Fight back!

The California legislature is proposing to force those making payments to independent contractors to withhold 3%. I know that CA is in a budget crisis, but singling out independent contractors is unfair and is only a bandage, ignoring the real problem. The legislature needs to address the systematic problems in California’s budgeting process.

Here are the details that were sent to me.

Background
In the last few weeks, the Assembly and the Senate have both approved two versions of this proposal in one of the many pieces of legislation comprising the budget. However, Governor Schwarzenegger is planning to veto both sets of bills. The Legislature will need to send him new versions of the budget in order to end the stalemate.

Our goal is make sure the next version of the state budget does not include the independent contractor withholding proposal.

Contact your Assembly representative.

Talking Points
While it is understood that the state is facing a substantial budget gap, increasing withholding on payments to independent contractors should not be one of the ways that the budget gap is addressed. Among the arguments against this proposal:

There is no evidence that independent contractors are failing to pay their income tax obligations. The proposed withholding requirement is merely intended to accelerate income tax payments so that the state can make money from the “float” that’s earned while the funds are in its possession.

It creates significant administrative burdens for individuals that are now required to file 1099MISC information reports with the Franchise Tax Board.  Under the proposal these individuals would now need to also calculate the required withholding amount and remit that amount to the state.

There will be significant administrative costs to the Franchise Tax Board that will be faced with making refunds to those independent contractors whose withholding amount remitted to the state exceeds their income tax obligation.

50-60% of your monthly water consumption happens for your landscape. Beautiful as it may be, your water bill can double or triple due to outdoor watering during the summer.

Use these no cost and low cost water saving tips to reduce your summer water consumption, be mindful of CA’s drought conditions, and save money on your utility bill.

Don’t over water.

Turns out that 3-6 minutes at a time is enough for the plants to get the water they need. More than that and it’s just runoff.

Adjust your irrigation controller often.

Water only when needed. General rules of thumb: Summer watering every three days; half of that during Autumn (unless it’s unusually warm); irrigation systems go off during the Winter.

Move turf away from sidewalks and pavement.

No matter how hard you try, concrete doesn’t grow. Plant shrubs or groundcover next to pavement and water with a drip or bubbler system. That eliminates runoff from turf sprinklers.

Replace turf with water-efficient shrubs and groundcover.

In areas where grass isn’t utilized, doesn’t grow well, or is too small to water without runoff, consider replacing the turf with water-efficient landscaping like native or drought tolerant plants.

Apply a layer of mulch around your plants.

Mulch reduced evaporation from the soil and keeps weeds to a minimum.

Water early in the morning.

Watering between midnight and 6am keeps evaporation to a minimum. Even late evening, the ground may not have cooled off for maximum absorption.

Thanks to the City of Palo Alto Utilities for the information.

Check out the front yards in your neighborhood. What is your sense of the people who live in the houses?

Curb appeal is often talked about in real estate circles. So it always surprises me when custom homes fail to incorporate landscaping into their design. First impressions are made with houses as they are with people.

Landscaping is “very important” to 20% of buyers (per National Association of Realtors research). Or how about U.of Washington’s research that landscaped lots sell for about 7% more.

By the way, real estate appraisers view the neighborhood as well as the individual structure in determining a house’s value. So, be sure to thank your neighbors for boosting the value of your home.

If you need a landscaper in Silicon Valley or nearby counties, contact me for some excellent referrals.

Hey, the Obamas are doing it. My 7-year old enjoys it. If you’re ready to save money, help the environment, and create your own stimulus package — just look outside.

An edible landscape can provide you with fresh, healthy produce without the environmental impact that shipping food creates.

Here are some delicious ideas for your landscape project:
• Incorporate fruit trees, fruiting vines, edible plants, and vegetable gardens.
• Add perennial vegetables and herbs.
• Create space for rabbits, chickens, or other livestock.

Of course, only plant food crops if you’ll pick and use the produce. Too much zucchini or overflowing with apples? Share with your neighbors or donate the excess to feed the hungry.

Thanks to the Sustainable Landscape Standards for these ideas.

Needed: Moving boxes.

Have: Moving boxes available.

Whether moving into a green in Palo Alto or a foreclosure in Redwood City, moving out of a Los Altos estate or a condo in San Jose, boxes are needed to pack our stuff.

Great news: Uhaul has set up box exchange for all of North America. The messageboard can be used to trade, sell or buy reusable boxes and moving supplies. It’s a great service offering a product for reuse.

Mountain lion, car jacker, toxic cloud, and of course, earthquakes. Palo Alto has had its share of emergencies that have affected individual homes to large of the community.

Palo Alto wants to be ready for any emergency or disaster that may befall the city, and Officer Kenneth Dueker of the Homeland Security & Public Outreach Division of the Palo Alto Police Department is reaching out to citizens for volunteers.

Dueker encourages new and long-time residents to take part in the city’s Block Preparedness Coordinator Program, which is part of a disaster plan that forms a partnership between the community and the city so each block and neighborhood can connect to first responders quickly and provide them with critical information about each neighborhood when a disaster takes place.

Check out these eye-opening statistics: Palo Alto’s daily population surpasses 100,000 people, over 35,000 of which includes the Stanford campus population. The population is more than that during football games, big events and the holidays. The city’s 61,200 residents live in 30 neighborhoods on a 26-square mile stretch.

There are only 10 policemen and 32 firefighters on duty during the day. He noted it takes 15 to 20 firemen to respond safely to just one structure incident. Daily calls for incidents average 17 to the police department and 20 to the fire department. In short, if faced with a big emergency situation, the outcome could be disastrous.

“We have to change the way people look at disasters,” Dueker said. “The city wants residents to be resources; not victims. The key to response and recovery must be communication.”

The key is for citizens to be able to provide critical information regarding initial damage, transportation, resource sharing. In short, they need to be part of the recovery process, the “eyes and ears” of the city when a disaster happens.

The plan is to have a coordinator for each block that can meet with neighbors and create a neighborhood directory, distribute information to and from the city, and serve as a communication node for emergency/disaster situations. Above this level would be a neighborhood coordinator, who would do the same thing at a wider scale.

With this emergency program in place, vulnerable neighbors, displaced citizens, damaged structures will be immediately identified and the information can be given quickly to FEMA.

“There are lots of worries, but preparing for disaster is a priority,” said Dueker. “We are looking to you to tell your help, to contact clients who are interested so we can be set up to  respond in an instant.”
 
Dueker indicated BPC and NPC training classes are available. To sign up to be a block coordinator or learn more about the program, e-mail Palo Alto Neighborhoods.

A while ago, I wrote about a sustainable business, Yemm & Hart, that recycles wine corks into cork flooring. Here’s better news. Now they’ll pay you a “cork redemption” fee! You, your group, or business can even collect wine corks on behalf of your favorite non-profit organization.

While were on the topic of cork recycling, here’s a completely different idea:

You’re crafty and want to show off your cork collection? See what katecontinuing has done with the baseboards of her home.

As I’ve gone door-to-door to organize the neighborhood to prepare for emergencies, residents have asked about Palo Alto’s new Reverse 911 emergency notification system.

The City of Palo Alto has launched a new Community Alert and Notification System (known as “Palo Alto CANS”), a reverse-911 emergency notification system.

The City of Palo Alto strongly urges all residents to register their contact information into the secure Connect-CTY database to make sure they are ready to receive important information from the City at all times.

Is it annoying to hear a pre-recorded message? Sure. But I’m glad to know that the system is working and I’ll hear about issues in my neighborhood as they come up.

What about security?
Of course you’re concerned about adding your unlisted number or cell phone to yet another database. The good news is that the information will be accessed by the City of Palo Alto only for purposes of community alerts and notification. System provider NTI does not sell, lease, share, or rent personally identifiable information (names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) to any companies or persons outside of NTI.

Get Connected
Signing up is part of being prepared for an emergency. Palo Alto CANS is enabling the City to target specific blocks or the entire population regarding time-sensitive matters. Notification examples include: disaster information, crime bulletins, power outages, and other related urgent or time-sensitive information. Most recently, we received an air-quality warning relating to smoke from wildfires.

Primary residential and business phones in Palo Alto are automatically included in the system. However, you can opt-in with preferred contact information. Log on to the site to make sure

• Your number is correct and up-to-date; and
• You list your notification rental
  • Email
  • Text message
  • Cell number
  • Work number

If you have a call blocking service, you can receive the city’s alerts by adding 650-329-2498 to your approved number list.

Alright, how do I log-on?
Visit the City of Palo Alto website, click on the Emergency Information icon on the home page, and go to the link that says “Sign up Now Palo Alto CANS – Services by Connect-CTY” to enter your information into the secure database. Residents can opt-in to provide up to three phone numbers and two e-mail addresses.

No residential Internet access? Access the system on computers at local libraries. Or call me and I’ll help you get set up.

City Staff in collaboration with the Palo Alto Neighborhoods (PAN), local industry, and Palo Alto Neighborhood Disaster Assistance (PANDA) volunteers worked together to determine what the needs are for the community and how the new system might be used. 

I am grateful to Sheryl A. Contois, Director, Police Technical Services, for providing the original information for this post.

Wired Magazine posted a brief description of an English eco-friendly subdivision that capitalizes on prefab construction to drive down cost ($118k+), construction time (five weeks!), and waste.

Offsite manufacturing of major components for these 145 homes makes it easier to use green materials, like insulation from recycled paper and lumber harvested from sustainably managed forests.

What else could you want? How about greater energy efficiency, better indoor air quality with good ventilation, and solar heating.

The author of Wired’s post would like to see some of these homes grace US shores. So would I. But we don’t need to ship the components from overseas to get the same benefits. Major green building conferences are filled with domestic manufacturers, products, and companies.

What US builder will take the lead in our new ecologically aware world? I look forward to finding out, soon.

Once a property is fully foreclosed by a bank or lender and listed for sale, it is commonly referred to as a REO (Real Estate Owned) listing. Most bank owned properties are listed with local real estate agents. Good buys are available. They require research, preparation, patience & persistence. Buying a bank owned home isn’t easy and it’s not without risk. The list below should be useful if you decide to take advantage of today’s unique REO buying opportunities:

1. Choose a real estate agent who is familiar with REO practices to help you navigate the process, confirm property values, and negotiate terms. (My contact info is at the top of this page.)

2. Get pre-approved by a qualified lender. The banks have already been burned — why would they consider your offer without written lender approval or proof of funds?

3. It’s “buyer beware,” folks. Most bank owned homes are exempt from typical seller disclosures and are sold “as is.” Don’t expect banks to pay for repairs or upgrades, although it never hurts to ask. Lenders will allow you to get all the inspections you want, at your expense, and your agent can use the results for negotiating terms with the bank. If substantial work needs to be done, have a licensed contractor take a look before you write your offer or have your agent negotiate an inspection contingency.

4. Making an offer: Your agent should find out if there are any existing inspection reports on file, what work (if any) the bank will agree to, and if the bank requires a special purchase agreement form or other special requirements. (Many banks will only respond to offers written on their own forms; CountryWide requires buyers to be pre-approved by CountryWide, even if you’re going to use another lender.)

5. Pricing your offer: Most REO properties are priced to sell and will likely sell within 15% of the list price. I’ve seen better properties command a bidding war, selling for more than asking price. If you lowball your offer, don’t be surprised if the bank doesn’t respond at all.

6. Once you know what you want and can afford, be prepared to write several offers before you get one accepted. Asset management companies, the third party hired by lenders to liquidate foreclosed properties, are typically overwhelmed and routinely take longer than expected to respond. Unlike traditional sellers, lenders do not review files or consider offers on weekends and holidays.

7. Financing: For qualified buyer and investors, exploring financing options with the REO lender may produce a better-than-market interest rate, reduced down payment amount, or other financially favorable outcome. (You’ll still need a prequalification letter from any lender just to get to the bargaining table.)

8. REO sales are void of emotion for the seller. They make their own rules. Decisions don’t have to makes sense to anyone but the bank. If you (and your agent) understand this basic principle, you might just be a good candidate to buy a bank owned home.

Thanks to Michelle Brown of Financial Title for the original list.