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Trying to decide how to get to your next vacation?  Should you fly, drive, take a train etc.?  Which one will be more cost effective.  which mode of transportation will leave a bigger carbon footprint?  Now you can go to www.cost2drive.com to find out!  First, you enter where you are leaving from and where you will be going.  Then you put in the year make and model of your car it will calculate  the cost.  You can even compare it to the cost of flying if your vacation trip is far away.

Related articles

• Fly or Drive? I can’t decide. Now I don’t have to (gadling.com)
• Summer Travel: What’s the Cheapest Way to Go? (bargaineering.com)

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The Water quality Association estimates that 4 out of 10Americans use a home water treatment unit.  Even though ACWD delivers high quality drinking water that meets or exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards,many individuals in the service area use their own water treatment units at home.  One of the most commonly used home water treatment units is the point-of-use filter.  These filters are commonly utilized inside a water pitcher, installed under the sink, attached to a facet or on the water/ice line for the refrigerator.

In general, home water filters can be effective at improving the taste of water, and some will also reduce lead and other contaminants.  Home water filters are made by numerous manufacturers and use a variety of filter materials.  The most common material is activated carbon.  Activated carbon is extremely porous; the pores enable the carbon to bond with contaminants and trap them.  It is important to remember that activated carbon filters must be replaced periodically because the can become plugged; once the filters adsorptive capacity is used up, no further contaminant removal occurs.  Think of it as a parking lot: once all the spots are taken no one else can park there.

As with any water treatment unit, activated carbon cannot remove all possible drivking water contaminants.  Because activated carbon systems are limited in the types of compounds they can effectively remove, it is essential that you determine what you are trying to remove before purchasing such a system.  To help determine what contaminants a given water treatment unit will remove. look for a certification from the California  Department of Public health (CDPH).  CDPD certification means that the deivce has been tested to:

1. verify the manufacturer’s health-realted performance

2. ensure the materials used within the device do no add contaminants.

This information came from the Alameda County Water District news letter.

The number of borrowers who are underwater on their mortgages has declined by more than 500,000 to date in 2010, but an additional 2.4 million borrowers were near negative equity (within 5 percent) in the third quarter. Negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.5 percent of all mortgaged residential properties at the end of the third quarter.

Negative equity was most prevalent in five states: Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and California.

2. GET RID OF THE LEAD FOOT.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), quick acceleration and heavy braking reduce fuel economy by as much as 33% on the highway and 5%around town.  Give the lead foot a rest to improve your fuel efficiency and your passengers ride.  Difficulty: l

3. STOP IDLING.  Although most of us grew up needing to let the car “warm up” any car built after 1990 doesn’t need the warm-up, so go ahead and get a move on.   Difficulty: l

4.GIVE YOUR CAR A BREAK.   You may n0t be able to retire your car completely, but try to opt for public transportation, carpooling, walking or biking when you can, and you’ll save both money and carbon emissions.  For each gallon of gas you save, you keep 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the environment and nearly $5.00 in your wallet!  Difficulty: l

5. BE REASONABLE WITH THE THERMOSTAT.  You don’t have to be uncomfortable in your home to save energy or reduce emissions, but try to keep it as warm as you can stand it in the summer, and turn it down to 68 or below in the winter.  Difficulty: l

6, CAULKING AND STORM PANELS.  Double-paned wondows are are good fix but, a least expensive way to improve insulation, is to seal and leaks or gaps around doors and windows with caulking and weather stripping.  You can then add a storm panel to your single-pane window to increase energy efficiency for less money than double paned windows.  Difficulty: ll

7.SWAP YOUR A/C FOR A CEILING FAN.  Ceiling fans are remarkably effective in cooling and use far less energy (or chemicals!) than air conditioning.  If you still need a A/C, consider running it on low and using ceiling fans to circulate the cool air.   Difficulty ll

8. PLANT TREES.  On top of soaking up carbon dioxide, trees that surround your home can provide shading in the summertime, keeping your house cool and requiring less energy-intensive air conditioning.  Difficulty: ll

9.  GET YOUR DUCTS IN A ROW.  In addition to increasing your electricity bills and and your carbon foot print, faulty duct work can cause serious, life-threatening carbon monoxide problems in the home.  Check your ducts for air leaks.  First, look for sections that should be joined but have separated, and then look for obvious holes.  If you use tape,  to seal your ducts, use mastic, butyl tape, foil tape,or other heat-approved tapes (look for tape with the Underwriters Laboratories logo.)  Be sure a well-sealed vapor barrier exists on the outside of the insulation on cooling ducts to prevent moisture buildup.  Difficulty: lll

10. GO FOR DOUBLE-PANED WINDOWS.  According to the DOE, the typical family spends $1,300 a year on home energy bills.  If your windows are letting air in or out, some of that money is being wasted, as is the energy its paying for.  Double-paned windows are up to 40% more energy-efficient than standard windows, and could shave 10% to 25% off youe heating or cooling bill, on top of saving five tons of carbon dioxide emissions per household per year.  Difficulty: lll

DIFFICULTY SCALE:                                                  

l= No Pain, but Lots of Gain.

ll= Commitment and Consciousness Required Daily.

lll= You Will Soon Reap the Financial Rewards of your Herculean Efforts.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK!

Lesson learned!

I have been answering a lot of questions from uninformed first time buyers on websites Like Homeresearch.com and Trulia.com, these sites have realtors who will answer real estate questions.  The majority of questions are regarding if one house or another is available.  They do not have a Realtor nor are they pre-approved……So I am writing this for the benefit of the many first time home buyers who do not know that their first step should be to find a Realtor they feel comfortable with.   The buyers Realtor is paid by the seller and so the expert help of an experienced Realtor comes at no cost to them. 

Their next step should be to obtain a pre-approval from their bank or other lender.  Without a pre-approval, any offer they submit will likely be ignored.  If they do not have a particular lender or bank they want to do business with their Realtor can help them with that as well.

At Leland Meadows you can have fun in the snow.  They have inner tubes that have tow straps on them so you can be towed up the hill and then you slide down.  So much easier for us older folks who do not want to drag the tube, while we walk up the hill.   For the younger and more energenic, you can still do it the old fashioned way. 

My Family and some friends enjoyed both the towing as shown on left and the old fashioned way pictured below.  If you like to ski (like I do) you can also visit dodge ridge which is about 15 to 20 minutes away.  Go to www.snowplay.com  to find leland meadows and you can find dodge ridge at http://www.dodgeridge.com/site/index.php  You can play for the day and go home or if your prefer you can stay at one of the wonderful cabins or hotels and spend more days in the snow.

The FHA has come up with some new rules when it comes to their loans. 

Beginning April 2010, the up front mortgage insurance will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%

There will be no more spot appraisals.  So it will be harder to get an approval on a condo. 

This is a big one.  Effective for all case numbers issued on or after February 1 of this year, all previous FHA condo approvals will be eliminated and condominium projects must be recertified by HUD.

You can pretty much forget about buying a condo until the project has been blessed by HUD or one of HUD’s approved lenders.

Going forward there will be two approval methods for FHA Case numbers ordered after February 1, 2010; 

Hud Review and Approval Process (H-RAP)

DE Lender-Approval and Review Process (DEL-RAP)

On another note>>> 
For all purchase contracts dated after February 1st, 2010, FHA has waived the flipping rule.
Private Sellers & Investors can now sell their properties to FHA buyers without having to wait 90 days.

Helping to energize the housing market is the reason behind the homebuyer tax credit and the recent extension and expansion.  Consumer spending is, of course, the real water for the nation’s economic growth, and a lot of consumer spending is fueled by the growing housing market,  along with new jobs, and confidence in our country’s rebound from the recession.