January 2020

Dear Friend,

The New Year Is Upon Us!

By the time this lands in your mailbox, chances are you will have already established your resolutions for the upcoming year. Still, I hope that this month’s newsletter, laden with stories that feature inspiration, innovation, and encouragement, help keep you determined until you see success feeding your current resolve. Personal success is born, in part, out of an unwavering vision of change, and I hope that at least a few of the articles in this newsletter motivate you to look at the fresh start of cold January as the perfect month to change your world.

Just a few inspiring ideas in this month’s newsletter include:
• How a friendly game of cards can change your life
•* Common items invented by creative women
• The challenge that inspired Green Eggs and Ham

Also, as you reset the house after taking down all the holiday trappings, you might be rethinking how you want to construct your lifestyle for the year ahead so you can see your grand ideas through to fruition. Maybe you want a home exercise room, or you’ve decided to scale down your furniture for a cozier living space. If your resolutions include buying or selling your house, I’d be delighted to work with you and get you into the perfect home. Please let me know when you’re ready to have that conversation so we can turn your ideas into reality.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful 2020!

Your friend in the real estate business,

Cliff

Cliff Keith

650-346-7366 Cell/Text

Cliff@SFBayHomes.com

Lowest Interest Rate Home Loans

For High-Income Professionals At

http://Micheal-Ryan.com

Inside This Issue

Paying It Back

John was having what could best be described as a rough day. He received a call earlier that morning from his elderly mother with the stressful news that her apartment complex was being fumigated over the next three days. She would need help getting packed up for a local hotel stay and was hoping John could come give her a hand for a few days. Without hesitation, he had agreed and purchased a ticket back east with a late departure time, hoping that his daughter would sleep through the flight.

It was long past the little girl’s bedtime when they arrived at the airport and she snuggled on John’s lap while he waited for their boarding call. While waiting, John chatted with an older lady sitting nearby who smiled at the sleepy little girl.

When it was finally time to board the plane, John was told that his daughter would need a ticket as well. Shocked, John explained that he had only purchased one ticket, thinking Ellie would sleep on his lap, but the agent said that rule was strictly for children under two. John had some cash on hand but certainly did not have enough to purchase an extra plane ticket.

From behind, the older lady handed a credit card to the agent and asked to purchase a ticket for Ellie

John protested, but the lady insisted and finally John relented with the promise that he would take down her information and pay her back when he got home. She smiled and agreed.

Later, when John looked at the paper that was supposed to have her contact information, he saw that she had written only a note: “Thank you for a lovely chat. Please consider your debt repaid with kindness.”

~Cliff

~Cliff

Please don’t keep me a secret…

The next time you’re in a conversation with a friend from work, your neighborhood, church, your gym or country club and they mention that they are interested in selling their house or rental property please, don’t keep me a secret. Pick up your cell phone, look up my number, (hint: 650-346-7366) and call me immediately. When you call we can talk about what would be the best way for you to introduce them to me.

Paleolithic Pantry

It was long thought that prehistoric humans consumed bone marrow as soon as possible after killing their prey, as marrow was an important source of nutrition in ancient times.

However, the Fox News website reports new findings which indicate that 400,000 years ago, ancient people saved and stored marrow in bones for as long as nine weeks before consumption. The bones served as “cans,” according to researchers exploring the Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv, and allowed early humans to break the bone when necessary to consume the still nutritious marrow inside.

This upends the previous belief that Paleolithic humans lived a hand-to-mouth existence as hunter-gatherers.

Cost to Buy A $1M Home…

Do you know what the your costs when you buy a one-million-dollar home with 20% Down? Including what your mortgage payments…

Escrow Fees:

Down Payment    (200,000.00)

Origination Fee       (8,000.00)

Title Insurance        (2,000.00)

Settlement Fee       (250.00)

Escrow Fees          (2,200.00)

Sub Escrow Fees   (125.00)

Loan Tie-In Fee      (100.00)

Recording Fee          (60.00)

Tax Service               (75.00)

Appraisal Report     (350.00)

Credit Report          (250.00)

Monthly Payments:

Mortgage Payment 3,819.32

Hazard Insurance $291.67

Property Taxes     $1,000

TOTAL           $5,110.99

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Dealing With Stress

Stress has a negative impact on everyone’s health. One way to ease the stress in your life? Unsurprisingly, Bicycle Cards advises that you play a game of cards. They might be onto something – here’s how a few friendly rounds of cards can help reduce stress:

• A card game isn’t just about counting up points. It’s a good path to friendly and lively conversations that can help you relax.
• Conversation usually leads to laughter, which can reduce tension in your mind and body.
• Low pressure. Assuming you’re not playing high-stakes poker with your life savings on the line, a nice game of Hearts or Gin Rummy offers entertainment without
• Brain exercise. Strategizing, keeping track of the play, and calculating your points at the end of the game helps keep your mind fresh.
• No technology. You can play Blackjack on your smartphone, but a few hands of Pinochle with friends lets you detach from technology for a while and reconnect with the rest of the world.
  • Brain exercise. Strategizing, keeping track of the play, and calculating your points at the end of the game helps keep your mind fresh.

Everyday Inventions

Some of the most common things we use every day were invented by creative women. Here are a few, gathered by the Mental Floss website:

• Circular saws. Tabitha Babbit, a weaver in a Shaker community, observed that a two-man pit saw worked only when being pulled forward. She suggested that a circular saw would be more efficient. In 1813, she took that for action, attached a prototype to her spinning wheel, and filed a patent thereafter for her

• Paper bags. Margaret Knight created the modern, flat-bottomed paper bag in Before then, paper bags looked like envelopes. An intellectual thief tried to steal the idea and file a patent, but Knight stood up for herself, filed a lawsuit, and won the rights to her creation.

• Windshield wipers. Mary Anderson invented the first manual windshield wipers in 1903. They didn’t take off because most drivers thought it was safer to simply drive through rain and snow, rather than keep pulling a lever to clear it. Another woman, Charlotte Bridgwood, invented an automatic version in 1917, but it wasn’t accepted By 1920, windshield wipers were everywhere, starting with Cadillac, which began standardly installing them on all its cars.

• Liquid A secretary named Bette Nesmith Graham had a habit of correcting her typing mistakes with white tempera paint. After years of perfecting the formula in her kitchen, she patented Liquid Paper in 1958. Gillette bought her company in 1979 for $47.5 million.

• This lightweight material is five times stronger than steel and can stop a bullet. A chemist named Stephanie Kwolek discovered it by accident in 1966 as she was trying to develop a lightweight fiber for car tires.

“The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding, and revising.” ~ Stephen King

DaVinci’s Designs

Leonardo da Vinci is known for such paintings as “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper,” but he was also a masterful engineer. According to the LiveScience website, in the 16^th century he designed what would have been the longest bridge in the world at the time, connecting Constantinople to a nearby area called Galata over the Bosporus Sea. He was responding to a request for proposals from Sultan Bayezid, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

DaVinci’s bridge was never built, but modern researchers from MIT have built a 3D replica of the bridge, using materials and construction equipment that would have been available in the 16th century.

They found that da Vinci’s design, using only a single arch, would have been structurally sound, thanks to compression that would have held the bridge’s stones together. Leonardo was a true Renaissance man.

Sweet…

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. ~Harriet Ann Jacobs

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Setting Your Limits

Sometimes a few constraints can boost your creativity. As recounted on the Fast Company website, publisher Bennett Cerf bet one of his authors, Theo Geisel – better known as Dr. Seuss – that he couldn’t write a children’s book with just 50 different words. Seuss stepped up to the challenge and won the bet with his book, Green Eggs and Ham.

“Putting limits to encourage creativity might sound counterintuitive.” writes JotForm CEO Aytekin Tank on the website.

“But the thing is, constraints encourage more divergent thinking – and you can leverage built-in limits or apply them to the project at hand. For example, sometimes we’ll tell our designers that they can only have 10 elements on a product screen. These limits stretch their problem-solving abilities and typically produce surprising results.”

“Dear world, I am excited to be alive in you, and I am thankful for another year.” ~Charlotte Eriksson

Winning Advice

People who’ve made it to the top have lots of advice to share. The Muse website features these tidbits:

• Miriam Salpeter, founder of Keppie Careers: “Use every job as an opportunity to learn something new and keep an open mind; you may find that you really enjoy something you never imagined would appeal to you.”

• Catherine Straut, assistant editor of Elle: “When it comes to having your ideas heard, or to really connect with co-workers, never underestimate the power of face time and the importance of in-person communication.”

• Jane Fonda, actress: “If the career you have chosen has some unexpected inconvenience, console yourself by reflecting that no career is without ”

“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world”. —Philip Pullman

Very Suspicious

A police officer was testing three potential detectives on suspect identification. She showed the first man a photo for five seconds and then turned the photo over and asked the candidate how he could best be identified. The man replied that the suspect would be easy to spot because he has only one eye. The police officer frowned and explained that only one eye was showing because it was a profile photo. She moved on to the next candidate, who sat back in his chair, smiled and smugly said:

“Ha! He’d be too easy to catch because he only has one ear!”

 “What’s the matter with you two?!” exclaimed the officer. “Only one eye and one ear are showing because it’s a picture of his side profile!”

Extremely frustrated, she showed the picture to the third candidate and asked the question for a third time. The third man looked at the picture intently then calmly pointed out that the suspect wears contact lenses. The officer didn’t know what to think, but checked the suspect’s file on her computer and was shocked to find it was true.

“Wow! I can’t believe it. It’s true! The suspect does, in fact, wear contact lenses. Good work! How were you able to make such an astute observation?”

 “Easy,” the third man replied. “He can’t wear regular glasses, because he only has one eye and one ear.”

Pushing the Reset Button

If December is a month for celebrations then January is a month to reset after so many celebrations, and that includes reaching out to employees and coworkers to start the year out right. Here are a few tips to help you line up your workforce with a fresh start:

• Celebrate accomplishments. Let your workforce feel good about what they achieved last Remind them of successes, small and significant. Emphasize the value of working together on common goals and establish which of those goals you can tackle together this year.

• Set the right example. If employees see you giving it your all as the year starts out, they’ll be more likely to stay attentive to their own responsibilities. At the same time, be a little flexible to show employees you understand they are recovering from holiday

• Keep the excitement going. Encourage people to freshen up their workspace, bring healthy treats to share at work, or set up a donation drive for a local spring

• Plan for the future. Looking ahead to new projects and goals can be more attractive when people are feeling excited and hopeful. Get employees involved in strategic planning for a specific date with defined

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Imagine me as your real estate consultant. What I do for you is invest my time consulting, negotiating, and organizing the details of your transaction because I want you to have a superb experience that will cause you to want to introduce me to the people you care about most.The purpose of my business is referrals, which means I must bring the type of value that makes you feel comfortable introducing me to the people you know that need my help.
After all, a referral is sending someone you care about to someone you trust. Cliff Keith

Exceptional Rental in Redwood City – Call me for details – 3/3/2+ Plaza

Another Point of View

During a long drought, the mayor of a small village directed everyone to gather in the square to pray for rain. They all came, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That is faith.

When you toss babies intro their air, they laugh and smile because they know you’ll catch them. That is trust.

Every night we go to bed with no guarantee that we’ll wake up tomorrow. But we still set our alarm clocks to wake up. That is hope.

We make big plans without any knowledge of the future. That is confidence.

We see suffering in the world, but we still get married and raise children. That is love

Daily Productivity Habits

Success is based on how you use the time available to you every day. To make the most of every minute, follow these simple rules:

• Use a day planner. Whether you rely on technology or old-fashioned pencil and paper, plan every day for maximum efficiency. Start with a daily to-do list for both short- and long-term projects, carry over unfinished business to the next day, and check your list frequently so nothing important drops off your radar.
• Set priorities. Don’t just work on tasks randomly. Identify your most important goals, your secondary objectives, and routine items that you can’t ignore. Plan your day around the work that supports your top goals, moving on to other projects when time permits. Always ask yourself, “What’s the most important and productive task I could be working on right now?”
• Eliminate procrastination. This can be tough, but it separates the truly successful people from the rest: Don’t waste time on nonessentials. Get quickly to the point in every conversation, and move on as soon as you’re finished. Plan your work, but don’t over-prepare. Decide what you need to accomplish, and then do it. Even if you don’t enjoy certain tasks, think of how relieved you’ll feel once you’re finished.

“We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.” ~Robert Wilensky

Is a Reverse Mortgage Right for You Or Someone You Know?

I wrote a great article on “Is a Reverse Mortgage Right for You Or Someone You Know?” Here’s the answer you have been asking yourself or in a conversation with a friend, For the answer to most questions people may have. Please let me know and I’ll pass it on to you so you can read it or  give it to them.

The 10 Do’s and Don’ts on Credit…

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Leave The Germs Behind When You Move

Moving to a new home means a fresh start. It’s an opportunity to discard what you don’t need and start a new phase of life. However do you want to take some unwanted items with you? Because many take with them to their new homes…germs and bacteria.

Researchers have found that families commonly carry household bacteria from one house to another when they move. Furthermore, less than a day went by before a family’s new home was already populated by the same bacteria as its old one. So be prepared—you may be making new memories, but you’ll be sharing some of the same old germs.

Quotes

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him. —Booker T. Washington

If you empower dummies, you get bad decisions faster. —Rich Teerlink, chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson

Everybody in life gets the same amount of ice. The rich get it in the summer and the poor get it in the winter. —Bat Masterson

If you want a thing well done, get a couple of old broads to do it. —Bette Davis