Hello again folks! Now, I know what most of you are thinking right now, after reading the title to this post: Are you kidding me?!? And with good reason too, I might add.

For those of you not familiar with Oakland, California, please check out their Wikipedia profile here. For the rest, let me first clarify. When I said hot, I never meant it in a positive way.

Anyways, it immediately caught my eye, when Oakland 94606 was named one of the top 10 “hottest” real-estate markets in the country, in Zip Realty’s second-quarter Home Hunter Report.

Zip Realty is an online real-estate company that went public in 2004. It turns out, that the reason they bestowed the “hottest” honor on this particular Oakland area, was based on the number of offers on homes that were higher than their lists prices. The reality is that these days, this is principally happening when bargain-basement foreclosures prompt bidding wars between buyers.

So, is this something to get excited about? Nah, not so much. It just goes to show that the media can put a positive spin on just about anything to raise public moral. The truth? The economy is just as crappy as it was six months ago, and the rich are just getting richer. Oakland residents are unable to pay for their houses, so they are losing them to foreclosure at high rates. Then, the rich scoop them up at bargain prices, and rent them back to the residents!

Nice scam, eh? That’s business! Keep it here folks. Be back in seven.

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All right folks! I’ve shown you the importance of your credit score, so today I’m going to give you some tips on how to raise it. Now, please keep in mind that if your score is tier one, there’s not much I can do for you. Not like you guys need it anyways. But for those of you in the 600s and would like to make that final leap, this is for you.

An analogy I like to make regarding improving your credit score is, that it’s a bit like losing weight. It takes time, effort, and there is no quick fix. In fact, quick-fix efforts can, and more likely than not will, backfire. Remember the whole Atkins fiasco? The best advice I can give you is to manage credit responsibly over time. Okay? Now on to the tips!

For Amounts You Owe
Keep balances low on your credit cards. High outstanding balances will negatively affect your credit score. Also, use your cards lightly. Racking up big balances can hurt your score, regardless of whether you pay your bill in full each month.

What is reported to the three credit bureaus is the balance reported on each of your last statements. That means paying off your balances each month isn’t financially smart (well, it is) because the credit bureaus just don’t care.

Here is how you can typically can increase your score in this area. Try limiting your charges to 30% or less of each card’s limit. And also pay off your debt rather than moving it around. The most effective way is to pay down your revolving credit. In fact, owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts will lower your score further.

Don’t forget to check your credit limits either. Your score might actually be lower than it should be if your lender is showing a lower limit than you’ve actually got. So call in and fix it. Most credit card issuers will quickly update this information if you ask.

Here is what I mean. If you consistently charge the same $2,000 each month, with a limit that’s still showing as $2,500, it will look like you’re regularly maxing out that card every month.

Oh, and don’t close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score. Dust off that old card you save for emergencies. The older your credit history, the better. If you stop using your older cards, the issuers may stop updating those accounts to the credit bureaus. The accounts will still appear, but they won’t be given as much weight in the credit scoring formula as your active accounts. So, I would recommend you use their older cards every few months to charge a small amount and pay it off in full when the statement arrives.

Don’t open a number of new credit cards that you don’t need, just to increase your available credit either. This approach could backfire and actually lower your credit score beacuse all of a sudden, you have a bunch of potential debt. That, and it looks like you are desparate for money to use.

Looks like this post is getting longer than anticipated. So, I’m going to leave you with a few more obvious tips and give you the rest of my pearls of wisdom next time!

Always pay your bills on time.
Pretty obvious, right? Delinquent payments and collections notices have negative impacts on your credit score. And trying to dispute them is even more of a pain. Do yourself a favor, just don’t have a late payment to begin with.

Pay down your credit cards.
Paying off your installment loans (mortgage, auto, student, etc.) can help your score, but typically not as dramatically as paying down, or paying off, revolving accounts like credit cards.

The credit bureaus like to see a nice, big gap between the amount of credit you’re using and your available credit limits. Getting your balances below 30% of the credit limit on each card can really help.

While most people recommend paying off the highest interest rate card first, a better strategy is to pay down the cards that are closest to the maximum limits.

If you have missed payments, get current and stay current. The longer you pay your bills on time, the better your credit score. Be aware that paying off a collection account will not remove it from your credit report. It will stay on your report for seven years.

Okay guys, I squeezed in as much as I can this week. Stay tuned for more!

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What’s going on guys? It’s seven days later and here I am to impart more wisdom. Lol. Today I’d like to talk about purchasing vehicles. As many of you already know, many people use cars as status symbols. Like it or not, rolling up to the valet at a nice restaurant in an Astin Martin gets you very different treatment than if you had driven up in a Honda Civic.

Personally, I love high end cars. I’d take a German, Italian, or British car over a Japanese one any day. So when I was looking to purchase my vehicle the last time, I had already ruled out all Japanese cars. Now, paying for a brand new vehicle off the lot is never a great idea, money-wise. Sure, you are getting to be the first owner, blah, blah, blah.

What I like to do is get the supercars from yester-year. I get the status, the speed, the power, but not the cost! Let me just show you my latest toy first before I go further.

Sorry folks, but this is as far as I got writing this article before I had something come up. What do I mean? Here is a photo below to start you off.

First off, I’d like to apologize for the tardiness of this post. So secondly, I’m sure you all would like to know what happened. Well, the evening started with dinner at Palomino’s, a local bar and restaurant under the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, with a friend. We had a few cocktails with our meal to de-stress and unwind, nothing major. I believe three drinks tops.

As we head home, I take the US101 and transfer to I280. As my friend and I continue our previous conversation in the car, I began to feel more and more stressed out. We were talking about bad business deals, and other personal issues. In a moment of severe bad judgment, that I have not had since I was 18, I let out my frustration on the accelerator.

Now, keep in mind that this was a M Roadster. It has a 3.2 liter inline 6 powerplant with 240 horsepower, capable of launching from zero to sixty in five seconds. Imagine what it did when I mashed it while going 55 mph. The result? Well, you’ve seen the pictures. We shot ahead at a blazing speed, only BMW knows about, until I came to my senses. Unfortunately, we ran over a pothole and was guided into a powerslide.

We drifted from lane number 3 into the center divide wall, without hitting any other vehicles. But it didn’t end there, the impact was so severe that we were bounced back across all four lanes, again without hitting any other vehicles, and into the right side wall of an exit. Miraculously, neither me nor my passenger was hurt. Somebody somewhere was looking out for us.

Special thanks to the Good Samaritan who stopped and called the cops for us. I’m sending you out good Karma. So then the California Highway Patrol showed up and tested our sobriety, which we both passed. Breathilyzer and all. Then the tow truck came and hauled away my baby forever. The lesson this time folks? Don’t be stupid. Think before you do something. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t be distracted and drive. Don’t be sad when you drink. Etc., etc. etc.

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