It's never easy to say no to someone you love, especially when they come to you in need of cash. But lending a financial hand can leave you out of money and out of sorts with your friends and relatives. I often hear from people who have loaned money to someone they care about deeply, only to have to deal with the fallout when they don't get repaid.

Lenders are squeezing U.S. consumers for as much as $4.2 billion annually in the steep fees charged for payday loans, according to an end-of-year study released by the Center for Responsible Lending and other consumer advocacy groups. To pay back a $325 loan, the average payday-loan borrower pays a total of $793. The average annual interest rate on such loans runs about 400%, according to the study.

Traditionally, banks are more conservative with their investment dollars. Unlike many venture capitalists or angel investors, they are far more likely to approve a loan for an established business over a startup or emerging company. This is largely due to the fact that they are investing the money of their depositors. However, thanks to government agencies such as the Small Business Administration (SBA), which work with many banks, small business owners can get business loans from banks with a strong business plan and well-prepared business loan request.

If you've never bought a house before, much of the jargon and terminology could prove daunting. After all, who would give "discount points" or "5-1 adjustables" the slightest thought unless they absolutely had to? We've arranged this short primer on the basics of buying a home as a series of questions and answers that try to address the basic issues with which every home buyer must grapple.

The Web just keeps coming up with new ways to help make buying or selling a house easier. But the focus has gone from information to conversation; many sites are designed to enable users to freely exchange knowledge and opinions about places to live and homes for sale.

Steve Roddel was walking through a house in Fort Wayne, Ind., when he wondered aloud if there were any sex offenders living in the neighborhood. Instead of commenting on her own, the real estate agent showing the home quickly pulled out her cell phone, connected to its Web browser and brought up Family Watchdog, a national sex-offender registry Web site. Little did she know that she was standing with the site's founder and CEO. A real estate agent can be a wealth of information about a house. So a home buyer who asks what crime is like in the neighborhood might be surprised when the agent defers the question, directing a client to the Web or the local police instead.

From the standpoint of flexibility, it usually makes sense to go for the most land you can get. And that's doubly true in Silicon Valley, where lots are scarce and vacant land suitable for building often sells for more than $1 million an acre. Older homes can be remodeled and expanded; but that's not really a possibility if you have a dinky lot. "You can change the size of the house, but you can never change the size of the land," says Don Orason, a San Jose real-estate agent.

It's no secret that business has been more difficult lately for U.S. home builders -- demand for new homes saw its biggest drop since 1990 in 2006, according to the Commerce Department. Faced with rising home inventories, home-building companies are offering incentives and, in some cases, slashing prices to attract buyers. "It is the best time to buy a new house," says Harley E. Rouda Jr., chief executive officer and managing partner of real-estate firm Real Living Inc. "Builders are being very aggressive in terms of selling down their inventories."

This is one tab the house won't pick up. It's among today's most popular retirement-savings strategies: Buy the big house, hope the real-estate boom continues and then trade down at retirement, thus freeing up home equity that will pay for years of early-bird specials. Sound appealing? Trouble is, you will fork over a heap of dollars -- and you'll end up with a surprisingly small nest egg.

The dream of owning your own home is as American as apple pie--and (supposedly) better for you. Over and over, we are told that homeownership will make you happier, healthier and wealthier. Heck, it's even supposed to make you a better citizen. Of course, there are times when, depending on your age, your savings and your income, buying a home can be a smart decision and an excellent way to build wealth. But is buying a home really such a universally good idea?