Home flippers got a bad name during the housing boom. They sold properties for big profits in days or weeks, and the rapid price appreciation created a frenzy that led to the eventual bust.

QUESTION: I have five years left until I pay off my 30-year mortgage. I received an offer to refinance, which certainly is tempting, but I'm getting pretty close to retirement. Should I lighten my burden now or try to hold on for five more years?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The economy is slowly recovering, home values are rising again, and baby boomers are turning 65 at a rate of nearly 10,000 a day.

Why did Jones pay more for her mortgage than Smith? One possible reason is that her mortgage had features that increase risk to the lender, which charged a higher price to compensate. I call these "risk factors." Potential borrowers ought to know what they are, how much of a rate penalty they will be charged when the risk factor is present, and whether or not there is any way to eliminate or reduce the penalty.

BEACH HAVEN WEST, N.J. - The full consequences of Hurricane Sandy will be played out in a thousand personal decisions, and for families like the Wosceks, owners of a tiny yellow bungalow on a lagoon, that meant one thing:

The real estate bust idled hundreds of thousands of construction workers. Now, with housing on the mend, builders are hiring again.

Eighty houses.