The Washington Post, responding to a reader's question, has some advice for what to do when your mortgage has been paid off. Apart from paying your property taxes, and making sure the lien the lender placed on your home when you bought it is removed, there's not much of note to consider or plan for. You might also get some money back. Here's the article.

The New York Times has an op/ed exploring the racist roots of contracts for deed, which are making a comeback. Contracts for deed make price inflation possible, and appear to be quite prevalent in Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. The transactions don't require an appraisal or inspection to justify the loan amount. The article is worth a read, if only to acquaint yourself with this—shockingly still in effect—practice.

While generally everyone agrees that we, as a country, have fully recovered from the recession, pockets of the U.S. still have a long way to go. The Washington post has a comprehensive article about how certain pockets of the country are faring.

I imagine you weren't sure you were either. However, banks have you pegged as one or the other, and it contributes significantly to your ability to secure a mortgage. A transactor pays off credit card bills each month, or makes more than the minimum payment. A revolver—the less desirable of the two monikers—generally rolls balances over from month to month, making the minimum payment expected. The Washington Post has a good piece on how the banks categorize prospective borrowers.

Edward Pinto, codirector of the Internal Center on Housing Risk at the American Enterprise Institute, has a piece in Forbes admonishing that the 30-year mortgage should disappear. His primary reasons are that it fails to accrue wealth for most disadvantaged Americans. And, that it creates burdensome debt for older homeowners. You can read the article here.