Make Your Home More Energy Efficient and Save $$$

Here's a few tips you can use to help the environment and save money.

1. Plug air leaks • Fixing poor insulation and reducing drafts and other air leaks can save you up to 20% on your utility bills. CONTACT ME FOR SPECIALS CERTAIN SERICE PROVIDERS ARE PROVIDING FOR FREE!!
2. Program your thermostat • For every degree you turn the heat down in the winter, you’ll bring your energy bill down by as much as 5%.
3. Repair plumbing leaks indoors and outdoors • 5 – 10% of American homes are losing 90 gallons of water a day through water leaks.
4. Clean green • For about $20 per year, you can replace every cleaning product in your house with a safer, nontoxic, biodegradable homemade version using ingredients like baking soda, club soda, vinegar and salt.
5. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) • CFLs use 75% less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
6. Unplug unused appliances • Americans spend about $4 billion a year on electricity for things they’re not using.
7. Be a smart landscaper • Strategically planted trees and shrubs that shade your home can lower surrounding air temperatures during summer months by up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit and can reduce your wall and roof temperatures by 20-40 degrees Fahrenheit, keeping your home naturally cooler.
8. Switch from bottled water to a refillable plastic water bottle • In 2006, North Americans spent $15 billion on bottled water and nearly 9 out of 10 of the bottles were thrown away rather than recycled.
9. Use recycled paper products in your home • By buying recycled paper products for your home, you could save approximately $40 per year and contribute to the preservation of 19 million trees.
10. Use reusable bags when grocery shopping • Six bags of groceries a week using reusable bags could earn you up to $31 in “bag credits” and help reduce the 30 billion plastic bags that end up as litter each year worldwide.
As always, I'm never too busy to help someone you know looking to buy or sell a home. Particularly, I am helping first time home buyers and seniors over 55 looking to donwsize or relocate. Thank you! www.GaryNobile.com 408.247.4029

Schwarzenegger Signs New Homebuyer Program

Governor Schwarzenegger today signed to authorize $200 million for home buyer tax credits. The bill allocates $100 million for qualified first-time home buyers who purchase existing homes and $100 million for purchasers of new, or previously unoccupied, homes.
This is different than the current federal program that expires in April. This program begins May1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010.
This credit is equal to the lesser of 5 percent of the purchase price or $10,000, taken in equal installments over three consecutive years. Under the bill, purchasers will be required to live in the home as their principal residence for at least two years or forfeit the credit (i.e. repay it to the state). Please contact me for questions on how to take advantage fo this valuable program.

For up to date info on the local real estate market, simply look at my website www.GaryNobile.com or call me at (408) 247-4029.

Warren Buffet Housing Prediction

Warren Buffet, the famed CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has made a bold prediction about the residential real estate market. In Monday’s Wall Street Journal, Buffet was quoted as saying:

“[Within] a year or so residential housing problems should largely be behind us, the exceptions being only high-value houses and those in certain localities where overbuilding was particularly egregious. Prices will remain far below “bubble” levels, of course, but for every seller (or lender) hurt by this there will be a buyer who benefits. Indeed, many families that couldn’t afford to buy an appropriate home a few years ago now find it well within their means because the bubble burst.”

Mr. Buffet is known for bucking the conventional wisdom with great success: Anyone who held a $10,000 stake in Berkshire Hathaway at the start of 1965 has about $80 million today. To see the full article, go to:

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2010/03/01/buffett-predicts-housing-problems-behind-us-within-the-year/?KEYWORDS=warren+buffet

For up to date info on the local San Jose real estate market (and surrounding areas), simply look at my website http://www.garynobile.com/ or call me at (408) 247-4029.