I think I have cried more tears in 2020 than my entire life put together

I think I have cried more tears in 2020 than my entire life put together. We have so much to work on. So much to change.
I grew up fearing the police. I grew up only having negative interactions with the police. From family members to close friends being arrested, interrogated, accused. Growing up I probably visited the county jails and prisons to see loved ones more times than I can count on my 2 hands. When you visit the prisons and is not even an inmate, you are treated just like you were a criminal as well. I literally had bail bonds on speed dial, because you know what, that was the life of some of our family members back then. I made a vow to myself as a young kid, that was not going to be my life and would do whatever it takes not to lead that same lifestyle or get caught up in it...

Ironically enough I marry someone who is an ex-felon. So much for trying to get away from that "life" but I knew he was different. I knew he was going to truly change his life. 

July 2002, Not even a month of him getting out we get pulled over by the police and the interaction is one I will never ever forget. 

Ce leans over to me and says just comply with EVERYTHING they say. I tell him, we didn't even do anything. He repeats, JUST COMPLY! We just had dinner at Applebee's on East Stockton Blvd and was on our way home. I was tired and I started to get heated, because I had no idea why we were getting pulled over. The tone in his voice was different and so I just followed his lead.

The officer approaches the car and does this weird double take. His expression changes. He asks for ID and where we were going and where we were coming from. We explain and told the officer. He asks is anyone on parole or on probation and Ce says "yes, I just got out"

The officer takes the ID and says he will be right back and within 5 mins we are surrounded by 5 additional police cars. This overwhelming sense of fear came over me as I had no idea what the hell was going on and why. A female officer comes to my side and asks me to get out the car and tells me that she needs me to sit in the back of her police car "for my safety". I am asking questions as to what's going on? why? what happened? What did we do? and over and over and over I am told to just sit in the back of the police car. No answers given. Just stern orders to sit in the back of the police car.

Ce was then asked to get out of the car as well and handcuffed and told to sit on the sidewalk as they thoroughly searched him and the car. Since he was on parole at the time, they had the right to search the car. After what felt like FOREVER, we were finally released and then told we can go home. Ce asked the officer "Sir, may I ask why you pulled us over and had 6 police cars present?" The officer said, "Oh the bulb on your license plate was out"

WHAT THE HELL! 

By then I got back in our car and I cried and was shaking and I was upset and just mortified by the whole experience. I had never been in a police car and just seeing the looks on passerby's had me ashamed and embarrassed for no reason at all. 

I know we are lucky. I know our car was "profiled" driving in Elk Grove and the officer was surprised to see that the driver was asian and the passenger was asian. Too late, he already pulled us over. I KNOW for a fact it could have been worse...I've seen videos of the worst. 

Now that we have children, it is our commitment and goal in life to ensure we are involved in our community. To do whatever it takes to ensure we do our part to contribute to the safety of our children's future and our city.

I can't even begin to tell you the many stories my own husband personally experienced with police brutality in his younger years and racist experiences he has had from people even just as recent as last month...BUT here we are now....

I volunteer with EGPD because I want to bridge the gap with law enforcement and our community. I want to be able to quickly express my concerns, my fears and my suggestions and comments regarding the city I live in. I want to be a liaison for community members to openly express their concerns and trust me that I will relay the message directly to our Chief of Police. I want to be a part of change and contribute to making positive strides with our relationships with the police. I don't want to fear the cops, I want to be allies with the cops to truly battle the criminals. There is 900,000 Law Enforcement officers across the nation and the percentage of bad cops who f*ck it up for the rest of the good cops need to be held ACCOUNTABLE!!!!

To this day, I still sweat and get nervous when a cop car is driving behind me.... I can't even begin to imagine those who have to live the reality of that fear every day just beacuse of their skin color. I have to pray extra hard for my nephews and nieces that are half black and their skin color is judged right off the bat. Or the families of my bestests friends just because they are African American.

My post is not up for debate. I am just tired. I cried so much and prayed and prayed and prayed today. I just needed to vent. My heart bleeds for our country...

#BlackLivesMatter #LoveOneAnother
#TakeNothingForGranted

P.S. This is the picture of the car we were driving in. Ce was so proud to buy it cash for $150 of his own money from a neighbor. Is it possible a car can get racially profiled too? I believe so....

Read more of my husband's blog posts here --->>> http://colinsyip.com 

ON RECORD!  WHOOO HOOO!!!

Another home buyer gets their keys today!  I can't even begin to tell you how many bumps in the road this escrow went through!  All the stress, pain and tears and now we can look back on the buyer's "Miracle Home" and say it's officially their new home!

My buyer decided to use their own financing through a program called NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America).  Now the program and the details that it offers the home buyer seems too good to be true AND it is true.  No down payment, No closing Costs, No MI, no Bankruptcy seasoning and you can buy down your points to as low as 1.89% fixed for 30 years.  What they don't tell you is the 1 1/2 years the buyer's went through the grueling process of qualifying.  Some taking even longer if you are not diligent and on top of your paperwork.  They had to do several homeownership workshops in Oakland, CA.  Drive back and forth to the NACA office in Oakland to meet their loan officer, upload all their financials EVERY SINGLE month in to the web portal, volunteer hours at the financial workshops and a letter of explanation for every little change in their finances.  Also if you MISS a deadline for something, you start ALL OVER FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!  It added a lot of stress and an anxiety for my client, but they were determined to push through.

After 1 1/2 years of this process they contact me with a full approval letter.  This approval letter consisted of the NACA underwriter approval.  We were assigned a NACA liaison who would be our point of contact from beginning to end and also a web portal for me to upload documents and required forms.  The other thing is that inspections and repairs are to be with contractors approved with NACA as they had a strict guideline that needed to be followed.

Being that this is a seller’s market, its already tough to get offers accepted with multiple offer situations and people with financing that has short escrow periods and worst of all cash buyers.  I had to prepare my buyer’s fully on the expectation that dealing with NACA, a product that many listing agents locally will not be familiar with, will be a challenge to even get accepted as well.

I was truly hesitant and scared to even attempt using NACA because everything I personally researched or read online was not such a great experience.  I had no pull or connections within NACA which also added extra anxiety in the event things fall through the cracks.  BUT I also had to remind myself that my job was to help those who needed help and to serve others in the best possible way I can.  To stay positive and know that I would do whatever it takes to get us to the finish line.  I have known this amazing family for several years now and if anyone deserved a chance at home ownership it would be this family and I would need to do everything I can to go to bat for them.

April 9th my buyer’s and I have our initial consultation discussing the current market and what to expect and soon after they begin to look at homes with my business partner.

April 22nd my buyer’s attend an Open House and fall in love and call me right away to tell me they find “THE ONE”.

April 24th We meet to write the offer because NACA requires wet signatures and doesn’t allow for Docusign.

April 26th YAAAYYY Offer accepted!  The very first offer they wrote and they got accepted!!!!

We had hoped and prayed for a smooth escrow, but well let’s just say that was only the beginning of the crazy roller coaster ride of the escrow.

Inspections went went well, but had termite work in the amount of $3200 to be addressed.  Next came the appraisal.  We were in contract for $370,000 and the appraisal came in at $349,000.  A $21,000 difference!  By then the stress level was through the roof for my buyer.  After much negotiations with the listing agent, Buyer and seller agreed to just split the difference in half between buyer and seller to make it work.

Once we got to that point it was then back and forth of repeated documents from NACA and the buyer.  Minor but tedious things that take up time for the buyer to get scanned and emailed back and forth.  Either NACA didn’t get it and had to be sent again and again and again.  Everyone was thoroughly frustrated at this point as no one can seem to figure why NACA would need so many extra things if they had been told they are underwriter approved.  

Next step we finally move into Citi Underwriting.  Citi Mortgage is the bank that is backing the NACA loan.  So when we thought we are already done and close to the finish line, NO, they now had to send it to Citi Mortgage for their underwriting.  Again we went back and forth and back and forth with conditions and re-sending of documents again and again and again.  It truly was torture for my buyer to have to go through this.  By then we had removed ALL contingencies and the buyer’s deposit was at stake and the lender came back missing another document (that was already sent) and said if it’s not re-sent the loan could be declined.  O-M-G!!!!!  Again the buyer resent what was needed and fingers crossed they get it together over at Citi.  We had escalated this file all the way to the National Director of NACA and CEO and finally the escalated it within Citi to get us a final approval and clear to close.

Dealing with NACA was yes a nightmare as the timelines were never met, miscommunication of information to the buyer, inexperience of the NACA liaison to review conditions and what the underwriter really needed, lack of management support to the NACA liaison and just an inefficient way for them to do business.  Buyer then had to sign loan documents in Oakland at the NACA office as a requirement so buyer had to miss another day of work to do that.

If it was not for a very understanding listing agent and seller, anyone else would have cancelled out on our buyer and not grant us the extensions needed.  It was important to me to make sure I kept the communication open the with the listing agent and tell her the details so they knew that we were working every day with the lender.  Communication is key when you have escrows like this because anyone can quickly assume no one is doing anything if you don't keep the other party in the loop.  Again we know how lucky and grateful to have a seller and listing agent so patient to work with us.

Our 45 day escrow was suppose to close June 9th, Then June 14th, then June 23rd and then pushed to record on June 26th.  FINNNALLLLYYYYYY!!!!!  HOOOORRRAAAAAYYY!!!!!

I can only speak on how traumatic this experience was for my buyer as there were definitely lots of tears, stress and fear of the unknown.  I had to stay positive and strong for them as best as I could.  This was their miracle house and I knew from the beginning it was their home.  Of course it only took 60 days of a crazy roller coaster ride to get there!!!

My advice to all of you looking to buy a home is to work with your realtors local lender.  They will have the expertise and the know how of what is required in your local market.  There is a lot of great loan products online, on commercials on TV, on the radio...but can they close?  Make sure your realtor has a track record of good business with that lender.  A good lender will ask for ALL of your financials up front to get a thorough and clear picture of your financial profile.  It may seem like a pain, but well worth the work versus waiting while you are in escrow and in a time crunch!

Would I take on another NACA financing again???  Not sure if I will say yes today, but tomorrow if someone approached me, I will likely say YES!  As long as the buyer’s committed, then I’m committed!!!!  LET'S DO THIS!!!!!

Joy Yip, REALTOR

BRE# 01481339

eXp Realty of California, Inc

www.joyyipsellshomes.com

joyyiprealestate@gmail.com

(916)932-8358

WHOOO HOOO! Another home buyer gets their keys! Welcome to Elk Grove!

ON RECORD!!!

So I have to share this amazing story because the real estate market has been so crazy with limited inventory and buyer's left and right are getting discouraged, frustrated and getting outbid by cash buyer's all day long!

My client was UNDERWRITTEN approved by Blair Chapman of Movement Mortgage for an FHA loan. He immediately began to preview homes and after looking at 4-5 he was ready to make an offer. I told him to be aggressive because there were already multiple offers on the property. He would not offer what I suggested and decided to pass. The next day a home on the same street came on the market, smaller but definitely under his budget. He previewed it and wrote his first offer. Blair said to write the offer for 18 day close of escrow on an FHA. I said 18 days???? NO WAY??!!! Blair said please trust me, I can get it done. Write it for 15 days if you want. I'm like "hell no" 18 is already making me nervous. He says please trust me Joy! Buyer agrees and I write it up. Blair makes a follow up call with listing agent and we wait for an answer.

Monday Feb 27th Agent says they went with another offer, she had a total of 10 and seller took a cash offer.

Thursday March 2nd (same week) Listing agent calls me and asks if my client is still interested. I said YES! She says she went through 3 "cash" offers but buyer's would not shorten their term from their 21 day escrow offer and next in line was a 45 day escrow VA, still much higher than our offer, but seller needs his proceeds like NOW. She asks if my buyer would come up in price and I said I would do what I can.

I discuss with my buyer and he agrees to come up from his original offer price and I speak with Blair and he says write it for 15 day escrow! I am nervous as hell, but I am pretty confident in Blair and I knew my client is solid, we can make this happen.

March 3rd, my clients offer was accepted! WHOOO HOOO!

March 6th my client does all his inspections.

March 8th Appraisal is done.

March 11th appraisal comes back lower than contract price. EEEKKKK!!!!!

Seller does not budge and refuses to lower the contract price to appraisal price! Buyer still moves forward.

Buyer signs loan docs Friday March 17th at 9AM, seller signs docs 10AM, loan funds by 12:43PM Lender funded and by 3:42PM We are officially ON RECORD!!! Blair and his lending team closed in 14 calendar days for an FHA buyer! Unreal and AMAZING!!!

It takes a village for sure, but when you have a solid team, build great relationships in the industry, and it's meant to be, it will ALWAYS fall into place!
Special Thank you to my showing specialist Rodrigo Moreno, Blair Chapman and his lending team at Movement Mortgage, Beth Reiken my Transaction Coordinator, Sandhya Prasad and her team at First American title company and to the listing agent Vickie Brisco of Estan Realty for giving me and my team a chance to make it happen for my client!
Extra special thank you to my client for trusting my team and I to make it happen!!!
WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

When your client is too shy for a Photo Op, you get your son to stand in for the shot!!!!
WELCOME ANOTHER NEW HOMEOWNER IN ELK GROVE!!!!

Joy Yip
REALTOR, CAL BRE#01481339
eXp Realty of California Inc
www.joyyipsellshomes.com
joyyiprealestate@gmail.com
(916)932-8358

The Power of Social Media

I openly share on social media about my crazy family and our adventures. We are just simple people who end up going through kooky adventures on this journey called Life. More so now my posts have been prevalent regarding my daughter Tatiyana's illness with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome or CVS http://cvsaonline.org/what-is-cvs/ and Abdominal Migraines http://now.howstuffworks.com/2016/04/26/abdominal-migraine. I share to vent, to ask for prayers, to ask for advice, to ask for encouragement, to ask for suggestions and a way for me to put out into the universe that I need answers for my daughter!

No child should ever suffer a chronic illness or any illness for that matter. As a mother my heart constantly breaks for her as the life that she knows it has completely changed. Our faith in God has grown even stronger through this battle and we are thankful for our faith to keep us going each day.

Tatiyana has had this illness since she was a baby, but when she was younger, the episodes were too far apart to red flag doctors that it was something more serious than a bug or the flu. With Tatiyana being our first child and first time parents we trusted our doctors to give us the guidance and information we needed. By 2010 Tatiyana seemed to no longer have episodes and from 2010-2014 she was episode free. We completely forgot about the illness and didn't think nothing more of it and moved on with our busy lives.

In August of 2014 Tatiyana was sick with what we thought was the flu. I had this awful pain in my stomach as her symptoms seemed so eerily familiar. Tatiyana was then sick again in September, November, skipped December and then sick again January 2015 we knew it had come back and was time to see a specialist. We were no longer with Kaiser and our new Sutter Doctor had no idea about CVS so we had to educate him on what we knew.

January, February and March 2015 Tatiyana was hospitalized and by April 2015 it appears we had a medicine regiment that was working and prevent episodes. Tatiyana went episode free from April 2015- September 2015 and it came back again. This time even harder and stronger. October, skipped November and December were 8 day episodes each and I thought we have finally hit the worse. January 2016 came around and little did we know that CVS would change our daughter's daily life. Today is May 9th and our daughter has had literally daily episodes with maybe 1- 2 day breaks in between since January. Our lives have forever changed.

During this time my mind constantly is researching lead after lead, suggestion after suggestion. As desperate parents we want to check out every resource we can. Feeling like western medicine was no longer helping our daughter, but possibly making it worse. It truly was confirmed when Tatiyana had a good day and she said "Mommy the medicine makes me even worse. I don't want to take it anymore. I want to fight it and I can do this mommy." Immediately my husband began the guided meditation routine and breathing techniques to alleviate the pain as all the pain killer meds were not even giving my child the relief she needed.
Back tracking to early 2015, I received Facebook friend request from a Keller Williams Realty agent in Fresno, CA. Now in the past I would accept every single friend request since I so love networking. Eventually I was being more personal on my page, I decided to limit it to people I have actually met first. For whatever reason I decided to accept this friend request as how many times I was going to ignore it, something kept telling me to just hit accept. I figured his mutual friends appear to be all the top producing real estate agents in the country, he definitely would be someone I could certainly connect with and is likely to be a reputable and top agent in his community.

Fast forward to October 2015, I get a FB message from this KW Agent. He stated that he had went through hash tags on Instagram #CyclicVomitingSyndrome with his wife and seen some of my posts and realized I was his friend on FB. He shared with me that his son had the exact same illness and was in the hospital nearly 57 days and was on many medications. He said that him and his wife decided to go the Holistic medicine route and that they have been so far one week free from an episode and is literally off all of his medications. I was stunned!!! I could not believe it and it just was so unreal. I looked up the website and tried to read up on it and then I got lost with life and caring for the family and work and responsibilities I didn't follow up on it and plainly forgot all about it.

Fast forward to April 2016, I'm sitting in the hospital room watching my daughter sleep and scrolling through FB and I see this agent make a post on my newsfeed and something in me clicked and reminded me to message him and ask about his son. I quickly send a message asking how his son is doing and within minutes his wife is calling me.

I could not believe my ears as she describes her 11 year old son's story and it felt like she was telling me my daughter's story. I was even more in tears to find out that her son has remained episode free since October 2015. The date since the agent last messaged me and sharing their success story.

As soon as I got off the phone I make the call to the doctor and the soonest they can see Tatiyana is May 10th. Ironically the very next day the doctors tell us there is nothing more they can do within their capacity and that the only course of action would be to take anti-depressants. My husband and I drew the line there as there was no way we would entertain that route. Our daughter is not depressed. She is in pain. The side affects of the suggested meds seem far worse than what she was going through. Find out why she's in PAIN!!!!! Find out WHY these episodes are being triggered????!!!!

These last few weeks since her last release from the hospital has been so tough as each day has been bad and good and good and bad, but hope to carry us through that she will have a chance with this doctor and this new treatment.

As with anything that's good and truly healing for someone, the down side is this treatment is NOT covered by insurance at all. Of course, how would the medical industry, pharmaceutical industry, insurance industry make any money on treatments that actually heal someone. That actually goes to the root of the problem instead of masking it with man made medicine. I can go on and on about that, but i'll save that for another blog/rant.

As I was venting to my dear friend and fellow agent Terri about Tatiyana's progress, she tells me that our KW office wants to help. That our friends in the industry want help. I was floored and overwhelmed with love and emotion as my colleagues, business partners and peers came together to raise money to cover 10+ treatments/supplements for Tatiyana. On top of that they created a meal train and delicious meals have been delivered to our home a couple days a week. The kids had no idea and so when they found out they were so shocked and overwhelmed. Tatiyana said "Mommy we are the ones who are suppose to help people!" I said "They love you so much they want to help you this time." Tatiyana says "Well if they bring over food then they will have to just eat with us!" https://mealtrain.com/zqmqgr

Colin and I are so Thankful and so full of gratitude that so many people would just come together and give and give and give. We don't know how to ask for help as we find joy in helping others, but by receiving help we realized how much we did need it. How much it helped just taking off one last thing off the to do list and that there is a meal ready for the family.

Even with medical insurance, the out of pocket costs that are not covered begin to mount up. As we depleted savings to try to stay ahead and catch up, hospitalization stays have been a huge hit to our finances. Whatever sacrifices we have to do as parents to provide for our children, so be it!!! The harsh reality was the thought that even if I had millions and millions of dollars, I was being told there was no cure out there for this illness.

BUT TODAY, we have HOPE! Hope and love to carry us through. Hope for a new treatment to give our child the relief and peace she needs. Hope that we can share our story to many other sufferers throughout the world and will be healed as well!

I ask all of you to pray for Tatiyana as that is the way you can help her and help us. Tuesday May 10th will be her very first treatment and every day for one week. The doctor is in southern California and so though it is miles away, whatever it takes, we are willing to seek that treatment.

I asked for a smile and she still gave me one even in pain

I couldn't be even more grateful for how the stars have aligned in our daughter's favor. No matter how tough and challenging and heartbreaking this has been for our family, we have been blessed to experience human kindness and generosity at its finest. The love and support of family and friends near and far has been amazing and we are so forever grateful.

Whatever the outcome, we know that this is all part of our family's journey and God's master plan.

Thank you all for the love and support you all have given my family. We are truly grateful. God Bless you all!
#PrayersForTati #CVSWarrior #CyclicVomitingSyndromeAwareness #ChronicIllnessAwareness #YipFamily #YipDynasty

Prayers for a safe journey to Southern California 

Hello 2015! Happy New Year!!!

Jynessa, our baby born on Sept 23, 2014

WOW!  2014 is coming to an end and a New Year approaching!  2014 definitely was a “different” year for me.  I had plans and goals laid out, but truly there are times you have to allow your path and destiny to run it’s course!  Being unexpectedly blessed with Jynessa and dealing with a rough pregnancy, taught me that I had to live in the moment.  I learned to really take in every single day and pay attention to all that was happening instead of it being a blur.

I am so grateful and thankful for all the family, friends and business partners who supported my family and I in the past year.   It was hard to ask and receive help during my super sickly days, but I was told once that if I don’t allow others to help me, it takes a way the joy and experience they would feel in being able to help and serve others.  That was a huge eye opener for me to see things in that perspective.  I always wanted to be the one to give and help, this time I was able to quiet my ego and receive.  I was completely humbled and grateful for so many who were willing to go out of their way to help me and my family.

Jynessa's First Christmas!

2015 is going to be an awesome year of growth and adjustment.  Definitely going to be learning new things and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.  As one of my inspiring idols Kevin Bracy have always said, “Focus on just winning the day” 

Every day in 2015, I will work hard on “Winning the Day!”

The Yip Family
Colin, Joy, Tatiyana, Jordan & Jynessa

My family and I wish you all Good Health, Lot’s of Love, Plenty of Laughs and Prosperity in 2015!!!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Letter to my husband on our 11 year Wedding Anniversary!

To my dearest loving husband Colin,

WOW!  11 years today!   I remember our wedding day like it was yesterday.  Our parents had blessed us with a beautiful wedding with over 420 guests to witness it and we both didn't have a single penny.  We were so broke we even forgot to buy you a wedding band so during the ceremony, we had to use my wedding set, split up the rings so we can place one on your finger and it wouldn’t even fit.  LOL!  We reminded the photographer NOT to take any pictures of the “rings” ha ha ha!

I still remember driving to our honeymoon and you said “Promise me Joy from this day forward we are going to work hard and stack up our money and save every chance we can get.  We are going to keep it simple and we are going to do this!”  Yes was all I can say to my handsome groom!

Not long after the wedding we discovered we were pregnant with our daughter Tatiyana.  It was the roughest pregnancy ever.  I was sick every day, depressed and anti-social.  I didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere other than stay locked up in my room.  I made things so difficult for you with my raging hormones.  I made the decision to quit my job at Wells Fargo as a banker, and even though I was the breadwinner at the time, you supported me and let me quit my job.  You stepped up for our family and took on a 2^nd job delivering pizzas for Mountain Mike’s.  I was embarrassed you had a job like that, but you stood proud!  You came home every night telling me how much tips you made and how much you couldn’t wait to see it all accumulate and save for the baby.  You made a piggy bank out of the water cooler jug and you slowly filled it up every single day.  You were so proud that you were the sole provider for our family and you were NOT going to fail in doing so.  You wanted to make sure our young family would survive and make it.  Working two jobs from morning till night.  As a responsible man you would do whatever it takes to make sure you could provide.  It doesn't matter what job you did as long as you worked was all that mattered to you.

Same Water Jug we use as
a piggy bank for 11 years now!

I am so proud to have married a hard working, loving, simple and humble man like you.  You have taught me so much about true love and life itself.  You remind me constantly that it’s not about the material things we accumulate, but the lessons we learn to better ourselves.  To work hard without expecting anything in return because it’s all worth it when the blessings come showering down on us when we least expect it.

Looking back now, I am so happy I listened and understood where you are coming from.  I am thankful that we keep it simple because our journey of life so far has been AMAZING!  We are blessed with two beautiful silly kids and GOD has blessed us with another baby on the way.  You show me every day how much you love me and never stop working hard to prove your love to me.  Especially the love you show our children.  Sometimes I feel like you do a way better job than I do!  How lucky I am for that!  LOL!

Happy Anniversary to you my love!  Thank you for all you do and the love you constantly shower the kids and I!  You are the best and perfect husband for me and I look forward to many more amazing years to come!  I LOVE YOU!  Mahal na mahal kita Chinaman!  Forever Yours, Baby Girl
#YipFamily #YipDynasty

You were always and will be a Money Magnet!
LOL!  I think I still get upset knowing people
pinned more money on you than me
during our Money Dance! ha ha ha!