The Lundquist Appraisal Blog » Miscellaneous

How $10 Made Two Boys Happy on Christmas

Ryan Lundquist — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:09:23 +0000

During this time of year I often come back to one of my favorite images from the Lundquist family album. If you’re anything like me, life is starting to feel stressful, Thanksgiving plans are in motion, the December schedule is getting too packed already, and you’re wondering if you’ll have any sense of peace during the holiday season. This picture helps me put things into perspective.

Let me introduce you to my grandparents, mother, and the four-year old version of me and my twin brother. This photo was taken during a time when my family had very little money as my mother was a single parent doing her best to work full-time and raise us boys. We lived a modest lifestyle out of necessity, and so when December rolled around, there wasn’t much to cover Christmas gifts. My Mom had a total of ten dollars, and since she was too proud to accept additional funds from family members, she made due with what she had.

When I look at this post gift-unwrapping picture, I see two extremely happy boys and an amazing mother who stretched out ten bucks to provide both of her sons with a superman t-shirt and cape, Mork & Mindy egg, coloring book, and soccer ball.

Maybe it’s just subjective sentimental goo, but this photo gets me thinking about what really matters and even how I can enjoy the coming month ahead. There are some real nuggets of truth here: Family time is so important. Money doesn’t make us happy. Humble circumstances can teach us valuable life lessons. Moms are amazing. Christmas is not about the gifts. Financial hardship doesn’t have to steal our joy. Life is good. There is much to celebrate and be grateful for. We need to savor the time we have with our kids.

How do you plan to find joy in this next month?

www.lundquistcompany.com/blog How $10 Made Two Boys Happy on Christmas

Toys Left Behind at Bank-Owned Properties

Ryan Lundquist — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:46:32 +0000

I’ll be honest. As a father of two small children, it gets to me a bit to see toys and kid stuff left behind at properties I inspect. Since I do appraisals for companies that manage foreclosure inventory for banks, I often end up being one of the first people to enter a house once the previous owners are gone and new locks have been installed. It’s telling to see what people leave behind, and the various bits of rubbish and leftovers almost give a glimpse into what used to go on in the house. This is a job that someone has to do because the house needs to resell, but it’s a bit raw to see remnants of people’s lives.

There is so much talk about the economy and foreclosures. It seems easy to gloss over statistics about defaults, rising unemployment and a coming wave of foreclosures, but it’s important to keep in perspective that real people are behind the data.

http://www.lundquistcompany.com/blog Toys Left Behind at Bank-Owned Properties

First Post: Lundquist Real Estate Appraisal Blog in Sacramento

Ryan Lundquist — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:44:19 +0000

Hello everyone. Thank you for stopping by to my new real estate appraisal blog. The plan is to post about appraisal-related issues, share graphs of market trends, tips and resources for homeowners, ways to improve neighborhoods, and random stuff too. I hope you enjoy the content and that it is helpful. Here we go.

http://www.lundquistcompany.com/blog First Post: Lundquist Real Estate Appraisal Blog in Sacramento