Author: Manny Kagan

Interested? Have a referral? Please contact Manny Kagan at Manny@Pacbay.net / 415-225-7920 today! 

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 Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?

This year Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, began at sundown on Tuesday September 22nd, and lasted through sundown Wednesday, September 23rd. The holiday follows a lunar calendar, so every year it falls on a different date and sometimes a different month. The celebration and the fast started the previous evening, following Torah’s story of creation. “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5). I had my last meal and drink at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and after spending about 10 hours praying, ate again at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The purpose of this holiday, once a year, is to ask forgiveness for all of the kinds of misgivings, sins and transgressions, which one knowingly or not knowingly did in the previous year.

The service, which started at 9:30am, continued non-stop until 3:30pm. Then it resumed at 5:30pm. During the two-hour break, I decided to take a walk in Golden Gate Park. The Congregation Chevra Thilim, the oldest synagogue in San Francisco, which started its services over 120 years ago, is located on 25th Avenue and Balboa. When we came to San Francisco in August 1980, we rented an apartment on 5th Avenue and Balboa and liked to go to the park for a walk almost daily with our kids. Golden Gate Park was founded in 1871 on the sand covering 1,017 acres of public ground. It is similar in shape, but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York City. The main person who is responsible for the way it was developed was John McLaren, who served as the Superintendent of Golden Gate Park for 53 years.

Interested? Have a referral? Please contact Manny Kagan at Manny@Pacbay.net / 415-225-7920 today! 

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 Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?

If you’ve been following the Presidential pre-election campaign, you have probably heard (or read) about Donald Trump’s immigration solution: to build a wall to separate Mexico from the United States. In his first town hall meeting, he mentioned that the famous Great Wall of China took 500 years to build. (There is evidence that it was actually built during the Ming dynasty over a period of around 200 years.) Now it only serves as a tourist attraction. Then there was the Berlin Wall, which was erected in 1961 and demolished 28 years later, whose purpose was to protect Socialism from Capitalism or the reverse. Hungary is trying to build a fence to protect itself and the rest of Western Europe from the insurgents from the Middle East and Africa. When Israel started to build a wall to protect itself from bombs and terrorists, many people from the Western World were opposed. Meanwhile, we do not hear about protests against the fence in Hungary. The question is: “How can we be protected?” I’m actually thinking about this while sitting at an educational seminar. In addition to needing a real estate license, which requires renewal every four years, mortgage professionals need to have NMLS (Nationwide Mortgage and Licensing System) endorsements, which need to be renewed every year. This year, the subject is the newly Integrated Disclosure called “TRID”, which is due to be implemented on Saturday, October 3rd. It is the brainchild of the CFPB (The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

The purpose of the new disclosure is to offer consumers better protection. The question is from whom and if consumers need more protection than they already have? In my very humble opinion, they do not. For sure, as well as anyone involved in the mortgage industry, they definitely do not need more headaches trying to go through a confusing 50 page brochure, which tells them to shop for a loan, when there are only 21 days to the close of the purchase transaction. The CFPB was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. At the beginning, the agency had an unlimited Federal Budget. Now they primarily exist from the millions of dollars they collect by suing banks for the violation of the CFPB set rules. More complex rules (like new disclosures) will lead to more violations, and more revenue for CFPB.

Interested? Have a referral? Please contact Manny Kagan at Manny@Pacbay.net / 415-225-7920 today! 

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 Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?

In 1915, Jews all over the world celebrated the beginning of the New Year 5776 – Rosh Hashanah, beginning Sunday evening, September 13th through the evening of Tuesday, September 15th. (In Israel Rosh Hashanah is traditionally celebrated for only one day). According to the story in the Torah the number 5776 is also the age of the first human, Adam. He was created on the sixth day. “And Hashem God formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Those who consider the scientific calculation that our planet is 4.5 billion years old, have difficulty accepting the story of the creation of our world in 6 days. The Torah uses 6 days to demonstrate that the world was created in stages, where each day is considered lasting for many million years, and that we, humans, were part of the process and that we actually the last who were created. It also showed us that life has cycles, and after working hard for six days, “By the seventh day God completed his work which He had done, and he abstained on the seventh day from all his work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2). While writing this story on Sunday, I received a phone call from my friend Shlomo Zarchi, Rabbi of the Chevra Thilim synagogue, inquiring if he will see me that night for the evening prayer. Rabbi Zarchi told me that 5776 has yet another meaning. According to Gematria – Jewish Numerological System, where each letter has numerical value, it represents a word “teshua” which in English means “Redemption”. This year 5776 is going to be time of redemption. The question we are going to ask ourselves – “From what are we going to be redeemed?” and “What do we need to do for this to happen?” Ten days after Rosh Hashanah comes Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement, during which those who attend services in synagogues pray and ask for forgiveness and beg God for good things in the new 5776 circle, in other words, for redemption.

If you are not among those few, and you are not Jewish, I think there is at least one more solution. When God was creating the world at the end of each day “And God saw that it was good” (Genesis1:12).

If you just see yourself and your world as good, I think you are well on the way to redemption.

Interested? Have a referral? Please contact Manny Kagan at Manny@Pacbay.net / 415-225-7920 today! 

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 Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?

In 1915, Albert Einstein formulated E=MC2 the Theory of relativity. It took the scientific community 6 years to recognize him for it, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.

I read a fascinating account of his life in the biography written by Walter Isaacson, who also wrote the biography of Steve Jobs. We recently vacationed in Kauai where I had an opportunity to experience the theory of relativity for myself. My wife Elfa got timeshare through RCI to The Cliffs at Princeville. It is a nice condo-like resort located on the cliff, overlooking the ocean in the northern part of the island. The day after our arrival, we were invited to a customary orientation. The concierge introduced different vendors, who offered various local attractions for modest fees starting at $100.00. One of them presented a day-long trip, which included a water voyage, during which travelers could drink unlimited Mai-Tai cocktails. Another attraction was a boat tour to see a property from the water, which was recently purchased for $100 million (which I thought sounded like a significant amount of money) by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. The following day, a local friend told me that she visited the property before it was sold. It has 1,000 acres and a beautiful beachfront. In Hawaii, beaches are public, but you need to have access to them, which can be private.

The next day we drove by a property with a For Sale sign. There was a box attached to the sale post with a flyer, describing the property as 2.5 acres of land with a view of the mountains (and no house or water access), listed for $3.5 million. When we went to the beach, located in the Hanalei Bay, there was a nice custom-built house next to the public parking, with a For Sale sign. Later on I saw the picture of this property on the cover of “Homes and Land Magazine”. The asking price of the 4BR/3.5BA residence, with living 3.125sf, and 15.224sf land, plus a 1BR/2BA 1.051sf guest-house, was offered for just $11 million. As Mr. Einstein pointed to us 100 years ago, everything is relative. To be fair, the magazine also listed lots of properties for less than $400,000. But “you get what you pay for”. The real estate market in Kauai is hot and pricey. The vendor at the Hanalei Shopping Village told me that the most popular occupation among locals is selling real estate or massage therapy. Sometimes they are combined.

Interested? Have a referral? Please contact Manny Kagan at Manny@Pacbay.net / 415-225-7920 today! 

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 Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?

Our oldest daughter was visiting us recently from Paris, where she lives, to join us on a vacation to Kauai. Before departing San Francisco, we had lunch at our favorite restaurant Zuni, with a dear friend who is 82 years young. Over lunch, Alona showed photos of newborns from three of her girlfriends, who all gave birth in their late 40 to early 50’s. They tried unsuccessfully for many years, and were finally able to conceive after reading “The Fertility Wisdom”, written by my good friend (and my personal healer), Dr. Angela Wu. Thankfully, with the advantage of modern medicine, far fewer women die during childbirth. And if Sara in the Torah was able to give birth at the age of 90 to her son Isaac, and then lived to the age of 127, which the Bible deems as a miracle, it is no surprise to me that miracles can be repeated again with the help of a 5000 year old Chinese healing knowledge, and modern implementation. After all, one hundred years ago, the average lifespan of women was 53 and 50 for men, and now it is 80 and 75 respectfully.

You may have seen the movie I think that one of the reasons people live longer today, is that in the time of the information age, we are bombarded with a lot of information, which takes longer to absorb. As a result of education years and building carrier, children come in life later. In the past the relationship with children started earlier and lasted in average 30 to 40 years. Now it is basically the same – people have children later in life, and subsequently live longer.