Sandra Sansoni, The Mortgage House

These are interesting times.

When I sat down to lunch with Sandra Sansoni, we discussed her business and how it has changed in the 8.5 years since she has been a Mortgage Banker. Through good markets and bad, she has had the mettle to stay with it - which is much more than can be said for most of her contemporaries. 

Sandra's business is Mortgages. She looks for the best financing options for her clients - residential and real estate financing for purchases or refinancing. Whether conventional, FHA, USDA, VA, Jumbo, Super Jumbo, first time buyers or seasoned investors, she has the loan products and the ability to deliver them quickly; more often than not within 30 days.

How is she able to do this, when others can take significantly longer?

The secret, according to Sandra, is in The Mortgage House. They have built an excellent reputation in their 16 years in the lending industry - and they have everything they need under one roof. That means that your loan and information does not leave their building from the initial consultation with Sandra to when you are signing your loan documents with her. From processing to underwriting to document drawing and on to funding... nothing has to leave the building to get finished. The complete control of the file throughout the loan process has given them the ability to provide a high level of customer service to their clients and referral partners.  It is this infrastructure that has allowed Sandra and The Mortgage House to remain in the forefront during trying times and when the market is thriving.

She remains very involved in Strategic Alliance Business Development Group, having launched the 5 Cities chapter and been it’s president for 4.5 years out of its 8 year history.

On a more personal note, Sandra was born in Los Banos, California. She bristles at her hometown being known as little more than a rest stop on I5. Los Banos, according to its history, does NOT stand for "the bathrooms".

She grew up on a ranch that is still in the family and is part of California History.  During her teen years, she was a champion equestrian - competing at the state level in western saddle events. 

She believes in giving back to her community and is a member of the Rotary Club of Grover Beach, a volunteer with the Association of Amputee Surfers and a Board member of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. She and her husband Bruce are also members in a San Luis Obispo Mardi Gras Krewe named "Beleza Sol".

Here's how to contact Sandra:

Sandra Sansoni

c/o The Mortgage House

1131 Monterey Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3902
(805) 782-6999

ssansoni@themortgagehouse.com

www.themortgagehouse.com

Amezola Designs

Upon first meeting Randy Amezola of Amezola Designs, I was struck with what a sincerely friendly person he is. As you get to know him, you slowly become aware of a quiet brilliance, a person that has a very broad base of experiences. 

Image courtesy of Martijn vdSHow many people do you know that:

• Have worked in the diamond business
• Owned a janitorial company
• Has been a substitute teacher
• Has spent six months of their life on a sailboat

Randy's broad base of experience has served him well in his business. He's not afraid to jump in and try things. In 1987, he decided to jump in and try landscaping. He liked it enough to get his contractor's license in 1995 - and has been a licensed landscaping contractor ever since. 

The secret, according to Randy, is listening to the client. With a little bit of encouragement, the client will greatly (and positively) influence the design. Once he has a good idea of what the client wants, he draws it out. He's unapologetic about doing things "Old School" - preferring a pencil and paper to Autocad or design software. You can't argue with results, though - his designs are beautiful, and he is building a very happy client base. The lesson here? Technology isn't everything.

Randy and his wife, Mary, live in Grover Beach. He can be reached at:

Amezola Designs

amdesigns@hotmail.com

(805) 458-4106

CoastHills Federal Credit Union

CoastHills Federal Credit Union invites you to bank among friends. With 11 branches across the Central Coast area, they're well positioned to help you do just that.

CoastHills was established in 1958 on Vandenberg Air Force Base. At that time it was known as Vandenberg Air Force Base Federal Credit Union. In February of 1967 the name was shortened to Vandenberg Federal Credit Union (VFCU). When base closures looked iminent in the late 1990's and early 2000's, it was decided that changing to a community charter would ensure the ongoing viability of the credit union. In October of 2003, VFCU became CoastHills Federal Credit Union.

National credit Unions were created by an act of Congress in 1934 (based on Massachussets' Credit Union act of 1909) to make credit available in a time when the country was rebuilding after the stock market crash. Additionally, credit unions were to promote thrift through a national network of nonprofit cooperative banking entities. Credit unions' shareholders are the members who bank there; profits are returned to the shareholders in the form of dividends.

While traditional banks have the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure bank deposits against calamity, credit unions use National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) provided by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for equivalent services. You may be surprised at how well your funds are insured against calamity; more information on this can be found at NCUA's website on the topic.

At Strategic Alliance, our banking specialist is none other than the CoastHills Federal Credit Union Five Cities Branch Manager, Melissa McCreery.

It's not hard to understand why Melissa is the branch manager of the Five Cities branch. Friendly and witty with a caring demeanor, she loves educating people about their finances. Whether participating in CoastHills' education to teach finances at central coast high schools or just discussing it with other Strategic Alliance members. Melissa is definitely a wealth of banking knowledge.

When asked about being a branch manager, Melissa stated that she is incredibly happy in her position; She has an awesome boss and feels like she gets things done by not being afraid to be a 'squeaky wheel'. She also likes the availability of the company Vice Presidents for advice on handling matters. She contrasted this to larger institutions, where the branch manager may have to call an impersonal support group with their questions about various products. All of this combined with the credit union's focus on the community gives CoastHills a more the feel of a small town bank - with some impressive services.

CoastHills has  a wide array of services available to both personal and business customers, and Melissa is quick to add that while credit unions are often known mostly for auto loans, CoastHills has so much more to offer - including business loans, merchant services and payroll services. With over 600 Million dollars in assets and 53 years in business, they appear to be set to serve the area for quite some time.

Melissa originally hails from Racine, Wisconsin. Her and her husband, Mike, have a three year old son named Michael. She seems quite content to stay in this area serving CoastHills shareholders.

Ekmanian Tax and Accounting

Ekmanian Tax and Accounting is a new business on the Central Coast. The principal, Bruce Ekmanian, is hardly new to tax and accounting.

Building on a solid base of 36+ years of accounting experience (along with a degree in Business Administration with a focus on Accounting), Bruce brings a very straightforward, friendly approach to business taxes.

Asked which aspect of his business he likes best, Bruce didn't hesitate - training small business owners on accounting practices. Bruce recalled his first job after college, travelling up and down the Central Valley of California teaching small business accounting seminars - and doing so in a day when there were no accounting applications to make things easy. The desire to train business owners has remained with him to this day.

The services provided by Ekmanian Tax and Accounting is pretty much what you would expect from a modern accounting firm; providing everything from trust and estate accounting to individual tax returns to business accounting. 

With a strong belief in being as up-to-date as possible in a technological sense (this is, after all a small business technology blog), Bruce was happy show off his firm's commitment to cloud computing. Instead of investing in a lot of software for his office of 4 people, he has focused on 'renting' his applications from a vendor that specializes in accounting firm software. His entire office suite, including his tax preparation software, is delivered to him over the Internet. Backups are performed by the hosting provider. Everything is encrypted in transit from his office to the hosting provider and he feels quite comfortable with the level of data safety provided by the vendor.

This bit of forward thinking is exceptional in the accounting field; usually accounting firms like to entertain the notion that data located onsite is safer. In reality, it's very much subject to the comfort level of the decision makers. There are trade-offs, but Bruce has found the simplicity, the ability to log in from anywhere, the data security and the price point attractive.

More on a personal note, Bruce has been married to Sandra Sansoni for two and a half years, and they live in Pismo Beach with their dogs Rocco and Zeppy. An avid golfer, Bruce loves to get out in the sunshine and drive a ball down the fairway when time permits.

Bruce is a very active member of the Strategic Alliance Business Development Group, and a great source of financial wisdom.

By way of full disclosure, RNOC.Net uses Ekmanian Tax for all of our tax preparation needs.

You can find Ekmanian Tax and Accounting at http://www.ekmaniancpa.com (or if you have a barcode reader, use the barcode to the right). They are located at 320 James Way in Pismo Beach - Suite 210. Call them at (805) 556-4512, or just email Bruce(at)ekmaniancpa.com.