Thursday, October 4, 2012

Larry Silverstein and the Bernard Mendik-Vornado Realty Connection


It's difficult for many to see the wood for the trees when it comes to 9/11. So much horror, so much information, so many conspiracy theories, so much fear by those that don't want to be seen to buy into the theories, or even look at the evidence presented in case they are seen as a "traitor'' and we all know that famous Bushwellian comment, that has been drilled into the American psyche, to the point it has been as affective as a national lobotomy; "'you are either with us or with the terrorists''. It doesn't give one much room to move or make an informed opinion does it?

So, with all the fear and paranoia of being seen as a ''traitor'' or even "'terrorist'' by taser toting Home Land Security, most prefer to just "'ignore'' the evidence. Muslim goes hand in hand with terrorism, Jew goes hand in hand with Israel, or does it? Much has been said about the use of the term "'Jewish'' with regard to the 9/11 insurance article about Mr Laurence Silverstein, multi Billionaire owner of the 99 year lease to the second biggest crime scene of all time, The World trade centre. (the first being Auschwitz-Birkenau). Some even say using the term "'Jewish'' in context, is somehow anti-Semitic! Yet why are people so much less sensitive when the term "'Muslim'' is used whenever speaking of "'the terrorists''?

But in all fairness to be clear, one needs to be specific and include "'Islamic fundamentalists'' to the Muslim in the case of Jihadists and Zionist to the Jew or other, that is intent on the total control of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of those lands of the Palestinian peoples. After all, one can't really be a Jihadist unless a Muslim but one can be a Zionist without necessarily being a Jew. But the chances are, if you are a VERY wealthy American Jew you are more than likely to be Zionist! But one needs to remember the Zionist plot to monopolize the holy land is only part of the Endgame to a One World Government controlled by the Bankster elite, with a pretext that the Jews are the chosen people and that Palestine or Israel, as the Zionists prefer to call it, is exclusively home to the lost tribe of Israel the Jews. I should add here, before I return to the core of this commentary on Laurence Silverstein and gang, that Jews and Muslims have lived in peace for hundreds of years before the Zionist plot to dominate Palestine and the endless propaganda created to create hatred between the two communities is merely that, propaganda. But what is the objective of this propaganda? What is it's purpose? and how does one plan this New World Order Endgame with the complete support of the western world?

Let's start by looking at a hypothesis, for example; how could one go about taking away civil power from the people in the west without a fight? Even better, in a way where the public literally "'hand over'' that power voluntarily? To start with, if I were mastermind and puppet-master of the "'Endgame'' I would imagine we need a scapegoat and none better than the muslims, as they have so much to offer. After all, it is mainly within the Arab lands where the greatest riches and largest pools of petroleum resources lie, plus the largest poppy fields! So we have decided the Muslim Arabs are the initial candidates for scapegoats. Then we need to get everyone to mistrust and hate the scapegoat Muslims, not just the crazed ignorant fundamentalist Muslim that truly believes that after they have blown themselves and many innocents up, they will spend the rest of time in paradise drinking honey out of the cleavages of singing virgins. No, for a plan like this to work, we have to hate ALL muslims, men women and children. We can take some great tips from Hitler; he did exactly this when he made scapegoats of the Jews and Gypsies. A good start is to lock them up in a big concentration camp, we can do that in Gaza and starve and leave them with no sanitary conditions no clean water, no work, no freedom, nothing! And we don't let them come out unless we say so.

To keep them feeling utterly hopeless, we need to hound, harass and humiliate them, shooting the odd child and woman in the back when going to the shops is good, make them MAD! Make them hate us! Make them so mad they will do anything to get revenge, make them crazy and then we'll groom and recruit those crazies through our own "'agents'' that are infiltrated within the "'islamic cause'' Then we finance and groom our mad crazy Jihadists to pull off false flag ops for us! Wow! This could work. We could pull off shocking murderous operations on civilians and blame it all on the "'Jihadist terrorists'', just as we did with the 1954 "'Operation Susannah'' the 1985 hijacking of The Archille Lauro, the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, (the list is long and truly impressive). Not only that, we need to do some really big scary horrific stuff so everyone hands over their civil liberties in the name of security. Slicing off the head of an American Jewish journalist on camera would be amazingly powerful, that will scare the pants off them! Imagine that on American TV! Fear is the key, the public should be reminded constantly that we are all under "'threat'' from the nasty "'terrorists''. Then We'll set up 'off shore' detention camps and invent plots and cells that we can blame on innocent men going about their daily business, till we come in the night, cross- border and kidnap and drag them off to the detention camp.

Here we will use lots of grisly torture and threaten that we will do equally nasty things to their women and children so they confess to something they have never done. Oh, no trial, no access to legal process, of course not, it's got to be under wraps, can't have the bastards coming up with alibi's and evidence of their innocence. Great Plan! We had better do away with Habeas Corpus though! Oh, of course we already did that, great! We could dominate the entire Arab world and loot all the resources and after smashing the place up, we'll send in our own companies to "'rebuild''. All our rebuild contracts paid for by the dumb taxpayer! We are clever, yeah, who's going to stop us? We have the perfect excuse that we have to go in and "'get them'' we'll tell everyone, "'we need to stop dictatorships'' and "'we need to spread democracy to these murderous unlawful regimes that don't respect human rights and who give refuge to the terrorists'', yeah! that works, if half of the American public are dumb enough to believe that the Federal Reserve is a governmental institution and that Kennedy was shot by a lone gunman they'll believe anything!, They don't even know what democracy really means do they? After all, we whacked democracy years ago and buried it with the Patriot Act! But to continue to do this, we need to keep it amongst ourselves, yeah! Just our very close friends and those that do big favours for us. Hmm, what about our friend Larry Silverstein?

Mr Larry Silverstein is a man that can only be well connected. Born in Brooklyn, to poor middle-class Russian-Jewish parents during the depression, Larry still grew up doing all the things boys from better families do. Larry was taught to play the piano by his classical pianist father Harry and read lots and lots of good books. Larry attended the New York High School of Music and Art. But Larry's father realised that music and books don't make big bucks in Brooklyn, so he turned his hand to being a property broker, renting scruffy loft spaces in the rag district of Brooklyn. What Larry's parents lacked in pennies, they more than made up for in ambition. Larry's family although still relatively poor, surviving on rental commissions, managed to get Larry through NYU. Larry, after graduating from NYU with a new sense of business acumen, went to work full time for his father. Larry though, had bigger plans than his father and told Harry that being a middle man and just taking commission, was not where the money was, to make money letting, one really needed to own the lofts. In 1957, they established Silverstein Properties, as Harry G. Silverstein & Sons, and bought their first building, in Manhattan. Larry set about getting friends and family to invest money in him to buy and renovate scruffy lofts and cheap buildings in run down areas of New York. Now the Silverstein's could command some decent rents and real income through sales. What Larry lacked in development know how, he made up in zealous salesman traits saying

"You've got to believe it to sell'' "You've got to sell with a passion."

In 1956 Larry married Klara, who he had met at Jewish summer camp. The family struggled to start with and Klara used her paltry $3,200 salary as a teacher to help the family get through those early years. The family joke is that Klara was the original Silverstein breadwinner.

Around this time, Larry's best friend |Bernard Mendik, a later New York law School graduate, married Larry's sister Annette and became part of the Silverstein family business. The three men Harry, Larry and Bernard then set their sights on becoming the most powerful real estate developers of New York. When Harry Silverstein died in 1966, Bernard Mendik and Silverstein's son Larry formed Silverstein & Mendik.

Larry and Klara went on to have three children the eldest Sharon, although Harvard educated, then married and became a home-maker but the two younger children, Lisa and Roger went on to work for their father and still work for Silverstein properties today.

Silverstein's first big break came when he bought 11 west 42nd street near Bryant Park, before it was renovated to what it is today. He then built at 42nd west of Eleventh Avenue, and in lower Manhattan at 120 Broadway, a 1.8 million-square-foot giant occupying a full square block, steps from Wall Street. By the eighty's, Silverstein was a multi- millionaire and controlled more than 10 million square feet of Manhattan residential and commercial property.

By the time Silverstein set his sights on the WTC, his brother-in-law Bernard Mendik had split from Silverstein after divorcing Larry's sister. With the divorce, also came the split of the Silverstein Mendik business partnership. Mendik was now running his own property company, The Mendik Company. At the time of the split with Silverstein, Mendik cited disagreements with Silverstein over real estate strategies, with Mendik wanting to buy buildings while Silverstein wanted to build. It is said things were "'not good'' between Larry and Bernard at the time of their split and it was also said that "'Larry and Bernard had a messy falling-out after Mr. Mendik divorced Mr. Silverstein's sister Annette'' Mendik, who went on to be a very successful lawyer and property developer in his own right after splitting from Silverstein was well liked and did much for charity.

Both men went their own ways till April 1997, when Bernard Mendik, ex brother in law of Silverstein folded his company holdings into the Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It was said at the time of the negotiations ''The combination, of Vornado with the Mendik Company's 40-year experience in the ownership and operation of office properties is expected to create a powerhouse that will be an active player in the city market.''

It was written by Lois Weiss in The Real Estate weekly in March 1997

"In one of the most interesting transactions this year, developer/owner Bernard Mendik has agreed to swap his city real estate portfolio to become part of the Vornado Realty Trust. The transaction is valued at $654 million in a combination of cash, stock and debt,'

Mendik was at the time very close to forming his own REIT when Michael D. Fascitelli the former investment banker from Goldman Sachs who had been lured to Vornado Realty, convinced Mendik to join forces with Vornado. Mendik became Vornado's co-chairman. But later resigned in October 1998 to "'look after his personal investments''. Mendik was quoted as saying he was "'stifled'' by corporate bureaucracy, but he still remained a major stockholder in Vornado after his resignation. Vornado Realty just happens to be the very same company which was Silverstein's competitor and beat Silverstein in the initial bid to the port authority for the WTC.

Mendik, through his great success and power in the city, become a very close friend to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. So much of a trusted friend, that Mendik was hand-picked by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to head a business group that provides sanitation, security and other services around Grand Central Terminal. But rifts were caused between the men when Mendik had his own ideas about how to do things and made changes to the board of directors, much to the utter outrage of Giuliani. At the time, Mendik was quoted as saying '' the new group would be free of political interference''

There is no doubt that by the year 2000 Bernard Mendik, former best friend, founding business partner and brother-in-law of Silverstein was now not only a equal major player like Silverstein, but a powerful voice in the property world, in his tenth year as Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York and certainly Silverstein's toughest competitor.

On February the 15th 2001 Vornado's bid for the WTC, outbid Silverstein Properties $3.2billion bid by over 50 million dollars. It has been said that at some point between the end of March and mid April 2001 Vornado "'suddenly changed their minds'' and "suddenly pulled out'' There have been various reasons given for this, but there is nothing to verify either version.

On April the 26th 2001 Larry Silverstein put in his final bid for the WTC, only four weeks later Bernard Mendik was dead! On July the 24th 2001 Silverstein's offer which was 50 million dollars less than Vornado's was formally accepted and closed.

Bernard Mendik, major shareholder of Vornado Realty died on the 28th May 2001 after being taken "'suddenly'' ill. Only weeks after Vornado "'suddenly pulled out'' after the winning bid that beat Silverstein for the WTC. The official verdict was "'heart attack'' Although heart attack is often un unpredicted health emergency, many of his friends find this hard to believe, as Mendik was as far as they could tell ''a very fit and health conscious man'' in fact, Mendik had even played his regular game of tennis the very day of his death. He had also had regular checkups by the best doctors that money could buy. It was later said that the heart attack was the result of "'a blood disorder''. He had just turned 72. Whatever the cause of Mendik's demise one thing is certain, the withdrawal of Vornado's bid and the death of Mendik left the way clear for ''Lucky Larry'' Silverstein, to accomplish his multi million dollar dream.

Footnote:
''Mendik at the time of his death was in his tenth year as Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York. As chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), Mendik and the organization lobbied successfully to eliminate the onerous "Cuomo" tax on capital gains that took ten cents on each dollar, and obtained the passage of state legislation that reduced the 3 percent transfer taxes on properties that were merely being exchanged for stock and not cash'' courtesy.

Keller Williams Realty - Franchise Review


Gary Keller and Joe Williams established the "Keller Williams Realty" in the year 1983. Gary Keller and Joe Williams used to work in a real estate company in Austin, Texas. It was the biggest real estate company at that time. It was at this place that both the person came together to form a long lasting friendship. Both of them believed in the idea that the company should work for the employee. This idea led to the formation of "Keller Williams Realty" in the subsequent years.

The "Keller Williams Realty" And Their Franchisees

The company started franchising in the year 1987, four years after their establishment. The company is head quartered at Austin, Texas. They have the policy of encouraging agents to recruit others through the profit sharing. Currently, the company has one hundred and seventy five employees. There are another fifteen employees working at the franchise department. According to the 2009 reports, the company has six hundred and seventy five franchises throughout the length and breadth of United States. The number of franchises in Canada is thirteen. Presently the company is seeking franchisees in the Unites States and Canada. As a gesture to social responsibility; they are attached with habitat for humanity and food bank drives.

The Investment Amount To Become A Franchise

The net investment for becoming a "Keller Williams Realty" franchise; varies between $ 1, 74,647 to $ 5, and 57,495. The charges are a franchise fee and ongoing royalty fee. The franchise fee is twenty five thousand dollar and the ongoing royalty fee is a flat six percent rate. The terms of agreement is valid for five years and is renewable. The franchise fee, start up cost, equipment cost, inventory cost, receivable accounts and the payroll cost is not financed by the "Keller Williams Realty".

The Desired Qualifications And Operations Of A Franchise

The company doesn't have any mandatory net worth requirement for opening a franchise. However, they do have $ 1, 50,000 cash liquidity requirement. They also expect the franchise owner to have industry and general business experience. Thirty percent of the franchisees own more than a single unit. Three to four employees is required to run a franchised unit. "Keller Williams Realty" allows absentee ownership of the franchise. Fifteen percent of current franchise owners are absentee.

The Extended Training And Support

The company provides ongoing training courses at their head quarter and franchise location, throughout the year. The ongoing support is extended to all the franchisees, through news letter, meetings, and internet and field operations. The national media advertisement and exposures provide substantial marketing support to the franchisees. In-house marketing department is another great support for the "Keller Williams Realty" franchise.

The "Keller Williams Realty" is a well known name in its business domain. The franchise friendly attitude of "Keller Williams Realty", combined with the great sales support makes it an attractive option for taking up the franchise.

Keeping a Grasp of Realty Unemployment Protection Insurance


We all got loans, bills and other things to pay for. We all need to work. However, times are becoming more and more volatile and the situations are worsening. Not all people have secure jobs and the job that you felt was very solid can end up somewhere you never expected.

One of the most popular kinds of protection that an employee can get is Unemployment Protection Insurance. If you suddenly became unemployed, it would be very hard for you to address your loans, mortgages and living conditions. If the issue is due to redundancy, you can get this insurance so that you can gain some level of financial security in order to make loan and mortgage repayments and address the bills. This is also a very useful kind of protection so that while you are doing some job hunting, you have enough money to survive the demands of life especially for someone with a family or have other obligations to address.

When you apply for the Unemployment Protection Insurance, normally, you have to be employed on a regular job in order to qualify for this kind of insurance. Normally, you will be able to cover at least 50% of the current salary that you earn unless you are planning on paying individual payments just like loan and mortgage. The very first thing that you have to do is ask for a quote. While you have a job, you need to already consider these kinds of risks. You can now take advantage of services offered online to provide with quotes depending on how much your are willing to ensure.

Once you get the details, you can now make the right decisions. You should also look at the important details like terms and conditions so that you will be able to assess what conditions or considerations will your claim be eligible or not. You should also know how long the insurance will last. Understanding these details will help you in understanding what your advantages and risks are when it comes to addressing your loans and other obligations.

It is necessary nowadays to be prepared for the unexpected. No matter how secure we are, we cannot really prove that our work will last a lifetime. Things do come at unexpected situations and if you make the right decision, you can live a secure life with the help of the unemployment protection coverage.

Investment Realty - How Do I Profit With Real Estate?


Many people are considering investment realty to have something they could get money from. It is all about making profits that you too can get yourself into. Take a step into the real estate business world and produce continuing cash flow with realty investment.

No degree or any educational attainment is required to have realty for investment. All you need is money that will serve as your capital and the right knowledge, which you can earn even without having to attend to a school. Proper knowledge on realty investment can be obtained wherever you are, even at home as long as you know where to get helpful information or courses online.

As a potential realty investor, it is imperative for you to learn how you can reduce all costs involved and maximize your earnings. You have to assess all that may be involved in your venture like the rental rate, rental income, property repair costs (current and future expenditures), earnings that you can possibly get if you sell your property and return on investment.

Beginning in investment realty is not easy. Finding investment realties can be so very challenging but with the right know how, proper education, strategic planning and effective strategies, you can surely handle and deal with almost everything without hassles. If you are yearning to generate continuing flow of cash with realty, make sure to keep yourself up to date with the latest trends in realty investment and what can be expected in the future.

Also, you have to find out yourself just how you can develop your net value with an investment realty that you can control. Other than buying a discounted realty, there are many other things that you should take into account other than low market value price. Many realty investors are considering foreclosed homes that they can beautify and sell at a market value price.

Although foreclosed realties can be a feasible investment strategy, you still have to be careful in determining their ups and downs as sometimes, these properties can only cost you more. Many of these properties require expensive repairs and costly renovations. Being an investor, you have to perform inspections either by yourself or with a professional then get estimates for whatever costs may be involved in improving the property.

You also need to figure out when you can expect a return on investment. If your chosen realty will only cause you to keep spending for a year instead of gaining within three or four months, find another investment realty and think of other strategies that can give you great profits.

All You Need to Know About Realty Sector


Selling and buying house in the property market has nowadays become a trend. Almost everybody is busy either selling or purchasing the property. Selling and buying houses consists of some simple steps which you should follow very carefully. You will find a large number of houses that are listed in the house property and the buyer can choose the one as per his or her requirement. These house properties are listed with the information which is adequate and relevant to the house property. The buyer considers various budgets as well as related factors in order to determine which one is best among them.

The market is full of buyers as well as sellers. The seller sells the property without any fear and the buyer buys it. Nowadays, the financing schemes have becomes much more flexible. A lot of financial institutions and banks are offering you loan and financing services.

The buyer has the option of purchasing a property with the help of a real estate agent or a realtor. However, you need to pay special attention to the previous experience and reputation of the realtor before you avail his or her services.

Here are some tips that will help you to ease the process of buying or selling of the property.

Firstly, you need to document your entire plan well. This will include the possible location, budget, financial strategies and type of tenants and your option to purchase the property.

Secondly, you need to focus on the few best areas that you should invest in. However, consider only a few areas otherwise you will become too confused. Focus on the best of the areas that you think will attract the best of the property rates. You need to think about the type of tenants that you want. Rental income is not the only goal, you need to consider long term capital growth as well.

Thirdly, you need to choose a strategy that sticks. Don't involve or mix more strategies as you may bind to get confused them. Thus, assess few strategies but finalize only one which you will stick to.

Renting property for the purpose of investment is one of the most common methods to earn some extra income. However, to do perform this task well you need to attract the best of the quality tenants.

Information on Western North Carolina Realty


Western North Carolina is blessed with eye opening natural beauty, which includes lush green smoky mountains and the Appalachian mountains along with Blue Ridge parkway, beautiful lakes and rivers cutting through thick forests which have different varieties of 42 different trees all around, such as from birch to aspen, from maples to apples to pines. This could be your perfect place to buy your peaceful and exotic holiday farm houses or lands. You can find variety of lands here starting from huge acreages to house sites.

If you are considering investing in buying home in Western North Carolina realty then you should go for Sapphire valley homes or Lake Glenville property. There is no time like present to invest in property, whether you are looking for a romantic bungalow, or a large 4 bedroom home for your family or a dream vacation home.

You should visit the High-lands cashiers' area and see for yourself why so many people want to build their homes in this beautiful region. You can enjoy and avail the facilities of golfing, swimming, tennis and horse riding. This area is home to fine cuisine establishments, as well as musical and theatre performances and international film festival. You can find prestigious shopping centers such as antiques shop, jewelry, crafts shops and many more just a few minutes drive away from this place.

Sapphire valley is another exotic location in western North Carolina, which got its name after when a fifty pound bag of gems was found, this valley is located in Nantahala national forest. People who visit this area love Gorges Park, full of beautiful gorges, biking and hiking trails and unique wildlife.

Discover mountain life with Lake Glenville property, this world renowned lake has approximately 26 miles of shoreline and roughly 1450 acres of land surrounding the lake. A resident of this area enjoys swimming and water skiing, canoeing and sun bathing. If you venture out this place you will come across secluded waterfalls and enjoy a relaxing water cruise along.

If you search through the web and check out the properties available in western North Carolina you will be amazed to see such beautiful pieces of lands available for sale, you can buy your land in the mountainous region which has splendid scenic view and smoky mountains all around. You can find property along the creeks and lakes, here property is a bit expensive as it covers a large area of land. Property with water around or near can be very beneficial as you can utilize it in different forms and they can even be rented out easily when they are not in your use.

Many land sites are also available next to main connecting roads which are closer to markets and shopping places, these lands are not situated in secluded area and may be busy with cars going and coming along and will not have much privacy and peace which you are looking for when you invested.

Indian Realty Proved an Ideal Sector to Invest


Realty is one of the sectors that bring long term capital gain for the investors. Whether it is developed countries or developing every economy try to maintain its infrastructure in order to attract investors and business personnel to get invested with their country. Real estate is one of the sectors that depict the economic development of a particular country. For India, one of the fasting growing countries in this world since independence; has successfully turned out as one of the emerging and lucrative destinations to reap assured returns on real estate investment in different states and cities of the nation. The appreciation of various residential and commercial properties in India has been quite better as compared to the other Asian countries. The modern amenities and infrastructural facilities such as well connected roads, clean environment, better transport; power supply, easy accessibility from one part to other section of Indian cities are some of the features that attracts the attentions of investors from all across the globe towards India properties.

Investment in real estate in India is undoubtedly a lucrative option of better and profitable investment with awesome property growth in some of the major cities in India. Some of the booming realty markets of India are Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad, Noida, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Jaipur and many more. All these favorable destinations offer world class commercial and residential spaces in order to suit the international level of accommodating standard. Indian property market offers wide range of residential and commercial spaces that are bound to get unexpected appreciation in near future. Various types of flats, housing societies, independent floors, apartments, builder floors, luxury bungalows, houses condominiums, penthouses and independent villas are available in Indian cities offering enough options to think moodily. Here in India, you will find huge list of reputed property developers and builders in india that have contributed with their best efforts in terms of unique property projects with the aim of developing the standard of Indian infrastructure.

Mainly the set up of metro local train system in most of the metropolitan cities of India is providing a speedy and hassle free commutation that have successfully added to the real estate growth in the major cities of India. Location and facility of a property whether residential or commercial, are the two most important considerations before buying a property. If we talk about the capital city then delhi properties have registered tremendous growth in its infrastructure. Not in from commercial side but also residential properties in delhi are on the top. Even c grade locations in delhi are enjoying high rates and demand as well. Delhi is a hub of students, high profile executives and business personnel that can easily afford the high rates of delhi properties. Apart from delhi, other major cities of India are in the same phase of offering many new investment and business opportunities to the world. Therefore, it is a time to get in touch with property developers and real estate agents of India of different states and cities in order to get invested with latest market trends.