With the federal first-time buyer credit expiring for those who haven't yet locked in an offer on a property, the state of California has a $10,000 buyer credit program starting May 1. This is a limited funds program, so it's a first-come, first-served offer. For more information click here.

Last time I received one of these real estate notices in the mail, a group of others did, too. This was when there was a scam going on for a service to "negotiate" your property taxes down to current values for a small fee. This company ended up with a lawsuit filed.

Today I got a "Form 77748-I" Predatory Lending Notice with an 800# to call because they "have determined that your loan may have violations of Truth In Lending Act (TILA) and or the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)."

Now I haven't called, and don't plan to, but I am pretty sure this is more of the same.

A loan officer directed me to this site years ago, as an easy way to eliminate annoying and unsolicited credit card offers and stabilize my credit score. Apparently these companies hit up your credit to "prequal" you for their unsolicited product. They don't count as a "hard" hit, but after 15 or 20 it will affect your score by a few points.

It's like the do not call registry and works for 5 years before renewal is required (if you do an online registration). For more info:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt063.shtm

And a link to the site:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

Why is this important? Not only will it help your credit score stabilize, but if helps reduce the risk of credit/identity theft. How many of these offers do we throw in the garbage? It's definitely beneficial to eliminate a possible problem at the source.

Per a news bulletin, it appears Congress passed the first-time home buyer's credit extension and it's going to the President for signature.

The changes include:

- $8000 credit extended through April 30
- COE of applicable home extended through end of June
- Income limit increased to $225,000
- New clause offering $6500 credit to FTB who lived in their home (worth $800K or less) for five out of prior eight years

In short, January 1 is expected to bring with it some environmental requirements that will affect owners installing water heaters, air conditioning, and new roofs. The refrigerant requirements change for cooling systems, so the cost to install new or recharge old will increase significantly. The low knox requirement of gas heaters has raised materials cost there also.

Rumored building code changes for new roof installations may or may not go in to effect. I've not received a confirmation this is going into effect January 1, but it's anticiapted. Per local company, Affordable Roofing:

Iif the roof system is changed next year, they will have to get reflective, Title 24-compliant shingle roofing and/or attic installation upgraded to meet new building codes. The Title-24 compliant shingle will add about $1,000.00 to the overall cost of the roof while upgrading the insulation could be as much as $2,500 or so. This assumes that Title 24 compliance won't be pushed back another year due to economic hardship in the state's economy, of course.