Helen's Blog

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Picture this. You are walking down the streets in Bryan-College Station TX. There is not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is just cool enough as to keep the perspiration at bay. As you walk into your bank to turn in your change jar for the families vacation fund you happen to notice a young lady with her two small girls talking to a Police Officer.

The Police Officer is describing something to the young woman. The animated hand gestures and the attentiveness of the young woman gives you pause. What is going on, you think. Is it a warning about a crime spree or something more nefarious? You steer your way closer in hopes to catch a snippet of what is being discussed. If what you hear is alarming you can step in and find out more. As you near the group you hear something about Homes for Heroes and witness the Police Officer accepting a business card from the young woman and her two small girls. Puzzled but not alarmed you continue to the counter and ask the teller to please deposit your change into your vacation account.

The teller takes your jar and heads to the back of the bank and dumps the jar into the change sorting machine. A couple of minutes later she returns the jar and several pesos from your last vacation that were rejected by the machine. You look at the amount and start to wonder if it is worth lugging 10 pound jars around for 10 bucks of change. You give no other thought to the Police Officer and the young woman. You head out to the street and start thinking about what should be placed upon the barbecue for dinner.

What this person failed to see, was that Homes for Heroes had just captured another Realtor. Let us introduce you to Dawn Thompson of Bryan-College Station, Texas.

Dawn Thompson

Dawn Thompson did what any good Realtor would do, she overheard the Police Officer talking about finding a home and promptly handed over her business card. Little did she know that by the days end she would be part of the Homes for Heroes team.

Speaking to Dawn about that day, she told us. “As I was walking out the door, the Police Officer called to me and asked me if I would help her and if I had heard of Homes for Heroes.  I got her number and told her I would check into it.  By the end of the day,  we were searching for her home.  The more I found out about Homes for Heroes, the more I wanted to be a part of it!  Wow!  What a great way to say “thank you” to those who, many times, lay their life on the line to serve & protect our communities, our cities, our states, and our country!   It is not a widely known program here, but I want all of the police officers, fire fighters, teachers, etc. to know of this program and it’s benefits.  After several years of real estate, I still had not decided on a niche market..  My heart was not set any where particular.  But Homes for Heroes has captured me, and I look forward to giving something back to those who dedicate their lives to help, serve, and protect us.”

Dawn has been a Realtor for over 5 years now and has lived in the Bryan-College Station area for the last 15 years. The two young assistants that were with her on that fateful day at the bank are also her daughters, Miranda (10) and Kyla (2). They assist her quite often and many of her clients have become great friends with them. Dawn is a web savvy Realtor that maximizes technology to make your real estate transaction not only simple but very rewarding.

So if you live in the Bryan-College Station area and want a Realtor that will get to know you and what kind of home you are looking for, then deliver. Dawn Thompson is who you are looking for. You can reach Dawn at the Homes for Heroes website.

Good Luck and happy home hunting!

Since Homes for Heroes started doing Bio’s on our affiliates, we have asked the affiliate to provide some background information for us. With that info we would put together a post and put it out there. Reading this affiliates bio, there was not much more we needed to do. In his own words, Homes for Heroes, would like to introduce you to Mikal Knotek.

In 2006, the economy was beginning to unravel. The mortgage industry was the stone that broke the camels back with fraud and poor lending practices acting as the heaviest weight. I saw misinformed loan officers through out the industry using poor judgment and taking advantage of unknowing clients.

In 2007 I re-evaluated my business plan and included room to give back. I wanted to give back because the greedy side of our industry had taken so much. I wanted to change public perception and bring confidence back to my clients. It was important for them to know that Bell Mortgage was one of the good guys in the industry

I searched for several months to find an organization to align myself with that would take advantage of my skills in the finance industry. I knew right away after speaking with David Cohen and Ruth Johnson (Homes for Heroes) that Homes for Heroes would be the perfect fit.

The HFH philosophy is easy, do what’s best for our heroes. Homes for Heroes unites a whole industry on behalf of the Hero. No other program that I have seen does this. Becoming a Homes for Heroes affiliate has given me the opportunity to say thank you to the people who give everything of themselves every day.

MIkal Knotek

Mikal Knotek has been a successful mortgage professional, manager, technology entrepreneur, and industry consultant.

Mikal entered the mortgage industry in 1991 after the purchase of his first home.  Learning the business from the ground up, he quickly moved his way up the ladder and became a leading roll in production.  In 1997 he co-founded The Harrison-Knotek Group with his residential business partner, Kathy Harrison.  In 1998 they moved their group to Bell Mortgage and helped evolve Bell into one of the area’s premier residential mortgage lenders.  His residential origination’s exceed 300 million dollars over the past 15 years.

While still in the mortgage industry, Mikal founded Audit Technologies, a lender based audit and consulting firm.  His keen industry insight gave new light to how lenders manage their service portfolio.

Audit Technologies and Mikal’s growing residential mortgage business led to the founding of Clear View Software, Inc. in 2001.  Mikal used his industry knowledge and technical background to develop ground breaking industry technology that moved data to and from consumers and lenders with the highest level of speed and security.   His company was later purchased by a leading Minnesota lender.   Mikal’s extensive technical insight keeps Bell Mortgage at the forefront of industry changes and improvements.

In addition to Mikal’s residential originations, he is also co-founder of the Bell Mortgage Commercial Lending Group and oversees its day to day operations.

Every month or so we at the Homes for Heroes office try and have a pot luck lunch. It was always a success, and in some ways it still is. People stopped eating my offering when one asked why my “stews” were so tasty. I gave them the recipe. Two cans of cream of mushroom soup and all the left overs I find in the office fridge. Everyone started for the bathrooms and my boss asked me to see her in her office.

She wanted to know why I was trying to poison everybody at the pot luck. What? How could being frugal be considered poisoning someone? I let my boss know that the food in the fridge was slated for the weekly garbage dump and….. “Exactly!” She proclaims. I look at her incredulously and simply state. “A ninja knows what bad food is and my meals are far from being bad.” I also point out that our society’s perception of spoiled food is terribly misguided.

Pick off the green pieces, mix in soup and Voila! Lunch.

“If you know what is good for you, you will stop cleaning out the fridge for pot luck lunches.” I start to object but there is a twitch in her eye that makes me pause. An Ninja knows when a battle is lost. I nod my head and shuffle out of her office knowing that I may have lost the battle but not the war. I go to my desk and start doing a little research.

I plunk down at my desk and type in “food expiration”. There was some interesting points. Did you know that all food expiration dates are voluntary? There is not federal law requiring that information be put on labels. Well it is required on baby formula and some baby foods. But other than that expiration dates are a courtesy of the food manufacturers.

The other thing that I found at WebMD’s site was a comprehensive description of all those “use before”, “best if used” and all those other freshness dates. This new information has brought some relief to my family. I have a big can of Parmesan cheese that was “packed” on November 3, 2002 and we still use it on spaghetti nights. Now I have proof that there is “nothing” wrong with it.

Here is a quick break down of what all those dates mean. For more detailed information you can visit WebMD.

The “sell by” date is telling the stores when the manufacturers would like the item pulled off the shelves. Which is fine, it is more of a quality move by food manufacturers. So if you have something in the house that is past the sell by date, don’t panic, odds are it is still okay.

This next one has cost me a lot of money. The kids will see the date and through the offending package away. It is the “best if used by (or before)” date. This date has absolutely nothing to do with spoilage. This is a manufacturers quality move. If McDonalds used this they would have a twenty minute date stamped on each order of fries they send out the drive through window. Have you ever gone through the drive through and noticed that the fries you eat while pulling out of the parking lot taste a heck of a lot better than they do by time you get home? You still eat those fries though don’t you? So keep that in mind the next time you find something in the fridge that is past the “best if used by” date.

“Use by” date is very similar. This would tell someone when the product will be at its peak freshness. It does not mean that if you eat it a week after that date you will die a horrible death.

There is a couple more date descriptions on the site, but these have done my household the most damage. I have posted these descriptions on the fridge in hopes that I can undo the brain washing my kids have learned.

Tonight, we are having the last of the Christmas ham in a fantastic Ham and Potato soup. They always eat it and never question how fresh the products are. I should probably keep it to myself that I only make soups to mask those old refrigerator smells of 2 week old left overs. We won’t EVER discuss my chili….

I do think that by understanding what these dates will really help the family food budget. You don’t have to through out the milk when the date is passed. Smell it. If it smells bad then I suppose you can through it out, but not before. Another thing to keep in mind. Eggs will last up to 5 weeks past the sell by date in the fridge. These economic times will soon require a more frugal look when we through out that loaf of bread or lunch meat.