When I was shopping around for a mortgage to buy my first home, I was scared by the whole process. The amount of money I had to borrow plus the length of the loan made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be very careful about reading the fine print before signing any papers because I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about people who ended up getting burned by hidden fees and other problems.

That’s why I’m recommending that people take a proactive approach to getting the best home loan out there by using PersonalHomeLoanMortgages.com. On that site, users are able to read all about ways to avoid mortgage scams and protect themselves against fraud. After reading some of the articles and information on the site, I felt a lot more knowledgeable about the process of borrowing money for a home, and I was also able to take advantage of other free resources such as the helpful user forums and huge mortgage directory. It should also be noted that any data submitted to the site is protected by SecureTrust, users won’t be bothered with unwanted phone calls or emails.

If you’re in the market for a home loan or second mortgage, be sure you arm yourself with as much information as possible — just like I did.

Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand much about art. But after reading this story on Yahoo, I feel a lot smarter than David Martinez. You see, Martinez reportedly bought a Jackson Pollock painting from David Geffen for $140 million. The only problem? The painting looks like a 5-year-old did it. Judge for yourself:

It’s called No. 5, 1948.

Now come on — I admit that I don’t know anything about the “abstract expressionist” movement that Pollock belonged to, but what is that painting supposed to be? Does it mean anything? Why is it worth $140 million to someone? I will never understand stuff like this!

A friend of mine recently got “downsized” by his company and has had to move to a smaller apartment. Of course, he had a bunch of extra furniture and stuff from his old place that he didn’t want to get rid of, so I helped him check into self-storage options.

We spent a couple hours on the Internet and came across this great site that allowed us to Find Storage Nationwide. That site has all the information we needed right there in one place. We were able to do a whole bunch of things on the site: find local moving and self-storage companies, compare rate quotes, purchase packing supplies, rent moving trucks, and even find real estate agents. The site was extremely easy to navigate and we had complete control over which companies we wanted to submit contact information to.

I have to say that Moving.bz made my friend’s whole self-storage problem a lot easier to deal with. I think this site provides an invaluable service and I’ve already bookmarked it in case I ever need it myself in the future.

According to this Reuters article, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton has taken a new job. She’ll be working in an “undisclosed capacity” for Avenue Capital Group, a company that manages hedge funds.

I haven’t been following any news of the Clinton family since they left the White House, so I guess I never really thought of Chelsea as a working woman. But this is actually her second job; she previously worked for McKinsey & Co. (a consulting firm).

I saw this photo of her from 2004 and have to say that she looks fantastic! I remember her as that awkward teenager with big braces and frizzy hair… it must have been so hard for her to go through those years in the public spotlight. Nice to see she’s turned out well.

(Photo Credit: Mannie Garcia/Reuters)

I just got done watching the Michigan-Ball State game. The No. 2 Wolverines escaped with a 34-26 win even though they played pretty poorly. Ball State had their chances and could have pulled off a huge upset — in the Big House!!

Ball State, of course is not a ranked team and has no marquee players. The Wolverines have quarterback Chad Henne, tailback Mike Hart, and wide receiver Mario Manningham leading the way. The Cardinals should have been blown out in this game!

Let’s just hope Michigan comes out stronger for Ohio State or that game isn’t going to live up to all the hype it has already been generating.

(Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

My family and I are currently in the process of deciding where to go on our annual winter getaway. We’re leaning towards Florida and Disney World, so I’ve been doing some research about potential places to stay. Since we’re going to be there for a week or longer, I thought it might be nice to rent an Orlando villa instead of a regular hotel room. The ones on that site look absolutely beautiful and the prices are very reasonable too.