As a twist on the typical “Best Places To Live” surveys, CNN Money released its 2008 “Best Places to Live and Launch“.

The rankings rate the business friendliness of 296 Census-designated metro areas, and then identify that area’s town that best combine business and pleasure for its residents.

In 2008, the Top 10 Live [...]

When mortgage rates change rapidly, it’s a fiscal challenge to shop for a home and/or home loan.

Lately, mortgage rates have been especially volatile, mirroring the wild moves of the stock market.

Here’s how up-and-down stock markets have been in 2008: Through last week, the S&P 500 Index changed more than 1 percent per [...]

Each month, the Commerce Department and the National Association of REALTORS release national housing data.

The former’s release is called the New Residential Sales report and the latter’s is called the Existing Home Sales report.

Both reports highlight the “median sales price”, the point at which half of the homes in the [...]

Consumer Confidence fell to its lowest point in three years and anybody who watches the evening news can understand why.

Each day, news programs barrage Americans with tales of economic woe and American Opinion is largely shaped by the media.

After enough time, the reporting becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But, in the Consumer Confidence [...]

Each quarter, the Census Bureau releases the Homeowner Vacancy Rate, a housing statistic the measures the percentage of homes for sale that are vacant.

A home listed for sale may be vacant for several reasons including:

The home has been foreclosed and the owner has moved out The home seller moved into a new [...]

Some home improvement projects are just too big to be tackled alone.

Before you start searching Web sites for handymen, though, watch this 3-minute news piece.

Large, online, third-party search services are often reputable (including the company highlighted in the video), but, for peace of mind, the best place to find contractors is [...]

Since December 2007, mortgage lending guidelines have changed very quickly and often without notice.

Some of the more well-known changes include:

Broad restrictions on stated income home loans Broad restrictions on 100 percent financing “Risk-based fees” for credit scores under 740

Some of the lesser-known restrictions relate to property type and occupancy status as [...]

The Fed lowered the Fed Funds Rate by 0.750% to 2.250% yesterday.

Because it is tied to the Fed Funds Rate, Prime Rate also fell by 0.750% yesterday. Prime Rate is now to 5.250%.

Holders of home equity lines of credit and credit card debt benefited from the change and will see lower interest [...]

The Federal Open Market Committee meets today and will issue a press release in addition to cutting the Fed Funds Rate at 2:15 P.M. ET.

The verbiage of the press release will be as widely watched as the rate cut itself because markets are curious about how far the Federal Reserve will go to [...]

Springtime means Spring Cleaning and VideoJug’s “How to Clean a Window” teaches you the right way to get your windows sparkling clean and clear.

The 5-minute video lesson explains:

Why it’s better to clean windows on a cloudy day Why to wipe windows horizontally outside, and vertically inside Why natural sponges are preferred [...]