Melissa Bayles's (melissabayles) Blog

The 1937 opening of the Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill marked the birth of the modern landfill. Today, transporting and burying garbage is a $50 billion annual business with an estimated 3,000 landfills in operation across the country, plus an additional 10,000 municipal "dump" sites. A recen...

This week marks the start of the Refi Boom's 7th month across California ; rates have been falling since early-April 2010. Whether you're looking to refinance or buy a home, however, know that not everyone will qualify for today's low rates. Mortgage approvals are primarily based on good income,...

31 percent of homeowners say "cleaning window blinds" is their least favorite household chore. Perhaps that's because they haven't seen how simple blind-cleaning can be. In this 2-minute video from HowCast, you'll learn the basics of blind-cleaning with nothing more than a dust cloth and towel, ...

The company behind the popular FICO scoring model has published a "What If?" series for common, specific credit missteps. If you've ever wondered how your credit score would be affected by a missed payment or a maxed-out credit card, now you can use a look-up guide to assess the probable damage....

In home design, the exterior is as important as the interior. The exterior are your home's first impression while performing the double-duty of protecting living space from damage and Mother Nature. And, occasionally, you may want to make upgrades. For some people, visualizing changes to a home's...

Conforming mortgages is so named because, literally, they conform to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Of the many traits of a conforming mortgage, one is "loan size" and loan sizes have limits. Mortgages exceeding this loan size limit cannot be securitized as a co...