Here in the lovely state of Arizona where we live six months of the year seven inches from the surface of the sun, we usually have what we like to call a “dry heat” – not unlike an oven, if you will. However, for about six blessed weeks in the middle of all this wonderful […]

  Years ago when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created, we had some wacko thought that part of the job of the folks filling its ranks would be to . . . protect the consumer.  In some people’s view, this would mean that builders of new homes would no longer be able to dangle […]

  “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.” There are multiple jokes out there with that as the punch line, but we won’t go down that path today –it could lead to some pretty dark and/or inappropriate places, and this is a family show.  I’m not down on the government, and that’s not the […]

  All I wanted was something to drink, nothing more. It was a warm summer afternoon, and I’d been walking what seemed like a million miles –that might be a slight bit of hyperbole –to visit the sights of a well-known city here in this great country of ours.  As my thirst was getting the better […]

  What is someone’s home worth?  Short answer, of course, is whatever someone is willing to pay for it.  And if they’re buying with cash, that’s all the answer one needs, right?  So, for those of us who don’t have bags of money at our disposal, the real-life answer to that question is the amount […]