Water Conservation for new remodelling

 New rules that may affect you:

Effective January 1, 2014, homeowners obtaining permits to remodel a property built prior to 1994 are required to retrofit with toilets that use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, shower heads with flow rates of no more than 2.5 gallons per minute, and other interior fixtures that use less than 2.2 gallons of water per minute. This applies to all single-family property permits, as well as multifamily and commercial property permits where 10 percent or more of the square footage is included in the remodel.

By January 1, 2017, all residential properties in California that were built prior to 1994 will need to be in compliance with water fixtures as outlined above, which will bring them up to the same standards as homes built since 1994.
Although retrofitting of all pre-1994 homes will not be mandated until 2017, making this change could save water and money for homeowners.

Creative ways to help young adults purchase their first home

A recent article from Los Angeles Times "Finding ways to help young adults make their first home purchases" reveals some creative trends for the younger generation to buy their first homes.  Many stories are echoing some of the buyers' experience.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20140216,0,7652846.story#ixzz2thIIJl3U 

With Stricter mortgage underwriting standards, higher unemployment, and heavy student debt, it's making it hard for the age 20 - 30 potential buyers to buy a home.  But they may be able to get help from family, friends or relatives with more creative techniques for their financing:

•  27 percent of first-time buyers in 2013 received gift money from relatives to help defray the down payment and closing costs.

• With professional help, some family or relatives provided either second mortgages or first mortgages, and when properly structured, these loans provide higher returns (than bank deposits) to family or relatives.

Please check into the article as it also provides some interesting statistics.  Please seek licensed professionals' help when trying these.