Patty McMillen's Blog

There is a clean energy and climate bill under negotiation right now.  We need to call our Senators and demand the strongest legislation possible.  It’s been one of the largest call-in campaigns in the history and we are getting peoples attention.  Tonight is the deadline to call your senator! Senator Boxer 202-224-3553..Senator Feinstein 202-224-3841.

When you call in remember to tell the staff member you want your Senators to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legisation this year!

You want a strong bill that invests in clean energy, creates millions of jobs and sets a limit on harmful carbon pollution from all sectors of our economy.

Every voice matters in this fight to solve the climate crisis and  jumpstart a clean energy economy.

You’re probably up to your next by now in forms and paperwork as the April 15th income tax deadline approaches.  Maybe you’ve already completed your taxes, paid your bill, or awaiting your refund check.  Either way, now is the perfect time to revisit the extended and expanded Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.

Why?  Because now, as you calculate your tax bill or refund, you can finally see in real terms just how beneficial a tax credit of up to $8,000 can be to your bottom line.

REMEMBER:

1. You don’t have to pay it back (as long as you stay in your qualified home for at least 36 months).

2. If you qualify for the credit, you can still apply it to this year’s taxes, even if you have already filed your returns, or save it for 2010 tax returns.

3. This is a true tax credit, not a deduction.  If you qualify for a full credit, there will be an actual dollar-for-dollar reduction of up to $8,000 on your tax bill now or in 2010.

4. You must be in contract by April 30, 2010 and closing by June 30, 2010, so don’t wait!!!!

YOUNTVILLE….March 20th

Taste of Yountville..try mustard, olive oil, gourmet treats and great restaurants.  Microbrews will being pouring and also wineries.  Great little town.

Tips for reducing impact on the environment and keep your car running it’s best, you will conserve gas, save money, and reduce harmful emissions.
Stay Tuned: foloow the maintenance schedule and save l0 to 20% on fuel. That’s 30 cents to more than 60 cents per gallon.
Firm up soft tires: If you inflate your tires properly, they could get about 3% more miles per gallon-and be safer.
Unload: Taking out l00 pounds can improve your mileage by 2%, remove your roof rack when not using it. Your trunk is not a storage unit.
Drive efficiently: aggressive driving, quick starts, stomping the brakes, speeding can cut gas mileage by as much as 5% around town and 33% on highway…most of all it pumps up a car’s carbon emissions.

I was just informed of these 2 new laws and wanted to share… please tell your friends and family, the fines can be as much as $500. These laws came info effect January 1, 2010. The basic gist is that you have to move over or slow down on the highway when there is a CHP or other authorized vehicle with warning lights flashing.

I pulled the actual Jargon from www.chp.ca.gov website, it is below:

Move Over/Slow Down (SB 159, Simitian) The new law removes the January 1, 2010, sunset
date on Sections 21809 VC and 25253 VC. Section 21809 VC requires a person driving a
vehicle on a freeway and approaching in a lane immediately adjacent to a stationary, authorized
emergency vehicle that displays emergency lights, or a stationary tow truck that displays flashing
amber warning lights, to safely make a lane change from that lane, or slow to a reasonable speed.
Section 25253 VC requires tow trucks used to tow disabled vehicles to be equipped with flashing
amber warning lamps and authorizes tow trucks to display flashing amber warning lamps while
providing service to a disabled vehicle. However, this section prohibits tow trucks from
displaying flashing amber warning lamps on a freeway except when an unusual traffic hazard or
extreme hazard exists.

Department of Transportation Vehicles (SB 240 Wright) Currently as section 21809 VC
(Move Over, Slow Down Law) requires a person who is driving a vehicle on a freeway and
approaching in a lane immediately adjacent to a stationary, authorized emergency vehicle that
displays emergency lights, or a stationary tow truck that displays flashing amber warning lights,
to safely make a lane change from that lane, or slow to a reasonable speed. This new law adds a
stationary, marked Caltrans vehicle displaying flashing amber warning lights to the “Move Over,
Slow Down Law.”

If you would like to read all the 1/1/10 laws go to http://www.chp.ca.gov/pdf/media/09-44.pd….

Be aware of your surroundings and be safe!

~Patty

Our office has been a supporter of Cell Phones for Soldiers as a designated drop site for about 6 months and the outpouring of support from our community has once again been terrific! We have collected approximately 300 cell phones so far, 5 large boxes! Wow! Below is a brief history from the Cell Phones for Soldiers website of the program and how it was started… Bravo! Please bring in your old cell phones and chargers; our office address is 350 East Gobbi Street, Ukiah CA 95482.

Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas in 2008. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers expects to collect 50,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, “with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer. Most people don’t realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers.”

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

“Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show our family’s appreciation for the men and women who have sacrificed the day-to-day contact with their own families to serve in the U.S. armed forces,” says the teens’ father, Bob Bergquist. “Over the past few years, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of others. But, we have also seen the need to support our troops continue to grow as more troops are sent overseas for longer assignments.”

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones with prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.

Education deductins allowed for Spanish lessons…Spanish lessons are allowed for a deduction if you work in a community with a lot of Spanish-speaking people. If it enhances your ability to perform your job then it is allowed as a tax deduction..

Why order a natural hazards report… it lessens the liability of you trying to read a map to see if the property is on a fault line or in the earthquake zone, wildands area or flooding.  If you have a company do the disclosure they are now responsible for the accurate information. Most Natural Hazards companies carry insurance in case they report incorrectly.  Their job is to accurately report information contained in the government records… but remember they don’t look at parcel maps or survey maps… bottom line they assume the responsibility for accuracy not you.

Deficiency judgment are only in certain circumstances.  A deficiency judgment may not be obtained when a property in foreclosure is sold through a non-judicial public sale or if the foreclosure relates to a purchase money mortgage.  The reason I’m giving this explanation is that.. beware if your seller has refinanced their loan or done a modification on their loan. The loan is now not purchase money.

Most foreclosed properties involve a non-judicial foreclosure.  This means it does not involve a court action.  When the deed of trust is initially signed, it will have a clause in it that says power of sale clause, which upon default allows a trustee to sell the property in order to satisfy the defaulted loan.  The trustee acts as a representative of the lender to make the sale.  Here in California the title companies serve as the trustee managing foreclosure sales. If the court is not involved there is no deficiency judgment.  If a judicial foreclosure happens the lender may recover a deficiency judgment in certain circumstances….I personally have not seen this happen but it could..