Money Minute: Best Deals for Homebuyers; Amazon Free Streaming Service?

Some surprising names top a list of cities with the best deals for buying a home.

First time home-buyers have had trouble taking advantage of the housing market recovery, but realtor.com says that could be about to change. Pittsburgh tops its list of the best cities for first-time homebuyers, with a median listing price of just $135,000. Next on the list is the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area in Florida, followed by the Philadelphia-South Jersey area, Fort Worth, Texas, and Orlando.

The real estate website says these areas all have an increasing inventory of homes for sale and an unemployment rate that's below the national average.

Netflix (NFLX) and Google's (GOOG) YouTube are about to get a major new competitor. Amazon.com (AMZN) reportedly plans to offer free TV and music streaming, with advertising, for members of its Prime service. %VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%The Wall Street Journal says the new service will feature some original series and use its own video-streaming device. Amazon issued a vague denial of the report, but does have a major announcement scheduled for next week.

Walmart Stores (WMT) has filed a $5 billion lawsuit against Visa (V). It claims the credit card company charges unreasonably high fees every time a shopper swipes a Visa card. Walmart, Target (TGT) and other retailers have been fighting against so-called "swipe fees" for more than a decade. If Walmart wins, it could pass along the money to consumers with lower prices, or it could pocket the money for itself.

Here on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 4 points Thursday, the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 22 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) edged 3 points lower. The S&P is now virtually flat so far this year.

Finally, if you haven't tried the Diet Coke Slurpee yet, you may have missed your chance. Despite good reviews, Coca-Cola (KO) and 7-Eleven have pulled the frozen concoction after just one month on the market. The companies say they were having quality control issues. Apparently the artificial sweeteners don't freeze as easily or consistently as sugar and corn syrup.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.