1 MAGnifier • June 2013

• Products Magnified• MAG igniter• Who’s Who at MAG• Going Green • To Your Health• Top Producers• Important Dates• Security Tip• Employee Submissions• Kudos

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER | June 2013

Being a respected member of our community is a role Mortgage Advisory Group takes very seri-ously. Being a strong member of our local community is a pillar of our company’s Core Values.

Our MAG team has taken a strate-gic approach to our philanthropic efforts and our corporate social re-sponsibility. We feel that a commit-ted outreach focus is key to making a difference. In 2005, we estab-lished our fall food drive program which is aimed at feeding families through the holiday season. Since then, we have collected a total of 47,681 pounds of food!

In 2009, we added our summer food program to address the need of kids and teens who receive free and reduced cost meals during the school year. Many go hungry during the summer months, as the school meal is often their only one.

Hunger Doesn’t Take a Summer Break

Every food donation helps in the fight against hunger, no matter how small or large. Our effort to support our local food banks is a testament to the compassionate nature of our employees, their fam-ilies, and our company.

You can also drop off food dona-tions at several of our branch lo-cations (Everett, Marysville, Mill Creek, and Bellevue) between June 8 – 28th. Instructions for food donations are located on our in-tranet site on the home page under announcements. n

Mortgage Advisory Group is sponsoring a Food Drive at our offices to collect food that will be distributed through the local food banks which serve needy and low income individuals.

LET’S MAKE THIS THE BIGGEST COLLECTION EFFORT TO DATE! MAG is donating six pounds of food for every “like” on our com-pany Facebook page between June 4th and June 28th. We need your help to spread the word to your friends and family to “like” our company Facebook page! So far we have raised over 246 pounds of food just by getting “likes”! We can do better than that! We are going for a big goal of 12,000 pounds of food dona-tions, which equals 2000 “likes”! Share our link with instructions to like our Facebook page; it is such a simple way to help those in need. www.facebook.com/MortgageAdvisoryGroup.

Like us on Facebook!

2 MAGnifier • June 2013

Bonni has worked in a number of fields, from Restaurant Man-ager to Dental Assistant, to Re-altor. For the last six years she has been a very important part of MAG, where she’s worked in a number of departments, allowing her to become very knowledge-able about every aspect of the mortgage industry.

She started her career at MAG as an MA Assistant, became Marketing Specialist and Trainer, and made her move to Human Resources where she is now developing the newly reintroduced Talent Man-agement Department with a team of professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to maximize MAG’s business value. “MAG’s Tal-ent Management is more than your traditional Human Resources. It is strategically selecting, training, de-veloping, and retaining our talent pool to optimize performance and reach our business goals.”

She greatly enjoys working with a highly dedicated, intelligent, per-formance driven team, and under-stands the value of a company that provides opportunity for growth and career development.

Bonni enjoys people and often finds herself in roles that allow her to coach, support, and develop in-dividuals. She is naturally a creative problem solver, analyzing situations and strategizing solutions. During her time at MAG, she implemented new OnBoarding procedures that WOW new hires, providing them with a high-tech, seamless intro-duction to the company, our cul-ture, and our leadership team. Bon-

Manager Talent Management

Bonni Tuley Talent Management Vision:

ni’s continuing contribution to MAG is astounding. She is thrilled to be part of a positive and progressive organization. Appropriately, her motto is “You can do anything you set your mind to,” and her favorite quote is “Action is the antidote to despair,” by Joan Baez.

A few things you may not know about Bonni:

• She’s half Korean and Korean was her first language.

• Her nickname was BonBon in high school.

• Korean food is her favorite com-fort food.

• When she was young, she want-ed to be a middle school teacher when she “grew up.”

• Her favorite musicians or bands are India Arie, RadioHead, and Dave Matthews.

• If she could have lunch with any-one in the world, it would be the Dali Lama, Mother Theresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

• She is currently the Diversity Di-rector for Snohomish County HR Association. n

To provide a positive work envi-ronment where our MAG team members are the recipients of an excellent career experience, led by our skilled and compassionate leadership team who is focused on providing on-going communi-cation and growth opportunities that empower our team members with the tools to excel in their ca-reers and the support to manifest possibilities!

Mission: How we accomplish our vision is by equipping our leadership team with targeted training, coaching, mentoring, and team building op-portunities.

• By creating and deploying best practice training curriculums for our leadership team and their team members, we become a learning organization that will develop and retain the best talent.

• By opening the channels of communication, we encourage employee development and empower our team members to achieve their performance goals and objectives.

• By providing our team members with the most talented col-leagues to work with, we create employee engagement.

• Through our innovative em-ployee programs, we create a MAGnetic culture by promoting an energetic, morale-boosting, supportive team environment where team members have the opportunity to have fun, be creative, and build relationships.

Visit the Intranet for a complete list.

Don’t forget to check out the many titles available through the MAG Resource Library!

3 MAGnifier • June 2013

The global energy crisis is over-whelming, but Americans are looking for ways to make small changes that add up.

We install solar panels, buy hybrid cars, and turn down the thermo-stat. Yet when it comes to everyday shopping, we are conditioned to buy more than we need, new things made halfway around the world.

Our passive attitude toward con-sumer goods is becoming a major obstacle in conserving energy. It’s not doing much for a healthy econ-omy either. But exactly what are we to do when we’re told that shop-ping is a patriotic activity?

There is an alternative to this wasteful paradigm: thrift shopping. This robust “re-purposing” market — Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the many other charitable thrift stores, large and small, through-out our country — sell high-quality re-purposed goods, many nearly new sold at fair prices.

Green shopping: Try a thrift shop!

GREEN Tip

Recycling used clothing is hardly a new process: It’s called a thrift store. Take a look in the yellow pages under “secondhand stores,” “thrift shops,” or similar categories. Thrift shops are run by charities like the Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries.

How does thrift shopping lower our carbon footprint? No additional en-ergy is required to fill the consum-

er’s need for a gently-used prod-uct. The fuel of long-haul transport has already been burned.

Reused products do not have the weight and waste of excessive packaging that new products do. Finally, thrift-store shopping diverts reusable items from landfills. That is a respectable energy savings. You can stock up on some great stuff at unbelievable prices. Tap into the national directory of thrift stores, searchable by zip code, at www.thethriftshopper.com.

Thrift shopping is also a poetic gesture: The profits from the sale of re-purposed products in char-ity-run thrift stores directly pro-mote the re-purposing of lives in need. Another great idea is selling your unwanted outfits at a home sale. Advertise the sale in the lo-cal paper or with flyers on lamp posts and bulletin boards — you’ll be amazed at the turnout.

Not only do we avoid product waste; through our contributions we help to avoid the waste of an-other human’s life. This, in turn, helps our community.

n Amy Hardin Turosak

You can stock up on some great stuff at a low price from the thrift shop.

Congratulations! We share this celebration together

By Dave Wortham, CEO, Co-owner

It was nine years ago this month that Lee and I took delivery of our first branch of Mortgage Advisory Group — our corporate office on the corner of Colby and Hewitt in the downtown Everett financial district. Back then, many questioned our timing and our model of world- class service given the potential of a bursting housing bubble looming on the horizon. Despite this, Lee and I were determined to pursue our dreams and our vision of build-ing a world-class mortgage bank-ing company. Nine years later we are still here, stronger than ever. I am in awe, not just of the company that grew out of our original vision — but of the amazing people who made it happen. We are more than just a team: we are a family. I am so grateful to all those — past and present — who have contributed to making Mortgage Advisory Group what it is today. I am especially thankful and grate-ful for the opportunity to be on this journey with my business part-ner and friend, Lee Dionne. n

To my MAG family

MAG e-Store is coming July 1st!

Show your MAG team pride by wearing MAG ap-parel this summer! Special Summer MAG eStore opening July 1st through 12th. Take advantage of this extended opening to purchase MAG apparel for your sum-mer networking opportunites. Visit the e-Store by clicking our e-store button on the Market-ing page on the MAG intranet.

4 MAGnifier • June 2013

July 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . Independence DaySept 2nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Labor Day Oct 14th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Columbus Day Nov 28th . . . . . . . . . . . . Thanksgiving Day Nov 29th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ThanksgivingDec 24th . Christmas Eve (half day) Dec 25th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christmas Day **One Floating Holiday**

Holiday Schedule

Kevin Everett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marysville

CompanywideTop Producer: MAY

Branch Top ProducersSharon Crockett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EverettTom Pessemier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mill CreekKevin Everett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MarysvilleJason Austin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WenatcheeDavid Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bellevue

MAG’s first softball game/picnic is this Saturday, June 22nd

We’re meeting at the Martha Lake Airport Park in Lynnwood, at 10:30am.Please come on out with your fam-ily and friends, bring your softball gear, your cooler full of cold bev-erages, and some yummy snacks to share.We’ll pick up teams with all of you that show up to play, and all the rest of you can be our cheerlead-ers, umpires and base coaches!!Just come join us for fun, laughter and a MAGnificent time!!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen— our “Game is On!”

Commitment to WOWI just want to say that Natalie and Melanie do such an amazing job at our Everett Front desk. We have several very special circumstances that occur on a daily basis, and I want to recognize them for the way they treat every single person with the ultimate dignity and prompt at-tention to their specific needs. Of-ten you will hear “Andrew’s” whistle on the corner of Colby and Hewitt, and Melanie will dash out the front door to guide him safely across the street and down the block, en-suring that he avoids the sidewalk hazards. You should also see the transformation that is occurring in Wally, a frequent visitor.

Mel and Natalie not only deliver ex-ceptional customer service to our clients and employees, but to all the citizens of our community. You both are such true testaments of “loving your neighbor”. Thank you so much for all you do. ~Jeryl Torick.

Kudos to Omeed Salashoor from the Sauve Team: We thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm that you provide to our team! There is never a time that you don’t follow through and we really appreciate that!

Kudos to Shannon Cordova, Danielle Facey, and Rachael Ek-man from the Sauve Team: Thank you all for your hard work in May! We couldn’t have done it without you wonderful ladies!

Positive and ProfessionalKudos to Bob Richey from the Sauve Team: Your positive rein-forcement and attitude make the difficult days a lot less difficult! We thank you for that! We always love coming to the Mill Creek office be-cause we always see your smiling face!

Kudos to Kraig Norris from Cheryl Haugen: You are so great at what

you do! I never have to ask twice, remind or bug you for anything. It is really nice to know that you give 110% at all that you do, you make my job so much easier! — You are appreciated!

Kudos to our Broker Team from Nancy Carmen: My thanks for your diligence on our last closing. Thank you Heather for your constant up-dates, emails to the lender and es-crow to make this closing happen. We all know that brokered loans can be challenging but it is assuring to know that with our broker team, I know it will always get done. Your hard work is appreciated.

Delight the CustomerKudos to Processing and Under-writing teams from Ashlee Asher and Nikki Sauve: In April, we had one of our real estate agents come to us and let us know that their bor-rowers were extremely unhappy with their current lender because they were not communicating and the loan needed to close by month end. We ended up getting the bor-rowers qualified that same day, dis-closures were signed on April 16th and we submitted the file on April 17th to processing. The appraisal was done in only one business day! It was UW by Shelley and was a one touch UW! Yahoo! We were able to fund their loan on April 30th; this means we started the loan and completed it in only 9 busi-ness days! Our processing team; Shannon Cordova and Danielle Fac-ey did such an awesome job get-ting this loan set up and sent into UW. Shelley was also outstanding at UW the file and had it complet-ed so quickly! The borrowers were so happy that we were able to get their loan closed for them in such a short amount of time! MAG, thank you for your outstanding commit-ment to making this process easy and amazing for not only our bor-rowers but for us as well! n

5 MAGnifier • June 2013

As a traumatic and emotional experience led our new friends, James Hsu and Jessica Clift, to cre-ate Helping Kids be Kids, (HKBK) a Guild of Seattle Children’s Hos-pital, our own MAG employees were moved as well.

The idea of providing Care Kits to the families of children admitted to Seattle Children’s Hospital came as a result of James’ family’s unex-pected emergency experience and long-term stay in the hospital.

As his story was shared, sever-al MAG employees embraced the opportunity to support HKBK. Our team worked together to gather donations of food and personal hy-giene items, which resulted in fill-ing 30 large reusable grocery bags to be given out at the hospital as needed.

On Thursday, June 6th, Brie Siden-er, Suyny Tasaka, Kathy Cooley, Mi-chelle Follett, Jeryl Torick, Jessica Tanner and James (and son Caleb), gathered in the Mill Creek Office to sort and pack the generous donations made by the following: Lori Larsh, Rob Hallum, Dara Nils-son, Jason Austin, Dave Gardner, Omeed Salashoor, Kirsten Oelrich,

EMPLOYEE SUBMISSIONS

Generous donations will provide care kits to families admitted to Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Anne Ramsey, Lisa Britton, Doug Prutsman, DeBorah Williams, Nan-cy Fox, Shelly Bumgarner, Marcie Tarbet, Natalie Griffin, Erik Noet, Nikki Sauve, Rebecca Wisner, Brie Sidener, Suyny Tasaka, Laurene Mil-ner, and Kathy Cooley.

Jason Brock and a few of the other firefighters will be donating their time on June 21st to come to the hospital and deliver over one hun-dred new stuffed animals, too! The following businesses in Mill Creek also contributed: Dr. Kane, Dr. Dwight Cottill, Muddy Buddy Dog Salon, and Artisan Framing.

The compassion and vision shown by Jessica and James while meet-ing a need that was very person-al to them will have far reaching effects on other families who fear unexpected long-term stays at the hospital.

HKBK also provides craft projects and holiday activities for the kids, helping them to feel more like reg-ular kids than like a sick children in a hospital. If you are interested in helping Jessica and James further their efforts through HKBK, please contact Jessica@verraterra.com.

nJeryl Torick

MAG FNMA Guidelines and a Con-ventional Overlay List are available for use in the MAG Product Library and are to be used on all new and existing loans.

Highlights:• Follow FNMA Condo Guidelines

with MAG Underwrite.

• Follow FNMA Rental Income Guidelines: Use rental income to qualify without the two-year Landlord History requirement.

• Follow AUS on income docu-mentation.

• FNMA High Balance is now available.

• Reduced overlays on FNMA 97% LTV- allows FNMA ap-proved condos and lower score requirement of 660.

Visit the product library at: https://intranet.magloans.net/Prod-uct%20Library/SitePages/Home.aspx

Security Tip

Address Book SafetyLike most people we have a lot of information in our phones, in-cluding who we know, what rela-tionship they are to us, and maybe some other details that could be used as challenge questions over the phone to verify your identity, or by someone trying to be you.

Think carefully about the infor-mation you store on devices that can be easily lost or stolen, and as always — do not share your device password with anyone.

Products MAGnified

6 MAGnifier • June 2013

EMPLOYEE SUBMISSIONS Continued

Natalie Griffin hard at work rebuilding and setting up laptops! How many is that… 4? 5? 6? No... try 7! Wow! Way to be a multi-tasker and oh-so-efficient!

Bob Richey, his wife Jodi, daughter Maggie, and a number of MAG employees (Meghan Kennedy, Melissa Severance and family, Jean Notson, Michelle Follett and husband) enjoyed a day in the sun volunteering at the May 4th Special Olympics King County Region Soccer Tournament. What a wonderful experience — thank you MAG volun-teers!

2 Year

3 Year

5 Year

6 Year

Birthdays July

8 Year

July Anniversaries1 YearBonnie Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9th Tim Wu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9th Shelley Covington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16thAngelica Murillo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16th Dara Nilsson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30th

Donald Reehoorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29th

Autumn Blodgett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th

Lisa Britton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21st

Kevin Everett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16th Ron Autry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16th

Brenda Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18th

Elise Espelund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st Bonnie Shrauner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st Ian Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1stTim Wu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9th Dan Bliven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12th Nikki Sauve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14th Brie Sidener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14thNancy Fox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18th DeBorah Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24th Randi Shrauner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25thCarrie Medeiros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29th Jeremy Van Beek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30th

Important DatesLast day to sign refi’s . . . . . . June 24 All docs back in Everett no later than June 25th at 10:30am.Office closed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 4th (Non-rescission day)

7 MAGnifier • June 2013

EMPLOYEE SUBMISSIONS Continued

For the MAGaime lunch, Traci got steaks and grilled in front of the office.

The North Central Washington Home Builder Association golf tournament was on May 17th and had a 60’s theme. It was an awesome day, and I had a great time out there with Rebecca Maloney from North Meridian Title, Melissa Carlson with State Farm Insurance, Cindy Smith of Western Ranch, and Tina Hofstetter with H&H Construction. n Kim Witherspoon

Stacey turned 30 Saturday and did the Mud run! Her theme for her birthday was “I am 30 and dirty!”

Happy Birthday, Stacey Morton!

My husband, Steve, and I own Kiddie Academy of Bothell (in Canyon Park) — we’ve made mention of it before in the MAGnifier.

Anyway, we just won the top award for all of the Kiddie Academies nation-wide — it’s the Life Essentials Award for the best of about five categories, including school curriculum, technology, and parent involvement. Since we’ve been open for less than three years, this is indeed an exciting event! Steve has worked extremely hard to get the school to this point, and our Director and staff are beyond the best! We’re very proud!

n Sue Ahrens

How much water should you drink every day?By Charly WilliamsWater is essential to good health, yet needs vary by individual. These guidelines can help ensure you drink enough fluids. Water is your body’s principal chemical compo-nent and makes up about 60 per-cent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells, and pro-vides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues. Lack of water can lead to dehydra-tion, a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.

How much water do you need?Many of us do not drink the nec-essary amount of water each day that keeps us healthy. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water. Through activities of daily living, the average person loses about 3-4 liters (about 10-15 cups) of fluid a day. What is lost must be replaced by the water and fluid we drink and the food we eat. The In-stitute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day. How do you know what that ideal intake amount of water is for you? Check out these websites for more details.

http://www.mayoclinic .com/health/ water/NU00283http://www.watercure.com/faq.html

To Your Health