Start With Confidence  Dealing with Realtors  House, Job, and Income  Finding the HouseWhen Renting is Better  Making the OfferWhen Buying is Better  Closing TimeIncome and Mortgage Size         Making the Offer Good real estate agents are invaluable when it comes time to make an offer on a house. Invariably the agent will provide you with a preprinted form of a purchase contract, which together you rework to fit your needs. The contract begins by identifying the focal points, buyer, seller, property location, brokers, etc., then quickly moves to the crux of the matter: the purchase price offe... view article details

For Tony Danza, having a thick regional accent keeps him working. But for the rest of us who are interviewing and looking for jobs, sounding like Snooki from Jersey Shore or Matt Damon when he played that 'wikkid smaht kid,' is not helpful. Research indicates human resource professionals hold biases against different accents, and it affects their decisions. But which accents are the worst offenders and what can you do to make sure you avoid being screened out simply for the way you talk? Read on, we've got you covered.Address the Accent All it takes is one higher-up ma... view article details

 Personal Budget Planning Builds Household Wealth  To some people, 'budget' is a dirty word. In reality a budget is just a schedule of income and expenses, a way of documenting how much money comes in and how it should sensibly be spent. There's everything to gain from sticking to a budget, but adhering to a budget is difficult for many people because it usually means denying cravings and luxuries beyond reach.Well, after all, that's the point of a budget.What percentage of your income goes to housing every month? What goes to entertainment? Knowing those spending ratios is a valuable tool to ... view article details

The Sequester, Job Search, and You A recent Gallup poll states 51% of Americans don’t know enough about the sequester to judge if it’s a good or bad thing for the economy or for themselves personally. I tend to take a more negative view. As a layperson, and a veteran resume writer, I hear from many people who feel the effects of the sequester and believe it’s a bad thing, even if those changes have not already taken place. It’s like waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop: You know something bad is about to happen, you just don’t know when.This article spells out in layperson’s ... view article details

Like it or not, at some point we all face the prospect of 'job transition.' Sometimes we take the initiative for a change of jobs and sometimes not.But, regardless of whether you've decided to move on or you are facing the harsh realities of a forced job search, you can minimize the stress involved by taking control. That's phase one of the job transition.Sounds easy enough, right? Let's look at 14 things you can do to stay cool and in control during your job search.1. Don't wait! You've seen it: Watching the ball drop as the New Year rings in or holding our breath as the detonator... view article details

Which Coworkers are the Most Annoying? Coworkers. Good ones can be the reason you stay at a job, while horrible colleagues can make every day in the office a living hell from which you’d like nothing more than to escape.If you’ve spent a few years in the ranks of the working class, you’ve no doubt experienced a cornucopia of annoying coworkers. But have you ever wondered which ones are the worst of the bunch? We did, and so I drew on my own experiences and polled other Salary.com workers to come up with the nine most annoying types of coworkers on the planet.See if you recognize anyon... view article details

Fall from Grace At exactly 9:53 AM Central Time, on June 19, Jonah Lehrer ceased to be science writing’s Wunderkind and found himself in the virtual company of journalistic miscreants who've straddled and overstepped the lines of what’s ethical in journalism. Exposed by media critic Jim Romenesko, Lehrer, the prolific writer and author of books such as 'Imagine: How Creativity works' and 'How we Decide' and blogger of counterintuitive studies and ideas, was found to have repeatedly reused chunks of his previously published work, sometimes slightly modified, in subsequent articles and ... view article details

The only way to truly get the life you want is by taking positive risks and planning a strategy for doing so.'Unlike negative risks, which are typically impulsive and emotionally driven, positive risks are calculated,' says Gail McMeekin, a nationally recognized creativity and HR career coach (www.creativesuccess.com). 'You must think them through, and anticipate what could happen,  before you jump.'Choosing to find a mentor to help accelerate your career is one way of taking a positive risk.  Develop “a road map” by first deciding if you want the mentor to be someone inside the company... view article details

There's no doubt that job seekers face more competition than ever these days. Throwing your resume into the pile can feel like throwing a penny into a fountain. With the sheer number of experienced, qualified candidates who are also competing for jobs, just making it to the interview phase can seem like an accomplishment.Always the bridesmaid? But what if you are one of those job seekers who consistently make it through several interview rounds, only to receive, in the end, a rejection letter wishing you well in your job search?Being a perpetual finalist can be inc... view article details

With the start of the New Year, employers will be finalizing their salary budgets for 2009. Many survey vendors collected, compiled and analyzed data regarding merit increases for 2009 and reported that merit budgets for 2009 were on track to remain consistent with previous years' averaging at around the 3.5% mark. As more economic turmoil surfaced toward year end, some organizations took a new look at merit budget plans for 2009 as we discussed in the article Pay Increases in 2009 May Disappoint Workers in our December 30th newsletter. Most employers are being cautious, pre... view article details