About Brooklyn's Bay Ridge

Tomasso Restaurant

1464 86th St. (cor. Bay 8th St. )
Brooklyn, NY 11228

ph# 718-236-9883

Deep in the heart of Italian Brooklyn is Tomasso's restaurant. The food is real Italian, not like the fake Australian Outback steak house across the street. The lasagna had sausage, pork, beef. This is the way it's made in homes in Italy. Olive oil and basil is on the table to have with your crusty ethnic breads and the wine list is perhaps the best in Brooklyn. Special attention is paid to large groups. The prices go down with entrees in the 20's, as easily as a good Priorat(ferrer/bobet)05.

Most amazing is the wonderful singing voice of Tom Tomasso himself. He led us in a chorus of God Bless America that would make Kate Smith proud. On weekends he often performs with his staff.

For real Italian food and a really good aria I recommend Tomasso's

for more see www.ditmasestates.com

1. Does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold within three years.
2. Applies only to first-time homebuyers, defined as those who have not owned a home within the previous three tax years.
3. Available only for homes purchased between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 1. 2009.
4. Restricted by income; phases out for individuals with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or above and for married couples with a combined adjusted income of $150,000 or above.
5. Tax credit is up to 10 percent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $8,000. For example, a buyer of a $150,000 home could receive a tax credit of a maximum of $8,000, while a first-time buyer of a $70,000 home would be eligible for a tax credit of $7,000
6. The credit can be taken on 2008 taxes even when the purchase is made in 2009.

Casa Calamari

8602 Third Avenue

718-921-1900

I hate warming trays!

When I walk into a restaurant for the first time and I see warming tray, my first reaction is to walk out. Foods left sitting in warming trays loose all texture and remind me a very bad junior high school cafeteria.

Casa Calamari has warming trays as you come in and all I wanted to do was walk out! But, my friends persisted and my health insurance is still in effect so I said o.k.

The décor is simple and clean, sort of an office workers lunch place. The service was friendly and actually knowledgeable. There is some confusion in that there are at least three Casa Calamari's in Brooklyn. I do not know if they are related.

What surprised me was the food! If you are careful to order the daily specials, not on the warming trays, the food is actually good.

The Lasagna was fresh and plentiful. It needed a little more seasoning, maybe some oregano.

You can tell if Lasagna has been sitting, the edges dry up and the sauce de-emulsifies (there is a reddish water on the plate). My bet was that the sauce was made fresh and maybe even with real tomatoes (I found real tomatoes seeds in the sauce).

The calamari and linguini was also good although I like mine to have some more heat and again the portions were large and inexpensive.

Main courses are about $ 12; there is a three course dinner menu with a glass of wine for $25.

If you can find a parking space in Bay Ridge, Casa Calamari will do nicely.

for more see www.ditmasestates.com

What a great lesson from HSBC on how to be profitable real estate.

HSBC Sold its headquarters building in LONDON for 1.09 billion pounds in May 2007 to a Spanish Company which agreed to lease them back at an annual rate of 43.5 million pounds a year.

Now they will buy back that same building for 838 Million Pounds. a 250, 000,000 pound profit. Hay anybody would be willing to deal with this kind of a weight gain in year ;-)

In addition to a nice chunk of profit at a time when banks struggle with write-offs, HSBC also gained its said 43.5 Million pounds the agreed leaseback they offered to their landlord.

It teaches us a very valuable lesson, That the primary goal of owning real estate is its gain and not just the idea of owning it. Although this s a Strong emotion it should come in secondary to profit.

Summary of lesson

• To sell when prices are high
• Negotiate a low leaseback so you can stay in the property for cheap rent (rent is cheap since everybody is buying hence rent is cheap)
• leave an option to buyback (hidden or unhidden)
• Buy before you are certain if the market is rock bottom or not, take your chance because either way you will make a huge profit. Waiting for the market to hit rock bottom is often impossible since we only know that the market reached its bottom is when it is already passed us.
• do it again and again and again

It is a great time to be alive it is a great time to learn investment's and real estate and it is a great time to take action

Sincerely

Joel Silberstein
Certified Mortgage Planner, CMPS
The Silberstein Group
917.660.3630
joel@Joelsilberstein.com
www.joelsilberstein.com

It Seems like everyone is considering to modify there loan these days. Especially that Sheila Bair who is the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said, "We will very aggressively pursue loan-modification strategies for unaffordable loans to make them affordable on a long-term, sustainable basis." therefore I feel the need to clarify the option that an individual has and the ramifications it might have.

First of all it is not ethical to modify unless you are really in need and cannot survive otherwise. Just because you can and the bank will agree is thievery. Its not the lenders fault that you made a bad investment, Man up and take responsibility.

To cut to the chase, If it is a Primary residence, and the balance of the loan is less then a 2 Million dollars before forgiving, it makes scenes to modify or trying to get the lender to forgive a portion of the loan since there will not be a tax problem for you on the portion forgiven.

However if the loan you are trying to get a portion of it waived is on an investment property or if the loan portion forgiven is more then 2 million dollars the lender will send you a 1099C in the end of the year and you will have to pay on the forgiven part income tax on top of the money that you earned this year, a real problem in some cases.

Things to look out for

1. Primary residence only.
2. Original loan you got when you bought the house, Sorry no cash-out refinance allowed.
3. loan balance before forgiveness was less then 2 million or 1 million if you are single or file separate.

If you criteria doesn't fit then don't do it you will have to pay tax on the forgiven part.

True Story

Jack did a modification on a 3,000,000 dollar loan and he did not ask his mortgage planner or his CPA beforehand. He negotiated the loan down to $1,000,000 and saved $10,000 dollar a month by doing so. At the end of the month Jack got a 1099 from the lender in the amount of $2,000,000.

Jack called his accountant and the accountant said he will have to pay taxes on the 2,000,000 which he was forgiven an amount of $700,000 and he will have to file for bankruptcy in order to get out of the bill.

Don't be like jack black contact professionals and don't rely solely on your Loss mitigator, ask your accountant and your CMP, CMPS before you make a move.

Sincerely

Joel Silberstein
Certified Mortgage Planner, CMPS

Please check out what are your option of you cannot continue to pay your mortgage. click here.