By Anne Miller You’ve crunched the mortgage rates, estimated your tax payments, and taken a realistic look at how much house you can afford. You’ve stuck within your range when scouring the realtor.com® listings, being careful not to bust your budget. But there are more expenses involved in home buying than just the property costs. And those additional payments, if you don’t factor them in, can be high enough to derail your conscientious planning. Home-Buying Expenses: Add Them Up Here are the line items you should keep in mind.   Buying Costs You’ve got your mortgag...

By Patrick Gillespie   @CNNMoney September 24, 2014 What everyone wants to know is if the economy is truly better. Is this recovery "for real"? There is so much data on the economy now, it is hard to figure out what is most important. Last week alone exemplified the flood of numbers: the Census Bureau, Federal Reserve and Labor Department released a variety of economic data points. The big news makers -- employment, inflation and gross domestic product -- are always important statistics, but if you really want to know where things are headed, there are a few lesser known indicators t...

By Kathryn Vasel  @CNNMoney October 5, 2014 Meghan Reidy really doesn't like her downstairs bathroom. "It's just ugly and is the main bathroom that all our guests use," said the Pittsburgh-based mom. She and her husband are hoping that family, friends and maybe even complete strangers can help fund the $500 renovation. Reidy posted her appeal in July on recently launched crowdfunding website FeatherTheNest.com. The website allows users to create campaigns, known as "nests," to request donations to help fulfill home-related needs: whether it's a down payment, closing costs or ...