Existing home sales jump 12%...

(Via CNN Money) NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Sales of existing homes jumped in December, marking the fifth month of gains in the past six months, based on an industry report released Thursday. Previously-owned home sales climbed 12.3% in December to an annual rate of 5.28 million, from 4.70 million in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. That puts sales at the highest level since the homebuyer tax...

10 Tips for Getting the Biggest Tax Refund...

Tax refunds can feel like Christmas in springtime. With a sudden boost to your bank account, you can look forward to going on a shopping spree, catching up on debt or squirreling the refund away in savings. While you can’t control the fact that you have to pay taxes, you can control how big of a refund is in your future. Some of the following suggestions still apply for 2010, while you can use others in years to...

Recycling Tips...

Most cities have a recycling program in place, but if you’re like me, you’re probably not totally sure about how the program works, or what you can and cannot recycle. I gathered this information from the Recycle City website to help us understand the recycling process for our cities. Enjoy!  The Three “Rs” of Recycling  The three R’s in the same order: reduce, reuse, and...

New home sales climb – but recovery is slugg...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — New home sales edged higher in November, but the recovery remains sluggish. Sales of new homes rose 5.5% to an annual rate of 290,000 in November, the Commerce Department reported Friday. And while that shows improvement, sales are still off 21.2% from a year ago. The results also fell short of analysts’ expectations. Housing experts at Briefing.com expected sales to increase to a...