How to Ask for Forgiveness

On Friday’s eve, October 11^th, is the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This day is considered to be the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Those who follow the tradition are fasting for 25 hours. I stay in the synagogue the whole day, praying and asking for forgiveness from God, for all the transgressions known and not known to me. The process of atonement started ten days earlier on Rosh-Hashanah. It begins with asking for forgiveness from people in my life. I am grateful in advance for your forgiveness.

What happens on Sunday, the day after the Day of Atonement is over? Old habits kick in and life goes back to the same routine, or perhaps something does change. Was I forgiven or not? Do I have to wait till the next Yom Kippur to find out? And how do I know how my life is supposed to be? If we are to live day by day and to make an effort to help others, the answers to these questions don’t really matter. After all, this was the essence of my repentance.

Recently, I have published my latest book, “42 Encounters with Illumination”. It has beautiful images of the manifestation of light, and poems which serve as illuminations.

Myself

I cannot be myself
Unless I share myself with others.
That is an eternal message
Which I received some time ago.
This message became my life’s mission.
It helps me to understand
What life is all about,
Who am I, and why I am here,
In this place and time.
What it takes to be
The son, the brother and the husband,
Father, friend, co-worker,
Man or woman, child and the older person.
Only when I realized that I am part of all these people
Who fill my life, and whom I love,
I was able to find myself.

You can order “42 Encounters with Illumination” on Amazon.

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PATIENCE IS GOLD

One of the valuable qualities for anyone involved in the mortgage and real estate businesses is patience. It has been very well demonstrated during one of my recent transactions.

I first met with Eugene in January this year. He was referred to me by a real estate agent. As a general contractor,  Eugene declared decent income. However, he had very little money for the downpayment. As a contractor he was looking for the properties where some work needed to be done. Then his search switched to units. However, the down payment was affecting his choices.

We were planning to get him an FHA loan with 3.5% down payment. And then he found something which was not on his radar before – a condominium. The project was not approved by FHA. However, we were able to find a loan where with 5% downpayment he could get the interest rate of 5.99%. The entire process took nine months and, as you may guess, required his and our patience.

Last week, Eugene inked the deal in our office. The signing process was filmed with his permission so we could make the video available for you at this link.

With questions feel free to call me at (415) 225-7920. Or send me an e-mail to mannykagan@comcast.net.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

 

 

WHAT IS ROSH HASHANAH?

October 4^th is the second day of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, which means Head of the Year. Unlike Gregorian New Year, which on January1st is going to be 2025, this holiday commemorates the 5785^th birthday of the first human being Adam and his wife Eve.

In the Torah, the first human beings were created on the sixth day of creation. This date is also the birth of the concept of time and the recognition that there is a King creator, who uses nature in its manifestation.

Some people consider this as the end of the cycle and the birth of the new one. Another point of view can be that this is not a cycle, but rather a spiral, which started long time ago; however, every year it arrives to the same point of time.

Those Jews who follow the tradition, spend two days praying in the synagogue. It is believed that on that day, God decides on the destiny of each of us for the next year. However, we all have a chance to change the decree over the next ten days, which culminates in the Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur. This day is spent in fasting and praying.

Since Adam represents all of humanity, this holiday relates not only to Jews; so all of us still have time to reflect on our lives and perhaps consider some changes. One of the traditions of this holiday is to eat apples dipped in honey.

Three images of apples illustrating this story convey my artistic expression.

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What is Going On
in the Mortgage Business?

Last week, a San Francisco Chronicle’s article titled  “Mortgage rates are close to the ‘magic  number’. Will it matter for California’s market?” was discussing the “magic number”, which supposedly is the interest rate of 6%. At that rate, the real estate/mortgage world is supposed to start moving. The rate is already here, however, the home owners who have the interest rates in 3rds, do not rush to sell their properties to buy the new ones with the higher rates. Anyhow, the train started moving. More people want to refinance their existing mortgages mainly to consolidate their other debts to lower their monthly payments.

One of my clients has a mortgage and 24 other monthly obligations with the overall balance of $71,000 and a minimum monthly payment of $1,300, and, as a consequence, low credit score. We are now combining all of his balances in one loan plus covering closing costs and, as a result, he will get an extra $20,000 in cash. All of this with the rate of 5.5%.

Raoul Badde from Penny Mac during his recent zoom presentation told our team that the whole lending infrastructure had changed. Many major banks and credit unions are not very much interested in originating new mortgages. In addition, many mortgage brokers left the business and those who stayed are getting one loan a month. Those who are closing two monthly loans  are in the top 10 percent of the nation. A three-minute cut of Raoul’s presentation is available at this link.

I am not bragging, but in September, after closing four purchases, I already have five new loans in the pipeline along with six new clients whom I am helping with various mortgage needs.

What are you waiting for? Your individual mortgage solution might be just a phone call away. So don’t hesitate to call me at  (415) 225-7920.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

THE SECRET TO A MEANINGFUL LIFE

I have recently come across an article online, written by Ephrat Livni titled “The secret to a meaningful life is simpler than you think” where he writes that unhappy people fail to recognize what matters, instead becoming overly focused on what they believe is missing from their experience.

This statement supports my thinking that those who claim that they hate others, are actually not happy with themselves and their lives. The article cites a philosophy professor, Idido Landau from Haifa University, who covered this subject in his book, “Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World”.

I spoke with my childhood friend yesterday, who had major surgery recently and is now recuperating. He told me that he often thinks about his life and all the good things he has experienced. Since we know each other for seventy-seven years, I asked him about the not so pleasant things or the not very good people he has met. He told me that many of these people’s lives did not have a happy ending. However, he chose only to think about what gives him good feelings. I completely subscribe to this outlook, since it is the only way to make life meaningful.

For me, beauty, which we can find everywhere, is a part of my life, as you can see from these three images of flowers posted above.

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WHY BUY CONDOMINIUMS?

September has been quite productive for my team. We are currently working on three refinancings, two lines of credit and a number of construction loans. We also closed loans for four condos. This is the reason I am writing this story.

Since all the closed condo loans were very different in their nature as well as in terms of the buyers’ circumstances, they required different mortgage solutions. This led me to write a separate essay, which I will share with you next week to bring your attention to the topic of financing condo projects.

One of the projects where our company has become ‘go to the source’ of mortgages is the Millennium Tower. This luxurious compound had engineering issues (it was leaning, as you may know), which were eventually fixed. Nevertheless, the majority of the banks stay away from this project, except for those we have identified for our business purposes. As a result, we already closed seven purchase mortgages in the Millennium Tower, and I am currently working on another one.

What prompted me to write about this were two recent articles in the San Francisco Chronicle. Check the two links below for the full texts.

“Millennium prices a downtown harbinger?”

“Bay Area condo fees among highest in U.S.”

With any questions on the subject, please call me at (415) 225-7920. Or send me an email at mannykagan@comcast.net.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

BLUE HERON LAKE

One of the popular places for a walk with our labradoodle Max in Golden Gate Park is Blue Heron Lake. It was recently renamed from Stow Lake, because the State Assembly member from the 1850s, Mr. Stow, was a known antisemite. Quite a number of different options were offered for the renaming.

The winning name was suggested by Nancy DeStefanis, also known as the Heron Lady of Golden Gate Park. I learned about it from Nancy herself, whom my wife and I met during a recent walk.

Nancy was sitting on the bench overlooking the tree where Blue Herons build their nests every year and from where baby herons venture out into the world. They are very elegant birds, and I was privileged to capture some of them in flight and on the ground, which you can see in these three images, as well as Nancy DeStefanis’ portrait.

Nancy is the Founder and Executive Director at San Francisco Nature Education, which provides interactive environmental education programs for adults and young people.

On the day we met her in the park, she brought a bouquet of flowers to honor her friend, Pat Kearn, whose memory had been preserved on the plaque attached to the bench.

Please also check out www.sfnature.org

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SELF-EMPLOYEES SPECIAL

There are many people who are considered to be self-employees, i.e. they are not getting a salary, no W-2 and no paystubs from the employer. To accommodate them, lenders came up with the variety of programs, such as bank statements, Profit and Loss only, assets depletion or if it is rental property, DSCR – debt service coverage ratio, i.e. qualifying income is only based on the rents generated by the property.

One of these programs allows lenders to qualify borrowers’ income only on the 1099. It can be a good option for landscapers, real estate agents, consultants, drivers, handymen, web and graphic designers or anyone who is self-employed.

We have discussed this program during our recent staff meeting with Jane Yanecko from Logan Finance. The lender is using income reported on 1090 minus 10%. It can be combined with other income like W-2. Maximum loan amount is $3 million, minimum credit score is 660 and it can be used for the primary, second homes and investment properties with interest only payments.

You can view a video cut of our recorded conversation with Jane by following this link to my YouTube Channel.

With any questions on the subject, please call me at (415) 225-7920. Or send me an email at mannykagan@comcast.net.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

GREETINGS FROM THE CITY OF ROSES

Last weekend we visited Portland, Oregon, for our granddaughter’s fourth birthday. This gave us the opportunity to come to her birthday party and spend a few days with her, our daughter and son-in-law. We’ve been to Portland many times; however, on our previous visits we stayed in hotels downtown. This time we chose to stay in a VRBO in a residential neighborhood, just a twelve-minute drive from our destination. It was a nice large basement apartment with free parking.

There was a bookshelf of books where I found “Portland is Weird”, written by Benjamin A. Zanol. It covered a weird event which happened every day in the city in 2015. For example, on February 11^th was “World’s Largest Continual Chocolate Waterfall.” On March 14^th was “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and on April 10^th was “Oregon Ghost Conference”. On June 24^th was “Music as Medicine”. You are getting the gist.

Of course, not all the events were considered weird. For example, from August 31 for a week, was the “Oregon Dahlia Festival”, which took place again this year. Though “Keep Portland Weird” is the official motto of this lovely city, it is a great place to live if you do not mind heat in the summer and the rain in the winter. The streets in the residential areas are lined with old trees including fruit trees covered with apples and many flowers, especially roses.

You can buy a house here with over 2000 square feet for about $700,000. Home insurance is still reasonable, as so are the property taxes. It’s a great place for young people to start a family, especially if they can work remotely.

Among the list of top ten nicknames for Portland is one which is most appealing for me – “The City of Roses”. Roses are everywhere. Some of them grow as large bushes covered with flowers. I could not stop photographing them. Among many other gifts for our granddaughter, I brought my latest book “42 Encounters with Illuminations”. Though she could not yet read my “Illuminations” poems, she checked each photograph.  I guarantee that you will enjoy the book as well after you order it on Amazon.

Usually, I include three images to my Friday Stories, however, roses are so beautiful that I share one extra with you this time.

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HOW FOREIGNERS CAN BUY
REAL ESTATE IN THE US

Last week we had a Zoom call with Ryan Carroll from Lendz Financial. As a typical wholesale mortgage lender, they have a variety of loan programs. One of them is Loans for the Foreigners, i.e. those who live abroad and want to buy real estate property in the United States.

There is a number of lenders who offer such programs. The down payment can be as little as 10%, but it becomes more difficult to qualify, since the income is calculated based on the rent a property generates. It becomes a numbers game. Since there is no need for the credit report, no FICO score is needed, nor proof of personal income, nor social security number or local address as long as there is proof that the borrowers live abroad and have the money in their country, which can be transferred to the U.S.

Property can be located outside of California. However, It has to be an investment property. The rental income, which can be verified by the appraisal report, needs to be equal to the monthly mortgage payment, which depends on the interest rate, plus monthly taxes and insurance. These loans are relatively simple and require minimum documentation.

Please follow this link to view a piece of our conversation with Ryan Carroll posted onto my YouTube channel.

With any questions on the subject, please call me at (415) 225-7920. Or send me an email at mannykagan@comcast.net.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602