Green Real Estate Appraiser

Foreclosure Crisis Spawns a Wave of Rescue Scams

Posted on January 26, 2013 | 1 comment

Carolyn Murray was in trouble. The Bowie resident and information technology worker had lost her job as a result of the recession and was beginning to fall behind on her mortgage payments.

Around mid-2011, Murray, now 64, attended a seminar claiming to be sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There she was given the name of an out-of-state law firm that might be able to help her.

“I hadn’t understood that a lawyer would be involved,” she says, “but they said, ‘This person will help you get a modification.’ ”

It seemed legitimate: Working through a lawyer sounded official, and Murray’s online research turned up a number of strong ratings for the firm. So she saved and borrowed the $4,000 required for the fee and turned it over to the company, which promised to act as a liaison between her and the bank.

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Posted in Mortgage Information

Tagged foreclosure, scams

Lightbulb Marketplace Makes the Switch to Energy-Efficient Bulbs

Posted on January 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — If you’re still confused about which light bulb to buy as a replacement for the familiar incandescent bulb that’s being phased out, you’re not alone.

“A lot of people are still surprised as to what is going on. There’s still some confusion,” reports Pedro Villagran, manager of Light Bulbs Unlimited in West Palm Beach. “People are complaining the government is telling them what bulbs to buy.”

As of Sept. 30, it became illegal to import or manufacture the traditional 100-watt incandescent bulb. But stores can still sell what they have on the shelves, and some, including Light Bulbs Unlimited, still have them in stock. Using incandescents is not illegal.

On Jan. 1 the same federal energy legislation passed in 2007 now covers a manufacturing and import ban on 75-watt incandescent bulbs. The law requires most bulbs to be 30 percent more efficient.

On Jan. 1, 2014, the most widely sold wattage bulb — the 60-watt — will be on the way out, along with the 40-watt bulb.

“The 60-watt, that may be a real shocker there,” Villagran said.

Villagran said the change goes beyond the standard reading-lamp bulb to other types of bulbs, such as those for recessed lighting and different types of reflector bulbs.

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The Goedzak is a Garbage Bag That Invites Freecycling

Posted on January 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

It’s a dirty little secret that discarded household items still useful enough to take to Goodwill are sometimes set out in the curbside trash instead. At times, it’s because of the pressure of rushed lives. Other times, that ugly old lamp or broken chair might not seem to its owner to have any value left.

The Goedzak — think “good sack” — is a way to let your neighbors decide whether those unwanted items still have some life left in them. The clear plastic makes the stuff visible to every passer-by in an open invitation to curbside freecycling.

The design, by Simon Akkaya of Amsterdam design studio Waarmakers, resulted from his graduation project — engagingly titled “Design for Altruism” — at Delft University of Technology. “My goal was to design products that stimulate people to act to benefit others, preferably complete strangers,” he writes on the Waarmakers website.

He explains there that “everybody owns items that are no longer of value to them. Every now and then we throw out these items, while they still might be of value and/or useful to others. These items disappear in grey garbage bags and end up on trash piles. Goedzak offers these items a second chance. Goedzak stimulates people to dispose of their products in a more conscious and sustainable way. Goedzak can extend the products’ lifetime.”

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Foreclosure Crisis Spawns a Wave of Rescue Scams

Lightbulb Marketplace Makes the Switch to Energy-Efficient Bulbs

The Goedzak is a Garbage Bag That Invites Freecycling

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