Just in time for January, I learn that this month is Radon Action Month. Governor Schwarzenegger has urged all Californians to test their home for radon gas. Why this month? The coldest months, when people keep their homes buttoned up, are when indoor radon concentrations are highest. Here in Santa Clara County, we have a county-wide average of "moderate" levels of radon but they can vary tremendously by area and depending upon the types of granite counter tops that may be in the home.
Low cost radon test kits are available from the California Department of Health.
Non-scientifically, most radon is emitted from the soil under a home. However, some granite counter tops emit substantial radon and gamma radiation. Red granite seems to be a culprit but testing in the only way to make sure.
For an Industrial Hygienist resource, check out Indoor Air Answers. An industrial hygienist can quickly determine whether granite is radioactive and likely the source of the radon.
For home test kits, you can expect results in a couple of weeks.
Free testing? Yes, there is but for only certain types of granite (Jupurana Bordeaux, Niagara Gold, Four Seasons granite). If you have one of these types of granite, the Free Testing resource can be used.
Hope this helps. Let me know what your thoughts are. Thanks for reading!
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, February 24, 2008
California -- here they came
According to the Department of Finance's latest data, the state's population grew over 438,000 new residents from July 1, 2006 to July 1, 2007. That's a 1.17% increase and gave California a total of 37,771,000 people living within its borders.
The San Francisco Bay Area led the way with Santa Clara County adding 29,904 residents or 1.67%, San Francisco County adding 11,327 residents or 1.40% and Contra Costa County adding 13,189 residents or 1.28%. Notice all three growth rates exceeded California's 1.17% population increase during the period.
Of the increase in Santa Clara County, 60% of it came from natural increases (births less deaths) and 40% was from net migration. The provisional estimate of population at July 1, 2007 was 1,820,176, making Santa Clara County the sixth most populous county in California behind Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. All of California's 58 counties gained population except for two -- Plumas and Sierra.
For a glimpse of the full report, use this link http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Estimates/E2/E-2_2000-07.php
Thanks for reading!
The San Francisco Bay Area led the way with Santa Clara County adding 29,904 residents or 1.67%, San Francisco County adding 11,327 residents or 1.40% and Contra Costa County adding 13,189 residents or 1.28%. Notice all three growth rates exceeded California's 1.17% population increase during the period.
Of the increase in Santa Clara County, 60% of it came from natural increases (births less deaths) and 40% was from net migration. The provisional estimate of population at July 1, 2007 was 1,820,176, making Santa Clara County the sixth most populous county in California behind Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. All of California's 58 counties gained population except for two -- Plumas and Sierra.
For a glimpse of the full report, use this link http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Estimates/E2/E-2_2000-07.php
Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Finding Willie Mays or how to find lost money
Unclaimed Property -- assets which the owner has neglected, abandoned or just plain forgotten gets transfered to the state. All states have laws related to unclaimed property called "escheat" laws. The initial purpose of these laws was to ensure dormant assets -- uncashed checks, bank deposits, securities in brokerage accounts, valuables in safe deposit boxes, even gift cards -- were returned to their owner. However, states running into budget problems have used some of this unclaimed property as a source of funds. States do make some effort to return property to their owners but this effort is woefully inadequate. California, for example, is holding more than $5 billion in unclaimed property. Combining all states, the total balloons to more than $35 billion!
To learn more about unclaimed property and to see if you own a portion, you may visit www.unclaimed.org/ or www.missingmoney.com. The first site is sponsored by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators and the second is run by Affiliated Computer Services and each have the capability to do national searches. In searching sites, it will be helpful to have the owner's last known address handy. I have found that having previous addresses were helpful as well when doing a thorough search.
Using the unclaimed.org site, I was able to locate about $500 of unclaimed property in a state I've never been in! I went through the process of putting a claim together with supporting documentation (keeping good records pays off!) and received a check for my "lost money".
Oh, as to finding Willie Mays, my favorite baseball player of all-time and the hall of fame San Francisco Giants slugger. The state is holding some $3,000 in unclaimed property for Mr. Mays even though he's been at the same address for more than 30 years!
Thanks for reading and hope this helps you find your lost money.
To learn more about unclaimed property and to see if you own a portion, you may visit www.unclaimed.org/ or www.missingmoney.com. The first site is sponsored by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators and the second is run by Affiliated Computer Services and each have the capability to do national searches. In searching sites, it will be helpful to have the owner's last known address handy. I have found that having previous addresses were helpful as well when doing a thorough search.
Using the unclaimed.org site, I was able to locate about $500 of unclaimed property in a state I've never been in! I went through the process of putting a claim together with supporting documentation (keeping good records pays off!) and received a check for my "lost money".
Oh, as to finding Willie Mays, my favorite baseball player of all-time and the hall of fame San Francisco Giants slugger. The state is holding some $3,000 in unclaimed property for Mr. Mays even though he's been at the same address for more than 30 years!
Thanks for reading and hope this helps you find your lost money.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Welcome to My Behind the Real Estate Scenes in Silicon Valley Blog
Welcome to my blog -- Behind the Real Estate Scenes in Silicon Valley!
This blog will provide readers who want a bit more specifics about real estate topics than what you would normally find in a newspaper or online article which can be extremely general and perhaps meant to scare or sell newspapers rather than provide relevant, local information on real estate in our Silicon Valley communities. We'll delve into market and industry trends, strategies, tips for buyers and sellers, and even ideas and tips on improving or maintaining your home or investment properties.
Also, we will venture into non real estate areas too! Things like community and neighborhood events, charities, dining, etc. My blogs related to dining experiences will sport the name "Real Eats" and blogs about movie reviews and comments will be called "Reel Estate".
My name is Tom McEvoy. I've been a California licensed real estate broker for the past eight years. I'm a Realtor and was awarded the Seniors Real Estate Specialist designation because of my experience and education in dealing with seniors.
Prior to entering real estate, I was in corporate financial planning and analysis for 23 years ending as a Director of Financial Planning in 1999. My business, finance and investment experience allows me to provide comprehensive advice to my clients as well as interact effectively with CPA's, estate attorneys, loan officers, financial planners and other professionals so that my clients may be afforded top-level expertise so they make the best decision possible.
My associations and memberships include the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, the California and National Associations of Realtors, Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau of Santa Clara County as well as a member of MLS Listings Inc. our Multiple Listing Service. I possess an MBA from Santa Clara University, a BS degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from San Jose State University and an AA degree in Real Estate from Foothill College.
After working at two independent real estate firms during my first five years in business, I joined RE/MAX Santa Clara Valley, an independently owned and operated franchise, in early 2005. I have found it beneficial to belong to the largest realty member firm in the world with a network spanning more than 60 countries and comprising more than 120,000 agents. The power of RE/MAX extends to their widely-popular website http://www.remax.com/.
My business philosophy is to advise and educate my clients to enable them to achieve their real estate goals in the best possible manner. I am client-driven, not transaction driven and spend a great deal of time understanding my clients aims so that I can advise them on the appropriate strategy necessary to save them time and money.
The services I provide include helping people buy, sell or exchange residential and commercial properties. Properties include those occupied by the owners or those kept as investments. I serve clients from first time buyers of homes and income properties to trade up and trade down clients looking to meet goals due to changing life situations. In particular, I help senior citizens utilizing my designation of a Seniors Real Estate Specialist on whether or not to sell the family home, tax implications of selling income properties and the like. I also advise investor clients on exchanging properties to defer capital gains taxes through the use of Section 1031 of the IRS Tax Code.
Since I am client-oriented, my area of service is quite broad and mainly includes San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. I have assisted clients outside this large area both in California and out of state with the help of a local professional that I team up with to assure my client receives the highest level of service at all times.
If you have any questions or suggestions for additional topics or subjects, please click comments below and post them here or contact me.
Thanks for reading!
To life's best,
Tom McEvoy, Realtor
This blog will provide readers who want a bit more specifics about real estate topics than what you would normally find in a newspaper or online article which can be extremely general and perhaps meant to scare or sell newspapers rather than provide relevant, local information on real estate in our Silicon Valley communities. We'll delve into market and industry trends, strategies, tips for buyers and sellers, and even ideas and tips on improving or maintaining your home or investment properties.
Also, we will venture into non real estate areas too! Things like community and neighborhood events, charities, dining, etc. My blogs related to dining experiences will sport the name "Real Eats" and blogs about movie reviews and comments will be called "Reel Estate".
My name is Tom McEvoy. I've been a California licensed real estate broker for the past eight years. I'm a Realtor and was awarded the Seniors Real Estate Specialist designation because of my experience and education in dealing with seniors.
Prior to entering real estate, I was in corporate financial planning and analysis for 23 years ending as a Director of Financial Planning in 1999. My business, finance and investment experience allows me to provide comprehensive advice to my clients as well as interact effectively with CPA's, estate attorneys, loan officers, financial planners and other professionals so that my clients may be afforded top-level expertise so they make the best decision possible.
My associations and memberships include the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, the California and National Associations of Realtors, Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau of Santa Clara County as well as a member of MLS Listings Inc. our Multiple Listing Service. I possess an MBA from Santa Clara University, a BS degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from San Jose State University and an AA degree in Real Estate from Foothill College.
After working at two independent real estate firms during my first five years in business, I joined RE/MAX Santa Clara Valley, an independently owned and operated franchise, in early 2005. I have found it beneficial to belong to the largest realty member firm in the world with a network spanning more than 60 countries and comprising more than 120,000 agents. The power of RE/MAX extends to their widely-popular website http://www.remax.com/.
My business philosophy is to advise and educate my clients to enable them to achieve their real estate goals in the best possible manner. I am client-driven, not transaction driven and spend a great deal of time understanding my clients aims so that I can advise them on the appropriate strategy necessary to save them time and money.
The services I provide include helping people buy, sell or exchange residential and commercial properties. Properties include those occupied by the owners or those kept as investments. I serve clients from first time buyers of homes and income properties to trade up and trade down clients looking to meet goals due to changing life situations. In particular, I help senior citizens utilizing my designation of a Seniors Real Estate Specialist on whether or not to sell the family home, tax implications of selling income properties and the like. I also advise investor clients on exchanging properties to defer capital gains taxes through the use of Section 1031 of the IRS Tax Code.
Since I am client-oriented, my area of service is quite broad and mainly includes San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. I have assisted clients outside this large area both in California and out of state with the help of a local professional that I team up with to assure my client receives the highest level of service at all times.
If you have any questions or suggestions for additional topics or subjects, please click comments below and post them here or contact me.
Thanks for reading!
To life's best,
Tom McEvoy, Realtor
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