30. July 2008 by Ana Connell.

Ever wonder what grasscycling is?

I didn’t, but I did find out recently that golf courses, school districts, parks, commercial landscapers and city landscape crews are doing it!

All it entails is leaving grass clippings on your lawn.  It’s really the best way to use your clippings as grass clippings contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, which are the same nutrients that fertilizers provide.  This approach helps to build your topsoil, reduces water demand and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers!

When doing this it’s recommended:

• That you use a mulching blade on your mower
• Mow your grass high
• Cut when dry
• Water after cutting

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26. July 2008 by Ana Connell.

• Stocks finished a tough week! The Dow finished 1.1% lower this week at 11,371. The decline was led by financial institutions, which posted their worst drop in 8 years and home builders. The amount of writedowns due to the mortgage mess continues and based on what analysts are saying, we’re not out of the woods yet.

• Washington Mutual shares declined a staggering 31% in the last two days, just to an example of the carnage out there. One positive note on all this is that those home buyers looking to purchase a foreclosure may have more to choose from soon in addition to the current supply.

• Existing home sales for June were down 2.6% . What’s troubling is that although the median price of a home fell 6.1%, inventories were up to an 11.1 month supply signaling that the housing market is still struggling. Tight lending standards and slightly higher mortgage rates are making things a bit challenging for home buyers.

• Jobless claims were up, in line with recessionary scenarios, even though overall the consensus is that we are not in a recession.

• The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report for the latest six-week period came out and it signaled that the economy is increasingly weak across most of the U.S. All 12 districts reported slower home sales, continuing big inventories and falling home prices.

New York and Chicago also reported that buyers had increasing difficulty getting mortgage financing. The survey said tighter credit standards are hurting commercial real-estate activity.

• The House and Senate approved a sweeping housing bill Wednesday that would provide tax credits of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers and help an estimated 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure. President Bush is expected to sign the bill, which he had previously threatened to veto due to the $3.9B in block grant monies to help local communities. The Treasury Department would have the ability to extend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac an unlimited line of credit and buy their stock.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the program would cover about 400,000 homeowners with mortgages totaling $68B.The bill includes:

–A $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers.
–A $500 to $1,000 deduction for 2008 property taxes for people who don’t itemize deductions on their tax returns.
–Higher limits, up to $625,000, on mortgages insured through Fannie and Freddie. A temporary limit of $729,750 until Dec. 31 would remain in place.

• U.S. foreclosure filings more than doubled in the second quarter from last year. RealtyTrac reported that one in every 171 households was foreclosed on, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction. That represents an increase of 121 percent from a year earlier and 14 percent from the first quarter. Almost 740,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, the most since the Irvine, California-based data company began reporting in January 2005.

• Sales of new homes fell 0.6 percent to a 530,000 pace from 533,000 in May, a revised higher reading than originally reported.

• 1:16 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 43 percent of their value in the past 12 months.

• Bonds…2 year 2.70%, 5 yr. 3.44% and the 10 yr. 4.10%.

• Crude oil closed at $123.26 per barrel as it continued it’s correction.

• 30-Year Fixed Jumbo average came in at 6.39%.

Here in Burbank and the San Fernando Valley we are experiencing pockets of good news, but overall it’s not an optimal situation. Foreclosures are up and continue to challenge current inventories. Expect things to continue this path until next year.

The Economic Week Ahead:

• Consumer Confidence, (Tuesday)

• MBA Purchase Applications (Wednesday)

• Jobless Claims , GDP, NAPM Chicago Index Employment Cost Index (Thursday)

• ISM Manufacturing Index, Employment Situation (Friday)

Have a great weekend!

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25. July 2008 by Ana Connell.

We’re not only having to conserve our water as we’re having a tough time with our water supplies, but we also need to conserve on our energy usage. Reasons to conserve are many……from helping our environment to saving a few dollars……whatever your reasons, keep it up!

Here are some conservation tips:

• Set your air conditioning to 76 degrees

• Run fans instead of central air

• Turn off lights in any of your unoccupied rooms and don’t turn on lights close to your thermostat.

• Unplug any charging devices that are not currently in use…..if you really want to take this concept further you can unplug any electronic item in the house that’s not in use.

• Use low flow showerheads

• Use low flow faucet aerators

• Plant drought tolerant varieties in your garden

• Use high efficiency toilets

• Try to be efficient with your sprinklers……I know this one is challenging. I’m constantly trying to monitor how much time my sprinklers are on as well as using mulch/bark to keep the moisture in the ground.

Don’t forget that Burbank Water and Power will pay $100 bounty for old refrigerators!

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24. July 2008 by Ana Connell.

 Software Copyright © First American MLS Solutions, Inc. 1997 - 2008 All Rights Reserved v3.0
© Copyright SoCalMLS - Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified through personal inspection by and/or with the appropriate professionals. Disclaimer.   Fair Housing Notice.  Map Disclaimer.
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Posted in Seller Information, Buyer Information, Housing Information/Stats, Blogroll | Print | No Comments »

24. July 2008 by Ana Connell.

There are currently over 400 foreclosure properties in the Burbank area.  If you are interested in buying foreclosure properties, please call me at 818-795-8474.

Software Copyright © First American MLS Solutions, Inc. 1997 - 2008 All Rights Reserved v3.0
© Copyright SoCalMLS - Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified through personal inspection by and/or with the appropriate professionals. Disclaimer. Fair Housing Notice. Map Disclaimer.

Posted in Seller Information, Buyer Information, Housing Information/Stats, Blogroll | Print | No Comments »