Your First Spring Garden

How to Create Your First Garden This Spring   From genetically modified crops to the environmental and health effects of pesticides, more and more Tri-Valley residents are questioning whether they should grow what they eat. Wherever you stand on the issues surrounding today’s food supply, however, there are several good reasons to start your own…

Food Safety Tips-Power Outage

Power Outages and Food Safety: Toss it or Keep it? It seems like the power always goes out in the Bay Area when it’s either way too hot or windy– talk about inconvenient. Also inconvenient? Not knowing whether your food is safe to eat during and after an outage. Obviously you want to err on…

Fire-wise landscaping tips

Making a Case for a Fire-Wise Landscape You’ve heard all about the record dry weather across the country, and you’ve probably heard about the increased threat of wildfires, too. But, have you considered the fire risk of your own landscaping here in the Bay Area? While there’s no such thing as a “fire-proof” plant, you…

EXPECT HIGHER-THAN-NORMAL HOME AND AUTO PREMIUM INCREASES IN 2022

We have conversations daily with our clients about the extreme rise in insurance premiums lately. We are also here to tell you give you even more bad news: This is absolutely not expected to end any time soon. Why? Historic inflation and other contributing trends have been driving up costs related to the repair and…

Are you paying too much for earthquake insurance?

Many homeowners in California are unaware that there are options for earthquake insurance; you are not obligated to California Earthquake Authority only. There are many other private insurance companies that offer earthquake insurance, and often times it is less than HALF as much as CEA! You read that right, in many areas in California we can…

Want a Safer Home? Consider these Inexpensive Fixes

Home improvement: It’s a never-ending process for many people, and for those of us who aren’t necessarily handy, it can be a hassle, too. But there are plenty of simple maintenance tasks and other improvements you can handle to make your home safer – whether you’re handy or not. And you won’t have to break…

Think Renter’s Insurance is Only for Your “Stuff”? Think Again!

Clients often think they don’t need renters insurance — “Nothing I have is worth that much,” they’ll say, or “I don’t have a lot of stuff.” That’s how most people think of renter’s coverage: protection for stuff, and nothing more. After all, it’s inexpensive and it doesn’t even cover the structure itself. So how important…

How Efficiently (or Inefficiently) Do You Use Your Heat?

Many homeowners in Livermore see their energy bills each winter and think, “How can I be spending this much when the house isn’t even that warm?” To get an answer to that question, you should start with some other questions that will help determine just how efficiently you’re heating your home. Where is the warm…

The Light Side of Home Security

Leaving your lights on — is it really a good way to keep burglars away from your Pleasanton home, or can it actually attract them? Or, is it just a “good” way to increase your electricity bill? As with so many questions in life, there isn’t one “right” answer. Using lights to enhance your home security…

Heavy Rain? Be on the Lookout for Heavy Damage

Your home protects you from the elements, but heavy rains can weaken that protection. With a little maintenance and a lot of vigilance, it’s not hard to stay safe and dry. Spring rainstorms are a fact of life in many areas of the country, and they help keep things green, even if they keep you…