The Ten Best Cities to Buy In

Cities that had been hard-hit by the housing market crash now offer some of the best buys in real estate and where it makes much more sense to buy than rent, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. The bank’s study measures affordability by the share of income that Americans are paying to own a home as well as the cost of owning vs. renting.

Tigard - Many Buyers Lack Credit Score Knowledge

Many Buyers Lack Credit Score Knowledge

Some consumers lack the knowledge about credit scores, and most importantly, how you can boost it to get better deals on home loans or other type of loans.

A survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by Opinion Research asked consumers 22 questions about credit scores. On average, consumers got 60 percent of the questions right, revealing several gaps in credit score knowledge.

"They did not understand the financial cost of a low score," says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, an association of nonprofit consumer organizations. For example, a person with bad credit trying to take a $20,000, 60-month car loan, might have to pay about $5,000 or more in interest than someone with a good credit score, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and VantageScore Solutions.

Tigard - Appliance Maintenance: Heating, Venting, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

Keep your HVAC systems running efficiently and reliably with this simple maintenance routine. Here’s a list of maintenance tips to keep your heating and cooling system running efficiently and reliably:

• Every 90 days, install a new one-inch pleated furnace filter. Families with shedding pets should replace the filter every month. Expect to pay $10 to $25 per filter.
• Always maintain at least two feet of clearance around outdoor air conditioning units and heat pumps.
• Weekly in summer, brush or blow off fallen debris from top and sides of outdoor air conditioning units and heat pumps. Do not allow the lawn mower to discharge grass clippings onto the unit.

Tigard - Many Buyers Lack Credit Score Knowledge

Some consumers lack the knowledge about credit scores, and most importantly, how you can boost it to get better deals on home loans or other type of loans.

A survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by Opinion Research asked consumers 22 questions about credit scores. On average, consumers got 60 percent of the questions right, revealing several gaps in credit score knowledge.

Tigard - The 6 Most Vacant U.S. Cities

The recession and economic woes caused once-booming cities to never reach the potential that some builders had forecast in housing. Overbuilding during the housing boom era and some cities' high unemployment has left several cities across the country facing a high number of vacant homes that are blanketing their landscapes.

Forbes recently released a list of America’s Emptiest Cities, analyzing single-family and rental vacancy rates of the 75 largest metro areas across the country.

The top most vacant cities, according to the Forbes.com list are: (Note: The vacancy rates listed below are from the fourth quarter of 2010.)
1. Orlando
Home vacancy rate: 4.3 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 23.6 percent

2. Las Vegas
Home vacancy rate: 5.5 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 13.5 percent

3. Memphis, Tenn.
Home vacancy rate: 4.7 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 16.1 percent

4. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.
Home vacancy rate: 6.4 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 10.4 percent

5. Dayton, Ohio
Home vacancy rate: 3.3 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 26.4 percent


6. Phoenix
Home vacancy rate: 3.4 percent
Apartment vacancy rate: 15.5 percent

Nationwide, the single-family vacancy rate ended the year at 2.7 percent while rentals were at 9.4 percent.
Source: “America’s Emptiest Cities,” Forbes.com (March 2011)