Insta-Gathering

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Insta-Gathering

“The best way to socialize is to look into the other person’s eyes.”

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I woke up at 6am on Sunday. I could stay in bed lingering under the warmth of the covers, and reading a bit more. Instead, I got up quickly, washed, dressed up, grabbed both of my cameras, and went out into the dark street. One of my New Year’s resolution is to walk every day. I have three routes: down the hill to West Portal, around our hilly neighborhood, or a walk/hike up to Mount Davidson. From our house, it is about a half an hour brisk walk to reach the highest natural point in San Francisco, with an elevation of 928 feet. It is topped by a huge Cross, which is part of the rich San Francisco history.

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I often go up there to greet the sunset, or just to take photos of the expansive view of the city. But sometimes instead of the view, Mount Davidson greets visitors with the heaviest fog, which can be a great opportunity to take spectacular images.

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When I reached the foot of the hill, I was surprised to meet another photographer. And then I heard voices coming from the top. A few moments later, out of the fog, emerged a group of young men and one woman, most of whom were carrying photo cameras. While I watched and listened to them greet each other, I was even more surprised that many were from out of town. To get here at 7am on this foggy morning was a really special effort. I found out that more than 20 men and a few women were drawn here by Instagram. The idea was to get together to photograph, or to create a video with the maximum duration of 15 seconds. Instagrams can be shared on a variety of social networking platforms.

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But what I noticed was that though all of them had photo cameras, including some old ones with film, they were not taking photographs; instead they were socializing and talking to one another. In my observation, I considered that those young people probably spend most of their working hours alone, in front of computers. For them any form of gathering outside their familiar environment is to actually meet, talk, and socialize. The camera is just a reason for belonging to a certain group. Of course my theory may be wrong. My daughter once suggested for me to share my images on Instagram, but I did not know how. One woman in the group explained how I can do it and promised to let me know about the next gathering. Though, I was the “wisest” dude among them. (To find out the difference between an old dude and a wise one read my story.), I felt good and while they were talking, I was photographing.

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P.S.

As I’ve previously written, while photography means drawing with light, fog blocks a lot of light. I like to create images where fog is a contributor to the special images. There was an interesting story in the S.F. Chronicle, about how a photo-bomb on Instagram made international news.

 

 

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A student inherited a rental property, as well as an investment portfolio which generated over $6,000/month income. He needed money to pay taxes and for the improvements. Since he did not have an established income and no sufficient credit history, the only solution was to get a private loan with higher interest. After two years, we will be able to refinance his loan and get conventional financing.


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How To Create Joy In Life

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How To Create Joy In Life

“Joy is a choice–choose wisely.”

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We vacationed in Mexico at the start of January at the “Mayan Palace”, a resort located on the way from Cancun to Playa del Carmen. It has beautiful grounds, very lush surroundings, great accommodations, good food, and friendly service. And of course, there is plenty of water to gaze at and swim in and the warm sunny weather.

As a story teller, I like to talk to people, listen to their stories, and sometimes share mine. While walking to the beach one day, I started a conversation with a woman whom I had noticed in a local supermarket. She was visiting from Boston with her family. She told me about the Zumba exercise class in the pool where we were staying. She also told me that unfortunately she does not have the time at home to do this exercise anymore since she has a new boss and has to long hours at work, six days a week.

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When we stay at a timeshare, one of their features is to invite guests to an “informative” presentation that usually lasts a few hours. In return for your time, you are usually offered a complimentary perk of the resort. This time it was a buffet breakfast, 10% discount on all activities and food at the resort, plus 1000 pesos (about $70 US dollars), which can also be spent at the resort.

We bought the Mayan Palace in 1992 for about $7,000 US dollars. Since then, we have visited many different locations in Mexico, including Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. The developers keep building new and more luxurious resorts and of course want to sell visitors yet another time share. In the past, we were suckers and bought more. But, this time we held our ground.

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After the sales person failed to convince us to depart from our money, the manager stepped in. In his conversation, he told us his life story and hard work in the past, which was very similar to the woman from Boston’s story, whom I encountered on my beach walk. Santiago was born in Switzerland. His father was a doctor, who left in pursuit of higher earnings, traveled the world dragging his family along. Santiago graduated from a prestigious culinary school in France and his last job was an executive chef at the Ritz Carlton in Miami. There were two events which changed his life. He worked long hours at the restaurant. One evening, his (then) wife came and asked him to sign some papers. Since he was very busy, he did not even bother to read what he was signing. Only three days later, his mom called him telling him that he actually signed divorce papers. He also had a younger brother, who was planning to retire at the age of 40. To do this, he worked very hard. His dream was intercepted—he died at the age of 29.

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Visiting Mexico on vacation, Santiago decided to change his life. Today he is happily married, has a salary, and four weeks vacation which he can spend with his wife and two little daughters. But most importantly, he can see them in the morning and spend time with them after his work.

There are many things in our lives that make us happy, but it is up to us to figure out what is really important and what we can do to create a true and lasting joy.

P.S.

I came back from the trip with about 1,500 images in my camera. I had much difficulty choosing which ones to share with you. Please enjoy!

 

 

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A client had an adjustable loan for $1,500,000, which she obtained 10 years ago. She received it with stated income and was not currently qualified for refinancing into a fixed rate.

We suggested that she should not worry since after a fixed period is over, her adjustable rate will be even lower than what she is currently paying. The rates might go up, but it will not happen overnight. Meanwhile, enjoy what you have and pay more off if you can.


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How To Become Wiser

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 How To Become Wiser

“Wine improves with age–people grow wiser.”

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When we ask a person’s age in English, the question is “How old are you?” In Spanish, the question is “¿Cuántos años tienes?—How many years are you?” In Russian, “SkOl’ka vam let??—How many summers are you?” In Hebrew, “Ben kama ata?” or “Bat kama at?”—“How long have you been a son/daughter?”

The Torah tells a story of the meeting between the Pharaoh and Joseph’s father Jacob, during which the Pharaoh inquired about Jacob’s age.

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“How many are the days of the years of your life?” Jacob answered the Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourns have been a hundred and thirty years” (Genesis 47:8-9). In other words, Jacob measured his life by his daily journeys—experiences. We age every day, but we also become wiser every day as we hopefully learn from our journeys.

There is a story about two little boys playing in the sand box. The bigger boy asks his friend, “How old are you?” The other boy answers, “I do not know”. “Do you like girls?” The other boy responds, “No.” “Then you are probably three, since I am already four.”

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This past January 13th, my life journey was measured to be 68 years or about 24,769 days. During my life, I’ve learned many things and I’ve had various experiences. Before becoming a mortgage broker over 31 years ago, I had ten different occupations. I’ve also had many years of schooling and have had great teachers outside of schools, starting with my parents. When I got married at age 20, I gained new teachers: my wife, her mother, and then our two daughters. I constantly learn from a variety of teachers in books I read or listen to in the car. Wisdom cannot be contained. Wise people always share their knowledge.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to read and listen to more books, but also to share with you some of the knowledge I acquire. I will start with Michael Pollan’s “Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education”, which I have just finished listening to on an audio book I borrowed from the library. Though we have a garden, I do not have time to be a gardener. I decided to listen to Michael Pollan’s book because I appreciate his wisdom. He is the best-selling author of “The Botany of Desire”, and many other books. “Second Nature reads like brilliant entertainment, but it is serious wisdom.” Wrote Simon Schama, Boston Globe.

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I completely agree with him. The book gives a lot of gardening advice, which also parallels as an outlook on life and business in general. It describes in detail how to deal with weeds and the animals that try to destroy the hard gardening work by understanding that we all are part of an ecological system and success in gardening as well as in life is in trying to find the balance.

P.S.

You can find “Where Wisdom Comes From” in my previous story. I not only like to read books, I also photograph others who like to do it as well. Enjoy!

 

 

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Why I Am Not Upset

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 Why I Am Not Upset

“Humans are a bundle of emotions. Do not let them control you.”

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One of the year end client’s appreciation party we attended recently was arranged by our money managerPeter Karp. We sat together with our old friends sharing stories, and of course the subject of money came up. I mentioned that Peter has been doing a great job for us. In return, one friend shared her story about how she bought an Apple stock (before she started working with Peter) a few years ago for $100 a share. The stock was going up for a while, there was a hiccup and the price started to decline. She needed money and decided to sell at $130/share. But now, she regrets doing that, since the stock has since sky rocketed. When I found out that she held the stock for two years, I pointed out to her that she actually made 30% or 15% per year, which is a great return. Yes, she said but if I held on, I would be a rich woman today.
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This remark brought memories about a four-unit building we owned on Guerrero Street in Noe Valley, which we sold years ago. At that time, business was slow and we were struggling financially. The building’s roof was leaking and we accumulated $80,000 in credit card debts, and the mortgage was 11%. We were very happy to sell and pay off our debts. Today, the same building that we sold for $550,000 is worth about $3 million. Am I upset? Not a bit. In my view, the purpose of life is to have experiences and learn from them. If in the long run, we are financially ahead, it only means that after we die, someone will have a good time with their inheritance, after taxes are paid.

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Actually, the reason that prompted me to write this story was what happened after the party. When we arrived at the Waterfront Restaurant on Embarcadero, there was a long line to the adjacent parking lot. The sign said $14 and I did not have enough cash with me. The rain had stopped, and I saw that across the street there was plenty of parking and I thought that after 7:30pm, it would be free (I temporarily forgot that we live in San Francisco). As we walked back to the car at 9:30pm, I was very happy that we did not have to wait in line again for the attendants to get our car out. I saved $14 bucks and my car was parked facing in the direction that I had to drive home. However, when I approached the car, I noticed that there was broken window glass on the ground and immediately realized that it was actually my car that was vandalized. The broken glass was all over the backseat. There was nothing to steal. My briefcase, which I “hid” in the back of the SUV was opened, but there were only papers. In addition, I also found a $66 parking ticket on the windshield. Literally, the rain stopped and we drove back with an open (broken) window with the sound of the wind in our ears.

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Presumably, most people would be rightfully upset in similar conditions. I was not. I reasoned that I would be able to contribute to the well-being of the glass repairman, plus help my beloved city with my small contribution for the parking ticket. And as far as the thief who broke into my car is concerned, he ended up with nothing. The next morning, I spent a few hours getting my car to the garage, dealing with the insurance and getting a rent-a-car. I also found out that as a result of the storm, our office building had a power failure and we could not be there anyway.

I hope that my story will help you see things in a brighter light, and you will encourage your friends to call me. I promise they are not going to be upset about their mortgage after speaking with me.

P.S.

While in the restaurant which is across from the Bay Bridge, I had an opportunity to check how my new pocket camera, a Canon G-12, can perform. You might like my artistic interpretation of the familiar view of the bay bridge. Enjoy!

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Most residential loans are vested either as Joint Tenancy or Community Property for husbands and wives. Some lenders allow revocable trusts. Tenants-in-common are used for the purchase of units as a group of investors. Conventional residential lenders do not allow other vestings. For these, we have special solutions which are priced differently and offer other underwriting criteria.


 

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Where Wisdom Comes From


Where Wisdom Comes From

 

“A smart person knows how to solve problems. A wise one knows how to prevent them.”

I am blessed with good teeth, perhaps because I take care of them on regular basis. For the last 33 years, my dentist Steven Oswald has ensured me that they’ve stayed in such good shape. On my last routine visit, the dental technician Jamal took an x-ray and pointed out that I needed extra images since I still have both of my wisdom teeth. (No wonder some consider me to be a wise guy!) I asked Jamal where he thought the wisdom was coming from? “It is given to those who listen to their Mama”, he said. And then he added, “Wisdom comes to those who seek advice”. Wow! What can it get simpler than that? And then of course, it depends from whom you are asking the advice, and whether you are willing to listen to it.

I started writing this story during a dinner at Hayes Bar and Grill. This is our favorite restaurant to go to before concerts at the Symphony or Opera. Fred, the host who is a regular reader of my emails, noticed me writing and asked about the subject. When I told him, “Where Wisdom Comes From”, without skipping a beat he said “From good food, of course.”

I believe that with age, people are becoming wiser not older. There is a story to support my belief.


In a faraway kingdom, a King decided that the old people were a burden to society and he declared to kill anyone over the age of 65. One young man decided to disobey the King’s decree and hid his father in a cave where he sustained him. Soon after that, the King was informed that there was a heavy chest seen in the water of the river close to the shore. He demanded at once to have it pulled out, but no one seemed able to do so. Then, the King promised a huge reward for the effort. The young man came to visit his father in the cave and hold him the story.

“Is there a tree growing by the river?” The father asked. “Go to the King and tell him that the chest is on this tree.”

The Young man went to the King and told him what he heard from his father and claimed the reward.

“Who was this wise man? Who told you about the location of the chest?” Asked the King.

Trembling for the life of his father, the young man admitted the source. Immediately, the King annulled his decree and since then wise-aged people were treated with respect.

 

P.S.

According to a Bible story, when King Solomon inherited his throne, he had a dream in which he requested from God, “May You grant your servants an understanding heart, to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil (1 Kings 3:5). Since he did not ask for riches, long life or death of his enemies, God said to him “Behold! I have given to you a wise and understanding heart.” (1 King 3:12). I think that it was through his wise and understanding heart that President Obama made the decision to restore a relationship with Cuba, which made many wise women I met in Havana very happy. You can see some of them here and more in my book Soy Cubano, I am Cuban. It is available as an e-book for $9.99 on BLURB or you may also purchase a hardcopy here.

 

Have a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and Wise New Year!

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