About Grand Rapids' East Hills

As we all know, the mortgage industry has had its ups and downs this past year. Each file seems to come with its own set of challenges, however, a positive outlook helps us to find solutions 99.9% of the time!

Recently I had an experience that just helped me stay in great spirits day after day! Suddenly within one week the following happened:

• A past customer was on vacation, so she had a minute to drop off a box of cookies from the local pastry shop (Van's)- yum yum! Thank you, Melissa and John!
• Another client, in the middle of her transaction, dropped off a homemade cake! She makes cakes and sells them out of her home for all occasions. Thank you, Josy! It was delicious! You can call her for special orders at 308-7819.
• Another client sent me an ecard thanking me for all the work we are putting in on her transaction! Thank you, Valarie! You made my day.
• And an ICCF donor that I've known for years began farming in Ada during retirement. He brought some peaches for her his farm. He asked me to call if they were good and to not if they weren't- ha ha. I called to let him know that they were so good that all our staff ate them, and I didn't even get a chance to try one. He dropped off an entire bushel the next week, and I got to try one, and they were wonderful. Thank you, Michael!

Folks like this make the challenges of the current mortgage market totally worth it! The successes outweigh the frustrations over and over!

It's something about Thursdays lately! I leave my office at 920 Cherry St., get in the car, put the sun roof down, and notice the amazing thing happening! I have seen countless people walking, running, riding their bikes, pushing strollers, and shopping the cool shops in the East Hills Business District. East Hills is a truly "Walkable Community".

It's so great to see a city come to life again. I leave here feeling like Grand Rapids is truly becoming a Cool City.