FHA Loans: Return to 0% Down

A little-noticed Federal Housing Administration program will let first-time home buyers use their $8,000 tax credit for down payments or closing costs

The days of home buying with little or no money down may be back—this time thanks to Uncle Sam.

Blamed for contributing to the housing bubble, zero-down-payment loans largely vanished when the market crashed and Congress blocked seller financing for government-backed loans. Now the federal government will be forking over cash at closing. Read more

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List of Companies collecting your online activity

List of 26 companies that track your online activity, I have not included facebook or twitter in this as they do it explicitly. 7 companies including Fox Interactive Media , RadiumOne make it hard to opt-out

Trader Joe's Business Secret Recipe

Great article on Trader Joe's Business philosophy and history. ( Saw it on Yahoo ) Some take aways from the article: >> Strike a balance between choice and customer experience " Swapping selection for value turns out not to be much of a tradeoff. Customers may think they want variety, but in reality too many options can lead to shopping paralysis. "People are worried they'll regret the choice they made," says Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and author of The Paradox of Choice. "People don't want to feel they made a mistake." Studies have found that buyers enjoy purchases more if they know the pool of options isn't quite so large. Trader Joe's organic creamy unsalted peanut butter will be more satisfying if there are only nine other peanut butters a shopper might have purchased instead of 39. Having a wide selection may help get customers in the store, but it won't increase the chances they'll buy. Read More Learn M

Google at 6 - What do analysts have to say about that

Here in an article in Yahoo Finance via cnbc Remember that old saying from the 1920s retailer, John Wanamaker ? He knew half his ad budget was wasted, now if only he knew which half. Google promised to change all that. Instead of focusing ever harder on its core-providing smarter search results and better-tailored ads for what you're looking for, thereby boosting the only real revenue stream the company has-Google has wanderlust. Goes on to compare it to Sun Microsystem Read More Fools.com evaluate Google Moat and found the following For a company in a constantly evolving industry, Google has a surprisingly sustainable series of competitive advantages over its peers. Read more about the Moats fools.com analyzed (namely Intellectual property rights. Customer switching costs, The network effect, Cost advantages) Mark Hulbert: An exclusive Google birthday party Hulbert Financial Files - MarketWatch Mark Hulbert warns it's a mistake to assume other tech IPOs will see the s

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