Chance Gates' Blog

By: Oliver Marks http://members.houselogic.com/articles/7-gardening-mistakes-to-avoid/preview/

Published: February 10, 2011

Even veteran gardeners make rookie mistakes, like giving plants too much water and too little space. Here are common garden blunders. Consider yourself warned.

It’s easy to misjudge and make a mess out of your landscaping. Here are seven common garden blunders, and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Too many changes, too soon

The excitement of buying a new home, plus a stretch of warm spring weather, often creates a passion for yard work. But don’t just do something, stand there! What looks like a spring weed might be a fall-blooming vine; that bare spot in March might reveal tulips in April.

Try this instead: Live with your land for a year. Observe how many hours of sunlight each part of your garden gets. Test the pH of your soil to determine if acid-loving or alkaline-loving plants will be happy in that particular patch of heaven. Observe when your lawn greens up in spring and becomes dormant in late summer.

The money and time you save by watching and waiting will be your own.

Mistake #2: Too much togetherness

Trees and shrubs that look properly spaced when you plant them will crowd each other and compete for water, sun, and nutrients in a few years. If you’re lucky, you can transplant some bushes; if you’re not, you’ll have to throw away starved shrubs.

Try this instead: Before digging, read spacing instructions. Give trees plenty of space–you can always fill in later. Stagger bushes and plants and create two rows, which will create more breathing room. The results will look absurdly sparse at first. But live with it. In a few years, your shrubs will fill empty spaces without suffocating each other.

Mistake #3: Planting without a plan

Planting new garden beds without a long-term landscape plan is like pouring a house foundation without blueprints. Your haste results in a waste of time, money, and muscles.

Try this instead: Draw a simple sketch of your yard–what’s there now and what you might add later, such as patios, outbuildings, and pools. Bone up on the trees and shrubs that grow best in your soil and climate. Go online and click around landscaping sites that help you pick plants and design beds.

Visit your local nursery or home improvement center where design staff can answer questions and make suggestions. Or hire a professional landscape designer to create a starter plan for as little as $250 to $500. Find a professional at the Association of Professional Landscape Designers or the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Mistake #4: Neglecting the root of it all

Even the hardiest plants need a little help putting down roots in new locations. Sprinkling the foliage doesn’t nourish the roots, the plant’s nerve center. You must deliver water to the root ball below the ground, or your plants will be stunted and short-lived.

Try this instead: Place the hose at the base of new bushes, trees, and plants and let the water trickle out for 20 to 30 minutes, twice a week (more during hot spells), for 4 to 12 weeks. Or snake a soaker hose ($20 for 50 feet) through your beds, which will deliver slow and steady water to roots.

Mistake #5: Forgetting the sun

Too many gardeners pick plants based only on looks, not the growing conditions plants require and the conditions that exist. Rookies will plant sun-loving perennials under an old oak tree or sun-shy hostas in the open. They look great for about a week, and then die.

Try this instead: Observing the spot where you’re going to put the plant and estimating the amount of sun it gets over the course of a day during the growing season. To translate that into the language on plant labels, use this key:

Mistake #6: Over-watering

An automatic irrigation system is a luxury that keeps your landscape hydrated throughout the growing season with almost no effort. Unfortunately, auto-watering can bring disease, root rot, and a premature death to plants; it also wastes water.

Many gardeners set watering timers for 15 to 20 minutes each morning, which wets the surface but doesn’t soak deeply to nourish roots of large trees and shrubs.

Try this instead: Water for 40 to 60 minutes only two to three times a week. Check with the company that maintains your irrigation system for local recommendations. A deeper soak also helps lawns develop deeper root systems.

Mistake #7: Budget blunders

Your landscaping can fall victim to construction bulldozers that park on lawns and dig too closely to trees and shrubs. New construction also demands rethinking your landscape plan to accommodate additions.

Unfortunately, many home owners don’t include landscaping in their construction budget. They end up with a beautiful new family room, screened porch, or solarium, and a few lonely azaleas planted around the foundation as an afterthought.

Try this instead: Allocate 10% to 20% of your construction budget to the landscape—both hardscaping and plants. If your construction spreadsheet can’t stand another line item, make a plan to landscape–in stages, if necessary–as soon as possible after construction is completed.

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

Image via CrunchBase

More businesses are seeking greater mobility and are opting for computer tablets over laptops, according to a recent study from Robert Half Technology.

The study shows that companies expect to increase tablet usage by 50 percent within the next two years.

“Tablets are simply more mobile,” says Soowan Scheuermann, marketing manager for the staffing firm. “They’re lighter and smaller. It’s more feasible to carry around a tablet to make notes than it is with a laptop.”

Companies have plenty to choose from in tablets too as tech companies continue to introduce new models ever since Apple recreated the tablet market with the launch of its iPad in 2009. Apple had sold nearly 15 million iPads through December 2010. But besides Apple’s iPad 2, which recently debuted, companies such as Motorola, Acer, Samsung, LG, Blackberry, and HTC also are launching tablets.

Goldman Sachs estimates that overall tablet sales would increase by 500 percent in 2011.

Source: “Laptops Gather Dust as Business Turns to Tablets,” San Antonio Express-News (March 10, 2011)

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

The 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated Japan last week sent a ripple through the U.S. mortgage markets causing interest rates to lower this week.

“With the crisis in Japan, investors rushed to buy the security of U.S. Treasury bonds, which lowered its yields and other interest rates as well,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “This allowed fixed mortgage rates to drift lower this week.”

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped below 4 percent this week, reaching its lowest level since December 2010. The 15-year mortgage rate averaged 3.97 percent this week, compared to last week’s 4.15 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage also dropped this week, averaging 4.76 percent compared to last week’s 4.88 percent. Last year at this time, 30-year mortgages averaged 4.96 percent.

The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage also inched downward, averaging 3.57 percent compared to last week’s 3.73 percent.

Source: “30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Drops Amid Japan Crisis,” Freddie Mac (March 17, 2011)

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

www.nevadwolfpack.com

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RENO, Nev. – The University of Nevada baseball team will play the Reno Aces Tuesday April 5 at 6:00 p.m. in a fund raising exhibition game at Aces Ballpark. All proceeds go to the Nevada baseball program and tickets can be purchased for $10 at the Legacy Hall ticket office.

The exhibiton game will feature Aces pitchers and catchers playing for both teams, all players will use wood bats and pitchers will be on a pitch count. The Aces won last year’s contest 11-1, with Nevada’s lone run scored by senior Waylen Sing Chow who tripled to put himself in scoring position.

The game was attended by 3,631 fans and raised $15,000 for the Nevada baseball program. This year’s goal is to have 5,000 people in attendance. There is also a program in place for fans to purchase tickets for at-risk kids to attend this year’s game.

For more information on the exhibition game or to purchase tickets please contact Jerry Cail at 775-682-6908 or jcail@unr.edu

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

By Duane Marsteller

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RISMEDIA, March 22, 2011—(MCT)—For more than a year, two federal agencies have urged homeowners with Chinese drywall to replace all electrical wiring when fixing their homes. Recently, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development altered course—lending credence to a homebuilder group’s protocol, conflicting with a court-monitored national remediation program and drawing criticism from some quarters.

The federal agencies revised their drywall remediation guidelines to say that some, but not all, electrical wiring and components must be removed. The change stems from additional laboratory testing of electrical components that found that long-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide—the primary gas emitted by the tainted drywall—did not always substantially worsen the risk of smoke or fire.

“In general, residential electrical system components appear to be relatively tolerant of the corrosive environment created by problem drywall, if the system is installed properly,” a commission report says.

The commission and HUD also added 2009 to the range of years in which the corrosive drywall was installed in U.S. homes. The previous ending year was 2008. Drywall installed in 2009 was imported two to three years earlier, said the agencies.

The drywall, mostly imported from China, has been blamed for emitting sulfuric gases that corrode electrical and metal components, produce noxious odors and cause health ailments such as runny noses and headaches.

Concerned that corroded electrical wires could lead to a higher risk of fire, the commission hired Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico to conduct long-term testing. The lab purchased electrical outlets, circuit breakers, wiring and other electrical components, then subjected them to eight weeks of testing that simulated 40 years’ worth of corrosive conditions that could be found in homes with the problem drywall.

Their findings: Some components corroded faster than others, depending on how often they were used, how well they were installed or connected, and other factors. Based on that, officials revised the guidelines to recommend replacing the following items that tend to corrode faster:

• Fire-safety alarm devices, including smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Electrical distribution components such as receptacles, switches and circuit breakers.
• Gas service piping and fire-suppression sprinkler systems.

Other electrical wiring, such as that behind walls, also can corrode but not severely enough to always warrant their automatic removal, said both the agencies and laboratory.

But that recommendation was heavily qualified.

“While no fire, smoking or other safety events occurred during the course of this experiment, CPSC staff and Sandia are mindful of the limited scope and controlled conditions of this experiment,” they say in a 89-page report of their findings. “The experiment does not, and could not, possibly capture every permutation of conditions, wiring, installation, brands, environmental conditions and other possible confounding factors that are actually present in the affected houses.”

That concerns Mike Foreman, a Sarasota, Fla., construction consultant who has been researching the corrosive drywall for more than three years.

Foreman says the lab results are incomplete, noting that testing was limited to 110-volt outlets and wires with PVC insulation. Further testing needs to be done on 220-volt outlets and wires with other types of insulation for starters, he contends.

“It’s nice that they came out with this information, but it’s lacking detail,” says Foreman. “All it does is just add confusion.”

By revising their guidelines, the agencies now differ from those issued by a federal judge who is overseeing a consolidated court proceeding on Chinese drywall.

In a pair of rulings last year, U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon said all electrical wiring should be removed as part of any repairs done under the court case. A drywall manufacturer is now following that standard as it fixes 300 homes in a pilot program that could lead to a national settlement.

Several attorneys in the case say it is unlikely Fallon will change his requirements, which can cost $100,000 per home to implement, as a result of the agencies’ revision.

But the agencies now are more in line with recommendations the National Association of Home Builders issued earlier this week. Some have criticized the builders’ protocol because it does not recommend the removal of all wiring.

“Now, we have complete alignment and a sense of relief for homeowners and builders that, if there is no corrosion in the wiring, it doesn’t necessarily have to be removed,” says Katherine Cahill, product risk services managing director for Marsh Risk Consulting, who helped develop the NAHB’s standards.

(c) 2011, Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com

RENO, Nev.–The Reno Aces Baseball Club will open its 2011 home slate on April 15, and will enjoy home games on Memorial Day, Labor Day and the holiday weekend prior to Independence Day, the organization announced today.

· 2011 Aces Schedule (PDF)
· Full-season plans from just $576
· Partial-season plans from just $102

The third season of Aces baseball will again feature 144 regular season games, including 72 at Aces Ballpark. The Aces will play host to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on April 15 for the club’s home opener, which will kick-off an eight-game homestand.

Regional rival Sacramento will play eight games at Aces Ballpark, April 19-22 and May 27-30. The Fresno Grizzlies, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, will make a pair of trips to Reno on July 18-21 and August 29-Sept. 1. The Aces and Las Vegas 51s will renew the vaunted Silver State Diamond Challenge with eight games in Reno on June 21-24 and July 26-29.

Reno will play host to the River Cats on Memorial Day (May 30). The 2011 home slate comes to a close on Labor Day, Sept. 5.

Full and partial season tickets for the 2011 season are on-sale now. Full season ticket packages are being offered in six different seating locations, with a number of exclusive season ticket holder benefits available, including in-seat wait service, private autograph sessions and an opportunity to take batting practice on the Aces Ballpark playing field. The Aces will offer 36-game, 20-game and new 12-game partial plans in the 2011 season. Partial plans start as low as $102.

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates (price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

by Kathy Kristof
Friday, March 18, 2011

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Forget those phishing emails that attempt to get your credit card or bank sign-in information. When crooks want to know how to get into your bank account, they post a message on Facebook. These messages appear so innocuous and so appropriate in the Facebook setting that you are likely to not only get conned, but pass on the scam

Facebook is the new frontier for fraud, says Tom Clare, head of product marketing at Blue Coat, an Internet security company that does annual reports on web threats. In just this past year social networks have soared to 4th from 17th most treacherous web terrain — behind porn and software-sharing sites, which you probably know to avoid.

What makes Facebook so treacherous? Us.

It starts with the fact that we are inundated with requests to set up passwords to get into our work computers, our online bank accounts, Facebook and every other web-based subscription. So what do we do? We use the same password.

“Crooks understand that most users use the same password for everything,” says Clare. “If they can get your user credentials for your Facebook account, there’s a good chance that they have the password for your bank account.”

If you are smart enough to have separate passwords for Facebook and your financial accounts, crooks get at you through a variety phishing attempts that you might think are Facebook games and widgets. But look closely and you’ll realize that they deliver answers to all of your bank’s security questions — and possibly clues to your passwords — right into the hands of the crooks.

Think it couldn’t happen to you? Let’s see if you recognize any of these recent Facebook messages that jeopardize your security. All of these came from my Facebook friends in just the past few weeks:

1. Who knows you best?

The message reads:

Can you do this? My middle name __________, my age ___, my favorite soda _______, my birthday ___/___/___, whose the love of my life ______, my best friend _____, my favorite color ______, my eye color _______, my hair color ______ my favorite food ________ and my mom’s name __________. Put this as your status and see who knows you best.

How many of these are the same facts your bank asks to verify your identity? Put this as your status and everybody — including all the people who want to hijack your bank account and credit cards — will know you well enough to make a viable attempt.

2. Your friend [Name here] just answered a question about you!

Was it possible that an old friend answered a question about me that I needed to “unlock?” Absolutely. But when you click on the link, the next screen should give you pause: 21 Questions is requesting permission to … (a) access your name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, friends and any other information shared with everyone … (b) send you email … (c) post to your wall … and … (d) access your data any time … regardless of whether or not you’re using their application.

Can you take that access back — ever? It sure doesn’t look like it. There’s no reference to how you can stop them from future access to your data in their “terms and conditions.” Worse, it appears that to “unlock” the answer in your friend’s post, you need to answer a bunch of questions about your other friends and violate their privacy too. I didn’t give 21 Questions access to my information, but the roughly 850 people who joined “People Who Hate 21 Questions on Facebook” apparently have and can give you insight into just how pernicious this program can be.

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3. LOL. Look at the video I found of you!

This is the most dangerous of all the spam messages and it comes in a variety of forms, says Clare. It’s actually a bid to surreptitiously install malware on your computer. This malware can track your computer keystrokes and record your sign-in and password information with all of your online accounts.

How does it work? When you click on the link, it says that you need to upgrade your video player to see the clip. If you hit the “upgrade” button, it opens your computer to the crooks, who ship in their software. You may be completely unaware of it until you start seeing strange charges hit your credit cards or bank account. Up-to-date security software should stop the download. If you don’t have that, watch out.

Better yet, if you really think some friend is sending you a video clip, double-check with the friend to be sure before you click on the link. When I messaged my high-school classmate to ask if she’d really sent this, she was horrified. Her Facebook account had been hijacked and anyone who clicked through was likely to have their account hijacked too. That’s how this virus spreads virally.

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4. We’re stuck!

It started out as an email scam, but now the “We’re stuck in [Europe/Asia/Canada] and need money” scam has moved to instant messages on Facebook, where it can be more effective. Most people have learned not to react to the email, but instant messages help crooks by forcing you to react emotionally — They’re right there. They need help, now. A friend got one of these messages last week from the parents of a close friend. Her reaction was the perfect way to deal with it: She immediately called her friend and said “Have you talked to your parents lately?” The response: “Yeah. They’re right here.”

Facebook has launched a security system to combat account hijacking that allows crooks to send messages and posts through your account. You can get updates on what they’re doing at Facebook’s security page, where they’ve also got a nice little security quiz that’s definitely worth taking.

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates (price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

Nearly 70 percent of buyers and sellers say they believe the housing market and property values will recover in the next year or two, according to a new survey by Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services Inc.

What’s more, 86 percent of the more than 1,000 buyers and sellers surveyed believe real estate is still a good investment despite the souring market conditions in many areas the past few years.

Those surveyed said they also are ready to buy: Six in 10 respondents say they are more interested in buying real estate and 59 percent say they are optimistic about buying now with recent momentum from the economic recovery. They also believe they can get a better deal now because of lower prices.

But many survey respondents said that buying a home relies on them being able to sell their existing home. About 67 percent respondent said they are concerned about getting a fair price for their existing home.

“This survey clearly demonstrates that Americans continue to be optimistic about the real estate market and believe that home prices will rise,” says James Mallozzi, chief executive officer of Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services. “A key take away from the survey is although consumers recognize that it is a good time to buy, they are concerned about their ability to sell their homes. This is one of the reasons the market is still struggling to recover.”

Source: “Americans Confident in Recovery of Real Estate Market,” RISMedia (March 14, 2011)

Logging in allows you to save your favorite properties and get instant updates (price changes,  new pictures and open houses on the property.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

RENO, Nev. – The University of Nevada will hold a Dream Team Ring Ceremony honoring the historic 2010 Nevada football team on Sunday, March 27 at the Eldorado Hotel-Casino, the school announced today.

The brunch is open to the public. Tickets are $25 for adults and $12.50 for children 13 and under. There are VIP Sponsorship tables of 8 also available with a Wolf Pack player and/or coach joining the table.

All proceeds will go to Nevada Football Summer School Scholarship Program, which is sponsored by the Nevada Football Alumni Association. Tickets are available via the Eldorado at (775) 786-5700. The event will be held at the Eldorado Convention Center. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 10 a.m.

The Wolf Pack football team will receive its 2010 Western Athletic Conference championship rings from the 13-1 season that culminated with a victory over Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. The event will feature a silent auction, a limited-edition commemorative poster and other unique opportunities, including autograph and photo availability.

This ceremony will mark perhaps the final gathering of the special group of players that made up the historic 2010 team, including quarterback Colin Kaepernick, running back Vai Taua, tight end Virgil Green, offensive lineman John Bender, and defensive end Dontay Moch, who were all first-team All-WAC selections.

– nevadawolfpack.com –

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

The “Hardest Hit Fund” to help struggling homeowners make their mortgage payments began on February 28. Nevada is one of five original states chosen to receive money from the federal government based on the number of foreclosures and unemployment rates. Nevada is slated to receive $194 million, with $150 million available during the initial programs. The fund has 4 programs, including mortgage assistance, principle reduction, short sale acceleration, and second lien relief program. To find a list of the qualifications for this fund, or to apply, visit www.nevadahardesthitfunds.org or click here

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.