baltimoresun.com - Money & Spending

Dream home: City girl, country boy compromise

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Baltimore County house close to shops, green space

When they became engaged last year, Ed Stone, a Perry Hall native and Kathy Merz, who lived downtown in Federal Hill, began to look for a home. They wanted a new place where they could start their life together.

All the right moves

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Michael Jackson wowed audiences with his singing and dancing, but his best performance may have been the handling of his will, which he nearly got perfect

D espite the high drama over Michael Jackson's estate, the late pop singer did many things right when it came to end-of-life planning.

Michael Jackson's good moves on estate planning

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Michael Jackson's skill as an entertainer was unrivaled, but lessons abound in the King of Pop's estate planning

D espite the high drama over Michael Jackson's estate, the late pop singer did many things right when it came to end-of-life planning.

Area condo sales are on the rise

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Sales of new condos in the Baltimore area are on the rise as prices drop, but the recovery still has a ways to go

P atrick Turner can tell when a prospective home buyer is probably not a Silo Point buyer.

At Work: Shreya Hessler, licensed psychologist

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Shreya Hessler, licensed psychologist, Bel Air

Age: 34

Area home sales rise, prices slip

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

June's 2% increase is first in more than two years

Sellers handed buyers the keys to more homes last month than they did a year ago, the first sales increase in the Baltimore metro area in 2 1/2 years and a hopeful sign for a housing market caught in the worst downturn since the Depression. The uptick was modest - 2 percent - but every local jurisdiction saw a gain except Baltimore, and there the loss was just 1 percent. Multiple-listing service Metropolitan Regional Information Systems said Friday that 2,375 homes changed hands.

Bad times or no, companies chart growth

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Burger, noodle restaurants, cartridge firm scouting sites

Burger, noodle restaurants, cartridge firm scouting sites

Bravo Health plans expansion to fit 200 more workers

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Office in Brewers Hill has grown to 570 employees in just a few years

Baltimore-based Bravo Health Inc. will expand its Brewers Hill headquarters with room to grow by more than 200 jobs, company officials said Friday.

May trade deficit drops unexpectedly to $26 billion

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit fell to the lowest level since late 1999 in May as exports posted a small gain while the weak American economy pushed imports down for a 10th straight month. The slight rebound in exports, combined with a slower pace of decline in imports, showed that the drop in global activity may be ebbing. Delayed revivals overseas likely will hinder a rebound in the U.S., but most analysts still expect the U.S. economy to grow a bit later this year. The Commerce Department said Friday the deficit narrowed to $26 billion, a drop of 9.8 percent from April.

State opens trade, investment office in Vietnam

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Vietnam is the latest foreign locale where Maryland will open an office to foster trade and investment, the state Department of Business and Economic Development announced Friday. The new office, to be co-located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, brings the state's total number of foreign offices to 13. As with others that opened around the world in the past year, the Vietnam office will operate on a contingency basis, with any future state funding tied to the ability to attract companies and jobs to Maryland. Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement that "Vietnam is widely regarded as having the strongest economic potential in Southeast Asia."