Unlike many beggars, Ms. Das was wise enough to save most of what she obtained. Recently she took her years worth of savings, roughly 200 pounds of coins, to the bank and opened an account. I think this a great story but what really caught my attention was the fact that the bank said she now qualifies for a credit card. Are you kidding me? Hello! She is a beggar; she has no job. I know banks have to make money too, but this is a bit ridiculous.

Having said that, however, this woman does seem smarter than most of us, having proven that she can actually save instead of spending money frivolously.

ShareThis

Here are a few mentions of him around the web:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_This_House_(TV_series)#Season_Three_2

Flip This Lawsuit is a site containing a lot of information regarding the Montelongos and their relationship with the show and its former cast.  This post in particular is very interesting.

Here is an article from the SA Express reagarding his indictment.

ShareThis

The story covers manufactured homes and the benefits they can provide.  One of the biggest misconceptions about manufactured homes is that they are all mobile homes and cheap.  This is simply not true.  Homes manufactured in a warehouse can be more efficient, built faster, and built better than many other homes since they are constructed in a controlled environment.  Many people are realizing this and that is why manufactured homes are growing in popularity.  Watch the story for more info.

ShareThis

ShareThis

Thanks for your recent email regarding energy efficiency upgrades to existing homes. I apologize for the form-letter response, but I’ve received more emails on this matter than I am able to respond to individually (which isn’t uncommon).

There is almost universal agreement that energy efficiency is an important goal, by which everyone benefits: the homeowner or tenant, the utility, the local economy and the environment. Where folks differ is on their ideas of exactly what role the City should play.

The City Council has established a highly inclusive 28-member task force to study this issue and make recommendations to Council. The task force, made up of professionals from the residential real estate industry, is in the very early stages of its work and hasn’t made any recommendations yet. Once the task force has completed its work, its recommendations will undergo an extensive public review process, including both boards and commissions and public hearings. My best guess is that it will be middle or late fall at the earliest before Council might consider any program suggestions.

Council gave the task force some broad direction for formulating its recommendations. We said:

1. Efficiency measures should be cost effective and self-financing, making home ownership or occupancy more affordable. That is, savings on electricity bills must clearly outweigh the expense of any required upgrades. We’re talking about “low hanging fruit” here. Things like weather stripping, efficient lighting and solar screens that have very short simple-payback periods and that, when financed, easily create positive cash flow for the homeowner from Day 1. This will reduce the cost of home ownership and thereby help reduce foreclosures.

2. IF the sale of a property is what triggers the program (whatever that program may be), it should be designed so that it doesn’t delay property closings. By definition, this means we’re not going to require people to make upgrades before they can sell their homes. I also think a program can be designed that doesn’t require burdensome inspections and that doesn’t require extra money to be brought to the table at closing.

We face a rapidly changing energy future. Fact is, if you like what’s happening with gasoline prices right now, you’re going to love the cost of electricity in this country in the next few years. Powering our homes and buildings is only going to get more expensive — dramatically so. And we have a tremendous opportunity to get in front of this challenge by dealing with the highest-return/lowest-cost opportunity available, while simultaneously making housing more affordable and homeownership more secure. After we successfully tailor a program for single-family homes, it will be much easier for us to do the same with multi-family and commercial buildings.

We have to remember that we’re all in this together. We all share in the cost of wasted electricity. It forces us to make expensive power purchases on the spot market during the heat of summer, and it brings closer the day when we would have to build new - and very expensive - power plants. These are the forces that drive up electric rates for everyone, not just the homes and businesses that are operating inefficiently.

I’m confident that if we work together in a spirit of good faith and cooperation, study the issue and bring our best efforts to the task — rather than taking a ’shoot first and ask questions later’ approach — we can develop solutions that will benefit home and business owners and put us on strong footing as we enter a shifting energy economy. This is precisely what we did last year with the homebuilders and the design community. At their specific urging we strengthened our building code - adding stricter regulations - thereby making new homes built in Austin in 2008 over 19% more energy efficient than new homes built in 2007. The result is that these new homes are more valuable and marketable because they are more affordable to live in, due to remarkably lower monthly electricity bills.

I ask that you become aware of the good work that is actually happening with the taskforce, and as they bring forth specific recommendations later this year, give us your input. Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Will Wynn

Austin Mayor

ShareThis

Read More

ShareThis

ShareThis

ShareThis

This seems a bit extreme to me.  Most home purchases already go through an inspection process even though it is not required.  Any good Realtor would recommend you get one before making your purchase.  Then both parties negotiate on what is fixed or not fixed, not the city.  Any delays caused by this new process could wreak havoc on getting loans done in timely fashion.  Your rates could change or the loan could go away completely while the parties wait for the certificate.

ABOR is having a forum tomorrow to discuss the issue with City Council candidates.  Hopefully, the candidates will see that will just produce more bureacracy than good.

Here is an excerpt I received in email from the Austin Board of Realtors:

The City of Austin is introducing an ordinance to mandate energy efficiency retrofits for all types of properties in Austin, including single family owner-occupied homes. This is ordinance is being looked at as part of Mayor Will Wynn’s Climate Protection Plan.

They intend to enforce it at the point of sale. In other words, prior to the sale of any single family owner-occupied home, a certificate of compliance proving the required efficiency retrofits have been done must be done prior to closing.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO OUR HOMEOWNERS

• Without a Certificate of Compliance filed of record prior to closing or at point of sale, a single family home cannot be legally sold in Austin.
• Delays in the time from escrow of a purchase agreement to closing due to the compliance and inspection process could exceed, by days or weeks, the typical 30 to 45 day time frame in a sales transaction today.
• Immediately upon the effective date of the ordinance, the city will have to implement methods and processes to meet the demand created by the sale of some 25,000 homes per year. That’s 25,000 inspections, assuming the first inspection results in the issuance of a certificate of compliance. City inspectors say that at least 50% of all inspections result in a subsequent inspection to correct problems found. That’s an additional 12,500 inspections, at a minimum, or some 37,500 new inspections in a typical year to determine if single family owner-occupied properties comply with the new proposed ordinance. Who will pay?
• Homeowners will bear the expense of retrofits to obtain the certificate of compliance. These expenses will vary from home to home, but the range could be anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 per home.
• Expect delays in acquiring another home as homeowners scramble to comply with the new ordinance, especially if that homeowner needs to sell his or her existing home prior to closing on a new one.

ShareThis

ShareThis