there were bodies everywhere -- and then the hurricane hit.'" -- Seth Meyers

Too Busy to Broker Commercial Loans to Us? Why Not Just Refer Them Instead? We Make It Easy!

We once paid a $21,250 referral fee. Here is our referral fee program.

Would This Make Him A Cat Burglar?

On a Personal Note

My daughter has been going to Kindercare for the past 2 years. But yesterday, Monday, was her first day at a new school. While I feel strongly confident about her vocabulary and mathematical skills, she has always been very shy. I was worried about how she would take to the new environment, especially leaving such a regimented curriculum to something quite the opposite - a Reggio Emilia dedicated school.

If you are unfamiliar with this style of learning, essentially the teaching is not done via time-slotted lecturing from behind a podium but rather is done with a much more hands on, free-flowing approach. While I was hesitant to make the change, I realized that academics are just a part of what makes people successful in this life. The ability to sell, having people skills, and the ability to express one’s self as an individual, all play a factor (amongst many other learned skills) in a person's success in life. My hope is that this new school will help my daughter become more outgoing and social, while still maintaining her strong math and vocabulary skills. My fingers are crossed!

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Stork Joke

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." --Mae West

Get a Free E-Book on CREF

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Contact Information

4811 Chippendale Drive, Suite 101, Sacramento, CA 95841 telephone: (574) 210-6686 * Fax: (916) 338-2328
Real Estate Broker -- California Bureau of Real Estate -- License Number 01330173