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Lets put your perception to the test! Have a look at the picture below.

What do you see? Is it a young woman 20 -25 years old with a petite nose that is well dressed, maybe going to a party?
Or do you see an old woman 75 to 85 years old
with a larger nose and a dominant chin?

The first time I was introduced to this picture I remember thinking that either I am crazy or everyone around me is. I saw an old woman with a big nose 80 plus years old. The others saw a beautiful young woman with a petite nose, well dressed in a fur coat.

I thought my friends have either gone mad or they are pulling my leg. After discussing it for few minutes we started to see each others point of view and as it turned out we were all right. We just saw the picture from different perspectives or as you may say "with different eyes".

If you can't see both women scroll down for couple of hints...

This exercise brings up more questions than the answers about what do we see and how. However the most important question is this;
Do we see with our eyes, or do we see through our eyes?
What I mean by that is this - are we pre-programmed to see our world in a certain way?
In the other words, do we see things as we believe they should be by our own beliefs, rather than as they are in reality?

One of the lessons from this exercise should be that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about other peoples views too quickly.

“I know what I know and I see what I see” attitude should be replaced by,“Tell me what you see and why" attitude.

In my view, it is indisputable that there is a good chance that both parties may enrich their knowledge and view by exploring the other party's perspective.

But the first step in this shift of perception is that we must be able to accept the fact that we could be wrong and that our eyes are not able to detect what we don’t believe to be true.

P.S. If you still don’t see the old woman here is the hint.
The necklace of the young woman is the mouth of the old one and the cheek of the young woman is the nose of the older woman. Do you see it now?

Have a great day,

Tibor Bogdan

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Something To Think About. . .
 
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*Do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

Happy 2011 to you all ! 

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What is a pre-sale?

Example scenario: When the developer intends to build an apartment building and applies for financing, the bank will grant financing under certain conditions. One of them will likely be a certain percentage of pre-sales the developer will need to secure before receiving the funds.
It is common practice for a developer to approach several real estate investors and offer them an opportunity to purchase units of the non-existent building at a discounted price, and on good terms.

Once the number of pre-sales is accomplished, the developer goes ahead with the construction, which will likely take two years or longer to complete. During construction, their marketing team offers the remainder of the units for sale at market value to the public.

If you are a RE investor, you know that it is preferable to be buying at the pre-sale prices, not market value prices.

The question is, how do you get the invitation to buy a pre-sale?
In the past many years, investors have made substantial income by buying at wholesale prices and selling at retail prices even before they needed to complete their purchase. I saw many of them lining up and sometimes even camping overnight in front of the sales center to get a chance to buy at lower prices, but not everyone was lucky enough. You needed to be well-connected to get an opportunity, and you had to act fast.

Today is a bit of a different story. Several projects in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley offer really good prices and incentives to secure a unit now and complete the purchase two or three years later. The list of incentives varies from one project to the next. Besides attractive prices, you can get low deposit amounts (5-15%), low or no assignment fees, free updates, a mortgage rate buy-down program, extra parking and more.

A month ago, I helped a few of my clients purchase a presale in Surrey that sold out in 2 days, and I know of another good developer that will be offering a few units for sale as well.

If you would like to know more about these opportunities, I would encourage you to call or email me, and I’ll be happy to send you details on those projects.
 
Kind regards,
 
Tibor Bogdan
Century 21 Creekside Realty Ltd.
45428 Luckakuck Way #190, Chilliwack, BC V2R 3S9
cell: 604-855-2521
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