Who has the money?
Can the city of San Francisco help?
See you there!
Author of "The Mortgage Game"
See you there!
“Always expect the unexpected.”
For years, the area in San Francisco where we live, Monterey Heights, has been known to be covered in fog. Not anymore—due to global warming or some other changes in the weather, the fog burns off quickly and (at least on the weekends), we have days warm enough to have brunch outside on our deck. Our garden is filled with mature trees, bushes, flowers, and weeds. When we wake up in the morning, we hear birds chirping. When we sit outside, we often see hummingbirds suckling nectar from flowers, a couple of beautiful American robins picking up treasures they find on the ground. Squirrels come to play on the huge cypress trees. It is a very calming place, but we also have squatters. Certain flowers in our garden when not controlled, spread and overpower other growth.
Recently on a Sunday, I decided to bring some order to the chaos. I thought I knew what it will take to do the job. But it turns out that I had no idea how much work it would take to do it right. But what was even more interesting, the following Sunday when I thought that I knew what to expect, I was surprised at how slowly I was progressing and how many Sundays it would actually take to get satisfying results.
But the pleasant surprise actually came the next day—Monday. There was no way for me to know (since it never happened before) that when I came back from work after the dinner, the weather would be very pleasant and I sat outside, drinking tea, reading a fascinating book called “Black Swan” (not related to the movie) by Nassim Nicoles Taleb. Black Swan is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise. Mr. Taleb points out that before Black Swans were discovered, no one believed in their existence. The good examples of the “black swans” are 9/11, the economic meltdowns in September 2008, and the current war in the Middle East.
While reading the book and working in the garden, I realized that the enjoying theses pleasant evenings (which could also be considered “black swans”), could be benefited only after we do the work and get rid of the “squatters”. Can we prevent or eliminate destructive “black swans”? I do not know, but at least we can start by creating awareness.
P.S.
I often photograph flowers in our garden—especially roses, which appear unexpectedly different every time. Please enjoy.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!
A client was buying a condominium. He had a good job and an excellent credit score, but had very little savings. His parents live abroad and agreed to give him money for the down payment.
His parents emailed a gift letter to us. Since their money could be transferred directly to escrow (without banking delays), we could close the loan in only 14 days!
The client made an “all cash” offer and was able to get the property despite competition with other buyers.
Date: Thursday: September 11, 2014 RSVP on Meetup.com OR Facebook OR email Ausra@Pacbay.net |
“If you have deep roots, no storm can uproot you.”
After our friends’ wife died about 5 years ago, he went back to Moldova, where he is originally from, on a business trip. On his travels, he met a young woman, Anna, and after dating long distance, and traveling back and forth, they decided to marry and to move to San Francisco. We all spent some time together recently. She is a lovely woman, and he is very lucky that she agreed to leave her hometown to follow him with the intention to settle in the United States.
In conversation with my wife Elfa, Anna referred to her former country as “U Nas”, which translates to “in our place”—meaning where she came from. Perhaps over time, as she starts to feel more at home in San Francisco, she will change that habit.
My wife Elfa and I spent the first 25 years of our lives in Riga, Latvia, where we were born. Then we lived in Israel for almost 9 years, and now San Francisco has been our home for 33 years. Despite two emigrations, we feel that our roots are here. But for many immigrants, it takes some time to acquire this feeling.
Finding one’s roots relates not only to the place we live. I thought about this actually after I had a conversation with a friend who was born in the United States. When I reconnected with him, I learned that he moved to Pasadena in Southern California, where he works as a CPA for a large accounting firm.
After being a CPA for many years, he tried consulting, and then got involved in the mortgage business, where we met a number of years ago. After that, he worked as a CFO, and then tried to manage a company. Finally, after having many different experiences, he went back to his roots—being a CPA for a large accounting firm. He is happy (and getting paid).
Many people move from one company to another, change jobs, occupations, friends, spouses, geographic locations—always hoping that with the change, things will be better.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!