Fannie Mae recently updated its policy related to the minimum waiting periods following a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, making it easier for distressed borrowers to re-enter the housing market.

 

Under the revised policy, all loans with application dates on or after August 16th may be eligible for a new loan in as little as 4 years instead of the previous wait time of 7 years.

Fannie still requires borrowers to demonstrate that they have re-established credit following a significant derogatory credit event such as a foreclosure, bankruptcy, short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Effective January 1st, 2014, Senate Bill 407 requires that property owners who obtain permites to remodel a property that was built prior to 1994 are required to retrofit with toilets that use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, showerheads with flow rates of no more than 2.5 gallons per minute, and other interior fixtures that use less than 2.2 gallons of water per minute.

This applies to all single-family property permits, as well as multifamily and commercial property permits where 10 percent or more of the square footage is included in the remodel.

 

By January 1st, 2017, all residential properties in California that were built prior to 1994 will need to be in compliance with water fixtures as outlined above, which will

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  California Senate Bill 745 - Starting July 1st, 2014, the State Fire Marshall will not approve a battery-operated smoke alarm unless it contains a non-replaceable, non-removeable battery with a 10-year capacity.  This rule was originally scheduled to take effect on January 1st, 2014, but has now been postponed until July 1st, 2014.  This law, however, provides a one-year grace period until July 1st, 2015 for any smoke alarms that have been ordered by, or are in the inventory of, an owner, managing agent, contractor, wholesaler, or retailer on or before July 1st, 2014.     Furthermore, starting January 1st, 2015, the State Fire Marshall will not approve a smoke alarm unless it does all of the following:  

1. Display

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California Assembly Bill 92 - A new tax law that may give 1031-exchange buyers a good reason to buy an up leg property in California, instead of another state.  For a 1031 exchange occuring on or after January 1st, 2014, a taxpayer who acquires a "like kind" property in an exchange that is located outside of California must file an information return with the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) for that taxable year and every year thereafter until the capital gain or loss from the 1031 exchange is recognized.  If a taxpayer fails to file the required information return and tax returns, the FTB may propose to assess the amount of tax, interest, and penalties due by estimating net income, including gain, from any available information.  The FTB will draft and make

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In 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 407, which defines as "noncompliant" all non-water-conserving plumbing fixtures (generally, faucets, showerheads, and toilets installed in residential and commercial structures before January 1st, 1994) and requires that they be replaced as a part of any building alterations or improvements made after January 1st, 2014.  Also, this law requires that all noncompliant plumbing fixtures in any single-family residence be replaced with water-conserving fixtures on or before January 1st, 2017, and that all noncompliant fixtures in multifamily residential and commercial real property be replaced on or before January 1st, 2019.

 

If you haven't heard of Energy Upgrade California then great ready because you're about to get an ear full. The State funded program's goal appears to be to consolidate the task of wrangling together all available rebates/incentives, provide referrals to qualified contractors, help owners put together an improvement game plan, and lastly the program is trying to capture contact information of those who are participating so it can measure how effective the entire investment into Energy Upgrade California has been.

Pretty brilliant and exactly what we need, if you ask me!

All rebates and incentives from the Federal Government, State, Utilities gathered up and updated for you in one nice and convenient place online. No longer will you sift through

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"Effective January 1, 2010, Assembly Bill 1061 makes any provision of the governing documents of a common interest development void and unenforceable if it prohibits the use of low water-using plants as a group, or if it has the effect of prohibiting or restricting compliance with a local water-efficient landscape ordinance or water conservation measure. In other words, Home Owners Associations (HOAs) can no longer force homeowners to maintain lush green lawns if the homeowners prefer other low water-using plants." - Sonia M. Younglove, Esq., C.A.R. senior counsel

 

It's pretty obvious to those in the know about water that our landscaping won't look like the images above and will change dramatically over the coming years in

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Approved in 2009, the City of Costa Mesa is wrapping up it's new 106kW solar system that it obtained through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Solar City, thanks to the leadership of the City's Building Department Official, Khanh Nguyen. Photovoltaic solar modules were installed on both the City's Neighborhood Community Center (NCC) and the Downtown Recreation Center. Prior to the non-penetrating roof mounted solar systems being installed, the NCC received a new cool roof which better reflects the suns solar radiation.

Since Costa Mesa entered into a Power Purchase Agreement with Solar City there are no upfront costs to the City. The solar system is actually still owned by Solar City and the power the system generates will be sold at a negotiated

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Just like she said, Chandra Krout will waste no time spending the $2.28 million dollars the City of Irvine was recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to improve the energy efficiency of the City's buildings and municipal infrastructure. Currently, Irvine has four RFP's available to download on the City's web-site here after registering your firm.     To the Libertarians who won't take much comfort in seeing their tax money being spent by the government, you can take some comfort in knowing that each investment made with this money by the City of Irvine will need to continuously fund itself. An example used by Chandra during a local USGBC-OC presentation had to due with…

It's just the beginning of energy monitoring of non-residential buildings on a micro level. Incredibly important Assembly Bills that will require non-residential building owners to report electricity and gas consumption. Non-residential building buyers, lessees and lenders will have the chance to obtain accurate data when running their own financial numbers. So lowering your utility expenses with energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy like solar power will soon help non-residential owners obtain financing. Municipalities will also be able to better understand how to maximize their return on investment when designing energy efficiency improvement programs while they work towards meeting their goals to meet the needs of Assembly Bill 32. No doubt,…