Popcorn ceiling texture disposal in San Diego.

If you are a homeowner of an older home with popcorn ceiling like us, and if you'd like to remove them by yourself, I hope the following information is helpful for you.

First you need to get the popcorn texture tested to see if it contains asbestos. Although the general rule is if your house was built after 1978, it should not contain asbestos. But if your house was built around that time, it's safer to get it tested for the peace of mind. You can google a testing labs.

Our results came back positive. With that, you can only hire a licensed asbestos abatement company or you can remove it yourself. We decided to do it ourselves.

You can google how to properly remove the popcorn ceiling texture. There are websites and videos show you how to do that. What I want to talk about is how to properly dispose the popcorn material. It turns out that's harder than the job itself.

I called the San Diego Environmental Services before we started the project, and I was told to take it to the landfill on a Saturday with an appointment. The next time when we were done, I called to make an appointment and was told they do not take materials with asbestos in them. I was given a name of a company that should be able to dispose it for us. I called that company and was given the Environmental Services number in return.

It turns out you need to call a registered hazardous waste hauler/transporter. For a complete list of these companies, go to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. As part of the disposal you will need to obtain a temporary EPA ID number from the State of California, and the company you choose to hire can help you obtain the number.

We contacted two companies. One told us to transport the waste to a Chula Vista facility. The other would send in someone to re-double-bag our waste in our driveway, and haul it away. We chose the latter for the same price. The gentleman packaged the bags (which we double bagged) with another layer of bag/plastic sheet and warning labels.

As I am writing right now, our popcorn ceiling is being transported to somewhere in Arizona. Once it safely arrives, we will receive a receipt in the mail that it reaches the destination.

It took us almost 2 weeks trying to figure out how to be a responsible citizen. Many times within this time we wanted to put them in the trash due to frustration. I hope this bit of information will save anyone who wants to remove popcorn ceiling themselves in the future from disposal frustration, and help keep the environment clean.

Re-finance and foreclosure protection.

California has protected homeowners from deficiency liability from their home mortgage since the 1930s, but this protection only applies to "purchase money" loans (ie. the loan one took out when he/she bought the hosue).

When the homeonwers re-financed to take advantage of lower interest rates in recent years, for examples, they lost the legal protections and may be personally liable for the difference between the value of foreclosed property and the amount owed to the lender.

Under current law, the lenders have up to ten years to collect this deficiency liability, which could means the family could potentially be paying the debt even years after they lost their home.

The ever more stringent lending requirements.

If you are buying a home with a loan, please be aware that the lending rules are getting tougher by the minute. One of the things you need to pay attention to is your funds.

If you plan to buy a home in the next two months, please don't move around your money unless you absolutely have to. And if you do move, please take out x from Bank A and deposit the same x to Bank B. Don't take out x, cash out y dollars, and deposit x-y dollars. Or take out x, add z dollars, and deposit x + y bucks. This will make the lender confused, and you will have plenty of explanation to do. If you have to add or subtract money, do it in another transaction.

Typically lenders need 2 months of bank statements, 2 months of pay stubs, and 2 years of work history/tax return. So have all your paperwork lined up before you enter into a contract will greatly improve the chance of a smooth transaction.

Buying a "corporate owned" property?

When you see a property listed as "corporate owned", most likely you are seeing a "flip" -- a property bought by investor(s), they usually do some work to it and resell it for a profit. FHA loans will not allow you to buy such property within 91 days of last closing. If you are buying it with a conventional loan (which traditionally doesn't have restriction on this), you need to double check with your lender if they will approve the sale.

We have heard recently that if the property is a flip, some lenders will not allow the profit to be over 15% if it's sold within 91 days from previous sale date. We are seeing more and more lenders get onto this bandwagon, and some have increase this 3-month period to 6 months.

So both buyers and investors need to be prepared.

Land Banking

I recently went to a seminar on land banking, and found it rather interesting. The idea of land banking is not to purchase a piece of land and eventually use it personally (although you could). The idea of land banking is to purchase land "in the path of growth" to be a product added to your porfolio to accummulate wealth, very much like stocks and mutual funds.

Land banking essentially is a speculation on the future use of a piece of land, therefore it is another type of long-term investment in real estate. For example, if there are good indicators an area will have good population growth (let it be a football stadium is being built or the California High-Speed Rail is coming to town), the land around the area will see appreciation over time. And flat lands are probably more desirable than hillier sites.

When we talk about investing in real estate, we usually think about purchasing a rental property. But land can be used in other ways too -- farm land, underground water resources, alternative energy production, or as simple as a developer buys it to turn it into a community.

Do you know you can purchase land with IRA or 401(k)? So if you have money in IRA or 401(k), you might want to consider to diversify and purchase a piece of land (or portion of a larger parcel). If you would like to know more about land banking, please don't hestitate to contact me.

Improvement and Overimprovement in Home Remodeling

If you want to recoup some of the money you spend on remodeling your home, you need to consider not to overimprove. Although in the Pacific rim, you will recoup more of your investment than the national average, some investments are still better than others. For example in the midrange homes, minor kitchen remodel recoups about 95% of the money spent, while remodeling a home office will only get you about 65% return. Investing in new vinyl windows is also a good choice, it recovers about 93% of the cost, while helping you save green by living green.

Some of these is somewhat surprising. An addition of new wood deck will get a 97% return, but an extra sunroom is only 60%.

This online list gives you the national average. Contact me if you want the Pacific coast averages.

http://www.realtor.org/rmohome_and_design/articles/2008/0812_costvsvalue_2008

Foreclosure Moratorium

In February the State passed a 90-day Foreclosure Moratorium that went into affect June 15. This law is intended to help those owner-occupied homes where the first loan was recorded between Jan. 1, 2003 and Jan. 1, 2008 from being foreclosed on. The law requires lenders to prove they have tried to modify the delinquent loans before they can begin foreclosing.

Under the law, however, Department of Corporations can grant loan servicers exemptions - allowing them to foreclose - if the lenders have a mortgage modification program in place that meets some combination of various criteria. Among them: a deferral of a portion of the principal, lowered interest rates for at least five years or an extension of loan terms. The exemption can take a month to complete, and during that time the lenders can continue to foreclose homes as usual.

You can read the bill in its entirety here.