The Real Estate Geeks: How Close Do You Live To America's Largest Landfills? - 12/20/10 09:33 AM
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 recent article by Forbes detailed the nation's 10 largest landfills, collectively profiling the structures as technology-driven, environmentally-responsible, and mostly odor-free.
The 10 largest landfills, according to Forbes:
Apex Regional (Las Vegas, NV) Puente Hills (Whittier, CA) Newton County Landfill Partnership (Brook, IN) Okeechobee (Okeechobee, FL) Atlantic Waste (Waverly, VA) Rumpke Sanitary (Colerain Township, OH) Pine Tree … (0 comments)

The Real Estate Geeks - Better Credit Scores Get Better Mortgage Rates - 12/19/10 10:18 AM

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, good equity and strong credit, and, without all three, the best rates of the day remain out of reach. Now, you can't always ask for a raise and equity is a function of the housing market, but you can do something about your credit score.
In this 4-minute segment from NBC's … (0 comments)

The Real Estate Geeks - How To Clean Window Blinds - 12/13/10 07:44 AM

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, a sponge and all-purpose cleaner, and ordinary dryer sheets.
The steps are basic:
Get the dust off with the dryer sheet Remove the blinds from the window Go outside, or find a bathtub Wash, rinse, and dry with the towel Re-attach the blinds Cleaning window blinds is a monthly activity, but with regular dusting, … (3 comments)

The Real Estate Geeks - See How Credit Missteps Lower Your Credit Score - 12/12/10 09:51 AM

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.
As published by myFICO.com, here's a few common financial difficulties and how they affect FICO scores.
Max-Out A Credit Card
Starting score of 780 : 25-45 point drop Starting score of 680 : 10-30 point drop 30-Day Delinquency
Starting score of 780 : 90-110 point drop Starting score of … (2 comments)

The Real Estate Geeks : Tools For Design : Visualize Your Home In Different Colors - 12/12/10 09:40 AM
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 exterior is easy. For others, though, there's the Better Homes and Gardens Color-a-Home tool.
Color-a-Home is a website via which homeowners can test different exterior home designs and color combinations.  Using a series of drop-down menus and mix-and-match swatch colors, homeowners can build home exterior mock-ups featuring:
New roofing New siding New windows New … (1 comments)

The Real Estate Geeks: 2011 Conforming Loan Limits : No Change From 2010 - 12/08/10 09:45 AM

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 conforming mortgage and, therefore, are ineligible for conforming mortgage rates.
Conforming mortgage rates are often the cheapest source of mortgage money for residents of California , all things equal.
Each year, the government re-evaluates its maximum allowable loan size based on "typical" housing costs nationwide. Loans in excess of this amount … (0 comments)

 
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Melissa Bayles

Long Beach, CA

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The Real Estate Geeks A Team of Prudential California Realty

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