SAN MATEO VILLAGE SEWER LATERAL / HEALTHY HOME PROGRAM
Hello everyone, Tuesday night I sat in on the discussion regarding the new sewer lateral upgrade in the Village.
The event was sponsored by B Street. & Vine ( located at 320 S. B St. in San Mateo) who provided a very nice spread of delicious food for all the guests.
The Village is the first neighborhood in the City of San Mateo that this is being offered to because quite frankly, it’s the leakiest.
For a limited time, the City of San Mateo is offering a free inspection, with no obligation, valued at $250 to come out and take a TV inspection to determine if your sewer lateral is defective
If you do not take advantage of this now, it will move on to the next neighborhood in San Mateo.
This outreach program is to promote the efforts and assist single family home owners with repair of deteriorated private sewer laterals. These efforts to help the Village home owners will span 5 years and will utilize $750,000 of the fines assessed as part of the March 11, 2009 Cease and Desist Order as a funding source for grants and loans to homeowners in the Village for the private sewer lateral upgrade program.
Because times are tough, the City is offering reimbursement grants ( up to 50% of the replacement cost) or very low interest loans will be available to qualifying residents who want to replace their sewer lateral because of root infiltration, breaks, cracks, failed pipe, “ orangeburg” pipe, and alignment problems.
The grants are for up to 50% for families with less than $81,573 combined income. If you earn more than that, there is financing at extremely low interest rates under 2%, financed up to 3 years. (If you earn less than the $81,573, you may also be able to finance the rest.)
In regards to real estate, one thing you may want to keep in mind is that if you are thinking of selling your home in the near future, having the inspection can also create more value if your home has been upgraded.
But, if you decide to get the inspection and not do the upgrade if it’s needed, this could reduce the value of your home, and will also be a disclosure issue that will need to be exposed to any potential buyers.
From my experience, it’s only a matterof time before this becomes mandatory, just like the cities of Burlingame and Hillsborough. As a matter of fact, that’s the question I posed at the meeting and was told that the City Council may take a vote on this in the Spring.
The main speaker, ( Sheri Costa-Batis) with the Dept of Public Works did a terrific job explaining the project and answering everyone’s questions. If you have any questions, please call Sheri direct at 650-522-7334 or you can email her at scosta-batis@cityofsanmateo.org.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
David “Tap” Tapper
HOW’S THE RENTAL MARKET?
I’ve received a lot of calls from investors and past clients asking how the rental market is doing? Over all, I would say that the market is down 10-15% in some areas. Less in better locations where the schools are best.
I’ve had no problems renting my listings as long as you are realistic and pricing it right. Kind of the same rule of thumb as when you sell.
The reason is twofold. There are more rentals to choose from and a lot of tenants are trying to take advantage of the low interest rates and tax breaks for first time home buyers and would rather pay for their own mortgage instead of someone else’s.
If you are thinking of renting your property, make sure it’s light , bright and very clean. It won’t hurt if it smells nice too.
Happy Holidays
Fay
