Zirana City Blog

By Mary Crowell

Recently I found this Chinese saying in a magazine and it spoke to me: 

Pleasure for an hour, a bottle of wine; pleasure for years, a marriage; 

pleasure for a lifetime, a garden.

Speaking of pleasure, my epiphytic cacti 

gave me such joy this season with about 75% of my large hanging plants blooming 

with no duplicates. For those unfamiliar with epis, as they are called, do a 

Google search with image for epiphyllum hybrids and you will see why they make 

me smile.

     Hope everyone was able to make it to the San Mateo County Fair this year, 

unfortunately I was in Alaska at a cousin’s reunion so missed all the fun of 

entering designs and specimens. I heard though, that there were beautiful cut 

flowers and potted plants along with some innovative balcony gardens. The 

amateur and professional gardens outside Redwood Hall were especially gorgeous 

along with the artful and creative floral designs. There were some huge 

challenges this year as floral arts had a new venue.

    September is also the month many garden clubs resume their meetings after a 

summer hiatus. There are many advantages to joining a garden club. You learn 

about horticulture and floral design and you widen your circle of friends and 

your plant population. I think gardeners, on the whole, are very generous and 

very friendly. All the bay area garden clubs and societies welcome new members 

with open arms, cuttings, plants, bulbs, divisions, diverse programs, tours and 

great eating treats at the meetings. Check with the San Mateo Garden Center or 

with me for a society or club that might interest you.

Join thousands of San Mateo County residents in the state’s largest volunteer event focused on protecting the marine environment. Each year, San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program (SMCWPPP) and the California Coastal Commission partner to coordinate Coastal Cleanup Day in an effort to engage people to remove debris from the bay and inland waterways; identify the sources of debris; and ultimately change the behaviors that cause pollution.

Since the program started in 1985, nearly 700,000 Californians have removed more than 10 million pounds of debris from our state’s shorelines and coast. When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by The Ocean Conservancy that takes place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events of the year.

August real estate sales activity for the greater Cupertino area continued at a pace very similar to previous months.  There were 56 closed sales in August compared with 49 for June and 55 in July.  There are currently 49 pending sales, slightly less than in the previous month possibly reflecting the longer period necessary to process loans.  Pending sales are homes that are under contract, or in escrow waiting to clear inspection and financing contingencies prior to close.  There were 97 homes for sale at the end of August compared with 117 at the end of the July.  It is significant to note that the summer market is usually a little slower than the spring and fall markets. 

There are still a significant number of homes that continue to sell above their asking prices.  The majority of these homes tend to be priced between $900,000 to $1,500,000.  There were 10 sales that closed above asking price in August compared with 16 in July.  Most, however, were not significantly over.  There were 12 home sales in the price range above $1,500,000 in the month of August, compared with only 3 in July.   

  For the most part, prices are holding steady.  Buyers are showing a disciplined approach and are doing their homework before coming to the table with an offer!  Lending restrictions are now much tougher than they were prior to the recent changes in lending practices.  It is imperative now, for Buyers to obtain loan pre-approval before seriously looking for a home. 

In response to a searing letter from San Mateo Supervisor Jerry Hill that took issue with the transparency of the board’s process for choosing a new garbage and recycle pick-up service, SBWMA has removed Kevin McCarthy, its executive director, from the selection process.

McCarthy was the source of Hill’s complaint. After SBWMA settled on Norcal Waste Systems, dumping Allied Waste which has held the contract for nine years, two weeks ago, McCarthy then took the unusual action of emailing the four unsuccessful bidders asking them to write a letter defending the SBWMA’s bidding process.

“[I] have a special and awkward request to make: can [you] write a letter stating that while you are certainly disappointed with the results and you not being selected you feel the rfp processes were conducted professionally, thoroughly and with the highest level of transparency and integrity,” McCarthy wrote in the Aug. 23 e-mail.

After that, Hill took issue with the transparency of SBWMA process which, he wrote, makes him “suspicious of what I’m getting from them.”

Besides removing McCarthy from the selection process, SBWMA chair Larry Patterson wrote that the executive committee will review and approve direct correspondence with the proposers regarding the selection process and the committee’s role in contract negotiations with the short-listed firms will be increased for direct oversight.

A lot of newspaper ink has been spilled lately over HR 3221 - the Housing and Economic Recovery Act - which was recently passed into law. This legislation could have significant implications for the Santa Clarita Valley housing and mortgage industries, so I wanted to point out a few things that could impact you or someone you know.
 
The main thing that may impact most first-time homebuyers is the elimination of what is called the “Nehemiah Program”.  The Nehemiah Program is a down payment assistance program where a home seller contributes up to 6% of the selling price of a home to a non-profit agency called Nehemiah. For a fee of about $400, Nehemiah then provides the money as a legal down payment to a homebuyer. This popular FHA program has helped over 900,000 families obtain homeownership since 2000, however, it is unpopular with HUD because many of these homes eventually end up in foreclosure.
 

As this new Federal legislation is currently written, the Nehemiah program will be phased out of homes insured by HUD for homebuyers on or about October 1. There is currently some discussion as to when the exact date will take effect, but if you know someone who is in interested in using this program to buy a home, they should have their FHA loan application in process prior to October 1.