I look in many places to find content and try to answer questions where people are looking for answers. I recently started working with a fitness trainer, Mike Sweeney of Sweeney's Gym on Howell Ave in Milwaukee. We started talking about what it is I do for a living. When I told him he said that his clients, the people in his business network and charitable organizations he helps are always talking about the state of the housing market. The fact that people are upside down on their mortgages is...

Wisconsin First time home buyers usually start searching for a home with wide eyes and big dreams. Dreams are great and should be pursued with great gusto. But this does not mean that people should get a house at the very end of their income. Here are some guidelines for setting up a budget for that first home purchase.

• Acceptable mortgage payment – Most experts

...

Until I was 8 I thought I was Episcopalian like my mother. When I found out I had actually been baptized Lutheran like my father, I found a nearby church and went to Sunday school there. Out of 4 kids I was the only one who went. I woke my dad up so he would take me and I loved it! I was an active member for the next 30 years - Sunday school teacher, summer Bible camp counselor, etc. but never got into Evangelism. It was more about helping others in a group and kids having a healthy up bringing....

I have seen my share of issues over the last 11 years with the appraisal process. Recently we are seeing an abnormal amount of fallout from needed repairs on a property. Lenders will not refinance or extend money for the purchase of a property that needs work.

Currently 25% of all homeowners are under water on their mortgages. That number could increase as housing values are expected to slip another 5 to 10 percent this year. That means the lenders are underwriting the home as much...

It is way too uncomfortable out there - what did they do in the old days? Well the sun was probably not as hot it is now, shining through aluminum nanoparticles giving it that halogen light look, you know artificially bright? I am getting so tired of looking up and seeing those guys spray trails, as if they and their own families are not going to breathe it too.

I am old enough to remember the sun being an orange ball behind a beautiful deep blue sky. Haven't seen that in years....