July 1st - Beginning of fiscal year

August 31st - Unsecured deadline. A 10% penalty is added and a $35.00 collection fee

October - Treasure-Tax Collector mails out original secured property tax bill

November 1st - 1st installment of secured taxes is due and payable

December 10th- 1st Installment of secured taxes payment deadline. A 10% penalty is added as of 5:00pm*

January 1st - Tax lien date (affects the upcoming fiscal year)

January - Treasurer-Tax Collector mails delinquent notices for any unpaid 1st installment current secured taxes

February 1st - 2nd installment of secured taxes due and payble

April 10th - 2nd installment of secured taxes payment deadline. A 10% penalty plus a $10.00 cost is added as of 5:00pm*

May- Treasurer-Tax Collector mails delinquent notices for any unpaid 2nd installment current secured taxes

June 30th- End of fiscal year

July 1st - Delinquent accounts are transferred to delinquent tax roll (tax-defaulted property) and additional penalties added at 1.5% per month on any unpaid tax amounts, plus $15.00 redemption fee

*  If a delinquent date falls on a weekend or a holiday, the delinquent date is the next business day.  For more information log on to:  www.co.sanmateo.ca.us

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Happy Valentines Day

Late last evening, the U.S. Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by a 60 to 38 vote. Earlier today, the stimulus package passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a 246 to 183 vote. Today's votes followed several days of negotiations by the House, Senate, and White House, with the final tab for the stimulus bill coming in at $787.2 billion.

On the housing front, the good news is that the legislation resets the conforming loan limit cap at $729,750, up from $625,500. Numerous counties in California experienced a marked decrease in their conforming loan and FHA limits on Jan. 1, and the stimulus bill reinstates 2008 loan limits through Dec. 31, 2009.  Santa Clara County is one of the counties that had their conforming loan limit reduced.

The bill also increases the first-time home buyer credit from $7,500 to $8,000, and removes the requirement that the credit be paid back if the buyer stays in the home for at least three years. It also extends the expiration date for the credit from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2009.  Homebuyers must have purchased a home after Jan. 1, 2009, and before Dec. 1, 2009, to be eligible for the $8,000 credit.

We are seeing some exciting offer and sales activity that we have not seen for several months.  Several lenders are also indicating that they are seeing signs of slight loosening on the lending guidelines which have been so restrictive for the past several months - hopeful positive signs.

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 Recently Tracie Southerland of Opes Advisors has heard from some of her clients that they have received solicitations from private companies that are luring people to spend money to reduce their property taxes (a "Decline in Value" request).  These companies cannot guarantee a reduction in property taxes to anyone. Additionally, it is not necessary to pay for these services as a Decline in Value request is FREE to any homeowner.

Below is a list of counties and links to their associated information on Decline in Value requests:

• § San Mateo
• § Santa Clara -Appeal applications must be filed between July 2 and September 15 with the Clerk of the Appeals Board
• § Santa Cruz
• § Marin
• § Contra Costa
• § San Francisco

Please call me if you feel your property has declined in value and I will see if I can provide you with data to support the decline.

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 If you wish to opt out of phone book delivery lists.  Go to www.paperlesspetition.org and sign the Yellow Pages Paperless Petitioni and Official Opt-Out Registry

If everyone in the U.S. said "no thanks" to ATM receipts, it would save a roll of paper so long it could circle the equator fifteen times.

 Turn off your power strips when they're not in use.  The average American household continuously leaks about fifty watts of electricity.  Eliminating that trickle would save $1 billion a year in wasted electricity.

Buy rechargeable  batteries, you'll save money over the long term.  A single rechargeable battery can replace up to one thousand single-use alkaline  batteries over its lifetime.  Americans throw out approximatley 179,000 tons of batteries per year.

Kill-a-Watt  Electricity Usage Monitor (retails for approximately $30 from CableOrganizer.com or other online vendors).  The unit's large LCD display counts consumption by the kilowatt-hour, the same as your local utility.  You'll know if it's time for a new refrigerator or if that old air conditioner is cost-efficient.  With minimal effort, you can probably reduce your home's energy consumption by 30 percent and reap significant cost savings.

Wash your clothes in cold water.  By using cold water instead of warm, the average household can avoid emitting 1,281 pounds of carbon dioxide annually and save on energy bills.

Send an ecard-Paper cards often end up in landfills, so why not go with a loving ecard for your dad?  This is definitely a more sustainable way to communicate your sentiments.

Use the library, or buy secondhand books.  Consider sharing the ones you have with friends or donating them rather than throwing them away.  About three billion new books are sold per year, requiring four hundred thousand trees to be chopped down.

 

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