New Years Resolutions include biking for fitness?

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of biking and cycling.  In the past I have rode the MS 150 race from Duluth to the Twin Cities.  Lately I’ve been hitting up the spin class Amara Kamara puts on at LA Fitness.  No matter what your biking goals or objectives are you need to check out my friend Ryan’s site at www.globlacyclingsupply.com for all your biking gear.  Ryan’s a good guy and a serious biker (way more so than I am!) and knows what’s up when it comes to the right gear for you.

What’s the best restaurant in Minnesota?

Growing up in Green Isle, MN my dining choices, outside of mom’s cooking was very limited.  There was a Hardee’s in Le Seuer, a Subway in Arlington and during the old days of “Book-It” we’d dine monthly at Pizza Hut.

Well, my palate and world were flipped upside down when I started dating the woman who became my wife, Kristin.  She’s big into food and trying new places.  We agree on a lot of places and every so often we have minor variances in opinion of a restaurant and it’s food.

One thing is clear however, for us.  Our favorite restaurant in MN is definitely 112 Eatery.  If you haven’t yet been there, what the heck are you waiting for.  The food is great and the prices are not too much more than subway or pizza hut without drinks.  Don’t believe me?  If you go there and don’t like it, let me know and I’ll get you a $25 dollar gift card to your favorite place. 

Seeing how I’m being generous, return the favor and let me know what brought you here by dropping me a quick email to jay@jaydacey.com or calling me at 651.210.9593.  If you have a mortgage I can monitor it for you at no cost.  If you are looking to buy, I’d love to help you out too.  So get in touch before you forget!

Who is the best personal trainer in the Twin Cities?

A quick story, in July of 2008, I proposed to the woman that would become my wife, Kristin Shuda.  Around Valentine’s day of 2009, with our wedding only months away, I decided I wanted to walk down that aisle with confidence and have my grandchildren look back and talk about “grandpa Jay” was in shape!

Well, unfortunately, at the time, I was teetering between 225 and 230 lbs.  Since going to St Thomas at the age of 18, i gradually put on the weight going from 190-195-200 and on up over the years and then one day I was reading a magazine and saw a story about Amara Kamara, at Pillars Training.  In it, he offered new clients 2 sessions at no cost to see if it was a good fit.  So I took him up on it and here’s how it went down.

After 3 minutes of working out I was gasping for air.  Amara laughed at me saying, most people don’t make it 3 minutes with me on their first time, you are in pretty good shape for being heavy.  He was right, I did work out almost everyday.  The problem was I was neglecting my diet and not working out in a manner that would maximize my metabolism to burn fat.

As the first couple sessions passed I noticed an increase in my confidence and a little more wiggle room in my favorite jeans.  As weeks turned into a month, my friends started to notice and after 2 months, I hopped on the scale and it read back 204.  25 lbs in 2 months.  Wow!  What it had taken me 8 years to put on, it was gone in 2 months.

So now I want to tell you something you might not want to hear.  It’s something Amara told me at the beginning.  He said, you, and only you, can make the changes you want to make in your life.  Once you have the belief and make the decision, then I can take you by the hand and tell you what to eat, when to eat it and how to work out in a manner that will get you to your goals.

So there you have it, my experience with Amara Kamara, who I consider to be the best personal trainer in the Twin Cities.  If you want to reach out to Amara and see if it’s a good fit email him at akamarafit@gmail.com .  If you happen to belong to LA Fitness, he teaches the spin class on Monday and Thursday nights so check him out there too, but come early, those classes fill up !

P.S.  You may ask, why are you blogging about personal trainers, wedding photographers etc… The reason I write about these things is they are important and matter to me.  No one I know wants a mortgage.  They want to own a home to share their lives in with their loved ones.  No one wants to workout like a mad-man for 30 minutes 3 or 4 times a week, they want to look good on their Wedding Day.  Does that make sense?  That’s one of the benefits of working with me.  I’m not just a mortgage guy.  I am a resource for you to live a better life!

Who is the best wedding photographer in Minnesota?

My wife and I, Kristin, got married this past summer at St Rose of Lima Church in Roseville and then had a dinner and dance at Town & Country Club in St Paul, next to my alma matter, University of St Thomas, along the banks of the Mississippi river.

As many of  my clients are engaged couples looking forward to both their wedding and first home together, I thought I would share a great resource with you.

One of the highlights of our wedding was having a great photographer, Pat Connolly, of Pat Connolly Photography.  He was very accomodating and did great work for a reasonable fee.  We’ve had a lot of friends get married and we can say that we feel we got the best value from Pat Connolly Photography.  To check out his website click here.

Who is the best real estate agent in Minnesota?

This is a very tough question because it is “open ended” and does not clarify how you determine “best.”

You could say, “who sells the most houses”, “who has the highest sale price to listing ratio”, “who has the lowest average days on market”, “who gets the largest price reductions for buyers” or even “who gives the best closing gifts to their clients”.

So rather than argue one thing over the other, I am going to share with you my wife and my experience with Jesse Grumdahl at http://www.minnesotarealestatesearch.com/ a ReMax agent in Minneapolis, MN.

Around July of 2008 Kristin and I found a home for sale on Lake Gervais in Little Canada that we thought would make a good house for us (we had just gotten engaged).  So, with a short list of “to-do’s” around the house (weed garden, replace deck boards as needed, fresh paint on cement in basement, etc..) Kristin and I listed our house with Jesse at 339,000.

Now remember, this was during the “beginning” of the slide in home prices and Kristin had paid 330k just 3 years before so we knew we were in line with the competition but we wanted to “get ahead” and after a week of showings every day (we knew we were priced inline with the showings coming in) we did an adjustment at 329k and got an offer on the 11th day on market.

The offer came in at 320k and we were ok with that but Jesse said, I can get you 322,500 if you want it.  We thought, heck yeah we want it, so within hours he had gotten our home sold at the price above what we were willing to go with at 320k.

Flash forward to the buy side.  We threw out a low ball offer of 335k when the list was still at 375k.  They countered at 370k and because we wanted to get the house and were concerned others mide bid we were going to counter way up at 360k so as to ensure we’d get it.  Not with Jesse on our side…he suggestd we go in at 350k, final offer, write a good sized earnest deposit and offer to close quick.

So there you have it.  I’ve worked with over a hundred agents in my years and Jesse is who we’d use again.  To get in touch with him he can be emailed at jesse@minnesotarealestatesearch.com and let him know you heard about him here.  Of course before you buy you should be pre-qualified so make sure to call me when you are ready at 651.210.9593.