Improvements so easy, you have no excuse not to make them.

1. Install aerators on faucets.
   These screw-on mesh screens break up water drop­lets, so you use less water but get just as much rinsing power.
2. Clean your refrigerator coils.
   If they’re coated with dust, refrigerator coils can’t transfer heat efficiently, so it takes more energy to cool your food. Get at them (they’re usually found underneath or at the back) with a long-handled brush.
3. Replace weatherstripping.
   Over time, the seals around windows and doors wear out, letting in chill winter air and prompting you to crank up the thermostat.
4. Reduce light pollution.
   Put a motion sensor on your all-night garage floodlight. Not only will you save electricity; you and your kids will get to enjoy one of early fall’s greatest pleasures: a clear view of the night sky.
5. Clean green.
   You don’t need dozens of toxic products. Soap, baking soda and vinegar or lemon juice can take care of most household cleaning needs. For recipes, get the book Clean and Green, by Annie Berthold-Bond. The benefits to a green home are twofold—first they are better for the environment, yourself, and your family and, second, they save you money over the life of the home.

Green homes can offer significant financial benefits such as:

*  Proper insulation and air sealing will keep your heating and cooling costs lower, while efficient windows, appliances, lighting, and other household equipment will lower your electricity bills.

*  Green homes are built with high-quality building materials so they are more durable and require fewer repairs.

*  As the market demand continues to rise for green homes, investing in a green home now can mean increased value in the future.

Green homes often include the following additional benefits

*  Health benefits: Green homes use toxin-free building materials, utilize natural ventilation, and have fewer problems with mold and mildew, just to name a few.

*  Environmentally friendly: Green homes use less energy than comparable standard homes. Often, green homes use alternative energy sources, reducing dependence on conventional energy sources.

*  Use fewer natural resources: Green building uses fewer natural resources, and many of the materials used have recycled contents, keeping with the “resource conservation” green principle

Kim Williams over at Smith Lending Group in San Luis Obispo made an interesting point about desk reviews which some lenders are now requiring. Basically she said “Desk Reviews” are becoming the standard condition for most loans these days.  A desk review is merely a second opinion on the original appraisal that was submitted with the loan.  The desk reviews occur internally by the lender.  They are nothing new.  We used to see these reviews ordered whenever the loan amounts were over a million or the property had some unusual characteristics.  Today, we are seeing lenders require a desk review on the majority of loans.  They do not take long—usually an extra 1 to 3 days.  However, if the review comes back with a lower value than the original appraisal, then the loan must be reset at the lower amount.  The appraisers are not willing to stick their neck out with value nowadays, often times these reviews render the same value.  For more information Kim can be reached kim@lendinggal.com

 The pot at the end of this rainbow is Chili and this years Third Annual Chili Cookoff  recipient is the Prado Day Homeless Shelter. SLO Realtors with Old Glory flying high banded together  and opened their hearts and helped  raise over $18,000 on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at Santa Rosa Park, San Luis Obispo. One of the things I love most about most REALTORS I know, is they are always there to lend support in their communities and know how to give in ways that benefit those who are in need!

 The US Green Building Council (USGBC) is the nations foremost coalition of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. With the help national experts and experienced green homebuilders,USGBC has developed LEED for homes as a voluntary initiative to promote the transformation of the home building industry towards  more sustainable  practices. It provides a much needed nationally applicable tool for homebuilders and other  the residential industry for building environmentally sound, healthy, and resource -efficient places to live. For more information about LEED for Homes, visit the USGBC Web site.

The San Luis Obispo Association of Realtors presents Eco-Expo. Saturday October 4th, 2008 at the beautiful San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens located on scenic Highway 1 across from Cuesta College. Check out the dynamic opportunities for living building and remodeling “green”. Included will be an education session for REALTORS, exciting speakers, special events tour, and even something for the kids. A wonderful exhibit area with vendors, builders, architects and students, lending their expertise.

Tours will include a walking tour of Oak Glen Pavilion, the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, a new construction green built high density project, and the new LEEDS certified Cal Poly Canyon dormitories. There will Vendors and Exhibitors, live music and for the kids making MR. Potato Head with real Vegetables.

Fun for the whole family!

August 1-3 2008| Chicago to Women’s Council’s leadership Academy for Local and State Chapter Presidents-elect. This unforgettable training and networking experience is designed to prepare for the year ahead. Lots of opportunity to build business with hundreds of Women’s Council leaders from across the U.S.   Many topics were covered:  leadership in the real world,  Member value, Planning for excellence,  and positioning the Chapter as a business resource. Lots other issues were covered  in just 2 short days.  Several of us were able to get downtown for some great food and amazing sites.

 Getting out of  O’Hare International Airport was not as easy as getting in. It was all driven by the  freak weather. Thunder and lightning storms cancelled over 385 flights that day I was leaving. Something to do with the ground workers not being able to work in that type of weather. My morning flight was canceled and then I got bumped twice, and was on three stand-by lists. Finally I got lucky enough to get out on stand by and  arrived in LA  about  midnight. There I was standing at LAX wondering what to do, the flight back to SLO was long gone and not another in sight till the next day. I went to United and  I was able to get a voucher that would cover 50% of the cost of a hotel for the night and a shuttle bus back to LAX in the early morning. 

As I stood waiting to board the shuttle bus a woman and I started trading stories about the experience at O’Hare. We both laughed about how it really was a little crazy. She said she had  been in Chicago at a conference for a womens organization she belonged to, and I said were you at Women’s Council? She said yes. We laughed again. We had not  met at the Meetings for Womens Council in Chicago but were both participants.  Somehow there in  LA at the end of a very long day there we were on a bus together, and  Womens Council was part of the reason. We both agreed we felt a little better and less stressed. Turns out we decided to share a room at the hotel which  really worked out.   

I heard today from my new friend Inge Kessler from Coldwell Banker Del Monte Realty in Carmel. She said she was glad the we were both flexible enough to be roommates for that night and she thought it expressed the sisterhood and professional partnership of WCR at it’s best.  I couldn’t agree more ….. 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OR REALTORS  HEADQUARTERS

MICHIGAN AVE, CHICAGO ILL

TRUMP INTERNATION HOTEL AND TOWER

CHICAGO

Millennium Park

2 friends Sandy Smith from Bel Air Maryland and Christi Phelps from Englewood FL. We were waiting for the blue line to take us into downtown, the public transportation was easy and a great way to get downtown. It was amazing how fast it was and it  seemed like a couple times we were airborne

Good luck prosperity and longevity are the likely fortunes of San Luis Obispo’s newest public park, spearheaded by Cal Poly’s retired Landscape Architecture professor Alice Loh.

Although the Board of Chinese Gardens of  San Luis Obispo wanted to name the Park after Alice Loh, Alice prefers to dedicate this park in memory of her parents .Their philanthropy and noble thoughts and deeds have inspired many of their children, relatives and friends, and certainly made a profound impact on their daughter. Alice provided both an English name for the park and a Chinese interpretation of the name, as follows :

English Name LC YC Cheng Park (the names of Alice’s father and mother)

Chinese  Xiao Ci Yuan *SR is a place to memorialize and respect one’s loving parents .

Xiao means fidelity to natural obligations, loyalty . (Confucius’s teaching - `man ‘must respect, devote and be loyal to his parents .)

Ci means loving, kind.

Yuan means park or garden, a place for meditation, reflection, passive recreation .

Stop by for some serenity!

Residents in Los Angeles’ Skid Row will soon be growing and harvesting their own fresh produce, thanks to the efforts of the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium and Horticulture and Crop Science Department at Cal Poly.

Students and faculty have cultivated 4,000 plants as part of a pilot project for Urban Farming Food Chain. The fruit and vegetable plants were grown on 180 vertical panels that will be mounted on walls of commercial buildings in Los Angeles’ inner city. The vertical panels are designed to maximize growing space in congested urban locations.The panels have turned into edible walls that are as much a work of art as they are a practical solution to providing access to fresh, affordable produce. In addition, the project aims to provide skills training and foster a sense of community beyond the garden walls, according to Hunter Francis, Program Associate, Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium.

Plants grown this first season include bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, strawberries, spinach, parsley, leeks, edible lavender and a variety of herbs. The panels will be installed at four locations around downtown  Los Angeles between July 29th and August 1.

The urban Farming Food Chain hopes to create vertical farming systems that can be replicated in cities across the country and abroad.  A collaborative community effort, the plants have been nurtured from seedlings donated by Greenheart Farms and Green Acres Lavender Farms with support from Farm Supply and transportation services donated by Meyer Trucking. For more information on the Urban Farming Food Chain Project, visit http://urbanfarming.org/foodchain.htm