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Cheers,
Author of "The Mortgage Game"
Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
“Forgive Yourself and Others Before Asking for Forgiveness from God”
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.
When I came to the park I thought about taking a nap, and I found a picnic table in the shade with a sign printed on top of it, “subject to the reservation” with a phone number. I did not have a reservation (but if you are planning to have a picnic here with a lot of friends, it could be a good idea). In front was a huge lawn with only one woman lying down on the grass with her green bag serving as a pillow. After awhile, she got up and we started a conversation. She is a native San Franciscan, and loves to come to the Park and just be here. We sat together and talked about chirping birds, people walking with their dogs, children playing, bicyclists, joggers or slow walkers and looked out at the tranquil view. I remembered the words of Rabbi Zarchi from the previous night’s sermon. He talked about how children live in the moment, while adults carry with them loads of resentment, anger and guilt. After the sermon, my friend’s daughter, who is 12 years old remarked, “I got it, it is better to be happy than angry.” If you feel tired or angry, go to the park. I’m confident you will be happier here.
P.S. Golden Gate Park offers many attractions, such as the marvelous De Young Museum. Recently we enjoyed a visit to the California Academy of Science. Sometimes we go for a walk around Stow Lake, which offers its natural beauty; the birds, turtles, flowers and the waterfall, and of course people whom I photographed for your enjoyment.
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Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
“By building walls, you separate yourself from the world”
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.
During the last presidential election campaign, Mitt Romney was promising to get rid of the Dodd-Frank Act. This did not happen 3 years ago. Let’s see what will happen in 2016.
I don’t know anything about why there would be a need for a wall to separate USA from Mexico, but I know something about mortgages and I care about everyone’s well being and protecting borrowers. Sooner or later, walls come down or become obsolete. How soon will the CFPB disappear? I do not know. For the benefits of my clients, I hope soon. Please read the article in the SF Chronicle – “New mortgage rules streamline paperwork but may cause snags in SF“
P.S. Walls can serve other purposes as well. When the Berlin Wall came down, one section of it, in the middle of the city, was preserved, and today it serves as a canvas for the graffiti artists to express themselves. We have enough of our own walls on which graffiti artists and muralists create their own masterpieces.
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Cheers,
“A New Year represents new hopes, dreams and aspirations. Make them a reality.”
P.S. One of the food traditions for Rosh Hashanah is to dip apple slices into honey, with the wish to have “A Good Sweet Year”. From the ancient times apples were known to have healthy properties. But I think there is yet another reason for apples. They are round and symbolize the circle, which doesn’t have a beginning or end, unless we make a mark, where the beginning and the end become one. Apples also grow abundantly and appear in different sizes and colors, like those I was fortunate to photograph.
Happy and Sweet New Year!
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“If everything is relative, so is the theory of relativity”
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.
P.S. We had fantastic time here. We enjoyed the lush nature, beautiful beaches, and pleasant water. We were also showered by torrential rain and bitten by mosquitoes. We visited a Hindu temple, rested, read, wrote and of course photographed. Every morning I would go out to the cliff to greet the sunrise and see different birds come here for their breakfast. There is a reason why Kauai is called The Garden Island.
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Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
“We cannot change our age, but we can change how much to enjoy it.”
If you have questions how to benefit from those programs, come to our seminar.
P.S. One of the ways to live a long life is to have joy every day. Is not this why we want to have children regardless of our age? Another way is to work hard and to have often vacations. We enjoyed one week in Kauai, which brought back out vitality. Hope you’ll enjoy the images of children and parents I photographed at the beaches in Kauai.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!
Cheers,