CONTRACTORS GUIDE SPRING 2020 | A DAILY RECORD PUBLICATION
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CONTENTS 3 6 10 15 16 20 23
6 tips for getting a jump on spring cleaning How AI is quietly revolutionizing homebuying Washington state can’t tell if housing tax exemption working
Recovery added $11.3 trillion to U.S. housing value in the 2010s 2020: The year of the lantana, a luscious group of colors How to protect your smart-home devices Letting somebody else clean your house? It’s complicated
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6 tips for getting a jump on spring cleaning By Barton Goldsmith Tribune News Service
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e all have things to do that we hate doing, and make us uncomfortable. That being said, a little organization can ease your anxiety and actually make you feel better. We all have mindless tasks that we need to do but tend to put off for various reasons, but the truth is we just don’t choose to make the time to do them. If you approach this as emotional cleansing as well as a physical one, it will give you the added motivation you need and benefit of helping to clear out your mind. 1. Computer cleanup. Clean out your email box, update your online accounts, unsubscribe to anything you don’t read, re-set your passwords (add a password app), and delete any old files that aren’t going to be opened again. File your loose documents and make sure everything is backed up. 2. Donate your old clothes and blankets, shoes, and reading glasses. So many people can use these items you have grown out of or that no longer work for you. My feet grew a half size, so out with the old and in with feeling good about yourself for making the effort to be mindful and giving: it’s more work than just throwing things out but it feels right. 3. Consolidate your credit cards. These can collect. If they offered a bag of brown rice for signing up, I would get one: the Star Trek card didn’t even come with a T-shirt; just like the Harley Davidson, I liked the way it looked. Unfortunately, when a card came along that I wanted for the point perks, I was declined because I had too many cards. Lesson learned. Now I have only
three, and they all have perks that we actually use. 4. Clean out your junk drawers. Most of us have too many. I know of several in my office alone. Some even have themes, stuff that I had as a kid, old sunglasses, things we might need in the house but really should go to the garage. Much of this stuff can be thrown out or given away. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what needs to go where, but if you just do a little online research, you can find lots of good ideas. 5. Organize your pictures. The older you get, the more important these will become. Don’t rely on the Cloud or Facebook, but make sure you have a separate backup for photos. When your computer or phone crashes, gets stolen or lost, you will thank yourself for doing this. Special backup drives and apps are available. 6. Clean your desk. Where I once thought that a messy desk was a sign of creativity if not genius, I now appreciate being able to find things without digging through a bunch of papers. It also helps you keep better track of important things like bills from your health insurance (which I found on a messy desk while searching for a misplaced credit card). Most of us need some motivation and even a little assistance in this area. I once cleaned out a home-office desk for an old friend, and she did the same for me, and it was a great exchange. Organization will give you more peace of mind and ultimately save your most valuable asset: time. Dr. Barton Goldsmith, an award-winning Santa Barbara/L.A. based Psychotherapist, writer and radio host can be reached via E-mail at Barton@BartonGoldsmith.com. Read his blog at psychologytoday.com or follow him on Twitter @BartonGoldsmith. 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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How AI is quietly revolutionizing homebuying By Natalie Campisi Bankrate.com
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rtificial intelligence (AI) is quietly infiltrating the real estate industry — without looking like a futuristic takeover but rather a boon for buyers and sellers. Mortgage lenders, realtors, title companies, property appraisers and consumers use AI for a wide variety of purposes, including application automation, expediting processes, chatbots on real estate sites and automated valuations models, or AVMs, to name a few. “AI can benefit real estate industry participants in many ways. An example is the use of machine learning to link potential buyers with more relevant properties, creating an enhanced real estate transaction (more timely and focused),” says John D’Angelo, managing director at Deloitte Consulting LLP. “This can also make it easier for buyers and sellers to receive more personalized offerings based on their preferences. In addition, AI can reduce the transaction costs for buyers and sellers by shortening the transaction cycle.” Communication between buyers and sellers can be augmented with AI, as well, says Adrian Fisher, CEO at Property Simple. This kind of technology is a useful tool for real estate agents who want to provide fast responses to their clients, without spending resources on more staff. These cost-savings can be passed on to consumers. “Chatbots can already answer simple queries to help potential buyers find their next home. If they’re unable to provide an answer, these bots can notify human agents to take over and offer a better, more customized response,” Fisher says. “As machine learning advances, chatbots will become smarter. In the future, they’ll be 6 | 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
able to answer complex search queries proficiently, including those through voice technology.” POWER OF BIG DATA The enormous amount of data available, due in part to the digitization of information — makes AI an increasingly important tool in parsing that data in a way that’s meaningful to buyers and sellers. Ramneek Gupta, managing director and co-head of venture investing at Citi Ventures, cites two companies that are using AI to dive into big data for a more efficient and results-driven experience. Reonomy, for instance, uses AI and machine learning to automate the aggregation, clean up and feature extraction from large amounts of alternative data (information used in the investment process) on more than 50 million commercial real estate properties. “This enables both buyers and sellers to make better sourcing, pricing and buying decisions,” says Gupta. “Another example is Homelight, a company that uses AI and machine learning to improve its pricing algorithms. Homelight leverages historical data and input from homeowners and agents to come up with accurate home price estimates.” A MORE HOLISTIC EXPERIENCE There are limitations to AI, says Peggy Zabakolas, Esq., real estate broker for Nest Seekers International. Already, most homebuyers use AI to look for a home online, loading their specifications to filter properties that meet those requirements. But when it’s time to buy, AI is not equipped to understand
ACT ONE OF WHAT AI CAN DO Although AI is transforming how companies do business, it’s still in its infancy. In fact, there are major hurdles technologists and policymakers have to overcome to increase AI security and eradicate bias. Recently, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, IBM Policy Lab co-directors Ryan Hagemann and Jean-Marc Leclerc urged global regulation of artificial intelligence based on accountability, transparency, fairness and security. Their argument is that technology relies on data with “baked-in” bias, which includes discrimination against women, minorities, the disabled, older Americans and others. “I see an abundance of technology but a shortage of actionable policy ideas to ensure we protect people while allowing innovation to thrive,” Christopher Padilla, vice president of government & regulatory affairs at IBM, said in a statement. “The IBM Policy Lab will set a new standard for how business can partner with governments and other stakeholders to help serve the interests of society.”
A report issued by the FDIC in February last year showed that both face-to-face and FinTech lenders charged Latinx and AfricanAmerican borrowers 6- to 9-basis points more in interest for purchase mortgages, which is “consistent with the extraction of monopoly rents in weaker competitive environments and from profiling borrowers on shopping behavior.” In total, Latinx and African-Americans pay some $750 million per year in extra mortgage interest, according to the report. This is where policy, like what IBM proposes, becomes critical moving forward in our dependency on and use of AI. WHAT CONSUMERS SHOULD KNOW The bottom line, for consumers, is to do their due diligence when shopping for or selling a home. Leveraging online tools, like rate comparison tables, is a great way to use AI to find the most competitive rates. Although AI is a powerful tool, it can also pose security threats, so practice caution when you’re using things like electronic documents, online portals and other AI-powered technology. Make sure you have a clear understanding of security protocols in place when you send and receive documents via your lender. For example, some buyers have become victims of escrow wire fraud because they received an email from what looked like their bank asking to wire their escrow money, when in fact it was a scam artist. The unfortunate reality is that most victims of escrow wire fraud won’t recover their funds. Finally, if you’re asked to enter personal information online, like your social security number, make sure the request comes directly from your lender. Double- and triple-check online transactions to ensure you don’t fall prey to a scam, virus or security pitfall.
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the nuances of purchasing the home, which includes a detailed understanding of the market and negotiating, Zabakolas adds. She also points out that AI might not have information on all the properties available, including those that might be word-of-mouth sales. “Buyers are becoming more and more knowledgeable, which is wonderful, but when I’m going to spend millions or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a property, I want to work with a human that has expertise in negotiating and getting a deal done,” Zabakolas says. “Also, agents may know of properties off-market that AI may not necessarily have access to.”
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Washington state can’t tell if housing tax exemption working TACOMA (AP) — It’s hard to tell whether a tax exemption used to build more than $4 billion in multifamily housing projects across Washington over the past four years is working as intended as a prime motivator to drive development, both affordable and market rate. A 2019 legislative audit of the multifamily property tax exemption program blames the lack of clarity, in part, on inconsistent tracking of the program by some of the cities that use it. “It is inconclusive whether this use represents a net increase in development,” the report states. “Cities have opportunities to maximize the impact of the exemption and improve reporting on results.” Jurisdictions, including Tacoma, Olympia, Auburn and Pierce County, use the program as a means of encouraging the development of badly needed housing. Cities and counties making use of the tax are required to report results of their programs to the state, but an audit finalized in December by the state Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee found inconsistent reporting methods, and, in some cases, no reporting at all for a year or more. Among some of the different standards noted: Auburn, for example, requires audited expense records before granting the exemption, according to the report, while Lakewood is one of the few cities to analyze the effect of the exemption on a development’s profitability. In some cases, applications of the exemption have drawn questions, including granting it to a building with some units reportedly used for a time as an Airbnb. In at least two cases, the exemption was granted to assisted-living facilities. The report also notes the bulk of the units created thus far serve small households. “State law does not limit the type or size of units that may qualify. About 75 percent of the units created between 2007 and 2018 are studios or one bedroom,” the report states. “The median Washington household is 2.6 people.” JLARC officials will make a final presentation about the report to a legislative committee later in January. It will then be up to the state Legislature to determine what, if
any, fixes need to be made. All of this comes at a time with the city of Tacoma is reviewing its use of the exemption, and Olympia is facing a court challenge over its use of the program. In the meantime, the audit noted that in 2018 owners of exempt developments saved an estimated $80 million in property taxes, the bulk of that in local as opposed to state taxes. “Over the past four years, an average of $1.1 billion in new property value became exempt each year. In 2020, approximately $232 million in property value will lose the exemption and become taxable,” the report noted. “If the development trend continues, JLARC staff expect new exemptions to outpace expiring exemptions.” MFTES THROUGH THE YEARS The state’s original version of the multifamily property tax exemption was created in the mid1990s to help spur development in targeted areas as part of the Growth Management Act. Among the GMA’s top goals are reduction of urban sprawl, concentrated urban growth, economic development and affordable housing. The original version of the program created a 10-year property tax exemption. That was revised in 2007 to the current two versions, 8-year and 12-year. The 8-year version offers an exemption on the creation of four or more units. The 12-year includes an affordability component for the creation of units to serve lower income levels. Local governments can create additional requirements or restrictions. The property tax exemption can be applied to new housing construction or the increased value of a building due to rehabilitation. The exemption does not apply to the land or nonhousing related improvements. Under the population thresholds in the statute, 102 cities in Washington are eligible to offer the exemption. Of those, 49 have adopted a program. Of those, 26 have gone on to approve projects using it. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee found 424 developments had been approved for an exemption since 2007, creating 34,885 new units — 82 percent of those in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane or Renton. Of that, 21 percent are designated as
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affordable. Affordable units have steadily remained a low percentage created by the program, notably in Tacoma. A Commerce report reviewing the program in 2010 noted that between 2007 and 2010, 10 cities issued 193 tax exemption certificates during the reporting period, producing 6,326 housing units, of which 1,625 were considered affordable housing, about 26 percent. None of the affordable units created in that time frame were in Tacoma, but 968 new market-rate units were. The 2010 report stated: “Property tax exemptions appear to generate affordable housing units only when municipal ordinances require that they do and with additional incentives added.” The Commerce report’s conclusion, which came not long after the Great Recession, was that the policy goals of creating affordable and market rate were being achieved based on cities’ objectives. “Some, including Renton, Tacoma and Burien, are developing market rate housing in targeted areas and others, like Seattle, are producing affordable housing,” the report states. “The program is achieving both policy goals included in the 2007 legislation.” Flash forward to the 2019 JLARC report. “It is unclear whether and how (MFTEs) affected decisions to develop,” according to the report. “Without financial analysis by cities on proposed developments, some projects may be unnecessarily subsidized.” Meanwhile, Tacoma still lags in creating affordable units. Of the projects currently under the exemption in Tacoma, 2,034 units have been created, with 59 (2.9 percent) developed as affordable in the 12-year version, according to figures cited by planning and development staff at the Dec. 10 City Council meeting. “Tacoma is one of the cities that has used (MFTEs) the most,” Rachel Murata, research analyst with JLARC, told The News Tribune, “but Tacoma also was low with the number of affordable units created.” INCONSISTENT REPORTING BY CITIES The report cites a lack of complete or consistent filing as a problem with tracking the performance of the exemptions. “As a result, the state lacks critical
information such as the exemption value and units created,” according to the JLARC audit. The audit looked at the participating 26 cities and Pierce County, which is eligible along with other counties (but is the only participating one). JLARC staff collected data from city staff and county assessors. The audit noted: “At least 11 cities have failed to report in one or more years, while others submitted incomplete reports that make the data unreliable overall.” Olympia was one of the 11 cities, along with Bellingham, Ellensburg, Tukwila, Yakima, Auburn, Seattle, Everett, Shoreline, Vancouver, and Lakewood. Some of the cities have since pushed back on that characterization. Cities are required to report to Commerce each year that they approve exemptions. The News Tribune contacted each of the 11 cities for information on their reporting standards. The following responses were received via email: Tukwila: “Because the property owner requested that the effective year for the MFTE begin in 2019, we didn’t realize that a report needed to be filed in 2018. Due to your inquiry we are now up-to-date with our reporting.” Auburn: Community Development director Jeff Tate provided a detailed response regarding Auburn’s reporting methods compared with state filing requirements. “My reading of this language has been that the city is to file a report annually, however, I read that to mean that we would file a report when we enroll a property during that year. And, that if we don’t enroll any properties in a given year there is no need (to file) ...” “It does ... look like we overlooked filing one of our properties with Commerce,” he noted. “It looks like in 2015 we reported the Trek multifamily property to Commerce and that in 2017 they don’t have a record of us reporting the Merrill (Gardens) property.” The Merrill Gardens property comes up in another part of the audit report, where it found provisions implemented in some cities that “may differ from statutory intent or state guidance.” Two assisted living facilities, Merrill Gardens in Auburn, and Vineyard Park in Mountlake Terrace, received the exemption, running counter to the Department of Revenue’s interpretation of qualifying projects. “I am not sure why the King County Assessor includes the words ‘Assisted Living’ for the building description,” Tate wrote. “There are 129 units in the building and 114
are independent living while 15 units are dedicated to memory care units, which means that they are more secure and offer some assisted living support. But the majority of the building is simply age-restricted multifamily.” Mountlake Terrace officials did not respond to request for comment on Vineyard Park receiving the exemption. Seattle: “The City of Seattle Office of Housing has filed an annual report with the Department of Commerce each year since the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program began in 2007 (the program was authorized by local ordinance in Seattle in 2006).” It attached to its response to The News Tribune its annual reports for 2011, 2017 and 2018, “which the Joint Audit and Legislative Review Committee cites as missing.” “The Office of Housing typically submits reports to the Department of Commerce in March for the prior calendar year, as the reporting requirement ... requires jurisdictions to report of the value tax exemptions for each project receiving a tax exemption. This tax information is not available from the King County Assessor’s Office until mid-February of the following calendar year. “We recognize RCW 84.14.100 states reports should be filed by December 31, each year. However, current year property tax information (i.e. 2020) is not available until mid-February. ...As a result, it is not possible to provide the value of the tax exemption in the report as required by section (g) of the statute until after that information has been made available. The City of Seattle is advocating to change the date of the reporting requirements to align with the availability of tax information, as part of a proposed amendment to the MFTE legislation.” The city also noted that its Office of Housing “provides extensive reports on the MFTE program to the Seattle City Council each year in September and March, as required by city code.” Everett: “We make every effort to submit the report on time, and if we miss the deadline, the report is typically submitted shortly thereafter. For 2019 ... our report was submitted yesterday morning (Jan. 7).” Vancouver: According to JLARC’s review: “Vancouver reported several projects in two separate years, sometimes before construction was complete and sometimes after, for a total of 12 reported projects when there were only 6.” “The City of Vancouver has reported consistently throughout the program,” wrote Peggy Sheehan, program manager with the city’s Community and Economic
Development Department. Lakewood: “The city of Lakewood files reports on an annual basis in accordance with Department of Commerce requirements,” the city said in a response to The News Tribune. “That has included submitting a report in years when no multifamily tax exempted properties were approved to indicate that there were no approved projects that year, as required by Commerce. “In the years where projects are approved, Lakewood went beyond the requirement for reporting. In 2019 we not only provided an accurate report, we also provided spreadsheets with calculations to show our work. “To date, the Lakewood City Council has approved five multifamily tax exempt projects in the city. These five projects total 482 units. Of these five, two no longer possess a tax exemption because the period has expired. “In the years that the city filed an annual report and completed the Department of Commerce forms for applicable projects, the Department of Commerce never contacted the city indicating these forms or annual reports were late or missing information. “With regard to the (JLARC research) that lists Lakewood having not filed a report in 2010 and 2014, we went through our records and found our annual report from 2010. We are not sure why the whitepaper does not indicate receipt of that annual report. The city has no record of a project in 2014.” No responses were received by The News Tribune from Bellingham, Ellensburg, Yakima or Shoreline. QUALIFIED FOR EXEMPTIONS? One property receiving the exemption in Olympia was reported to be renting out units on Airbnb. JLARC said they learned of the Airbnb case after it was brought to light in reporting by The Olympian in March 2019. “At the time of this report, the city stated it was investigating the matter and that the question of short-term rentals was not clearly addressed by statute,” JLARC’s report stated. Since then, the listings appear to have been taken down. In another case, the report found a different use of the 12-year “affordability” version. Under the 12-year exemption, a project must make at least 20 percent of its units affordable to low- and moderate-income households; only one unit is required at minimum as a low-income unit to meet the requirement, according to the Department of Revenue. The report found that “at least one city continued on next page
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continued from previous page allows the requirement to be satisfied if units are affordable only to moderate-income households.” That city is Spokane. Teri Stripes with Spokane’s Planning and Development Services told The News Tribune via email that its affordable level in the 12-year version is set up to 115 percent of AMI and pointed to the city’s shortage of units. “At the time and we still do, have only about a 1 percent vacancy rental rate, and rents were and still are rising rapidly for our market,” Stripes said. “… Until our supply and demand problems resolve, the intent is to spur construction of multifamily units and to keep a portion of them in the affordable range and not at market driven rent levels. Market rate projects (not income qualified) can still qualify for MFTE but only for the 8 year exemption.” RECOMMENDATIONS AND HURDLES The legislative auditor recommended to the Legislature that the program be modified to make cities include analysis of profitability “as a consideration in offering or approving exemptions.” That would include:
Analysis of a development’s profitability with and without the exemption. For affordable housing, city-specific income and rent limits. It also recommended that the Department of Revenue report on which “statutory ambiguities” could be resolved through guidance and which ones required actual statutory changes. “These include items such as the timing of new construction, eligibility of assisted living facilities, composition of low- and moderateincome households in affordable units, and inclusion of short-term rental units,” the report states. Those recommendations weren’t fully embraced by Revenue or Commerce. The Department of Revenue, in a response included in the report, contends that “local jurisdictions ... are in the best position to report to JLARC and the Legislature “ in how to move forward to address the ambiguities in MFTE program, but it will, “upon request,” provide guidance to local jurisdictions and county assessors. The Department of Commerce noted it didn’t have the staff, budget or authority to create reports on compliance but was considering revisions to the MFTE reporting
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form “to request additional information from reporting cities for the 2019 reports.” It also noted it was open to working with the Legislature if amendments were considered. Tate of Auburn had his own suggestions moving forward as far as how cities provide MFTE project information to the state. “One suggestion that I would make for this process is that it should be easier to figure out how to report to Commerce,” Tate said. “I would also mention that Commerce (and other State departments) do a really good job of sending cities and counties annual emails that prompt us to report a variety of other types of information (housing unit surveys, population estimates, etc.). Perhaps there is a way for cities to receive an annual email that prompts us to file an annual MFTE report?” Tacoma has put on hold an overhaul of its MFTE program, after seemingly moving ahead in December with changes. At the end of a Jan. 7 study session, Mayor Victoria Woodards said a measure will be back for council consideration after the state Legislature ends this year’s session in March. “We’ll wait until after the session ... it’s not going away but it makes sense to wait for the state to finish doing what it may do,” Woodards said.
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Recovery added $11.3 trillion to U.S. housing value in the 2010s PRNewswire — The total value of every home in the U.S. is $33.6 trillion, nearly as much as the GDP of the two largest global economies combined -- the U.S. ($20.5 trillion) and China ($13.6 trillion) -- according to a new Zillow® analysis. Since 2010, when the market was battling to regain its footing in the wake of one of the largest housing downturns on record, the national housing market added $11.3 trillion in value -- a more than 50% increase. About 14% of that gain was from new stock entering the market, with the remainder from increased values of the existing stock, underlining just how much home values rose during last decade’s recovery and then explosion. California lives up to its Golden State nickname, making up a whopping 21.2% of the nation’s housing value with 12% of the populationi. To put that into context, the next most populous state, Texas, makes up 8.8% of the U.S. population, but only 5.9% of the country’s housing value. To exceed the $7.1 trillion worth of homes in California, you’d need to combine the next four states on the list —New York ($2.7 trillion), Florida ($2 trillion), Texas ($2 trillion) and Washington ($1.1 trillion). With $66 billion each, North Dakota and Wyoming have the smallest shares of the U.S. housing market. At a more local level, three metros are beyond the trillion-dollar barrier — New York ($3.2 trillion) Los Angeles ($2.5 trillion) and San Francisco ($1.6 trillion). Los Angeles was the only market to add more than a trillion dollars of housing during the 2010s, adding $1.1 trillion. Three of the five metros that gained the most value were in California, as San Francisco ($827 billion), New York ($657 billion), San Jose ($360 billion) and Seattle ($356 billion) followed Los Angeles at the top. While California cast the biggest shadow in the nation’s housing growth for most of the decade, more recent trends paint a different picture. The typical home value in California was growing at more than 20% annually for a period between the end of 2013 and early 2014, an incredibly rapid pace, but one that is also unsustainable. By the end of the decade, annual appreciation in California had slowed to less than 2%, allowing Texas to surpass it as the top contributor to the growth in value of the U.S. housing stock -total housing in Texas grew $89 billion over 2019, compared to
$77 billion in California. At the metro level, Washington, D.C. ($38 billion), Phoenix ($30 billion) and Seattle ($30 billion) have added the most value since the end of 2018. Two large metros lost value over this period -- San Jose, down $49 billion, and New York, down $46 billion. “In 2010, Americans were grappling with falling home values, unsold subdivisions, and sky-high foreclosure rates, while policymakers were working to stimulate demand,” said Zillow Economist Jeff Tucker. “A decade later, we’re facing a very different set of challenges, as a persistent shortage of new homes and starter homes has kept home prices rising out of reach for many wouldbe first-time home buyers. More and more of the nation’s wealth is now tied up in our homes, as workers in some of the world’s most economically productive cities, such as San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle, have raced to get a foothold in homeownership there, driving up prices with their fierce competition. Most of this growth has come from rising prices for the same homes, not from actually building more homes, a troubling trend when it comes to affordability.” In the vast majority of the country, home value appreciation accounted for most of the growth in the total value of the housing stock last decade, including 86% of the growth nationally. However, two fast-growing markets, Charlotte and Austin, saw a greater share of growth come from new homes. That’s not to say that home value growth was slow in these markets -- home values have outpaced the national average in both Charlotte and Austin since 2010 -- but the rate of new construction has been so great as to exceed that growth. 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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2020: The year of the lantana, a luscious group of colors By Norman Winter Tribune News Service
H
ats off to the National Garden Bureau for designating 2020 as the year of the lantana. If you are looking for a flower that gives vibrant color from late spring through frost, then the lantana is probably the plant for you. This does come with a WARNING. You will most likely have tigers, zebras and some flashy ladies hanging around your garden all growing season. The passion for pollinators is skyrocketing and you can hardly do better than lantana. My suggestion would be to pair it with salvia the 2019 Plant of the Year and you’ll want to invite the neighbors over to not just see the beauty, but to experience the Serengeti-like activity in the garden. The lantana is related to the verbena and, in fact, has a common name of shrub verbena; in the last decade, the number of varieties has exploded. The Garden Guy likes bold colors but you may want those a little more subdued. The Garden Guy likes those 24 to 30-inches in height with an equal width especially since I will be combining with Rockin salvias, Blue Boa Agastache and Vermillionaire cuphea. My son, on the other hand, works with varieties that require a small chainsaw or hedge trimmer and that’s ok, too. Today’s newer varieties have been selected for non-stop blooming vibrant colors that will make your landscape look like Carnival in Rio. I haven’t planted lantanas at my home and I can hardly wait for spring. There is, no telling what varieties your favorite garden center will have on the shelf. Most of the country grow lantana as annuals while zones 9 and warmer may choose to let them become perennials. Their incredibly long season of bloom makes them at 16 | 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
the top of the list of value for your garden dollar. Keep your eyes open for the Luscious series coming from Proven Winners. This group that boasts 10 colors has garnered an unbelievable 231 awards from trial gardens throughout the country. This year’s new Luscious Goldengate has already won 22 awards. The Garden Guy is going bold and can hardly wait to get the iridescent orange Marmalade, the Berry Blend featuring shades of fuchsia with red and yellow, and Citrus Blend a shocking red, orange and yellow. These will go in the backyard with an assortment of salvias including this year’s new Rockin Blue Suede Shoes. Besides the ability to withstand torrid heat, and a wide variety of soil conditions the lantana seems to be a real favorite of both butterflies and hummingbirds. It’s not uncommon to go to a garden center that has several lantanas and get the feeling you are on a National Geographic photographic shoot. Remember sunlight is a key ingredient for the real blooming to occur. While they aren’t finicky on soil, I seem to always have clay. Therefore, I like to incorporate a little organic matter to help with not only drainage but good root expansion for the new plants. Plan on spacing your pants 2- to 3-feet apart depending on your variety. Throughout the season don’t be afraid to prune a little as needed to maintain size or shape or to stimulate new growth and more blooms especially during the August blitz of heat. Fertilizing is no big deal with lantanas but they do respond with a light application as a little pick me up in mid-summer. Those in containers being watered daily need regular fertilization. As a pollinator lover, here is a hearty thank you to the National Garden Bureau for making 2020 “The Year of the Lantana” and from this growing season onward may we always include them in the landscape.
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How to protect your smart-home devices
By Marcia Heroux Pounds Sun Sentinel
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o your holiday gift was a new smart-home device. It could be Amazon’s Echo, often called “Alexa,” or Google Home using “Siri,” which provide music, news updates and other information features; iRobot Roomba to clean your floors; the Ring doorbell, or a smart TV for voice-command video. Maybe you’re thrilled with your gift, or maybe you’re a bit wary, given recent reports of cyberhacking of some devices. Internet-oriented devices can make life simpler, through voice-activated commands and remote operation, but they also can allow access to cyberhackers looking to steal your personal information. “Everything is hackable. If you can access it, others can access it,” said Yair Levy, director of the Center for E-learning Security Research at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. “Any new device you add, you add another (security) hole.” Still, billions of smart-home devices have been sold. “Some people are saying, ‘I don’t care,’ ” said Levy, who teaches his students about the hacking dangers of smarthome devices. But if you’re still sold on the convenience of using an Alexa or a Roomba, here are some expert recommendations for setting up and operating the device: READ THE MANUAL Don’t skip over the instruction manual for your smarthome device, which has important information that could affect you down the road. “You’re so excited to play with the new device that you go ‘yes,’ ‘yes,’ ‘yes’ while setting up the device,” observed Tim
20 | 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
Rader, director of product development for security company ADT. The Boca Raton-based company developed the Alexa Guard app to integrate its security product with smart-home devices. “Don’t be in too much of a rush,” he said, saying that there may be options that could have an impact on privacy and security. Change the device’s password Many smart-home devices come with a manufacturer’s password to set them up. Don’t use the device with this password because it’s easily found online. Create a unique password for the device, and not one you’ve used for another account. Reza Azarderakhsh, associate professor of computer science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, said that while changing the password for your device is always a good idea, it shouldn’t give you a false sense of security. “It doesn’t make you secure against a serious cyberattack,” he said. So step it up by changing your password every 90 days, another expert says. Rader recommends consumers find a “scheme” that will help them remember a password, such as the words from a song you like. Then mix the words with lower and upper case letters, numbers that are not repetitive, and special characters, such as an ampersand, asterisk or dollar sign. USE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION Better yet, more smart-home devices are adding two-factor authentication, which means you’re providing another piece of information beyond a password. Often it’s a randomly generated code. After some reports of login information being exposed on the Ring doorbell device Ring, more than 3,000 users were
urged by Ring to change their passwords and use two-factor authentication. That followed reports of both police and hackers gaining access to Ring video footage. Some lawsuits have been filed against Ring and Amazon, now Ring’s owner. Rader said ADT’s doorbell video product also uses twofactor authentication. But consumers must choose that option when setting up the product. “Pay attention and go the extra step,” he said. Consumers should know that ADT has no access to a customer’s doorbell video, Rader said. Police could only have access with a subpoena, he added. Azarderakhsh said while two-factor authentication is better that just a password, consumers have to keep using the two factors to be effective. He said a preferable way to thwart hacking is to disconnect your smart-home devices from your internet network when not in use. Rader said concerned consumers might consider unplugging their device at night, or when on vacation. MANAGE LISTENING Much has been written about the Alexa device’s recording capabilities. Is Alexa listening to you? Yes, because that’s how the device works. But Alexa’s recordings and information requests can be deleted, Rader said. Here are Amazon’s instructions: go to “Manage Your Alexa
Data”on the app. Then to “automatically delete recordings,” where you can select “off.” Then choose a time period to keep your voice recordings and select “confirm.” CHECK OTHER DEVICES Rader operates his Roomba through ADT’s app, which he says provides a “higher-level” of security, but he said the robotic vacuum doesn’t have to be connected to the internet to operate. To turn off the Wi-Fi on Roomba, do a “reset” by depressing all three buttons on the vacuum cleaner — clean, spot clean and home — at once and holding them down until you hear a tone, according to owner iRobot. The smart TV you may have bought over the holidays also can connect to the internet, which allows streaming services such as Netflix. But smart TVs may have microphones that allow users to change the channel by voice and turn up the volume, and some have built-in cameras used for facial recognition to suggest programming, according to a recent FBI public service announcement. “As we bring more and more technology into our homes, we need to be aware of its capabilities, its limitations, and some basic questions people should ask relative to its presence in their lives,” said Beth Ann Steele, a public information officer for the FBI.
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Letting somebody else clean your house? It’s complicated By Debra-Lynn B. Hook Tribune News Service
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never knew what a bad housekeeper I was until I let a good one clean my house. I never knew my formerly white bathtub could still be that white. Or that my living room curtains, circa 2007, could be washed right in my own washer. And then ironed. I never knew a cuffed sheet could be folded to look like a ream of Xerox paper. Or that the inside of a refrigerator could look like a Hallmark card. At first I felt guilty when my friend Paula, a professional house cleaner, came to do the basics. There I sat on the couch, incapacitated with a leg injury, while she expunged the viscera of my toilet. Next was shame, especially when she said: “I would have vacuumed your room except it took me four hours to clean your stove top.” Then, like a small child who’d never had sugar before, came a newfound dependence, bordering on mania, for all things sparkling clean. “Wow, after you do the bathtub on Monday, could you come on Tuesday and dust-mop the walls and on Wednesday, vacuum the basement and then on Thursday, wash the windows?” I said from my perch next to my crutches. As time went on and even the top of the fridge got cleaned, I was hooked. Funds earmarked for Christmas were given to Paula as I came to forgive myself for not wanting to get on my hands and knees with her. Some people got the deep-clean gene. As for the DNA my mother passed along, unless she was having a dinner party, she also didn’t support scrubbing kitchen cupboards, sucking up cobwebs with her Kirby attachment or dusting.
When in doubt, blame your mother. Also Netflix, which is infinitely more alluring than dusting window screens. That, and gender equality. Ever since Betty Friedan, surveys have continually reminded us that even full-time working women still do more household chores than men. Y’all aren’t going to spend all your leisure hours perfecting the home? Me either. Let me, by the way, say here I’m not a total slob. I adhere to minimum standards of order and cleanliness. I vacuum rugs and wash dishes. I take out the trash and clean the toilet. It’s only if you were to take a white glove to the top of the door jambs that you would know. And who does that, except for holdovers from the 1950s when Mr. Clean was getting paid to make ads to guilt women into polishing their faucets? It’s not so many generations ago that women’s identities were tied to the beauty of their homes. As for me, thanks to Paula, I have successfully moved through the multiple stages of letting somebody else scrutinize the gunk in my bathroom tile grout. Like Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ stages of grief that end with acceptance, I have moved into the joie that can only come when I wake from a nap to find my bed has been made around me. Like all good things, of course, this one had to come to an end. As the crutches went, so did Paula, who is not a line item in the budget. Which leaves all those cobwebs, heretofore unseen by me, now utterly visible to my more attentive eye. I can only invoke what I know. I am considering taking a broom to the ceiling and sweeping them all under the bed. Debra-Lynn B. Hook of Kent, Ohio, has been writing about family life since 1988 when she was pregnant with the first of her three children. E-mails are welcome at dlbhook@yahoo.com. 2020 SPRING CONTRACTORS GUIDE
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