What is a Mortgage?

A mortgage is a loan secured by a property/house and paid in installments over a set period of time. The mortgage secures your promise that the money borrowed will be repaid.For most of us, a mortgage is the largest and most serious financial obligation we ever make. There are many different types of mortgages, each […]


Cash For Keys

Jon Daurio, chief executive officer of mortgage investor Kondaur Capital Corp., recently offered a $4,000 check to Barry Culver for the deed to his Bryan, Ohio house. With the exchange, and a pay-off to a second-lien holder, Culver was freed of $120,000 in crushing mortgage debt on the house, said Daurio, who had bought the […]


Best Affordable Beach Resorts

From the plastic palm tree–lined beaches of the Jersey Shore to the powdery white sands of Belize, beach vacations never go out of style. “Beach destinations remain incredibly popular with travelers right now,” says Travel + Leisure A-List travel agent Kimberly Wilson Wetty; they’re “great for the time-starved couple who needs a mini-escape and perfect […]


The Strongest U.S. Housing Markets

They’re easy to overlook, with home prices plunging from Manhattan to Los Angeles and almost everywhere in between. But look at the smaller metros where housing bubbles never took shape, and you’ll find some of today’s strongest markets. Boulder, Colo.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Pittsburgh; Little Rock; and other slow-but-steady metros are now among the nation’s safest […]


10 Big Commercial Real Estate Busts

As acute as the pain has been in the U.S. housing market, commercial real estate has been no stranger to trouble. Here is a glimpse of some high-profile victims that have been claimed so far. 1. Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village Loan balance: $3 billion Size: N/A Location: New York, N.Y. It was the […]


The Richest States in America

Ever wonder how wealthy the people are in your state? Well, we do. So we decided to do a little searching and came up with a list of the states that have the most (and fewest) millionaires. To get these numbers, we used a report from Phoenix Marketing International, which determined the number of millionaire […]


World’s Billionaires 2010

Carlos Slim Helu takes No. 1 spot on Forbes World’s Billionaires list as a record 164 10-figure titans return to the ranking amid the global economic recovery. For the third time in three years, the world has a new richest man. Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil […]