This year was a very special mother’s day for my wife, Angela.
Angela was adopted.
Angela said that her entire life she felt like there was something missing and she always wanted to find her birth mother, even though she has a cousin who is also adopted who has a relationship with her birth mother, that isn't very good.
A couple of times when she was younger, she went to psychics who both told her that she was very close to her birth mother. She was living in Queens.
In 2003, Angela was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and she became even more determined to find her Mom.
She registered on several black market adoption sites, and continually updated them through the years. Every time there was a new person who found adoptees on one of the talk shows, Angela would go to their web site and register.
Now somewhere along the line, Angela had gotten a copy of one of the adoption proceedings, which had the birth mother’s last name. We tried to find a Brooklyn phone book from 1960, but were unsuccessful.
Angela’s birth mother’s name was a somewhat common Italian name, and there are a couple of politicians including an assemblyman who had the same name. We reached out to a couple of local politicians to make the call, but no one wanted to get involved.
At some point, under the guise of trying to find medical history, I went to the Surrogate and asked him to call his counterpart in Brooklyn, where the adoption took place 40 some odd years ago, but of course he said no.
Well, Angela went through her chemo therapy, radiation therapy, surgery, more chemo, over the next couple of years, without finding her birth mother, but continued to update her information at all of the adoption sites…nothing ever happened.
Out of nowhere, Angela received an email from her birthmother’s sister whose other sister had Googled Angela’s birth mothers name, and came across one of Angela’s postings.
Very soon after the email, we met at a restaurant at Grand Central Station- (Angela, me, two aunts and her newly found younger brother).
At it happened, Angela’s birth mother had died several years ago- of lung cancer (isn’t that spooky?).
For most of her life, they lived 9 blocks away from each other.
They kept the same telephone number until 2006.
No relation to the Assemblyman, or the other two well known politicians.
Anyway, Angela’s life has now become fuller, more complete, and she is a much happier person. She has a brother that she kids around with, like you only can with a sibling, and a whole new family that she has become extremely close with including nieces, nephews, and aunts.
Speaking of Google, if you haven’t yet, you should “Google” your own name & significant others, names, long lost friends, enemies, etc. I ran my father’s name recently and found a photograph of him and his Air Corp. crew from World War II in front of their airplane, a photograph that I had never seen, nor knew that it even existed. (In World War II, the air corp was part of the army, later it became a separate branch of the armed services).
So this mother’s day I wanted to make it special for her.
I drove to Queens, and picked up my mother in law, Angela’s adoptive mother, to spend the weekend.
I cooked (on the grill), and I mowed the lawn.
Now I hadn’t mowed a lawn in perhaps 40 years. I’ve had landscapers all these years. And when I was a kid and mowed the lawn at my parents house, the lawn was 15 feet wide by 15 feet deep if it was that.
But this house has a lot 185 x 185 totally surrounded by grass, except for the driveway, and the house footprint itself. Do the math.
So I borrowed my next door neighbors mower (he does it every weekend, religiously, unless his kids are home from college, and then they do it), but his lawn looks like Yankee Stadium. When I started going straight across, my wife stopped me and pointed me in the right direction (diagonal).
It took me most of the day. Of course I stopped, drank several bottles of water, ate a Myoplex protein-energy bar, but mowed the entire property, all ¾ of an acre, not exactly straight lines, but definitely diagonally. (I can't walk in a straight line on a good day, because of my Meniers disease that I have spoken of, is also a balance disorder- vertigo and all that- you should see me try to do step aerobics).
Although I am a “tad” on the pleasantly plump side, I happen to be in great shape (round is a shape!)- I work out fairly regularly, I go on the cross trainer for 45-60 minutes at a time, several times a week, currently at level 11. I lift weights, do pushups and sit ups. But man, did I ache the next day. In fact when I woke up in the morning, I was totally disoriented, and it took me a couple days to get it back together.
But I did such a great job, my wife decided that we would skip the landscaper this summer and I would do it.
Lucky me.
So a few weeks later we had a day with no rain and I was volunteered into "mowing the lawn" again.
Remember we had record rain fall this year in June. It seems to me that this is the first week and weekend we've had that have felt like summer.
My neighbor was going out for the day so he gave me the mower & gas can and said "Have a Nice Day." Now this lawn mower was pretty old. The lever that you have to pull/turn/click into in order to make the wheels turn had broken off, so you had to have fingers of steel and be strong as an ox to make it catch. Next the bag that collected the mowed lawn was way dented beyond recognition. It still caught most of the grass, but it also makes a trail on the sides of the run, which on the one hand is nice, because it gives definition to the diagonals, but on the other hand makes for a sloppy job.
But, having run out of excuses, I started to mow the lawn again. Only problem this time, was that the lawn mower was smoking, and kept stalling out. I couldn't tell if was stalling because the bag was full of grass (don't forget it had been raining a lot, and it hadn't been mowed in a while, so it could very well have filled up the bag quickly); or if it was some sort of a mechanical issue (which is not my expertise).
So here I am, mowing, and emptying the bag into a paper "recycle mowed lawn bag."
I was able to complete the front and sides of the houses, and was about 1/3rd into the rear when it just pooped out on me, and I was pretty pooped out myself, so I put it in his garage, and took a shower. Actually I used up all his oil, went out and bought a quart and I used half of that, which was probably the reason it was running so hot and smoking. A little while later, his son came home and was mowing his lawn, and he said it was running great - told me I should finish mine, but I begged off for the day. (I probably fixed it so that it worked for him).
Which brings us to FATHERS DAY. Remember fathers' day? That’s the day where fathers get to sleep late, go fishing or go play golf, or do whatever they like to do.
Not moi. I got up on father's day and we got in the car and went to Sears to look at, you guessed it, LAWN MOWERS.
My wish came true, I was getting a brand new lawn mower for father's day. Yippee I Oh kayyea.
Oy Vey.
So off to Sears. Because of the rough terrain of our property we opted for larger wheels in the back than the front. Has to do with turning and working around tree roots, etc. We also wanted one with wheels that turned by themselves (self propelled), and must have a bag to collect the mowed lawn.
Now you can buy a lawn mower for thousands of dollars. Maybe you can. I can't.
We picked one out that they were "pushing" (i.e. on sale), the guy checked the store computer, and sure enough they had one in stock, we picked up a gasoline can (state of the art plastic gasoline can, really cool), and an extra quart of oil. Paid for it, drove around the back to pick it up.
Guess what- they didn't have it in stock. They have one in inventory, but they don't have one in the back of the store where you pick it up. They tried to explain it to me, but it was beyond my comprehension.
Now next to the cash register, where we paid there was a sign that stated Sears policy- If we do not have an advertised item in stock, we will give you a better one for the same price.
Didn't happen. I tried. I said- hey the sign says- but no matter what, they didn't want to hear it, no good, the manager will never go for it (I demanded that they go find the manager, but he was nowhere to be found, it was father's day, he was probably sleeping late or playing golf or gone fishing).
So back to the display, and there was the other just about the same grade lawn mower, self propelled, with a bag, in stock, in the box.
So back to the back of the store, and sure enough, in a box, but mostly assembled (just have to do a couple of little things).
Stopped at the gas station and filled up my new really cool plastic gasoline can (It's not really a can, its plastic, so what is it called?),
Put it all together, added the oil and gasoline, pulled the guaranteed to start every time cord and , vroom vroom, ready to mow the lawn.
So I make the first run, "diagonally" as far as I could go, turned it around, and this brand new, spiffy, bright red lawn mower just isn't working properly. I look at the wheels, and they won't remain level, so I try to adjust the back wheels so that they were on the same page. I can't get the lawn mower level on the driveway. So I take off my glasses so I can see up close (those of you over 50 will know what that meant), and I examine the wheels to see what is wrong.
Sure enough, I notice that the thingamajig that you adjust the wheel with on one of the sides is not stationary. I search some more and I discovered that there is a piece of metal sticking out of the gizmo that is supposed to be fitted into a hole in the thing to secure it in place. But on one side, it isn't there- it's been bent under the hole, instead of sticking straight out through the hole (whoever put it together in China or wherever it was built, cheated), but the point is, it didn't work.
So back in the car, back to Sears.
I can't find the guy who sold me the first two, and the person there is asking me if I drained the oil and gasoline.
Those of you who knew my father, probably remember him as an extremely loud person. He was known to be an extremely loud person. Many people liked him because he was so loud, many people didn't like him because he was so loud.
I am much louder.
#w&#%!!!! Expletive!!!! --deleted--
So while they were looking for my salesman, I went around the back for the third time today.
When I got there, they helped me take it out of the jeep, and took it back, and gave me a piece of paper to bring to the salespeople.
They mentioned that I was supposed to remove the fluids, but that it was "okay", they'd handle it.
(Damn right)
Back to the front, I found a nice lounge chair display to wait for my salesman. When he woke me up, very gently, he told me to stay there while he did the paperwork, and brought me back my money.
Home Depot, there I went
………………….to be continued
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
So how do you buy a foreclosure anyway?
While foreclosures are plentiful, making up a huge chunk of the real estate market, the way that you buy them is not a whole lot different than the way that you purchase any other property.
Seeing the Inside of a Foreclosure
First of all, seeing foreclosures is easier than any other house. They are always vacant, generally they have been cleaned out of debris (although not always), and they usually have a lock box These lock boxes have combinations of either numbers or letters, which when set properly will release a key
There are three condo's in a building on the North shore that I have been trying to show for some time to my customer. And we just can't coordinate it. Friday we showed up, and the homeowner wasn't there. One homeowner says only after 4, and one says only before 2, and the third says wait until next Monday. Oy vey.
Foreclosures are Sold “As Is”
When you buy a foreclosure, the banks make no representations, other than good and clean title,. They don’t represent the roof is free from leaks, nor that the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems are working.
Sometimes, you can’t check things because the water has been shut off, and there is no electric on. But you can still see roof and basement leaks, and other structural items. They will allow you to bring in an engineer to make an inspection/evaluation, even after they have accepted your offer. A decent engineer can pretty much tell you the condition of everything, even without electric, gas or water. You know that the bank gave a mortgage to someone and at that time, these things worked. There aren’t that many moving parts in a furnace. You can still follow the path of damage to a unit. You know when the pipes broke, what the damage was. Leaks leave stains and odors.
Speaking of engineers and home inspections, Bill Coull, who was the first person on Staten Island to specifically do home inspections and reports died this week of cancer. I have to wonder how many people bought houses on Staten Island only after Bill said they were okay first. I knew Bill for 30 years, and I never heard a single negative thing ever said about him, or by him. He was a good guy, a good engineer/home inspector, and will surely be missed.
Making an Offer
In order to make an offer, you have to submit, in writing with proof, how you will pay for the property if your offer is accepted. If it is an offer of all cash, you must show proof that you have the cash (bank statements). If you plan on putting down a certain percentage, and getting a mortgage for the balance, then you must substantiate the cash part, and submit a “pre qual”, a letter from a lending institution that states that you have been “pre-qualified” for a loan in the amount of at least what you have put into your offer.
Now some banks/asset managers require that the Pre Qual be case specific- that it specifically mentions the property that you are making the offer on. Not a problem, as most mortgage brokers/bankers want your business and would gladly accommodate you with as many letters as you want. It’s easy since its all word processing anyway.
Some selling banks require that you get the “Pre Qual:” from them, regardless of whether you have a pre qual or not from another lender, they want you to go through them. (They want this to make sure that they aren’t wasting their time - or - to try to sell you a loan?)
Still other banks will make the financing attractive to purchasers of their inventory. Lenders like Wells Fargo, Countywide, Chase, etc. They have bitten the bullet, and decided to make the best of their situation by turning the non-performing loan into a new performing loan. These banks are in the loan business.
Finally, there are situations where there have been undocumented alterations which may render the property un-mortgageable in the conventional market. Often times in these cases the bank will offer the financing.
I had a customer who wanted a certain house, but there was an alteration that needed to be filed, so he couldn't get the 3% down below market first time homebuyer FHA deal he wanted, so he didn't buy the property, even though Wells Fargo agreed to loan 90%.
As you know from my prior emails, no one is quite sure who owns many of the loans that are merely “toxic assets”, Mortgage Based Securities’, that were the cause of the crash of the subprime mortgage industry, and the fall of wall street, etc. These mortgages were bundled in packages and sold to investors, and have ownership like Deutche Bank as trustee of series of bonds #200-212, of 2007, etc.). In these cases, there is no bank to offer financing, and the servicing company is not in the business of making new loans.
(If you are new to Lasher’s List, or just want to re-read some of my past articles including the explanation of the crash, why there are so many foreclosures on Staten Island, the role of organized crime, and all the rest., they are all posted at my blog, at http://lasherslist.blogspot.com/)
When you make an offer to buy a foreclosure, the bank generally responds in one of three ways:
1. If your offer is full asking price, all cash, and close in 30 days, they might say yes.
2. If your offer is for less, and your terms are reasonable and your financing checks out, they probably will counter at “give us your highest and best offer”
3. If your offer is too low, and the servicing agent is not having a good day, then they will not respond at all.
Even if your offer was not responded to, they do not take it personally, you can then make a new higher offer, and again one of the three above will occur.
Some banks respond quicker than others.
Sometimes a property hits the market that is in a desirable location, and lots of people see it and make offers. Sometimes the bank will tell everyone to come back with their highest and best offer, and take the best deal in their eyes.
We don't really know how they see the offers in their eyes - You would think that a stronger buyer all cash would beat out a 3% down deal for more money, but it doesn't. Sometimes higher price wins, sometimes all cash quick closing gets it. Probably depends upon the history of the particular property, how many times they've sold it, but the buyer wasn't able to get financing after a long drawn out process.
Those of you that receive all of my emails receive these BOM's which I identify as outstanding opportunities. If you do not receive all of my emails and would like to, just send me an email and I will move you to the appropriate list. (Some people only get occasional listings, but all of my news type emails and my pontifications).
Your offer is accepted/Contract signing
Now that your offer has been accepted, a contract is sent out to your lawyer, or some banks require the customer to sign an 8-18 page agreement that you are not able to make any changes to. Sign it, or you don’t get the house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the addendum/agreement or the regular contract of sale by and between the lawyers. Sign it without making any changes, or you don’t get the house. This is just the way that it is.
One of my clients who is a well known substantial builder on Staten Island asked that the contract of sale be put into his building corporation, instead of his personal name. the bank said no, and put the property back on the market, while we prepared a new offer, for the same amount, same terms, in the name of the building corporation, and had to get a separate letter from the bank showing the funds in the name of the building corporation.
Some of the lawyers for the lenders are requiring certified funds or bank checks for the down payments. It used to be that the contract down payment clause said “subject to collection”
I think that it has to do with the fact that the bank is taking a hit, and it's a kind of like their way of getting some sort of Montezuma's revenge.
No biggie, small price to pay for the bargain that you are getting.
Financing a Foreclosure
Financing a foreclosure is no different from financing any other property.
If the buyer is going to occupy the house themselves as their primary residence, then all of the mortgages available for any other buyer is available for the foreclosure, depending upon the condition of the house. In order to get a 96.5% FHA or SONYMA, the house has to be in good shape, with everything working. But regardless of the percentage down, the house is going to have to appraise, and you still only can borrow the percentage in the particular mortgage you apply for (The loan to value of the property).
If the house is a wreck, then foreclosure or resale, the same financing is available generally. The difference is the conditions to obtain financing that the seller allows you. But if the house is a fixer upper with things not working, so that the house doesn’t qualify for FANYMA etc., then you have to go to a commercial lender to get the financing, although there are mortgage programs out there for fixer uppers- but generally calling for you to get architectural plans permits and approvals first.
My associate Don Adler and I just sold the Landmarked 1869 Bedell house in Tottenville to a young lawyer on Lasher’s List, Thomas Kocian and his wife. They plan on restoring it for their primary residence and an office for Tommy’s law practice. This house had gotten a lot of notoriety because the prior owner had painted the outside precipitating the Landmarks Preservation Commission to jump in and landmark the house. The house is/was a wreck. The selling bank required that the “prequal” acknowledge that the house was a Designated Landmark, that it could not be torn down, and that it was in a deplorable condition in order to make an offer. Kocian had a prequal from an international well known bank that he had been doing business with for years, but they refused to issue the specific prequal, as did several other lenders that Kocian tried. Victory State Bank stepped up to the plate, and made the deal happen. Victory loaned the money for the acquisition, and gave a commitment for the rehabilitation, and after the work is completed they will refinance. If you need financing, go see Richie Boyle, head of the Loan Department @ Victory State Bank 718-979-2000. (Tell him I sent you)
Sometimes the seller bank will not give you a mortgage contingency on a property, so what you have to do is either get a loan on your own home, or other property, or go to a commercial lender like Victory that will give financing on your own home as well as the foreclosure being purchased.
But regardless of what you do, it all boils down to Loan to Value (LTV). What percentage is the bank lending of the total purchase?
The Closing
The contracts of sale now have provisions that all of the funds have to be sent to the attorney for the lender and then they will send out the deed. In other words, at the closing the only ones there may be you and your attorney at the lenders office, unless you go to the Sellers lawyers’ office. Closings that are done via wire and fed ex, are similar to how closings are done in other parts of the country.
Another difference with a foreclosure closing and a regular closing is that the buyer usually pays the Real Property Transfer Tax (NYC 1%), and the NYS Transfer Tax .4%, in addition to all other expenses. Normally the seller pays these items. Now because the buyer is paying these items, they pay the tax on the tax too. (1.4% of the purchase price, and 1.4% of the tax- don’t ask me why, makes no sense to me, other than an opportunity for the taxing authorities to make an extra couple of bucks).
Is this negotiable- NO. It is written in Stone.
What is the rationale? When the bank foreclosed on the property, they received a deed from the referee appointed for the foreclosure. In order to record the deed, they had to pay the transfer tax (1% and .4%). Since they just paid it, they don’t want to pay it again, and since they can get away with it, they do. It is called Sour Grapes.
………to be continued
Seeing the Inside of a Foreclosure
First of all, seeing foreclosures is easier than any other house. They are always vacant, generally they have been cleaned out of debris (although not always), and they usually have a lock box These lock boxes have combinations of either numbers or letters, which when set properly will release a key
There are three condo's in a building on the North shore that I have been trying to show for some time to my customer. And we just can't coordinate it. Friday we showed up, and the homeowner wasn't there. One homeowner says only after 4, and one says only before 2, and the third says wait until next Monday. Oy vey.
Foreclosures are Sold “As Is”
When you buy a foreclosure, the banks make no representations, other than good and clean title,. They don’t represent the roof is free from leaks, nor that the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems are working.
Sometimes, you can’t check things because the water has been shut off, and there is no electric on. But you can still see roof and basement leaks, and other structural items. They will allow you to bring in an engineer to make an inspection/evaluation, even after they have accepted your offer. A decent engineer can pretty much tell you the condition of everything, even without electric, gas or water. You know that the bank gave a mortgage to someone and at that time, these things worked. There aren’t that many moving parts in a furnace. You can still follow the path of damage to a unit. You know when the pipes broke, what the damage was. Leaks leave stains and odors.
Speaking of engineers and home inspections, Bill Coull, who was the first person on Staten Island to specifically do home inspections and reports died this week of cancer. I have to wonder how many people bought houses on Staten Island only after Bill said they were okay first. I knew Bill for 30 years, and I never heard a single negative thing ever said about him, or by him. He was a good guy, a good engineer/home inspector, and will surely be missed.
Making an Offer
In order to make an offer, you have to submit, in writing with proof, how you will pay for the property if your offer is accepted. If it is an offer of all cash, you must show proof that you have the cash (bank statements). If you plan on putting down a certain percentage, and getting a mortgage for the balance, then you must substantiate the cash part, and submit a “pre qual”, a letter from a lending institution that states that you have been “pre-qualified” for a loan in the amount of at least what you have put into your offer.
Now some banks/asset managers require that the Pre Qual be case specific- that it specifically mentions the property that you are making the offer on. Not a problem, as most mortgage brokers/bankers want your business and would gladly accommodate you with as many letters as you want. It’s easy since its all word processing anyway.
Some selling banks require that you get the “Pre Qual:” from them, regardless of whether you have a pre qual or not from another lender, they want you to go through them. (They want this to make sure that they aren’t wasting their time - or - to try to sell you a loan?)
Still other banks will make the financing attractive to purchasers of their inventory. Lenders like Wells Fargo, Countywide, Chase, etc. They have bitten the bullet, and decided to make the best of their situation by turning the non-performing loan into a new performing loan. These banks are in the loan business.
Finally, there are situations where there have been undocumented alterations which may render the property un-mortgageable in the conventional market. Often times in these cases the bank will offer the financing.
I had a customer who wanted a certain house, but there was an alteration that needed to be filed, so he couldn't get the 3% down below market first time homebuyer FHA deal he wanted, so he didn't buy the property, even though Wells Fargo agreed to loan 90%.
As you know from my prior emails, no one is quite sure who owns many of the loans that are merely “toxic assets”, Mortgage Based Securities’, that were the cause of the crash of the subprime mortgage industry, and the fall of wall street, etc. These mortgages were bundled in packages and sold to investors, and have ownership like Deutche Bank as trustee of series of bonds #200-212, of 2007, etc.). In these cases, there is no bank to offer financing, and the servicing company is not in the business of making new loans.
(If you are new to Lasher’s List, or just want to re-read some of my past articles including the explanation of the crash, why there are so many foreclosures on Staten Island, the role of organized crime, and all the rest., they are all posted at my blog, at http://lasherslist.blogspot.com/)
When you make an offer to buy a foreclosure, the bank generally responds in one of three ways:
1. If your offer is full asking price, all cash, and close in 30 days, they might say yes.
2. If your offer is for less, and your terms are reasonable and your financing checks out, they probably will counter at “give us your highest and best offer”
3. If your offer is too low, and the servicing agent is not having a good day, then they will not respond at all.
Even if your offer was not responded to, they do not take it personally, you can then make a new higher offer, and again one of the three above will occur.
Some banks respond quicker than others.
Sometimes a property hits the market that is in a desirable location, and lots of people see it and make offers. Sometimes the bank will tell everyone to come back with their highest and best offer, and take the best deal in their eyes.
We don't really know how they see the offers in their eyes - You would think that a stronger buyer all cash would beat out a 3% down deal for more money, but it doesn't. Sometimes higher price wins, sometimes all cash quick closing gets it. Probably depends upon the history of the particular property, how many times they've sold it, but the buyer wasn't able to get financing after a long drawn out process.
Those of you that receive all of my emails receive these BOM's which I identify as outstanding opportunities. If you do not receive all of my emails and would like to, just send me an email and I will move you to the appropriate list. (Some people only get occasional listings, but all of my news type emails and my pontifications).
Your offer is accepted/Contract signing
Now that your offer has been accepted, a contract is sent out to your lawyer, or some banks require the customer to sign an 8-18 page agreement that you are not able to make any changes to. Sign it, or you don’t get the house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the addendum/agreement or the regular contract of sale by and between the lawyers. Sign it without making any changes, or you don’t get the house. This is just the way that it is.
One of my clients who is a well known substantial builder on Staten Island asked that the contract of sale be put into his building corporation, instead of his personal name. the bank said no, and put the property back on the market, while we prepared a new offer, for the same amount, same terms, in the name of the building corporation, and had to get a separate letter from the bank showing the funds in the name of the building corporation.
Some of the lawyers for the lenders are requiring certified funds or bank checks for the down payments. It used to be that the contract down payment clause said “subject to collection”
I think that it has to do with the fact that the bank is taking a hit, and it's a kind of like their way of getting some sort of Montezuma's revenge.
No biggie, small price to pay for the bargain that you are getting.
Financing a Foreclosure
Financing a foreclosure is no different from financing any other property.
If the buyer is going to occupy the house themselves as their primary residence, then all of the mortgages available for any other buyer is available for the foreclosure, depending upon the condition of the house. In order to get a 96.5% FHA or SONYMA, the house has to be in good shape, with everything working. But regardless of the percentage down, the house is going to have to appraise, and you still only can borrow the percentage in the particular mortgage you apply for (The loan to value of the property).
If the house is a wreck, then foreclosure or resale, the same financing is available generally. The difference is the conditions to obtain financing that the seller allows you. But if the house is a fixer upper with things not working, so that the house doesn’t qualify for FANYMA etc., then you have to go to a commercial lender to get the financing, although there are mortgage programs out there for fixer uppers- but generally calling for you to get architectural plans permits and approvals first.
My associate Don Adler and I just sold the Landmarked 1869 Bedell house in Tottenville to a young lawyer on Lasher’s List, Thomas Kocian and his wife. They plan on restoring it for their primary residence and an office for Tommy’s law practice. This house had gotten a lot of notoriety because the prior owner had painted the outside precipitating the Landmarks Preservation Commission to jump in and landmark the house. The house is/was a wreck. The selling bank required that the “prequal” acknowledge that the house was a Designated Landmark, that it could not be torn down, and that it was in a deplorable condition in order to make an offer. Kocian had a prequal from an international well known bank that he had been doing business with for years, but they refused to issue the specific prequal, as did several other lenders that Kocian tried. Victory State Bank stepped up to the plate, and made the deal happen. Victory loaned the money for the acquisition, and gave a commitment for the rehabilitation, and after the work is completed they will refinance. If you need financing, go see Richie Boyle, head of the Loan Department @ Victory State Bank 718-979-2000. (Tell him I sent you)
Sometimes the seller bank will not give you a mortgage contingency on a property, so what you have to do is either get a loan on your own home, or other property, or go to a commercial lender like Victory that will give financing on your own home as well as the foreclosure being purchased.
But regardless of what you do, it all boils down to Loan to Value (LTV). What percentage is the bank lending of the total purchase?
The Closing
The contracts of sale now have provisions that all of the funds have to be sent to the attorney for the lender and then they will send out the deed. In other words, at the closing the only ones there may be you and your attorney at the lenders office, unless you go to the Sellers lawyers’ office. Closings that are done via wire and fed ex, are similar to how closings are done in other parts of the country.
Another difference with a foreclosure closing and a regular closing is that the buyer usually pays the Real Property Transfer Tax (NYC 1%), and the NYS Transfer Tax .4%, in addition to all other expenses. Normally the seller pays these items. Now because the buyer is paying these items, they pay the tax on the tax too. (1.4% of the purchase price, and 1.4% of the tax- don’t ask me why, makes no sense to me, other than an opportunity for the taxing authorities to make an extra couple of bucks).
Is this negotiable- NO. It is written in Stone.
What is the rationale? When the bank foreclosed on the property, they received a deed from the referee appointed for the foreclosure. In order to record the deed, they had to pay the transfer tax (1% and .4%). Since they just paid it, they don’t want to pay it again, and since they can get away with it, they do. It is called Sour Grapes.
………to be continued
Friday, June 12, 2009
Lasher's List: Buying a Bank Owned Foreclosed property at a National Auction at the New York Hyatt
Being in the foreclosure business, I found myself at the New York Hyatt on Sunday, at the REDC auction, with two separate clients. They had advertised 294 properties including 11 from Staten Island. On the day of the auction 108 properties were offered, including 6 properties on Staten Island. All of the Staten Island properties were currently listed as active in the Staten Island Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
The atmosphere was one of a circus, with 3 huge screens in front; but instead of clowns, they had men in tuxedos for entertainment. These were the “bid assisters”. Their stated purpose was to help the bidders understand what they were bidding, but the subliminal purpose was to get the bidders into the excitement of the auction so that they would bid over their heads and get caught up in the action.
They did this with sounds, and gyrations. When you bid, they would run and jump in front of you and try to pump you up by rounding their arms in large circles, with eye contact, with clapping and whooping, etc..
The auction started when a person claiming to be the president of the company stood in front of the rows of anxious bidders and talked about how auctions were the easiest way to buy real estate. If you were the successful bidder,and if the property were financeable, you would go to the back of the stage where one of the several banks in attendance would qualify you and get you a mortgage. Even if it were all cash, you would go to the side and sign a contract and give them the deposit ($2500 bank check) plus the difference in a personal check).
And then it begins.
There were three screens. On the left, a screen that had boxes of each of the item numbers in the auction (The Staten Island #’s were 311, 316d, 317, 319, 320, & 321). Once a property was sold and the buyer had signed the paperwork, submitted the check, and their credit checked out, the number changed to a green “CONTRACT”.
On the screen in the center was a photo of the property; and on the right hand side of it was the starting bid (which in many cases was $1,000), and what the property had been valued at once before. Can you imagine? These homes were in this auction because they either had phony appraisals to justify ridiculously high prices in the first place, but most certainly because they weren’t worth what was owed on them, and they were currently pushing the highest value they had ever had.
The final screen on the right showed the number of the item being auctioned at the time. This screen also contained a legend of either CASH or financeable.
And so it went. First a few properties from Newark, NJ; then East Orange, NJ; and then it jumped upstate to Newburgh, New York for a few; then back to New Jersey, and then to Connecticut.
Surprisingly there was bidding on every single property! All the while the auctioneer was doing what auctioneers do: speaking very fast, repeating the price he had, the price he was looking for, etc. (The auctioneer was so loud that I took off my hearing aid and was able to hear a lot of what he said). The auctioneer would also tell the audience how great a deal
they were getting because of the previoiusly appraised value.
Every once in a while a property that had already been bid on was returned to the auction and was re-auctioned; or, as it was put: “we were given a 2nd chance.” This was because either the original buyer didn’t realize what he had done, or he wasn’t credit worthy, or some other reason why the successful bidder did not sign a contract.
Finally, they got to the Staten Island properties. The first one on the agenda was a property at 45 Anjali Loop: a two-family semi in New Springville. The property had originally been listed for $399,000 on March 30, 2009, and reduced to $394,000 shortly thereafter. At the auction it was a hot item. It got high into the $300,000’s before the bidding ended. You could see that there were several people who came to the auction just for this one property, because a lot of people left when it was finished. They probably could have purchased it through the MLS for less.
Next up was a house that had been in the previous REDC auction held a couple of months ago: a two-family in a not-so-good part of Stapleton. 97 Osgood Avenue had been listed in the MLS originally in October of 2008 for $299,000; but over the months the asking price has been reduced to $168,000. The Staten Island Advance had reported that this property had been sold at the prior auction, but apparently that deal died. This property also was hotly contested and sold above the MLS asking price.
Another property that had a lot of action was a townhouse called Mariners Lane. I checked REDC; and in spite of its activity at the auction, they are listing it as "still active", ready for the next auction; so I guess that deal died too.
Meanwhile, the two properties that one of my customers was there to bid on sold for much higher than he was prepared to pay, and higher than the offers he had made through the MLS prior to the auction on both.
The final Staten Island Property, and one which I was very familiar with and with a customer to buy, was vacant land on Scribner Avenue. It was originally listed for $97,500, later reduced to $49,000. I had a customer whose offer had been accepted for $60,000; but during his "due diligence", he discovered that there was a commercial overlay on the property so that you might not be able to build a house; so my customer had walked away. My customer at the auction had asked the bank for a contingency of 45 days to determine by filing if he could build a house, but the bank said no. He went to the auction to try to buy the property for $20,000 or less. The property had formerly been a 4-family prior to the city’s demolition of it as an unsafe building, which had occurred within the past 2 years and which put the zoning issue into a gray area.
The opening bid was $1,000.
The screen stated that the property had previously been valued at $540,000. And the crowd went wild.
My guys went to $32,500. A couple of other people in the crowd kept bidding at the urging of the “bid assisters” who were egging them on, yelling, screaming, cheering, while the auctioneer was saying that the property is such a fantastic deal because it had been previously valued at $540,000 (he didn’t say, mind you, that it had been valued that highly with a 4-family on it).
The bidding ended at $65,000. I went up to the successful bidder and asked him whether he knew that there was a commercial overlay on the property. He had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me if I knew what the size of the property was and what could be built on it.
I recommended that he contact an architect before he did anything else.
Shortly thereafter I saw him again, after he had signed the contract, and given them his $2500 bank check and the rest of the 10% down payment by personal check. Again he asked me what he could build, and again I told him that he might be able to build a store with an apartment, but he should go to his architect.
Speed forward to Tuesday when I received a call from the successful bidder telling me that he lives in Queens and realizes he has no use for the vacant land on Staten Island. I suggested that he contact an attorney immediately (within 72 hours of the auction).
So what is the point of my story you may be asking yourself? The point is that buying at auction is probably not generally the smartest move. While it may be easy, as the president of the company says, but it might not be wise. I am not talking about the foreclosure auction at the County Clerk's office. I am talking about a situation like this, with professional hawkers.
What I have learned from this auction is that there were no real great bargains; no deals were made that you couldn’t have gotten from the MLS. Want to buy a foreclosure? Call me, its safer, and smarter.
………………………to be continued
The atmosphere was one of a circus, with 3 huge screens in front; but instead of clowns, they had men in tuxedos for entertainment. These were the “bid assisters”. Their stated purpose was to help the bidders understand what they were bidding, but the subliminal purpose was to get the bidders into the excitement of the auction so that they would bid over their heads and get caught up in the action.
They did this with sounds, and gyrations. When you bid, they would run and jump in front of you and try to pump you up by rounding their arms in large circles, with eye contact, with clapping and whooping, etc..
The auction started when a person claiming to be the president of the company stood in front of the rows of anxious bidders and talked about how auctions were the easiest way to buy real estate. If you were the successful bidder,and if the property were financeable, you would go to the back of the stage where one of the several banks in attendance would qualify you and get you a mortgage. Even if it were all cash, you would go to the side and sign a contract and give them the deposit ($2500 bank check) plus the difference in a personal check).
And then it begins.
There were three screens. On the left, a screen that had boxes of each of the item numbers in the auction (The Staten Island #’s were 311, 316d, 317, 319, 320, & 321). Once a property was sold and the buyer had signed the paperwork, submitted the check, and their credit checked out, the number changed to a green “CONTRACT”.
On the screen in the center was a photo of the property; and on the right hand side of it was the starting bid (which in many cases was $1,000), and what the property had been valued at once before. Can you imagine? These homes were in this auction because they either had phony appraisals to justify ridiculously high prices in the first place, but most certainly because they weren’t worth what was owed on them, and they were currently pushing the highest value they had ever had.
The final screen on the right showed the number of the item being auctioned at the time. This screen also contained a legend of either CASH or financeable.
And so it went. First a few properties from Newark, NJ; then East Orange, NJ; and then it jumped upstate to Newburgh, New York for a few; then back to New Jersey, and then to Connecticut.
Surprisingly there was bidding on every single property! All the while the auctioneer was doing what auctioneers do: speaking very fast, repeating the price he had, the price he was looking for, etc. (The auctioneer was so loud that I took off my hearing aid and was able to hear a lot of what he said). The auctioneer would also tell the audience how great a deal
they were getting because of the previoiusly appraised value.
Every once in a while a property that had already been bid on was returned to the auction and was re-auctioned; or, as it was put: “we were given a 2nd chance.” This was because either the original buyer didn’t realize what he had done, or he wasn’t credit worthy, or some other reason why the successful bidder did not sign a contract.
Finally, they got to the Staten Island properties. The first one on the agenda was a property at 45 Anjali Loop: a two-family semi in New Springville. The property had originally been listed for $399,000 on March 30, 2009, and reduced to $394,000 shortly thereafter. At the auction it was a hot item. It got high into the $300,000’s before the bidding ended. You could see that there were several people who came to the auction just for this one property, because a lot of people left when it was finished. They probably could have purchased it through the MLS for less.
Next up was a house that had been in the previous REDC auction held a couple of months ago: a two-family in a not-so-good part of Stapleton. 97 Osgood Avenue had been listed in the MLS originally in October of 2008 for $299,000; but over the months the asking price has been reduced to $168,000. The Staten Island Advance had reported that this property had been sold at the prior auction, but apparently that deal died. This property also was hotly contested and sold above the MLS asking price.
Another property that had a lot of action was a townhouse called Mariners Lane. I checked REDC; and in spite of its activity at the auction, they are listing it as "still active", ready for the next auction; so I guess that deal died too.
Meanwhile, the two properties that one of my customers was there to bid on sold for much higher than he was prepared to pay, and higher than the offers he had made through the MLS prior to the auction on both.
The final Staten Island Property, and one which I was very familiar with and with a customer to buy, was vacant land on Scribner Avenue. It was originally listed for $97,500, later reduced to $49,000. I had a customer whose offer had been accepted for $60,000; but during his "due diligence", he discovered that there was a commercial overlay on the property so that you might not be able to build a house; so my customer had walked away. My customer at the auction had asked the bank for a contingency of 45 days to determine by filing if he could build a house, but the bank said no. He went to the auction to try to buy the property for $20,000 or less. The property had formerly been a 4-family prior to the city’s demolition of it as an unsafe building, which had occurred within the past 2 years and which put the zoning issue into a gray area.
The opening bid was $1,000.
The screen stated that the property had previously been valued at $540,000. And the crowd went wild.
My guys went to $32,500. A couple of other people in the crowd kept bidding at the urging of the “bid assisters” who were egging them on, yelling, screaming, cheering, while the auctioneer was saying that the property is such a fantastic deal because it had been previously valued at $540,000 (he didn’t say, mind you, that it had been valued that highly with a 4-family on it).
The bidding ended at $65,000. I went up to the successful bidder and asked him whether he knew that there was a commercial overlay on the property. He had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me if I knew what the size of the property was and what could be built on it.
I recommended that he contact an architect before he did anything else.
Shortly thereafter I saw him again, after he had signed the contract, and given them his $2500 bank check and the rest of the 10% down payment by personal check. Again he asked me what he could build, and again I told him that he might be able to build a store with an apartment, but he should go to his architect.
Speed forward to Tuesday when I received a call from the successful bidder telling me that he lives in Queens and realizes he has no use for the vacant land on Staten Island. I suggested that he contact an attorney immediately (within 72 hours of the auction).
So what is the point of my story you may be asking yourself? The point is that buying at auction is probably not generally the smartest move. While it may be easy, as the president of the company says, but it might not be wise. I am not talking about the foreclosure auction at the County Clerk's office. I am talking about a situation like this, with professional hawkers.
What I have learned from this auction is that there were no real great bargains; no deals were made that you couldn’t have gotten from the MLS. Want to buy a foreclosure? Call me, its safer, and smarter.
………………………to be continued
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Lsher's List: Goals revisited
Hey
Well, here it is, June already. My how time flies. My New Years Eve e-mail was about setting goals for the new year. Long term goals, middle term goals, short term goals, etc.
So how has everyone been doing?
Well 97% of the people in the world, don’t even have goals. 99% of the people in the world haven’t written them down.
But regardless of where you stand or sit in the spectrum now, today, this minute, is the perfect time to take a moment for yourself, sit down, and think about what you’re doing, and to what aim you are doing it..
Upon reflection, most of us will probably realize that we’ve made some progress on some fronts, more progress on others, and no progress, even stepped backwards on the rest.
But, be not discouraged. Today is a brand new day. Whatever was done yesterday is exactly that- done.
One of great things about our government is that a new administration can take over, and make 180 degree turns, change things radically, and start fresh.
My favorite time of the year while I was in school in New England, was September, the beginning of the new school year, new classes, new professors, new clothing, a new beginning.
Well, I’ve decided that today I am going to bring you a new beginning, and I give it to you to start fresh, no matter what or where you may be. Yesterday is over, and it is now tomorrow.
And it’s a brand new day.
So what should we do?
Stop what you are doing (well obviously you’ve stopped what you are doing, when you started to read this email- duh). Take the phone off the hook, and turn off the ringer on your cell phone.
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Now think about what you would be doing, if you could be doing whatever it is that you wanted to do, or if you could have anything that you wanted- either material goods, relationships’, prestige, power, or whatever.
Or Pick an area in your life that is important to you, that you want to improve (Family/Marriage/Relationship; Work/Profession; Health/fitness, etc.)
Figure out what it is, the number one most important thing that you really want for yourself in this one area of your life.
Maybe it’s a new house, or maybe it’s a better relationship with your spouse. Maybe it’s a new career, or maybe it’s a new account. Maybe it’s a new figure for your body, or maybe it’s to run the marathon. Whatever it is, figure out what is your biggest “goal” for yourself.
Now for the hard part:
WRITE IT DOWN
My goal is to……………………….
Make it clear and specific, the clearer and more specific the better.
Now that you have written it down, you are in the top 1% of achievers in the world!!!!!!
Your goal is now attainable.
Now let’s fine tune it a little, like setting a deadline. And if you don’t reach your goal by the deadline, set another deadline. No one sets unreachable goals, only unreasonable deadlines. Figure out what else you need to do to reach your goals. Do them.
Remember, when setting your goals, think big. Don’t let anyone talk you out of setting high goals. Shoot for the stars. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo
And remember the most important thing is that: Failure is not an option!
So how have I done? My mother used to say “Do as I say, not as I do”.
Reminds me of an old joke, Jewish mother says to her son-
“so, ask me how I am doing”
"How are you doing?
“Don’t ask”
These are the goals I had in the email that I sent out on 12/31/08 to you:
I am so happy now that I am the #1 Most Successful Real Estate Broker on Staten Island, measured by the amount of sales and listings. On my way.
I sell one house per week or 52 houses this year. On my way.
I get referrals every day from the people who read my emails, and from the people they pass them along to. Not every day, but getting much more frequent.
I write the most successful email publication on Staten Island, reaching over 5000 people who read it. I still stop at peoples office to get their email addresses, and am adding names all of the time.
I earn $1 Million Dollars. On my way.
In 2051, I will have lived a meaningful, healthy, enjoyable life for over 100 years. We’ll see in 2051.
I run the New York City Marathon I am scheduled for surgery on June 25th to correct the arthritis in my toes so that I can start running again.
I serve on several charitable and quasi-governmental boards. Not on any boards yet, but I did get involved in the March of Dimes.
I am wide awake and out of bed by 5:30 am every day, Oops, not doing well on this one
I eat my breakfast, first of my 5 or 6 meals for the day. I eat my 5 or 6 meals most days,
I am at the gym by 6:30, almost every day, beating various previous personal bests in my work out. I reached my short range goal of 25 pushups per workout by June 1st , and I reached it two weeks early, and am now working on form- today I was able to do 25 full range of motion in a row. I increased the cross trainer to level 10 (from level 9).
I wear a 38 regular suit. I lost 4 inches on my waste, and am down a shirt size. Unfortunately I regressed from Easter to Mothers day and found the oatmeal raisin square cookies at Pathmark again. But I am proud to say, that I read a book, “the end of over eating”, and am back on track. More on that book in a different email, but boy, did I learn a lot! (It’s all a plot. by the food industry).
How are you doing on yours?
Finally, it is important that you read your goals, say them out loud, every day. Keep them in the forefront of your mind.
Good luck.
…………………to be continued
Well, here it is, June already. My how time flies. My New Years Eve e-mail was about setting goals for the new year. Long term goals, middle term goals, short term goals, etc.
So how has everyone been doing?
Well 97% of the people in the world, don’t even have goals. 99% of the people in the world haven’t written them down.
But regardless of where you stand or sit in the spectrum now, today, this minute, is the perfect time to take a moment for yourself, sit down, and think about what you’re doing, and to what aim you are doing it..
Upon reflection, most of us will probably realize that we’ve made some progress on some fronts, more progress on others, and no progress, even stepped backwards on the rest.
But, be not discouraged. Today is a brand new day. Whatever was done yesterday is exactly that- done.
One of great things about our government is that a new administration can take over, and make 180 degree turns, change things radically, and start fresh.
My favorite time of the year while I was in school in New England, was September, the beginning of the new school year, new classes, new professors, new clothing, a new beginning.
Well, I’ve decided that today I am going to bring you a new beginning, and I give it to you to start fresh, no matter what or where you may be. Yesterday is over, and it is now tomorrow.
And it’s a brand new day.
So what should we do?
Stop what you are doing (well obviously you’ve stopped what you are doing, when you started to read this email- duh). Take the phone off the hook, and turn off the ringer on your cell phone.
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Now think about what you would be doing, if you could be doing whatever it is that you wanted to do, or if you could have anything that you wanted- either material goods, relationships’, prestige, power, or whatever.
Or Pick an area in your life that is important to you, that you want to improve (Family/Marriage/Relationship; Work/Profession; Health/fitness, etc.)
Figure out what it is, the number one most important thing that you really want for yourself in this one area of your life.
Maybe it’s a new house, or maybe it’s a better relationship with your spouse. Maybe it’s a new career, or maybe it’s a new account. Maybe it’s a new figure for your body, or maybe it’s to run the marathon. Whatever it is, figure out what is your biggest “goal” for yourself.
Now for the hard part:
WRITE IT DOWN
My goal is to……………………….
Make it clear and specific, the clearer and more specific the better.
Now that you have written it down, you are in the top 1% of achievers in the world!!!!!!
Your goal is now attainable.
Now let’s fine tune it a little, like setting a deadline. And if you don’t reach your goal by the deadline, set another deadline. No one sets unreachable goals, only unreasonable deadlines. Figure out what else you need to do to reach your goals. Do them.
Remember, when setting your goals, think big. Don’t let anyone talk you out of setting high goals. Shoot for the stars. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo
And remember the most important thing is that: Failure is not an option!
So how have I done? My mother used to say “Do as I say, not as I do”.
Reminds me of an old joke, Jewish mother says to her son-
“so, ask me how I am doing”
"How are you doing?
“Don’t ask”
These are the goals I had in the email that I sent out on 12/31/08 to you:
I am so happy now that I am the #1 Most Successful Real Estate Broker on Staten Island, measured by the amount of sales and listings. On my way.
I sell one house per week or 52 houses this year. On my way.
I get referrals every day from the people who read my emails, and from the people they pass them along to. Not every day, but getting much more frequent.
I write the most successful email publication on Staten Island, reaching over 5000 people who read it. I still stop at peoples office to get their email addresses, and am adding names all of the time.
I earn $1 Million Dollars. On my way.
In 2051, I will have lived a meaningful, healthy, enjoyable life for over 100 years. We’ll see in 2051.
I run the New York City Marathon I am scheduled for surgery on June 25th to correct the arthritis in my toes so that I can start running again.
I serve on several charitable and quasi-governmental boards. Not on any boards yet, but I did get involved in the March of Dimes.
I am wide awake and out of bed by 5:30 am every day, Oops, not doing well on this one
I eat my breakfast, first of my 5 or 6 meals for the day. I eat my 5 or 6 meals most days,
I am at the gym by 6:30, almost every day, beating various previous personal bests in my work out. I reached my short range goal of 25 pushups per workout by June 1st , and I reached it two weeks early, and am now working on form- today I was able to do 25 full range of motion in a row. I increased the cross trainer to level 10 (from level 9).
I wear a 38 regular suit. I lost 4 inches on my waste, and am down a shirt size. Unfortunately I regressed from Easter to Mothers day and found the oatmeal raisin square cookies at Pathmark again. But I am proud to say, that I read a book, “the end of over eating”, and am back on track. More on that book in a different email, but boy, did I learn a lot! (It’s all a plot. by the food industry).
How are you doing on yours?
Finally, it is important that you read your goals, say them out loud, every day. Keep them in the forefront of your mind.
Good luck.
…………………to be continued
Lasher's List: Scams and Scammers
I just got out of my car, and I had this catchy tune in my ear that I just can’t seem to shake. Not a song. I don’t have the range of hearing that allows me to enjoy music on the radio. (To understand my hearing, try listening to the Beatles in perfect stereo with only one speaker turned on- I miss all of the lower and higher ranges of the song). But this is not another rant about my hearing.
No, I can't stop singing a “jingle” 1-800 Kars for Kids. 1-800 Kars for Kids, 1-800 Kars for Kids, donate your car today. Ever notice that the commercials are clearer, and louder, and easier to understand than the regular radio broadcasts? TV too.
Now when I am in my car, and I am able to hear the radio, I listen to either National Public Radio (NPR) (WNYC) which is commercial free, except for when they are asking for donations, or to 1010 WINS, where give your car to charity commercials run all day long.
So what’s that all about?
First of all, to be a not for profit corporation, you need to have a charitable purpose (raise money for charity), form a corporation (there are services like Blumberg’s, XL services, Gerald Weinberg, PC, where you give them 3 names, and a charitable purpose, and a few hundred dollars later, bingo- you have a tax free corporation. Now you have an accountant file with the IRS for whatever the current type of tax free corporation is, and you’re ready.
Now you go to an ad agency, come up with a catch tune, or copy, and make an ad. Then you go to the radio station, and buy commercial time. Now they have all kinds’ of deals. Radio is cheap. And not for profits get special rates.
Every car has two values: Wholesale and retail. There are books published every month that list these values (NADA, GALES) for every car with sub sections to add or deduct for added accessories, or high mileage, etc. They call these prices average wholesale or average retail or average loan given on any year and make automobile up to a certain age. When they get too old, then they don’t publish the values. However that doesn’t mean that a car that is over 5 or 6 years old (whatever it is) has no value, at that point the car dealers know from their own experience what the cars are worth.
Now besides price lists that are broken up by retail and wholesale, there are car dealers that are wholesalers and retailers.
The person in the car dealership, who sells you a new car, is a new car dealer. He pays you very low wholesale for your car, leaving room for him to make a profit when he sells your car to the wholesaler. Of course the wholesaler has to make a profit when he sells the car to the used car dealer who then resells the car for retail to the consumer for high retail.
Now in addition to reselling the cars as cars, there is another whole market for the so called “burdens” that the commercials talk about, cars that don’t run, bad body rot, etc, are dismantled, the parts resold, and anything left is sold as scrap metal.
Cars without titles, requires a form to be sent to the Motor Vehicles for a replacement Title. If you are in a hurry, for the cost of federal express, DMV will overnight you the title, so losing your title is no big deal.
Now they also offer vacations. This is easy. People have donated their time shares that they no longer want, so they have access to free vacations all over the place.
So what do they do with the cars?
They sell them.
Who are we dealing with?
Car dealers.
But what about the charity? Where do they come in?
They talk about high administrative costs of charities. There is a car dealer/wholesaler who is really running the show, who pays the charity so much a car, or charges the charity so much a car for services, so that the charity winds up with a couple of dollars per.
But if you take how much they spend on advertising, and how much they spend on the company that buys and sells the cars, I have to wonder about how much of the gross dollars that they raise actually go to charity. 1%?
Andrew Cuomo- where are you?
And speaking of advertising, there is an ad I hear on the radio where the guy says that he just bought 1 Million copies of a book, home remedies that the doctors don’t want you to know about- and he is going to send it to you for free- except for $4.50 shipping and handling.
What can this be all about?
Well, suppose it cost him between ten and twenty five cents a copy (a dime and a quarter). The real cost of mailing is another dollar. Now there is the answering service and the radio/tv time. So what can the profit be on $4.50? One Dollar? Sell all One Million, make a Million dollars?
Is this about putting together a mailing list to work or sell?
Or is this about collecting credit card numbers for future identify theft or credit card theft?
Andrew Cuomo- are you there?
And you know why they say “Money Back Guaranteed?” Because studies have shown that most people would never ask for their money back. (there are always some). But most people are too embarrassed. But the effect on the buying public is, wow this must be okay- they guarantee to give you back your money if you aren’t satisfied.
Several years ago on Staten Island there was a guy who was selling a tape of the month club deal. You would have a catalogue, or get mailings every month to buy new tapes, similar to the book of the month club. Except you were to buy several new cassette tapes every month. (This was before CD’s).
The first month you got 10 tapes for $9.99 and then you bought more tapes every month for five years. When you signed up, you got a free tape player.
Now what he did, was figured out the value of the tapes- 5 years of 3 tapes per month @ $9.99 per = $1798.20.
But in order to make this deal happen, the people had to finance the $1,798.20 over 5 years. But since you couldn’t secure tapes not purchased, he secured the tape deck. Basically he was selling an $80 tape deck for $1,798.20.
Most people that sign up for things like this, will buy some tapes, and then stop buying, but keep paying until it is paid in full. Most people will not ask for their full money back guaranteed (which of course this conman wasn’t offering). If you really purchased the tapes every month you got a good deal. But statistically, you only bought for a few months, and kept paying the entire amount. Greenberg then would sell all of the $1,729.20 loans to one of those well known finance companies at a 24% discount $1,366.32).
Now a lot of people started complaining when they tried to quit, and realized that they had bought 5 year contracts to buy tapes, and started law suits in civil court, but everything was legal, so that didn’t help the buyers. The Advance got wind, the former District Attorney Murphy started something, and he left town, with his money, never to be seen or heard from again.
And some people bought tapes every month, and some paid the bills, and those who didn’t got sued by the finance company.
Always remember that when a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
…………………..to be continued
UPDATES
MY HAIRCUT:
Well, on Monday after my haircut at the barber college, I went back to my regular place, First Impressions at 2047 Victory Blvd, next door to Schaefer’s, between my office and Starbucks on Victory Blvd., and Nicholas re-cut my head to straighten it out, and now I have to let it grow so he can cut it again, to fix it.
No, I can't stop singing a “jingle” 1-800 Kars for Kids. 1-800 Kars for Kids, 1-800 Kars for Kids, donate your car today. Ever notice that the commercials are clearer, and louder, and easier to understand than the regular radio broadcasts? TV too.
Now when I am in my car, and I am able to hear the radio, I listen to either National Public Radio (NPR) (WNYC) which is commercial free, except for when they are asking for donations, or to 1010 WINS, where give your car to charity commercials run all day long.
So what’s that all about?
First of all, to be a not for profit corporation, you need to have a charitable purpose (raise money for charity), form a corporation (there are services like Blumberg’s, XL services, Gerald Weinberg, PC, where you give them 3 names, and a charitable purpose, and a few hundred dollars later, bingo- you have a tax free corporation. Now you have an accountant file with the IRS for whatever the current type of tax free corporation is, and you’re ready.
Now you go to an ad agency, come up with a catch tune, or copy, and make an ad. Then you go to the radio station, and buy commercial time. Now they have all kinds’ of deals. Radio is cheap. And not for profits get special rates.
Every car has two values: Wholesale and retail. There are books published every month that list these values (NADA, GALES) for every car with sub sections to add or deduct for added accessories, or high mileage, etc. They call these prices average wholesale or average retail or average loan given on any year and make automobile up to a certain age. When they get too old, then they don’t publish the values. However that doesn’t mean that a car that is over 5 or 6 years old (whatever it is) has no value, at that point the car dealers know from their own experience what the cars are worth.
Now besides price lists that are broken up by retail and wholesale, there are car dealers that are wholesalers and retailers.
The person in the car dealership, who sells you a new car, is a new car dealer. He pays you very low wholesale for your car, leaving room for him to make a profit when he sells your car to the wholesaler. Of course the wholesaler has to make a profit when he sells the car to the used car dealer who then resells the car for retail to the consumer for high retail.
Now in addition to reselling the cars as cars, there is another whole market for the so called “burdens” that the commercials talk about, cars that don’t run, bad body rot, etc, are dismantled, the parts resold, and anything left is sold as scrap metal.
Cars without titles, requires a form to be sent to the Motor Vehicles for a replacement Title. If you are in a hurry, for the cost of federal express, DMV will overnight you the title, so losing your title is no big deal.
Now they also offer vacations. This is easy. People have donated their time shares that they no longer want, so they have access to free vacations all over the place.
So what do they do with the cars?
They sell them.
Who are we dealing with?
Car dealers.
But what about the charity? Where do they come in?
They talk about high administrative costs of charities. There is a car dealer/wholesaler who is really running the show, who pays the charity so much a car, or charges the charity so much a car for services, so that the charity winds up with a couple of dollars per.
But if you take how much they spend on advertising, and how much they spend on the company that buys and sells the cars, I have to wonder about how much of the gross dollars that they raise actually go to charity. 1%?
Andrew Cuomo- where are you?
And speaking of advertising, there is an ad I hear on the radio where the guy says that he just bought 1 Million copies of a book, home remedies that the doctors don’t want you to know about- and he is going to send it to you for free- except for $4.50 shipping and handling.
What can this be all about?
Well, suppose it cost him between ten and twenty five cents a copy (a dime and a quarter). The real cost of mailing is another dollar. Now there is the answering service and the radio/tv time. So what can the profit be on $4.50? One Dollar? Sell all One Million, make a Million dollars?
Is this about putting together a mailing list to work or sell?
Or is this about collecting credit card numbers for future identify theft or credit card theft?
Andrew Cuomo- are you there?
And you know why they say “Money Back Guaranteed?” Because studies have shown that most people would never ask for their money back. (there are always some). But most people are too embarrassed. But the effect on the buying public is, wow this must be okay- they guarantee to give you back your money if you aren’t satisfied.
Several years ago on Staten Island there was a guy who was selling a tape of the month club deal. You would have a catalogue, or get mailings every month to buy new tapes, similar to the book of the month club. Except you were to buy several new cassette tapes every month. (This was before CD’s).
The first month you got 10 tapes for $9.99 and then you bought more tapes every month for five years. When you signed up, you got a free tape player.
Now what he did, was figured out the value of the tapes- 5 years of 3 tapes per month @ $9.99 per = $1798.20.
But in order to make this deal happen, the people had to finance the $1,798.20 over 5 years. But since you couldn’t secure tapes not purchased, he secured the tape deck. Basically he was selling an $80 tape deck for $1,798.20.
Most people that sign up for things like this, will buy some tapes, and then stop buying, but keep paying until it is paid in full. Most people will not ask for their full money back guaranteed (which of course this conman wasn’t offering). If you really purchased the tapes every month you got a good deal. But statistically, you only bought for a few months, and kept paying the entire amount. Greenberg then would sell all of the $1,729.20 loans to one of those well known finance companies at a 24% discount $1,366.32).
Now a lot of people started complaining when they tried to quit, and realized that they had bought 5 year contracts to buy tapes, and started law suits in civil court, but everything was legal, so that didn’t help the buyers. The Advance got wind, the former District Attorney Murphy started something, and he left town, with his money, never to be seen or heard from again.
And some people bought tapes every month, and some paid the bills, and those who didn’t got sued by the finance company.
Always remember that when a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
…………………..to be continued
UPDATES
MY HAIRCUT:
Well, on Monday after my haircut at the barber college, I went back to my regular place, First Impressions at 2047 Victory Blvd, next door to Schaefer’s, between my office and Starbucks on Victory Blvd., and Nicholas re-cut my head to straighten it out, and now I have to let it grow so he can cut it again, to fix it.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Hair
Tuesday the SIEDC had an all day conference at the Hilton. There were many speakers, The Borough President, the Attorney General, the Mayor, and all of the other important people that you would expect to be there, and then some.
Anyway since I have trouble hearing, I skipped the speeches, and just walked around the trade show, picked up some free hi-lighters, sugar free mints, a yo yo, a fly swatter, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the best was a coupon for a free haircut at Paul Mitchell’s Partners on New Dorp Lane.
And man does that bring me back.
Haircuts, and Hair, were always big issues in my life.
Being a child of the 1950’s. (not withstanding Rebel without a Cause, and Marlon Brando’s The Wild One, and the beatniks’), the mode of the country, was to fit in, to conform.
People were buying cape cods, that all looked alike, row after row of the same.
And men got crew cuts (or flat tops).
But growing up, the cool people wore black leather jackets and had DA’s (hair that was pulled down in the front, like Kooky on 77 Sunset Strip). But my father wanted to conform (boy did he change in his old age), so he insisted that I have a crew cut. And what was worse was that he would take me to the barber college to get my haircut. I still remember being jabbed and cut with scissors and combs, by smelly little men who didn’t speak English, trying to become Barbers.
Other times we would go to the barber on Watchogue Road. My grandfather put into his lease that he had to give my grandfather a free hair cut once a week. But my grandfather was bald. So I guess what he did was shave the back of his neck. Because of that, he never raised the rent, so long as he got his free haircut once a week.
I remember my last haircut at the barber college. It was after Election Day 1965. I was working for Howard Samuels who ran for Lt. Governor, (later he became Howie the Horse and started OTB, I became assistant to the President of OTB, but that’s another story). Anyway I was 14 or just turned 15 (my birthday is in November). and we lost the election, I was sad, and my father took me to the Barber College for a haircut. I went from sad to miserable. I went back to school the next day and got laughed at for my ridiculous hair cut.
After that my haircuts were less frequent. I graduated high school, lost a bunch of weight, went to college, got a car, and let my hair grow. The late 60’s.
In August 1969 I was on the staff at the original Woodstock. It was called an Aquarian Expedition, the Woodstock, Music and Art Festival. I was on the staff of the art show. My hair was just beginning to get some decent length, but the week after Woodstock, my brother got married, so I had to get a haircut. My last haircut by a barber. (I have my Woodstock staff pass framed hanging in my kitchen).
After my brothers’ wedding, I stopped cutting my hair again. And then the war in Vietnam came home. May 4, 1970, I had been at a weekend long rock festival at SUNY New Paltz with a new old car that I had just gotten, an Austin Healy Sprite. On Monday, May 4th, 1970 I drove straight to school from New Paltz, and in those days I didn’t listen to the news, only Rock Music. I arrived at school and was confronted with the news that National Guardsmen had shot and killed 4 students at Kent State. I was pretty shaken up, being a hippie and all, so I went to see the dean, who was a good guy. I asked him about starting a strike in support of our brothers and sisters at Kent State, and he told me that I had to be an officer of a recognized student organization in order to start a strike, and have use of the mimeograph machine to make flyers. He also gave me a list of the Recognized Student Organizations- (I graduated from St John's University, Brooklyn Campus, which was a 12 story and a two story building in downtown Brooklyn on Schermerhorn Street and Boerum Place that are now condos. The year I graduated, 1971, it closed down and moved to Staten Island).
First I approached the Peace Organization. They wanted no part of a strike- “we’ll only get into trouble”. Anyway, I checked out the list, and to make a long story short, I became the Vice President of B-SASI (Black Students against Social Injustice), and started the strike by handing out flyers by the elevators, closed down the school, caught an outside agitator trying to cause trouble stealing sandwiches in the cafeteria (held him for the Police), bought and sold apples. One guy took out his guitar, and we sang folk songs. It was nice and peaceful.
Anyway, some of you might remember, President Johnson then closed down the universities, so that there would be a national cool down. That Saturday I was at school, (Remember this is a 12 story office building in down town Brooklyn) at a meeting discussing the proposed March on Washington , and who walks into the room, but my father who comes up to me and says
“Hey- how did the guys at the door know who I was? where you were? and by the way, here is your draft notice”!
Now my father and I hadn’t been getting along. He kept enlisting me into the National Guard, and I kept trying to fail the physicals. It got to the point where at least once a month I was at a National Guard physical.
The list to get into the National Guard during the Vietnam days of 1970 was impossible. My father was a very important person, who never asked anything of anyone for himself, waited until I was draft age and then must have called in all of his favors, but every month, another physical.
My son Jacob, inherited his fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers’ hair genes and brains, is a dean's list student at Penn State, and a film major. Jake shaves his head. My other son Zack, who is blessed with beautiful hair, also wears it short. Go figure. Anyway I once suggested to Jake that he make a film- "Daddy- what did you do during the war?"
You are in the middle of my war story.
But unbeknownst to my father, I went to the Christian Brothers against the war, on 18th Street, in Union Square, which was the heart of the anti-Vietnam War movement (the building). There they had a book, the surgeon general's report on issues that they don't want to deal with in combat (otherwise known as 4-F or 1-Y).
After writing all of the gory details, I decided to delete them and just tell you that after the army told me that they didn’t want me, I decided that it was time to clean up my act and get it together.
Which I did.
So, I went on one of the many great diets of my life, I burned the one pair of jeans, the blue work shirt, and the torn sweater, painted work boots, that I wore every day, and bought new clothes.
And then, I made an appointment to cut my hair at Paul Mitchell’s on St Marks Place, Greenwich Village.
Paul Mitchell was the original “unisex” hair place. You walk in and the music is blasting, and everyone there has a layer cut hair cut- like Rod Stewart, and everyone was dressed in high fashion of the day. On September 18, 1970, I got my haircut (and in those days there was quite a lot of it, and it was very long), It was also the day that Jimmy Hendrix died which has absolutely nothing to do with the story except that is how I know the date.
Well my hair was long from then until last year, when Randy Lee made me cut it.
Thank you Randy.
But anyway, today I went back to Paul Mitchell, now on New Dorp Lane, and it's a "Barber College"
I have come full circle.
………………to be continued
Anyway since I have trouble hearing, I skipped the speeches, and just walked around the trade show, picked up some free hi-lighters, sugar free mints, a yo yo, a fly swatter, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the best was a coupon for a free haircut at Paul Mitchell’s Partners on New Dorp Lane.
And man does that bring me back.
Haircuts, and Hair, were always big issues in my life.
Being a child of the 1950’s. (not withstanding Rebel without a Cause, and Marlon Brando’s The Wild One, and the beatniks’), the mode of the country, was to fit in, to conform.
People were buying cape cods, that all looked alike, row after row of the same.
And men got crew cuts (or flat tops).
But growing up, the cool people wore black leather jackets and had DA’s (hair that was pulled down in the front, like Kooky on 77 Sunset Strip). But my father wanted to conform (boy did he change in his old age), so he insisted that I have a crew cut. And what was worse was that he would take me to the barber college to get my haircut. I still remember being jabbed and cut with scissors and combs, by smelly little men who didn’t speak English, trying to become Barbers.
Other times we would go to the barber on Watchogue Road. My grandfather put into his lease that he had to give my grandfather a free hair cut once a week. But my grandfather was bald. So I guess what he did was shave the back of his neck. Because of that, he never raised the rent, so long as he got his free haircut once a week.
I remember my last haircut at the barber college. It was after Election Day 1965. I was working for Howard Samuels who ran for Lt. Governor, (later he became Howie the Horse and started OTB, I became assistant to the President of OTB, but that’s another story). Anyway I was 14 or just turned 15 (my birthday is in November). and we lost the election, I was sad, and my father took me to the Barber College for a haircut. I went from sad to miserable. I went back to school the next day and got laughed at for my ridiculous hair cut.
After that my haircuts were less frequent. I graduated high school, lost a bunch of weight, went to college, got a car, and let my hair grow. The late 60’s.
In August 1969 I was on the staff at the original Woodstock. It was called an Aquarian Expedition, the Woodstock, Music and Art Festival. I was on the staff of the art show. My hair was just beginning to get some decent length, but the week after Woodstock, my brother got married, so I had to get a haircut. My last haircut by a barber. (I have my Woodstock staff pass framed hanging in my kitchen).
After my brothers’ wedding, I stopped cutting my hair again. And then the war in Vietnam came home. May 4, 1970, I had been at a weekend long rock festival at SUNY New Paltz with a new old car that I had just gotten, an Austin Healy Sprite. On Monday, May 4th, 1970 I drove straight to school from New Paltz, and in those days I didn’t listen to the news, only Rock Music. I arrived at school and was confronted with the news that National Guardsmen had shot and killed 4 students at Kent State. I was pretty shaken up, being a hippie and all, so I went to see the dean, who was a good guy. I asked him about starting a strike in support of our brothers and sisters at Kent State, and he told me that I had to be an officer of a recognized student organization in order to start a strike, and have use of the mimeograph machine to make flyers. He also gave me a list of the Recognized Student Organizations- (I graduated from St John's University, Brooklyn Campus, which was a 12 story and a two story building in downtown Brooklyn on Schermerhorn Street and Boerum Place that are now condos. The year I graduated, 1971, it closed down and moved to Staten Island).
First I approached the Peace Organization. They wanted no part of a strike- “we’ll only get into trouble”. Anyway, I checked out the list, and to make a long story short, I became the Vice President of B-SASI (Black Students against Social Injustice), and started the strike by handing out flyers by the elevators, closed down the school, caught an outside agitator trying to cause trouble stealing sandwiches in the cafeteria (held him for the Police), bought and sold apples. One guy took out his guitar, and we sang folk songs. It was nice and peaceful.
Anyway, some of you might remember, President Johnson then closed down the universities, so that there would be a national cool down. That Saturday I was at school, (Remember this is a 12 story office building in down town Brooklyn) at a meeting discussing the proposed March on Washington , and who walks into the room, but my father who comes up to me and says
“Hey- how did the guys at the door know who I was? where you were? and by the way, here is your draft notice”!
Now my father and I hadn’t been getting along. He kept enlisting me into the National Guard, and I kept trying to fail the physicals. It got to the point where at least once a month I was at a National Guard physical.
The list to get into the National Guard during the Vietnam days of 1970 was impossible. My father was a very important person, who never asked anything of anyone for himself, waited until I was draft age and then must have called in all of his favors, but every month, another physical.
My son Jacob, inherited his fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers’ hair genes and brains, is a dean's list student at Penn State, and a film major. Jake shaves his head. My other son Zack, who is blessed with beautiful hair, also wears it short. Go figure. Anyway I once suggested to Jake that he make a film- "Daddy- what did you do during the war?"
You are in the middle of my war story.
But unbeknownst to my father, I went to the Christian Brothers against the war, on 18th Street, in Union Square, which was the heart of the anti-Vietnam War movement (the building). There they had a book, the surgeon general's report on issues that they don't want to deal with in combat (otherwise known as 4-F or 1-Y).
After writing all of the gory details, I decided to delete them and just tell you that after the army told me that they didn’t want me, I decided that it was time to clean up my act and get it together.
Which I did.
So, I went on one of the many great diets of my life, I burned the one pair of jeans, the blue work shirt, and the torn sweater, painted work boots, that I wore every day, and bought new clothes.
And then, I made an appointment to cut my hair at Paul Mitchell’s on St Marks Place, Greenwich Village.
Paul Mitchell was the original “unisex” hair place. You walk in and the music is blasting, and everyone there has a layer cut hair cut- like Rod Stewart, and everyone was dressed in high fashion of the day. On September 18, 1970, I got my haircut (and in those days there was quite a lot of it, and it was very long), It was also the day that Jimmy Hendrix died which has absolutely nothing to do with the story except that is how I know the date.
Well my hair was long from then until last year, when Randy Lee made me cut it.
Thank you Randy.
But anyway, today I went back to Paul Mitchell, now on New Dorp Lane, and it's a "Barber College"
I have come full circle.
………………to be continued
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Solution to the Obesity Crisis .....continued
In my last message, I explained how I came up with a new solution, but I didn’t tell you what the idea was.
The solution to the obesity crisis.
Very simply, Restaurants, Food preparers, McDonalds, General Mills; Proctor and Gamble; Kraft; Dunkin Hines, and Dunkin Donuts, and all of the rest of the people that package and sell foods, as well as the FDA, and the USDA, and everyone else involved in food and nutrition, need to once and for all determine what is a portion.
Ta Da
If you want to lose weight, you might decide to buy your food from Nutri System where they sell you single portions of pre-measured food. Simple. (Worked for Valerie Bertinelli, and Don Shula, and I suppose lots of others.
But why should I have to buy my food from Nutri system to get single portions? Why can’t I buy it anywhere I shop?
Governor Patterson was talking about taxing coke and potato chips. Mayor Mike made them post the calorie counts. They are on the right track.
My solution (or at least the first step) to solving our World Wide Obesity Crisis is:
(drum roll)
Create the “Universal Portion Size”.
And have it make sense.
My personal weight issues go back to the fact that I come from an Eastern European Jewish background where my mother, both grandmothers and great grandmothers always made me finish all of the food on my plate. Years later, after consulting with Dr. Stephen Gullo, the weight loss guru to the rich and famous, “nothing tastes as good as thin,” whose clientele include the nobility of Europe, and even Donald Trump himself- told me that my weight problem is that “I am a finisher.”
So when I go to the supermarket to buy ice cream, I have to figure out how many calories are in the entire container. Not per serving. Because my one serving is the whole thing.
But these days I’m not eating pints of ice cream, I buy these things called QB’s- all natural crispy treat filled with ice cream square little bit of ice cream. (Ice cream wrapped in Rice Krispies 180 calories. QB n. (cube-EE): An all natural cube shaped ice cream treat that satisfies the taste buds and makes you smile.
I also shop at Pathmark. (Whole Foods Market doesn’t sell Snapple (which is all artificial, but remember what Maude said- consistency is not a human trait) and although Whole Foods has a bakery, their cookies just don’t stand up to Pathmark Oatmeal Square Raisin baked in store, 18 to a package, no nutritional information is given). (Squares- and so are the QB’s- did you notice a pattern here?).
Anyway, while I am at Pathmark, generally late at night, I sometimes watch what people are putting into their shopping carts- and I often wonder if the average person knows anything about nutrition, about nutritional information, portion sizes. I watch to see if they read the nutritional information on the packages. I think about the lawsuit blaming McDonalds for the obesity problem because they sell Big Mac’s and supersized fries and coke, which people think are okay portion sizes.
If the government can come up with this Universal Portion Size- then McDonalds can make all their meals to fit it. Instead of supersizing, and making people think that a supersized Triple Big Mac, with supersized fries and a gallon of coke is a single portion.
Unfortunately, our government has different agendas, and sends out mixed messages, and does double ententes. Up until now, special interests has out weighed the common good. Such is the case with the United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) food pyramid which is a major cause of the obesity problem.
When the USDA published their food pyramid, they gave in to special interests, the farmers, and the people who bring us items such as bread and rolls, and said that a healthy person should eat 6-11 portions of bread per day. (3-5 servings of vegetables). (I went to the USDA.gov, and clicked on food pyramid, to get this chart). HELLO- Any body home? Look at this!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my healthy life style rules is when the waiter brings the bread basket to the table, is to tell the waiter to take it away. We don’t need 11 servings of bread per day. We don’t need any servings of bread per day. People are fat because they eat too much bread, pasta, and other grain products.
So today’s Solution is that the government gets their act together and fixes the food pyramid.
Then they can make the rule, set the portion size, and have everyone make their products by portion size.
Then I should be able to go to McDonalds and buy a single portion of food, which contains everything that I need nutritionally, and be the right size, amount of calories, contain the right blend of Protein, carbohydrates, fats and grains including green vegetables, and fruits, etc. Enough for one person to eat to sustain themselves for the next 3-4 hours, until they eat another portion.
I can always have the choice to purchase more than one, but let it be a universal portion.
What is so difficult about that?
How about being able to go into an Italian Restaurant and ordering a single portion of pasta with whatever sauce (gravy). A serving which is about the size of my fist.
Good luck.
How about airplane food? Is that the universal portion?
Now a big banana is 2 servings of fruit. I am not suggesting that we have to genetically engineer our fruits and vegetables to be the same sizes.
You can eat all of the green vegetables that you want, can’t you? (as long as they aren’t fried, breaded, or soaked in butter (fat), even though the food pyramid says only 3-5 servings of vegetables per day. Some of the starches are another story (potatoes, corn).
People who eat 5 portions of fruit per day, live longer. (8 grapes is a potion)
Now they are still going to have to sell items in bulk. Sell ice cream by the serving, and by the pint, quart, gallon, but in addition to listing the calories by the serving, also list the calories for the entire package. I mean really, who buys a bag of potato chips or m & m’s which might be “about 3.4 servings” to share anyway? I buy raisins and nuts and it says that there are about 13 servings in the bag. And each serving is about an ounce. But how do you measure an ounce?
And how about cookies? How many servings per individually wrapped cookies- 2.3?
Let’s at least make it easier, give us a fighting chance- and we’ll win the war on obesity.
I have a cousin who is a rocket scientist at NASA (no kidding, Larry Lasher. Larry also put together a family history tracing our family back a couple of hundred years to Russia- very interesting). Although we share a lot of genes, (hair, height, brains, longevity and general health), he got the yy and I got the xx on the weight gene, so we’ve never really had a conversation about reading nutritional information from packages.
But you shouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know how to eat healthy.
They, the powers that be, the government, the USDA, Michele Obama, the Board of Education, need to simplify the entire process for everyone, so that everyone, every single person in the world, can know what a single serving of food is, a single meal size, is.
Period. The End.
The solution to the obesity crisis.
Very simply, Restaurants, Food preparers, McDonalds, General Mills; Proctor and Gamble; Kraft; Dunkin Hines, and Dunkin Donuts, and all of the rest of the people that package and sell foods, as well as the FDA, and the USDA, and everyone else involved in food and nutrition, need to once and for all determine what is a portion.
Ta Da
If you want to lose weight, you might decide to buy your food from Nutri System where they sell you single portions of pre-measured food. Simple. (Worked for Valerie Bertinelli, and Don Shula, and I suppose lots of others.
But why should I have to buy my food from Nutri system to get single portions? Why can’t I buy it anywhere I shop?
Governor Patterson was talking about taxing coke and potato chips. Mayor Mike made them post the calorie counts. They are on the right track.
My solution (or at least the first step) to solving our World Wide Obesity Crisis is:
(drum roll)
Create the “Universal Portion Size”.
And have it make sense.
My personal weight issues go back to the fact that I come from an Eastern European Jewish background where my mother, both grandmothers and great grandmothers always made me finish all of the food on my plate. Years later, after consulting with Dr. Stephen Gullo, the weight loss guru to the rich and famous, “nothing tastes as good as thin,” whose clientele include the nobility of Europe, and even Donald Trump himself- told me that my weight problem is that “I am a finisher.”
So when I go to the supermarket to buy ice cream, I have to figure out how many calories are in the entire container. Not per serving. Because my one serving is the whole thing.
But these days I’m not eating pints of ice cream, I buy these things called QB’s- all natural crispy treat filled with ice cream square little bit of ice cream. (Ice cream wrapped in Rice Krispies 180 calories. QB n. (cube-EE): An all natural cube shaped ice cream treat that satisfies the taste buds and makes you smile.
I also shop at Pathmark. (Whole Foods Market doesn’t sell Snapple (which is all artificial, but remember what Maude said- consistency is not a human trait) and although Whole Foods has a bakery, their cookies just don’t stand up to Pathmark Oatmeal Square Raisin baked in store, 18 to a package, no nutritional information is given). (Squares- and so are the QB’s- did you notice a pattern here?).
Anyway, while I am at Pathmark, generally late at night, I sometimes watch what people are putting into their shopping carts- and I often wonder if the average person knows anything about nutrition, about nutritional information, portion sizes. I watch to see if they read the nutritional information on the packages. I think about the lawsuit blaming McDonalds for the obesity problem because they sell Big Mac’s and supersized fries and coke, which people think are okay portion sizes.
If the government can come up with this Universal Portion Size- then McDonalds can make all their meals to fit it. Instead of supersizing, and making people think that a supersized Triple Big Mac, with supersized fries and a gallon of coke is a single portion.
Unfortunately, our government has different agendas, and sends out mixed messages, and does double ententes. Up until now, special interests has out weighed the common good. Such is the case with the United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) food pyramid which is a major cause of the obesity problem.
When the USDA published their food pyramid, they gave in to special interests, the farmers, and the people who bring us items such as bread and rolls, and said that a healthy person should eat 6-11 portions of bread per day. (3-5 servings of vegetables). (I went to the USDA.gov, and clicked on food pyramid, to get this chart). HELLO- Any body home? Look at this!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my healthy life style rules is when the waiter brings the bread basket to the table, is to tell the waiter to take it away. We don’t need 11 servings of bread per day. We don’t need any servings of bread per day. People are fat because they eat too much bread, pasta, and other grain products.
So today’s Solution is that the government gets their act together and fixes the food pyramid.
Then they can make the rule, set the portion size, and have everyone make their products by portion size.
Then I should be able to go to McDonalds and buy a single portion of food, which contains everything that I need nutritionally, and be the right size, amount of calories, contain the right blend of Protein, carbohydrates, fats and grains including green vegetables, and fruits, etc. Enough for one person to eat to sustain themselves for the next 3-4 hours, until they eat another portion.
I can always have the choice to purchase more than one, but let it be a universal portion.
What is so difficult about that?
How about being able to go into an Italian Restaurant and ordering a single portion of pasta with whatever sauce (gravy). A serving which is about the size of my fist.
Good luck.
How about airplane food? Is that the universal portion?
Now a big banana is 2 servings of fruit. I am not suggesting that we have to genetically engineer our fruits and vegetables to be the same sizes.
You can eat all of the green vegetables that you want, can’t you? (as long as they aren’t fried, breaded, or soaked in butter (fat), even though the food pyramid says only 3-5 servings of vegetables per day. Some of the starches are another story (potatoes, corn).
People who eat 5 portions of fruit per day, live longer. (8 grapes is a potion)
Now they are still going to have to sell items in bulk. Sell ice cream by the serving, and by the pint, quart, gallon, but in addition to listing the calories by the serving, also list the calories for the entire package. I mean really, who buys a bag of potato chips or m & m’s which might be “about 3.4 servings” to share anyway? I buy raisins and nuts and it says that there are about 13 servings in the bag. And each serving is about an ounce. But how do you measure an ounce?
And how about cookies? How many servings per individually wrapped cookies- 2.3?
Let’s at least make it easier, give us a fighting chance- and we’ll win the war on obesity.
I have a cousin who is a rocket scientist at NASA (no kidding, Larry Lasher. Larry also put together a family history tracing our family back a couple of hundred years to Russia- very interesting). Although we share a lot of genes, (hair, height, brains, longevity and general health), he got the yy and I got the xx on the weight gene, so we’ve never really had a conversation about reading nutritional information from packages.
But you shouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know how to eat healthy.
They, the powers that be, the government, the USDA, Michele Obama, the Board of Education, need to simplify the entire process for everyone, so that everyone, every single person in the world, can know what a single serving of food is, a single meal size, is.
Period. The End.
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