Senate Bill 1287 authored by Senator Dennis Hollingsworth was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.  This is an effort to crack down on fraud in Riverside County.  The legislation allows Riverside County to alert property owners when changes are made to their property deed so that fraudulent transactions cannot be made without their knowledge.

In the past three years, there have been at least 300 known incidents in Riverside County where forged deeds were recorded against a property without the owner’s knowledge or consent.  One Riverside County victim is an ailing 77-year-old woman whose residence was sold without her knowledge.  She was only alerted to the scam when she received a letter from her mortgage holder congratulating her on selling her home and paying off the mortgage.

Under the new law, Riverside County will be able to notify property owners immediately after a transaction is made involving their property deed.  The fraud alert program created by Senator Hollingsworth’s SB 1287 is similar to one used by Los Angeles County. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced it will make a combined $17 million in pre-development grants available to 30 states to help with construction of critically needed low-income housing projects for seniors.  California is set to receive roughly $1.6 million in pre-development grant funds for various low-income housing projects across the state.

What happens to all of the latex paint that is dropped off at hazardous waste centers?  It is recycled and is being resold at your local paint distributors. Recycled paint may sell for less, but the quality and viscosity are augmented by blending with virgin materials.  For more information and complete list of recycled paint distributors, visit http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/ConDemo/Paint/.

In May, 67,967 homeowners with mortgage insurance were at least 60 days behind in their mortgage payments while 40,687 borrowers “cured” their overdue loan payments, according to the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MGIC), an industry group.  In May 2007, the group reported 45,986 defaults.  Mortgage insurance policies are designed to reimburse lenders if homebuyers who take on debt of more than 80 percent of a home’s value subsequently default.

Some baby boomers may be wishing they had saved more for retirement and done a little less dipping into their home equity during the real estate boom, according to a report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research titled “The Housing Crash and the Retirement Prospects of Late Baby boomers.”  The study predicts that by 2009 the average household ages 45 to 54 years will have approximately 25 percent less wealth than the median household of that age group had in 2004, based on March S&P/Case-Shiller home price figures.  What’s worse, these households could see another 10 percent lopped off their wealth should home prices fall by that amount before the end of the year.  At a 20 percent additional decline, their wealth is 46 percent lower than in 2004.  The study’s authors point out that renters actually fared better.  Although they didn’t participate in the boom’s upside, renters tended to save more money toward retirement during what is considered the peak retirement savings years and have not suffered the fate of those homeowners who tapped into their home equity.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reports that just over half of all Californians use the Internet to obtain news and consumer updates, make product purchases, search for information about health care issues, or to get details about government programs and services.

Residents who are white, black, or over age 55 have “significantly increased their use of computers and the Internet since 2000.  However, Internet use among Asians and low-income residents over the last several years has begun to decrease, according to the study.

Homeowners are turning to energy upgrades to offset the rising costs of gas, food, and other consumer goods. They are turning to remodeling firms to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes, according to the results of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) quarterly Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey.  Replacing older air conditioners, installing new insulation and high-efficiency water-saving devices are among the top requested upgrades, the survey shows.