CashCall Shut Down

Birdhouse

CashCall, South Dakota-based Western Sky, an affiliated company and their owners have closed operations.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit Monday against multiple related lending companies and their principals for allegedly violating state usury and licensed lender laws related to internet lending. Western Sky Financial LLC, CashCall was charging rates of 89% to 343%

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens filed a lawsuit Monday against Western Sky Financial LLC, Martin Webb, the company’s owner and operator, and CashCall Inc. for allegedly violating the Pay Day Lending Act.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman filed a lawsuit Thursday against a California Internet lender that allegedly charged Minnesotans interest rates of up to 342 percent. CashCall Inc.

Western Sky the parent company states they have suspended operations.

What will happen to all those annoying advertisements?  

"Don’t be a dummy save the money."

Rumor has it The new Consumer Finance Czar Richard Cordray is digging in the story. 

What will happen to borrowers who got stuck?

What company will pick up the servicing of the accounts?

Will Cash call file bankruptcy and turn this into a circus?

WESTERN SKY FINANCIAL is owned wholly by an individual Tribal Member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and is not owned or operated by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe or any of its political subdivisions. Cashcall shut down may be good news for homeowners and small individuals. Cashcall Inc. mortgage division  laid off more than 1000 employees 9/10/2013

(Don't blame the tribe for the rip- off)

boat bird house

metal bird house

photographs of birdhouses by Caroline Gerardo

Martin birdhouse at Newport Beach California winery

cook barn birhouse

Bird house- really a pigeon coop that was a replica of the Cook Historic Barn that burned down in San Juan Capistrano

Handmade birdhouse on the side of organic farm in San Juan Capistrano

knitting on tree and terra cotta bird house

Birdhouse in Laguna Beach :0
I hope my birdhouse photographs made you smile.

Newport Beach Upcycled Birdhouses

Recycled Upcycled Birdhouses from Pallets and wine crates

Newport Beach Winery Bird Houses

My office looks over the Newport Beach Winery. I am sharing some of the wonderful upcycled birdhouses created from pallet wood and wine crates

Caroline Gerardo

W J Bradley Mortgage Capital LLC

20341 SW Birch Street

Newport Beach, California 92660

(949) 637-8190 

 

 

Curbside Appeal Orange County California

CURBSIDE APPEAL 

Curbside Appeal
This Smithcliffs, Laguna Beach House is what I would call a stunner. In a community where homes sell for thirty million dollars this homeowner chose a Cape Cod / California style and every aspect of the home - the landscaping, hard scaping, gates, windows, doors and colors all demonstrate elegance.

Second angle of same home I just have to show you how they used understated colors in harmony with the home. The predominant color in the yard is green. The  Smithcliffs tract was originally built with mature pine trees. The owners are restricted from trimming the stately pine trees. Brinderson the developer in 1992 -dug out and boxed the pine trees that had been on the cliffs for decades.  The pines (Torrey, Ponderosa, Lodgepole. etc. ) were carefully replanted in new locations within the development. It was a daring idea to use a pair of 250-ton cranes to move trees in a  time when developers didn't provide landscaping.

Because the trees create canopies over, around and near the homes there is much shade, but owners aren't allowed to sprinkler or drip irrigate around the trees. This homeowner created a stone pathway, a picket fence and the most amazing dutch door entryway. Notice the balance in the windows. This is an A+++ for curbside appeal.

 

Another Laguna Beach home with a gate entry. This home is also on the ocean side where homes are crowded. It has a Hansel and Gretel feeling in the architecture. I don't care for the pointed gate top, it feel threatening. The owner chose to echo the gabled pointy roof lines but this is not a welcoming entrance. It could be transformed with a few simple methods: paint color, vines, flowers. The dark chocolate paint just doesn't work in a flat finish. This could be transformed in a Farrow and Ball paint glossy finish with Lancaster Yellow or Arsenic Green or Pitch Blue. Then add a matching ceramic pot color.

Southwestern Style house with Curbside Appeal that I also give an A+. This home is in Newport Beach near my office. The cactus and succulent plantings soften the plaster and add counter punch to the rounded corners of the house. A couple splashes of red bougainvillea and red flowering pots near the front door lead you right inside.

Smithcliffs home with an archway entry. The driveway is softened by a runner strip of grass. Boston ivy covers most of the plaster and stone. Maintaining that ivy is no easy task. It would need trimming weekly to keep this shape and not make the house look like Grey Gardens. Also A+

Simple North Laguna Beach house. The awnings and American flag make this one pretty.

This front yard is an amazing garden. This Laguna Beach homeowner takes pride in planting a large variety of perennials, annuals and bulbs.  The tree in the front could easily become a ball blocking the view but it is artfully trimmed to allow light and air to enter the space. I love that little French café chair in the middle of the yard, it seems to smile at the house. This style might be busy for some home buyers. Little would they know that the roses, lilacs and herbs require care.

Smithcliffs house that is just too cold of an entry. The giant door and stone stairway feels like a court house to me. The trellis over the top helps but isn't neat on the top  as the boxy angles of the building. A bolder vine like coral bells passion vine would make this sing, and bring some monarch butterflies to make dance. 

 

 In Orange County California there is a great variety of architecture and landscaping for front entryways. Making your  home beautiful and ready to sell is an art. Sometimes all it takes is to simplify as when we live somewhere after a while we don't start up new projects or see things as others might. Curbside appeal is very important to sell a home. Buyers might not get out of the car if it doesn't feel "just right."

 

 

This photograph is a little dark, but the ivy breaks up the plaster (yes it is plaster polished to look like concrete) exterior.