On the 1-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the “recession is very likely over at this point”.

His comments were supported by a Retail Sales report for August that was much better-than-expected.

Equities improved on the day, mortgage [...]

As downpayment requirements increase, anecdotally, home buyers are tapping 401(k) plans for extra cash.

Classified as a “hardship withdrawal”, loans against your retirement funds can be cheap and simple.

There’s no credit check or approval process There’s only a small set of paperwork Money can be available in [...]

At some point, every home fights with fruit flies. 2.5 millimeters in length, the airborne animals linger near garbage and circle fresh fruit, hanging around for weeks at a time.

Fruit flies are pests, but they can be dealt with.

In addition to the large number of

Since 2007, mortgage lenders have clamped down in many areas of underwriting, but none more so than in the area of credit scoring.

Minimum FICO levels are up 120 points or more and conforming mortgage lenders now levy large fees on borrowers whose scores are below 740.

Keeping your credit scores high is a worthwhile [...]

Once again, the country’s foreclosures are concentrated in just a few states.

As reported by foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.com, more than 50 percent of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in August occurred in just four states:

California : 25.76 percent Florida : 17.4 percent Michigan : 5.4 percent Nevada : [...]

By its most common definition, a quitclaim deed is a document by which one person passes legal and financial ownership of a home to another person.

It’s also a way for an owner of a home to remove himself from the title to the property.

Often misspelled as “quick claim deed” or “quit claim deed”, [...]

If you’ve ever dealt with a broken garbage disposal, you know that just having a plumber show up costs in the neighborhood of 65 dollars — even if the repair takes 30 seconds.

That’s why every homeowner should have basic, garbage disposal-fixing skills. Most disposal repairs are the simple kind.

In this 2-minute video [...]

Volume figures to be light on Wall Street today as traders get a head start on Labor Day weekend. It could make shopping for a mortgage a bona fide challenge.

Expect rate volatility this morning and afternoon and, therefore, by extension, expect wild swings in the Home Affordability Index.

As mortgage rates rise and fall, [...]

There are two ways to boost your personal cash flow — increase your income or reduce your spending. The former can be a challenge but the latter doesn’t have to be.

The headline of the above video — “Cut Your Spending By $500 Per Month” — is somewhat sensational but the advice given [...]

In what’s becoming a regular occurrence, housing data blew away economists expectations Tuesday.

As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, the Pending Home Sales Index posted its 6th consecutive monthly gain in July.

After a meteoric rise that started in January, the index is now at [...]