Moving to the Bay Area?

Need area information? Try the McCormacks Guide

What is title insurance? What is the closing process? Plus 5 things you should know when purchasing a home: Know Your Closing

For those of you who are new to California, you might want to know about:

• Schools: Great Schools
• Taxes: General California Tax Information
  
• Auto registration: new California residents bringing in a car or two from out of state are often surprised by the initial registration cost.Here's a link to those costs and registration fees.
  
• Bay area weather: The San Francisco Bay area has numerous "micro-climates" - areas within a few miles of each other where there can be drastic differences in temperature, humidity and sunshine - caused by ocean temperatures & moisture, the mountains and the interior valleys. Here's a couple of graphs showing average temperatures, average precipitation and temperature extremes and a link to the current forecast for the Walnut Creek Area.

EARTHQUAKES and SEISMIC SAFETY IN GENERAL: The California Division of Mines and Geology. These people are really good!Would you like to view a map of seismic fault lines in California?Want to know how our zoning and building codes stack up with earthquakes?This is a "must visit" site for California homeowners!

The League of California Homeowners was established in 1993 by a group of homeowners to provide consumers in-depth information about licensed contractors not available through the state or other organizations including lien and litigation histories, credit profiles and insurance information.Today, the organization has grown in membership to more than 6,000 consumers.