Monday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives defeated the $700 billion “Bailout Bill”, surprising Wall Street and the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average responded by falling 777.68 points — its largest one-day loss in history and, this morning, every newspaper in America is covering the story as [...]

While home electronics advance, the basic extension cord has been slow to catch up.

This has created a size mismatch because today’s devices tend to carry large size plugs, but the standard 6-outlet power strip is only meant for “skinny” ones.

Pictured at right: the solution.

Matching form and function, the

Thursday, federal regulators seized mortgage lender Washington Mutual. The Seattle-based thrift became the third “big name” lender to close its doors since July, joining IndyMac and Lehman Brothers.

In 2007, these 3 lenders represented about 10 percent of the mortgage market and their subsequent failures are confusing American homeowners.

The most [...]

The August Existing Home Sales report was released Wednesday, showing a decline in the number of homes sold nationwide, and a reduction in the median sales price.

Not surprisingly, the media singled these two statistics out, playing them as a big negative.

They’re not.

The decline in sales wasn’t good, [...]

Earlier this year — and for the first time in its history — the FHA changed its funding fees and mortgage insurance structure.

Effective October 1, 2008, it’s repealing those changes.

Partly to keep FHA home loans affordable, and partly to comply with new laws, the [...]

Crude oil prices jumped $25 at one point Monday, ending the day up by 16 percent.

This is an unwelcome development for home buyers and homeowners alike because higher oil prices means higher commuting costs, putting renewed pressure on household budgets.

But the budgetary strains are not isolated to just oil prices. [...]

When functioning properly, gutters can extend the life of a home. By directing water away from the physical structure, gutters protect a home’s foundation, its siding, and its landscaping.

The key to reliable gutter performance is simple — keep them clean. Twice annually, experts recommend a thorough gutter cleaning and the project can [...]

Getting a great, low mortgage rate is often a combination of luck and preparation.

Consider what happened in conforming mortgages this week:

Monday, mortgage rates plunged to their lowest levels of the year Tuesday, they bounced back in full Wednesday, they clicked higher by a eighth-percent Thursday, they clicked higher by another eighth-percent

And [...]

In August, home builders broke ground on the fewest number of homes since January 1991.

It was the 16th straight month in which Housing Starts declined.

But, although the press labels these statistics indicative of a recession, home sellers nationwide quietly applaud them.

With fewer new homes [...]

For the third consecutive meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 2.000 percent.

Of interest to mortgage rate shoppers, the FOMC led its press release with comments about the health of the financial and labor markets, calling them “strained” and “weakened”, respectively. The relative weakness in [...]