What Is The Meaning Of Life?

 “Life is long. Enjoy it.” 


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Last Monday on the day of the celebration of Cinco de Mayo, our very close friend, Arkady Fomin died. He lived in Dallas, played violin for the Dallas Symphony for many years, and organized a summer festival in Durango and was awarded a special medal of honor from the Latvian government (the country where we were both born) for his contribution to the music world. He played with the orchestra all over the world, was a member of a quartet which played at Carnegie Music Hall in New York, had many students, and together with Sophie—his wife of 47 years, he enjoyed life immensely. We were very good friends for almost 50 years. Since we liked to exchange jokes, he would often phone us after his concerts at midnight (his time), and without even saying hello, he would share a joke that someone in the orchestra had just told him. To honor Arkady’s memory, I want to share with you some of the jokes—which we call anecdotes:

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The old revered Rabbi was dying. All of his disciples gathered around his bed standing in line in the order of importance. Suddenly, the guy at the end of the line requested to ask the teacher about the meaning of life, before his last breath. This request was passed from one disciple to the other until the question reached the Rabbi. He opened his eyes and with great effort and said, “Life is like a river”. The Rabbi’s reply was passed back, until it reached the guy who asked the question. “But what does it mean that life is like a river?” He questioned again. When this question reached the Rabbi, with his last effort he responded, “Well, then it is not like a river.

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When I think about Arkady, a smile comes to my face. (Not only because I remember his jokes.) Besides other accomplishments, he knew how to enjoy life; be it travels (they often came to San Francisco and we would go together to the Sea Ranch), food, or good cigars. I can picture his face in my mind, while enjoying a meal, or having a cognac after dinner, with his eyes closed in delight.

Arkady really enjoyed life and this brings to mind another joke:

The pious Catholic priest died and was greeted in Heaven by St. Peter himself. “To honor your devotion to God, we will extend to you a special honor”, he was told. “You can read from the Old Testament scroll, written by Moses’ hand.” They sat him in a beautiful room—the walls were covered with old books. Suddenly, while reading he started to yell, “Oh no! Oh no!” Everyone rushed in and asked “What happened?” He replied, “It is written here thatwe have to celebrate…not be CELIBATE!”

Please do not wait until your friends are gone—celebrate life together.

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P.S. 

Arkady celebrated life in many ways. One of them was to smoke cigars. Cuba is known for its cigars, so I’ve captured some photos of beautiful ladies enjoying the pleasure of fine cigars. You can find more images in Soy Cubano available here for purchase.

A short film about my friend, Arkady Fomin from Quin Mathews Films on Vimeo.

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Jumbo Loans Niches

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*Interest rates are subject to change without notice and do not constitute a commitment to make any loan at any specific rate.


 client was buying a home in San Francisco for $1,200,000, but he only had $100,000. Most lenders require borrowers to show reserves for the jumbo loan in addition to the down payment. We used $60,000–5% for the down payment. His parents face hi m $180,000 as a gift and he had $40,000 left for the reserves. There were no out of pocket closing costs!

 Whom do you know that might benefit from our tailored mortgage solutions?

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Life Lessons I’ve Learned From Mothers


 

 

 “Optimism, Courage, and Love are the three pillars of a good life.” 


 

 

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I was privileged to live with three mothers. My mother, who gave me birth and with whom I lived until I got married at the age of 20. We called her Mama Liza. My wife’s mother (I do not like the term mother-in-law) with whom I lived together after Elfa and I married, who immigrated with us to Israel and to San Francisco, until she passed years later. We called her Mama Masha. Lastly, my wife Elfa— the mother of our two daughters, Alona and Tamar.

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Mama Liza became a schoolteacher when I started the first grade. She taught first graders as well, but not at my school. She commuted for an hour by bus to her work. At the end of the day, she brought the children’s homework home in her big briefcase, and different items that she confiscated from her students. I in turn would “confiscate” from her: pocket knives, whistles, and flashlights to barter with my friends. Later on when my brother Aron was born, she went back to school (while working) and became a biology teacher. I would go with her to the public library and copy articles and DNA graphs from the books for her studies. Then our sister Rosa was born. Mom survived World War II working on a farm that grew watermelons. (She couldn’t look at them afterwards.) Life was never easy, but I had a happy childhood.  It didn’t matter what happened, my Mom would say “Budet harasho”—everything will be good. I learned from her to be a perpetual optimist. For many years when someone asks me how I am doing, my response is “always good”.

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Mama Masha had a different personality. She had a very challenging life, as well. She was born in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution. At an early age, she learned how to survive and manage in difficult situations. She married and moved to Riga, Latvia. When the German Army was approaching Riga, she demanded that she, her husband, their five-year-old boy and newborn son leave the city right away. They starved and barely survived and unfortunately their infant son died. But, with her skills as a dressmaker, she managed to get her family back to Riga after the war. My future wife Elfa was born there and after her dad died when she was a child, Mama Masha built their lives as a single mom. She was my courageous conspirator and supported all of my adventures.

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My wife Elfa, with whom I have been married to for 47 years, is a symbol of love. She taught me that regardless of what upsets, frustrates or angers me, which I express verbally, I need to connect with my heart. In those moments, all those other feelings go away and what remains is love.

P.S. 

Mothers are mothers in every place in the world. Here are images that I took of some of the mothers I met in Cuba, and are in my book Soy Cubano available here for purchase.

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Mortgage Solutions For You // Jumbo Stated Income

 JUMBO Stated Income Programs


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*NO TAX RETURNS REQUIRED. Interest rates are subject to change without notice and do not constitute a commitment to make any loan at any specific rate.


client who owned a rental property wanted to buy a residence for over $1 million. Part of his income was generated abroad and was not reported in the US tax returns. To enable him to get a mortgage without tax returns, he had to show reserves (after the down payment) of $250,000.

To accomplish this, we refinanced his rental property which did not have a mortgage.

Whom do you know that might benefit from our tailored mortgage solutions?

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Can We Change?


 “We all change. Are you happy with the results? Good.” 


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Believe it or not, you are actually a nice person—and so am I. I found out about this while on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona for an InfusionSoft ICON conference. A woman sitting on the plane diagonally in front of me was reading The Wall Street Journal. I noticed the headline of article—“We Actually Get Nicer With Age”. Wow! What a revelation!

When we reached our hotel, The Wall Street Journal lay in front of our room’s door  (miracles do happen). According to the article, “from the age of 20 to 65, people report an increase in positive traits, such as conscientiousness, and decreases in negative traits such as neuroticism”. Of course, “nicer” is a relative term. It is like beauty “in the eyes (heart) of the beholder”.

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But, what happens after the age of 65 (I am 67)? I have met some grouchy older people, but I think that in their core, people are nice. The question is “Do we want to change?” Most of us are comfortable with our status quo, even when others might not like it. When my wife, Elfa, points out my shortcomings to me, I often do not like her criticism, but in my heart I know that she is right. (You know the platinum rule: “The wife is always right”, right?) But can I change? My common response to her is if I do what you suggest, I am going to become Elfa—not Manny. In the business, it is sometimes easier to just change externally by finding new ways to market without changing who we are (since I am already a nice person).

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This was the reason we came to the seminar. InfusionSoft is a very powerful database management system that we use in our business to communicate with clients. At the conference besides listening to very interesting speakers and authors like Seth Godin, Simon Sinkek, and JJ Ramberg (check out their books on Amazon), we met vendors offering different ways to improve our connection to our clients and how to attract new ones. We signed up with one of them, who promised to increase the company’s ratings on the social media channels. This will also help you refer more of your friends and co-workers to us for which I am always grateful.

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P.S. 

Even in Cuba, change is coming all the time and I think the young people there are ready to create change. You can see more images of beautiful people in Cuba (and buy the book, Soy Cubano) on my website.

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Mortgage Solutions For You–Stated Income Program for Foreign Nationals

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*NO TAX RETURNS REQUIRED. Interest rates are subject to change without notice and do not constitute a commitment to make any loan at any specific rate.


 Our client, who lives in Moscow, bought a house for cash a few years ago. Now he wants to get some money back, but we had a number of problems. One major problem was that he does not report income in the United States.

We’ve tried a number of different lenders, only to discover that everyone had some limiting conditions. 

Finally, we were lucky to find a mortgage bank who can do cash-out for a non-owner occupied property with a very attractive interest rate!

Whom do you know that might benefit from our tailored mortgage solutions?

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Choose To Be Happy

“Happiness is a state of being. Be happy.”  


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Someone asked if Cubans are happy—the answer is “Yes.” Many of my photographs reveal them smiling for no particular reason. Are they content? The answer is “No”.

Meager government salaries and very low pensions do not allow Cubans to have many possessions. When some Cubans could leave Cuba for the United States in the 80’s, those who chose to stay pelted them with eggs. Now those who stayed are very happy to receive any help from their “rich” relatives. When the Cuban government gave the Cuban people the opportunity to have their own small enterprises, they opened stores, and even restaurants (sometimes in doorways, many started having prepared food in their kitchens).  

For tourists, there are many well-decorated establishments with good food; many restaurants and hotels are joint ventures between the Cuban government and foreign companies. Despite the exodus, Havana’s population is between 2.5 and 3.1 million; the streets are full not only with tourists, but also, with locals who stand in line to buy ice cream or a pizza from these tiny doorway enterprises. And it seems, everyone is happy.

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When I photographed people in Cuba, and they noticed me, they would both pose and smile, or I would just smile at them with a thumbs up. Their response was always “Muchas gracías”.  I showed them the image I took on my camera’s display screen, and they seemed even happier. Some asked for money, so I either did not photograph them or I gave them my camera to photograph me and asked them for the dollar. This trick made instant friends and afterwards they posed for me with pleasure. To make them more relaxed, I sometimes stick out my tongue or make faces to get back a lot of laughter.

There is a chapter in the great book, “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, titled “Happiness Does Not Lie in the Future, But in The Present”.

            “When one problem is solved, another appears to take its place. Life is a series of problems. If you are to be happy at all, you must be happy – period! Not happy ‘because of’.”

Who cares if I am happy or not? Well according to Dr. Maltz, “Happiness is good medicine.” He writes, “We think better, perform better, feel better, and are healthier when we are happy. Even our physical sense organs work better.”

Choose to be happy.

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To learn what happiness is, just take a look at my photos from Havana. Or even better, visit the country to find out for yourself. Read Dr. Maltz’s book to find out, “How to Learn the Happiness Habit”—and of course, buy my bookSoy Cubano.

On my end, I will help you, your family, friends, and co-workers to be happy by finding mortgage solutions—AND bring a smile to your face by sharing my photo images.

Become Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy!

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P.S. 

You can see more images of beautiful people in Cuba (and buy the book, Soy Cubano) on my website.

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Mortgage Solutions For You

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CLTV INITIAL RATE APR FICO
85% 5.25% 5.25 700
80% 4.50% 4.50 700
75% 4.25% 4.25 670

*Interest rates are subject to change without notice and do not constitute a commitment to make any loan at any specific rate.


client was buying a condominium. He only had 15% for the down payment, but the lender who had the best rate was a limiting condo loan to value (LTV) up to 75%. The solution was to get the first mortgage at 75% LTV, plus another 10% as a line of credit. There is no MI (Mortgage Insurance).

Whom do you know that might benefit from our tailored mortgage solutions?

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How to Be Charitable


 “Charity resides in the heart. Open it.” 


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On our way to Los Angeles to celebrate Passover with our daughter Tamar, we listened to the book by Alexander McCall Smith called “The Unbearable Lightness of Scones”, which we had borrowed from the San Francisco Public Library. This is the last one in his series about different people living in Edinburg, Scotland. Over the years, we’ve listened to many of his books, including a series of novels titled, “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”. Regardless of the plot, the characters, or the geographic location, all of his books share the concept of how to be charitable to other people. Most of us associate the word charity with the giving of money. McCall Smith is talking about the sharing of the goodness of your heart.

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I was thinking about the word “charitable” as we were driving through Los Angeles. Heavy traffic and congestion make people tense and nervous. Some cross in front of each other, while others change lanes without signaling. I was not surprised to hear Tamar’s verbal reaction, which was not very charitable. I did not like it, but I realized that I often did the same (both in driving and expressing myself toward other drivers).

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The next morning, I read in the Torah:

“You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your fellow as yourself—I am HASHEM.” (Leviticus 19:16).

Those words were recorded about 3,400 years ago. Hillel the Elder paraphrased the commandment 2,000 years ago saying:

“What is hateful to you, do not do to others” (Shabbos 31a). 

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On April 20th, Easter Sunday doesn’t only signify department store sales, chocolate bunnies, and the search for colorful hard-boiled eggs. This holiday was established in 325 AD by the council of Nicea to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was contemporarily Hillel and before his death said many good things.  Among them:

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12).

Regardless of which holiday we celebrate, let’s be charitable to each other. (Including the other drivers on the road.)

P.S. 

Being charitable extends also to those who might be far away from us. It is about time for our great motion to be charitable to our small neighbor—Cuba. Let’s not forget that Jesus also said:

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).

You can see more images of beautiful people in Cuba (and buy the book, Soy Cubano) on my website.

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