A Case for Cork Floors

                                   Cork Floors made to look like wood

Cork - known mostly for its use as a wine bottle stopper or as a bat-filller for baseball great Sammy Sosa - is a highly sustainable, biodegradable and recyclable flooring option that deserves a lot more attention than it's given.  Relative to hardwood and tile, it is fairly inexpensive, and some types of cork floors are finished and molded in such a way that they can actually mimic the geometric details of wood or the smoothness of tile. It does have a distinctive look that might not be for everyone, but its varying styles and colors allow it to fit into virtually any design scheme.

Cork is made from the bark of a species of Oak tree that is endemic to Southwest Europe and Northwest Africa.  The bark is stripped from the trees - in a process that is harmless to the tree itself – and typically regrows within 9-12 years.  Each Cork Oak can be harvested for its bark around 12 times during its 150-250 year lifespan, and if my calculations are correct, that is about 11 more times than that same tree could be harvested for hardwood during its lifetime. The process is actually very interesting; if you’d like to see for yourself, check out this video!

                                                      Cork Oaks stripped of their bark

When it comes to floors, cork is probably most popular in the kitchen, or in areas where you spend a lot of time standing up.  This is because it is naturally a shock-absorbing and resilient material, making it a lot more comfortable to walk on than other popular kitchen floor options like hardwood and tile.  This also makes it less likely that glass and dinnerware will break if dropped on it.

Another plus to cork floors is that they are naturally rich in suberin, a hydrophobic wax-like substance that helps fight mold, mildew and insect infestation, all of which are maladies that can easily befall hardwood floors.

Unfortunately, cork does have its drawbacks.  It can be scratched and nicked easily, and heavy furniture can leave permanent indentations in the floor if no furniture pads are used. Nevertheless, cork is a great alternative to hardwood or tile floor - it's easy on your pocket and the environment.

RealSmart Holiday Party 2014

This holiday season, the RealSmart Team headed to Sur la Table in Palo Alto to try to learn how to cook.  Needless to say, most of us are still hacks in the kitchen, but hey! We had fun all the same.

Even though we're definitely in need of some follow-up classes, the folks at Sur la Table were great and we highly recommend them to anyone looking for a stress-free cooking class (plus they let you bring your own beer and wine!).  The head chef, Joel, was fun, knowledgeable, and very adept at dumbing down his language just enough for us to be able to understand his instructions.  And while we were given plenty of opportunities to get our hands dirty, the staff was wise in only trusting us with a small a fraction of the cooking (this way they could make sure that the final product was actually edible).

What we Made:
-arugula salad with homemade vinaigrette
-roasted honey-glazed chicken
-mushroom risotto
-roasted asparagus with browned butter sauce (DELICIOUS)
-chocolate tart with fresh berries and whipped cream

When we finished cooking and eating, they provided us with the recipes to all of the dishes we prepared and a discount to the store, which by the way, is a great place for Christmas shopping.

www.surlatable.com

RealSmart's First Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest!

I thought my sweater was the ugliest, and Denis actually wore his grandma's Christmas sweater, but it was Laurie who went the whole nine yards.  She wrapped herself in Christmas lights, pinned ornaments across her sweater, and even donned an ugly hat.  So congratulations Laurie! You are the official Champion of RealSmart's first annual ugly Christmas sweater contest!

2015: The Year of The Millennial?

Photo by  TheeErin 

Recent economic recovery has created a lending environment that is far more hospitable to the millennial age group (those born 1980-1999) than any we have seen in the past several years.  The re-emergence of products like mortgages with loan-to-value ratios of 85-90%, lender paid mortgage insurance, and mortgages to borrowers who are shouldering debt-to-income ratios of up to 50%, have allowed for many more people to enter the home buying discussion.  These products are particularly advantageous to millennial home buyer hopefuls, who have often been kept out of the market because of large amounts of student debt and/or because sky high rental prices have prevented them from saving enough for a down payment.

Millennials are also disproportionately benefiting from the recent job growth.  According to Realtor.com chief economist, Jonathan Smoke, the under-35 population has seen job growth at a 60% better pace than the rest of the population.

Largely due to the reasons listed above, forecasts released by both Realtor.com and Zillow suggest that millennials will be making their triumphant return to the housing market next year.   Realtor.com predicts that millennials will make up around 65% of first-time home buyers in 2015, and Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries said in a report released Tuesday that, “roughly 42% of millennials say they want to buy a home in the next one to five years compared with just 31% of generation X.”  He also went on to claim that by the end of next year millennials will be the largest home-buying age group.

Unfortunately, those of us living in the SF Bay Area will probably not play much of a part in the return of the millennial home buyer.  It is expected that low inventory will continue to drive up home prices, making it difficult for first time buyers to enter the market.  Even so, loosening mortgage requirements and continued job growth should set the stage for Bay Area millennials at some point down the road.  And with rental prices as high as they are, first time buyers should consider buying sooner rather than later, so they can start investing their monthly payments rather than handing them to a landlord.

The graphic below shows the rent and mortgage affordability for San Francisco as calculated by Zillow.  As you can see, the difference between the two is negligible.

Source: "Millennials Will Lead First-Time Home Buyer Revival"

November Market Statistics (Click to Enlarge Charts)

RWC: City Hall Seeks Public Opinion to Help Shape Community Benefits Program

Photo by  Ed Bierman

Redwood City's Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing tonight - Tuesday, December 2nd at 7pm - to try to shape a community benefits program. Such a program, if enacted, would try to balance out the impact of future construction with public amenities like parks, bike lanes, additional parking, and things of that sort.  Developers would be required to fund these amenities as a condition of their project's approval.

Through past workshops and forum surveys, Redwood City residents have expressed that among their top priorities are increased parks and open space, more bike and pedestrian facilities, and affordable housing. Using this information and information gathered from tonight's hearing, a January 14th workshop will try to further pin down priority areas for the benefits program. The goal is for city council to pass an ordinance establishing the program early next year.

If a community benefits program is passed, it will not apply to any of the development that has already been approved by the city. However, this doesn't mean that developments currently underway won't include some sort of community benefit. For instance, it was recently announced that downtown's Crossing/900 development - soon to be home to Box Inc. - will include about 900 parking spaces, which during evenings and weekends will be open to the public.

To voice your concerns and opinions, attend tonight's hearing - Tuesday, December 2nd, 7p.m. at City Hall (1017 Middlefield Road).

You can also leave your comments at www.redwoodcity.org/rwcForum

Source: "Redwood City starting to shape community benefits program"