Fridays with Manny

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How to See the Beauty and Appreciate It

I decided to write this essay after photographing beautiful dry grass, which in a previous life was a weed in my garden. We are surrounded by beauty, but do we notice it? Sure, according to the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but then why some people do not see or appreciate beauty?

 

A well-known photographer Ernst Haas once said, “A picture is the expression of an impression. If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?”


We are surrounded by the beautiful nature, beautiful people and beautiful human creations. What some people do not realize is that our eyes serve only as the lens of the camera. The actual camera is in our brain. To see the beauty, you just need to change the picture of how you think and see the world around you, and then your eyes will see it as beautiful.

Meanwhile, enjoy the three images of the beautiful weeds and share with a friend!

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The Good News with Manny

HOW SELF EMPLOYED BORROWERS
CAN QUALIFY FOR A MORTGAGE

Most of the home buyers these days are familiar with the conventional way to qualify for the mortgage. You need to show the source of the money for the down payment, have sufficient income to qualify from the reliable sources like employment, and to have decent credit score and a minimum amount of debts. However, what if you are self employed and do not report your income conventional way?

To accomplish this type of the borrowers, lenders come up with alternative programs, where income is calculated from the alternative sources, like 12- or 24-month bank statement, or only P&L (Profit and Loss) for one year, or only Form 1099. All of these options are offered by the variety of mortgage banks where each has their own nuances for the underwriting.

We recently had a presentation at our office delivered by one of the banks. Their representative didn’t want to be recorded, so I will share with you some of the details by myself on my YouTube channel.

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

(415) 225-7920; || [email protected]

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

Fridays with Manny

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I AM GRATEFUL…

I like to write things down. As a result, I’ve saved many notebooks with different writings through the years. Yesterday, I was browsing through some of them and came across one with affirmations I used to write down daily. I will share a short one with you, that I wrote eleven years ago, on 7/10/13:

I am grateful that I can originate loans and generate income.

I am grateful for love I have for Elfa (my wife).

I am grateful that I have the capacity to think and to enjoy life.

After reading these, I decided to resume the practice again, and to write down what I am grateful for on this day, every evening before going to sleep.

The next morning, I went for a walk with Max. During these walks I listen to various podcasts on YouTube. And as the universe was listening to my thoughts, I was presented with “You don’t need a doctor if you do this for 3 days” from Louise Hay, where she talked about gratitude. I was introduced to her years ago, through reading her books. The key message in them was, “If we are willing to do the mental work, almost anything can be healed”. On YouTube, I found many of her segments, including “Start your day with self-love and gratitude.”

I am grateful that you are reading my stories. I am grateful for the blooming flowers in my garden, which you can see in the three images above.

Enjoy and Share!

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The Good News with Manny

Flexible Mortgage Solutions™

I’ve recently received a phone call from one of my former clients. I spoke with her over a year ago. She needed money, but I could not help her then because of her credit cards’ debts was too high. We agreed that she would call me back after paying them off with her next commission income. This time, she wanted to refinance her private money second mortgage which she used to pay off credit cards and had an interest rate of 14%. After running her numbers, the result was that I could get her a second mortgage with the rate 9.9% and enough money to pay off her second loan, plus get the extra amount she requested.

However, when I told her that this is going to be a Reverse Mortgage Second, she became very upset. “I am not interested in a Reverse Mortgage. I do not want for the bank to take my home away.” Despite my explanation that this is not true and that banks do not take properties away unless taxes and insurance are not paid and that she has a choice to make monthly payments, she said that she did not want anything to do with the reverse mortgage.

This was not the first time I heard comments about losing one’s house to the bank. I have no idea from where these rumors came from; nevertheless, I decided to come up with a new name. There is a Chinese and Jewish tradition that changing the name changes luck. The new name I came up with is “Flexible Mortgage Solutions™” or FMS.

To benefit from FMS, the homeowner needs to be at least 55 and to have limited income. Property can be inherited, or be part of the divorce.

Flexible mortgages offer many optional solutions. The most important is that the borrowers have the options to choose whether to make full or partial mortgage payments, or not to make any payments until they sell their property or die. In that case, the heirs will have either to keep the property or sell it, paying off accumulated mortgage balance, which is similar to a conventional mortgage.

Tomorrow, I am going to start posting a series of short videos on my YouTube Channel answering your questions about FMS/Reverse Mortgages. You will be receiving alerts from me in your email.
Hope, this will help you and your friends.

Please click on this link to watch my brief announcement.

Stay tuned and share with a friend!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

(415) 225-7920; || [email protected]

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

Fridays with Manny

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WHAT ABOUT FATHERS?

A few weeks ago, I reminded you about Father’s Day, which this year is going to be celebrated on Sunday, June 16th. Thanks to Hallmark, we recently celebrated Mother’s Day, as well as Grandmother’s Day and International Women’s Day and Valentine’s Day, even Grandparents’ Day.

I bet you didn’t hear about the last one. Actually, Father’s Day’s is the holiday that was celebrated in catholic countries of Europe as Saint Joseph’s Day since Middle Ages, and nowadays is observed in more than 111 countries.

Okay, it is a common practice to give women– flowers, candies and, of course, cards on their designated days of celebration. Thanks to Hallmark Cards, there are many choices for fathers, as well. I googled Father’s Day gifts and found plenty of choices. I even found one for me – Wireless Headphones for 38 dollars.

However, there can be another gift, which can be appreciated by many fathers, like a book with jokes. Reading jokes and laughing can be one of the best ways to celebrate and to enjoy life in general. That was why I had written and published “42 Encounters with Laughter”.

The best way to order the book and receive it on time with a lovely note from you to your father is to send me an email. Please write your and your father’s name and his mailing address. The cost (including shipping and tax) is $24.00. You can pay with PayPal at [email protected] or by check.

I am posting this essay a week earlier, to give you enough time to order. This book, as all my other books, can be a great gift for birthdays as well, and not only for fathers.

Have a Happy Father’s Day and share this illustrated letter with a friend!

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The Good News with Manny

HOW TO BENEFIT FROM HOME’S EQUITY

During Corona pandemic, when many businesses suffered, mortgage industry, as well as the real estate, was booming. The interest rates were historically low and everyone could get rates around 3%-4%. As it often happens, the pendulum moved into opposite direction and in spite of the speculation, no one really knows when the interest rates will start going down again.

Meanwhile people continued to spend money on their credit cards which have very high interest rates and had other needs for money. And since values of properties continued to go up and no one wanted to lose low rates, there is the proliferation of the lines of credit (L/C) and second mortgages. In the past, the source of these products were major commercial banks. However, some of them stopped offering L/C, while others became very conservative and limited loan to value (LTV).

As a response to the need, the Wall Street investors through mortgage bankers used the opportunity and started to offer L/C up to 90 percent LTV. Even for the self-employees – by using their business cash flow as the source of income. Some lenders offer L/C for the rental properties. And then for the borrowers at the advanced age who cannot get conventional 2nd mortgages, there are Reverse Mortgage Seconds.

During our recent staff meeting, we discussed some of the opportunities with Debra Kidder Steere from Newfi Wholesale. Follow this link to watch a piece of our conversation posted this morning onto my YouTube channel.

Always feel free to contact me on the phone or by email as showing below.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

(415) 225-7920;  ||  [email protected]

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

Fridays with Manny

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FIND A HAPPY ENDING

One of my favorite adages was “Seek out the seeds of victory in every defeat”. When I recently told it to a friend, he pointed out to me that there is a negative connotation – defeat. That prompted me to come up with my own version – “Find a happy ending in every story… be patient.” This is connected to my other saying, “It is what it is. That’s all that it is. The rest is your story.”

 A good illustration for this idea can be the parable of “The Farmer and The Horse”. I like to read other authors’ pearls of wisdom, and sometimes I’m lucky to come up with my own. To make them available to you, I decided to put them together into a beautiful weekly calendar.

Though five months have already passed, you will find the images of flowers and my expressions which are timeless. It also has a healing power. You just need to open any page, look at the image of the flower, close your eyes and experience relaxation, which in turn will bring healing.

I am not making any claims, but you need to experience it yourself. You can buy “53 Reminders” on Amazon.

Meanwhile, enjoy these three images from the calendar…

…and share with a Friend!

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The Good News with Manny

How to Buy Your First Home
with 1% Down Payment

I remember how in April 1984 (forty years ago) we bought our first home for $224,000. Since I just started in the mortgage business six months prior, we were not qualified to get conventional mortgage. We just had $10,000 for the down payment. The seller agreed to carry her loan with interest of 12% for a year, but I needed to get another $30,000 which I borrowed from friends and clients to whom I paid 15%. A year later, we refinanced the loan with World Savings at 9%. Many things have changed since then. We still live in the house.

Today prices are higher, so are salaries. Thanks to a number of creative programs, people can buy their first house or condo for about $790,000 with 1% down payment and 2% second mortgage forgivable after three years and no mortgage insurance. The Program has income limitations, depending on the property location. The total amount which includes down payment, reserves, closing costs and our 1.5% compensation is approximately $30,000. This amount can be a gift from parents or siblings.

Here is a video fragment of the recorded presentation by Brett Scott from WaFd Bank that he delivered during our recent staff meeting.  Our faces occasionally show up in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Follow this link for more information.

Feel free to contact me on the phone or by email as showing below.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

(415) 225-7920;  ||  [email protected]

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602

Fridays with Manny

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LESSONS FROM LAG BA OMER

Every religious tradition is based on a story. In Judaism, many of the stories come from the Torah. For instance, it is written that from the second day after the Passover holiday, which celebrates the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt, and their fight for freedom, the Jews count seven weeks, called Omer.

This culminates with the next holiday called Shavuot. During the time of the Temple, it was customary to come to Jerusalem and to bring the crops from the early summer grain (the word “Omer” means “sheaf of barley”). The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, however the tradition of counting Omer continued. And then in 132 AD, during the rebellion of Israelis led by Bar Kohba against the Romans, many Jews were killed. This occurred during the counting of Omer time. Therefore, the 7 weeks of Omer became a time of mourning. In spite of this, rabbis decided to introduce a new tradition. It was announced that on the 33rd day of Omer, there would be a break in the mourning. Instead, it would be a day of joy with barbecues and bonfires to celebrate the Jewish unity and pride. It is the day to have weddings and for children to get their first haircut.

For me, this minor holiday is a good reminder that in our lives there are many events which can cause feelings like mourning. What rabbis taught us is that life goes on, but we do not need to forget others. This is one of the reasons why during a Jewish wedding ceremony it is customary to break a glass. This symbolizes the memory of the destruction of the Holy Temple.

Lighting a bonfire has its own tradition. I do not have photo images of bonfires, instead I am sharing with you these three beautiful images of the fire from a gas burner. Look carefully at the game of fire, I am sure you will find many interesting images there.

 

Enjoy and Share!

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The Good News with Manny

CREATIVE WAY TO CALCULATE INCOME

One of the most important concepts of the mortgage loan underwriting is called “paid as agreed”. In other words, lenders need to be convinced that borrowers’ source of income will ensure that. And this can be tricky. It seems that the best guarantee is employees who receive a salary. But what happens if they lose their jobs, as it happened to hundreds who were let go by the large public companies? As a result, lenders constantly seek for the alternative ways to how to calculate clients’ ability to pay on time. These programs are called Non-QM (i.e. non-qualified mortgages, which do not require government scrutiny, and therefore have higher price (interest rate).

One of these options was introduced to us by Debra Kidder-Steere from Newfi Wholesale during our regular staff meeting. Income is calculated based on the funds invested into the retirement account. Thus, if the borrower has $360,000 in IRA or 401K retirement program, this can be translated into$10,000 a month as an income. Follow this link to watch a video recorded during our conversation with Debra.

There are many other ways we can use to qualify borrowers, especially borrowers who have limited (reported) income, like these who are self-employed clients.

Feel free to contact me on the phone or by email provided below.

I promise to help!

Manny Kagan,
President,
Pacific Bay Financial Corporation

(415) 225-7920;
[email protected]

NMLS #205637
DRE #00824602