Energy Upgrade CA Offers a $50,000 Home Energy Makeover

Enter and Win Home Energy Makeover up to $50,000. This from the Energy Upgrade California website:

$50,000: One Grand Prize Winning Home

A “Toward Zero Energy” winning home will receive energy and water efficiency improvements estimated at $50,000, including solar and certification as a green home!

$10,000: Five Winning Homes
Five homes receive energy and water efficiency improvements estimated at $10,000 and certification as a green home!

20 Semi-Finalist Homes
Twenty semi-finalist homes receive state-of the-art home energy assessments estimated at $500 each.

All of the winners will receive energy-efficient home improvements that will increase the overall comfort of their home, reduce their energy use and allow their home to obtain GreenPoint Rated certification.

Contest Registration is March 1-March 31, 2011.

What You Will Need To Enter the Contest

1. The total square footage of your house
2. The year your house was built
3. The names of your electric, gas and water utility providers
4. The total annual dollar amount for your 2010 electric, gas and water bills (you can contact your utility if you’re not sure; see How to Get a Copy of Utility Bills)

• Optional – Take the “Home Energy Efficiency Survey,” which includes your monthly utility usage history, and send the summary Energy and Water Report provided to you as a pdf (see below).

Note: The Home Energy Makeover contest is sponsored solely by Los Angeles County and is NOT sponsored or endorsed by Southern California Edison or Southern California Gas Company. Any information submitted for this contest is THE RESPONSIBILITY of the contest participant and Los Angeles County and neither Southern California Edison or Southern California Gas Company will take any responsibility for maintaining customer confidentiality or accept any liability with regard to the Home Energy Makeover contest.

The Home Energy Efficiency Survey

This customized online survey is sponsored by customers of Southern California Edison, SoCalGas, and LADWP. It’s free and provides lots of useful information about your home and energy efficiency. You can save the report as a pdf and upload it with your contest entry if you wish.

Ways you can help the victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Our hearts go out to the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Not to mention the pending nuclear threat which could affect, well, most of the rest of the world, really.

We'll periodically post information about what you can do to help and what local governments in our area are doing in response. Check out these resources from Assemblymember Warren Furutani.

Dear Friend,

Last Friday, the north coast of Japan was struck by a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that caused widespread destruction and devastation. Current estimates predict loss of life in the thousands, and millions are without shelter, food or heat as they brave winter temperatures. Relief organizations around the world are mobilizing to provide relief to those affected by the disaster.

If you would like to help the relief efforts, here is a list of organizations that you can support:

The Red Cross immediately launched relief efforts in Japan. For more information on how you can support their efforts please visit Redcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 from your phone.

Americares emergency team is mobilizing resources and has dispatched an emergency response manager to the region. For nearly 30 years AmeriCares has provided medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural disasters around the world. Click here for more information.

Global Giving launched The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund to raise funds for relief organizations already on the ground helping victims, including the International Medical Corps and Save the Children as well as others. Please click on this link for more information.

For more organizations that are providing assistance, please click here. For more information on the individual organization, go to www.charitynavigator.org for more information.

Google has also stepped up to help those who have loved ones abroad. They launched the Person Finder to help connect people that may have been displaced due to the disaster.

And, Verizon and AT&T are offering their customers free calls to Japan at this time. For more information, please click here.

As we receive more information regarding local efforts getting underway, I will keep you informed.

Dear Friends, Help us solve the housing crisis - Let's improve the short sales process!

This open letter from the California Association of REALTORS® appeared this week in several California newspapers. We are calling on regulators, elected officials, nonprofits, business organizations, companies, and individuals with a stake in California’s economic future to help protect families and preserve housing. Home Ownership Matters!

March 10, 2011

An important message from the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®:

I write on behalf of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, whose 170,000 members continue to witness the devastating consequences the home foreclosure crisis is having on California’s families, neighborhoods, and communities on a daily basis.

The number of families affected by foreclosure is staggering. During the past three years, more than 640,000 Californians have lost their homes. With the number of homeowners who owe more than their home is worth hovering at 30 percent, experts predict there will be many more foreclosures in 2011 and 2012. Unless we take immediate, aggressive action to assist these homeowners, any meaningful recovery in the housing market and overall economy will continue to be delayed.

Tragically, only a fraction of those who face foreclosure will remain in their homes when all is said and done. Those whose incomes and financial circumstances meet strict guidelines may qualify for a loan modification that will reduce their monthly payment to more affordable levels. Yet the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is expected to prevent only 700,000 to 800,000 foreclosures nationwide before it expires at the end of 2012, and the program does little to help those homeowners who are unemployed or otherwise no longer able to meet their financial commitments. Their last hope is to sell their home, which often means convincing their lender or the investor who “owns” the loan (and, in many cases, the holder of a second mortgage lien and the mortgage insurer) to accept a “short sale.”

With a short sale, homeowners with a proven hardship negotiate an agreement to sell their home for less than the balance owed. Although not every homeowner or mortgage is eligible, those who are able to finalize a short sale avoid a foreclosure on their credit record and can move on with their lives. Last year, 20 percent of home sales in our state involved short sales.

Short sales can play an important role in our state’s economic recovery by accelerating the pace of home sales and reducing the inventory of bank-owned homes on the market. There are other benefits as well. Homebuyers who can qualify for a mortgage at today’s low interest rates also are able to purchase a home at below-market prices. Banks get a nonperforming asset off their books and avoid the headaches associated with disposing of assets they don’t want to own in the first place. Neighborhoods have fewer abandoned homes, and local businesses have more customers with money to spend.

Unfortunately, many homeowners are unable to successfully negotiate a short sale. According to a recent survey of 2,150 California REALTORS® who have assisted clients with a short sale, only three out of five transactions closed – even when there was an interested and qualified buyer.

What’s the problem? For one, no two mortgage agreements are the same, so it can be difficult to standardize short sale processes and procedures. Many homeowners have second mortgages, which further complicate matters. Then there’s the challenge of convincing multiple parties to take a financial loss or, in the case of loan servicers, to forego fees they otherwise might earn during the course of the foreclosure process. Poor and slow service by many banks and servicers has only exacerbated the problem. Horror stories abound from potential homebuyers and REALTORS® forced to wait 90 or more days for a response to a purchase offer or being required to fax short sale applications or other paperwork as many as 50 times. These delays discourage potential homebuyers from considering a short sale purchase and undermine the process for those who short sales are intended to benefit – the hundreds of thousands of families facing foreclosure.

Increasing the number of closed short sales by speeding up and streamlining the short sale process is one important way we can help California families avoid foreclosure and move our economy closer to recovery. That’s why the California Association of REALTORS® is taking steps to enable more families to arrange a short sale. Recently, we advocated for improvements to short sale guidelines established under the federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program. We’re meeting with major banks, U.S. Treasury officials, government-sponsored entities (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), and others to urge them to standardize processes, comply with federal guidelines, improve communication with other stakeholders and increase staffing with the goal of eliminating service issues. We’ve also offered our members training in every aspect of the short sale process so they can assist their clients.

But we can’t do it alone. That’s why we’re focusing the spotlight on short sales and calling on regulators, elected officials, nonprofits, business organizations, companies, and individuals with a stake in California’s economic future to resolve this issue and others that get in the way of a recovery. It won’t be easy, and some compromises will be required. The important thing is that we need to act today. Our families and our communities can’t wait any longer.

Sincerely,

Beth L. Peerce
President
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®