WASHINGTON — There is a language of money, complete with its own vocabulary. It’s in your interest to know as much of the terminology as you can, so don’t be too embarrassed to ask what something means.

One participant during a recent online discussion asked me a question that some might dismiss as naive. But it was a question that many people should have asked before they bought their homes. After all, in a recent survey commissioned by bankrate.com, 34 percent of homeowners with mortgages didn’t have a clue as to what type of loan they had.

“There have been many stories in the news about subprime loans,” the reader wrote. “What exactly is a subprime loan? And what exactly is the problem with defaulting on a subprime loan versus a prime loan? Are there signs to watch out for when you are discussing mortgages with a bank or a lender?”

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For all the lists of “Top 10 Expensive Homes” that circle the net, if you truly want to live like a king it’s obvious that you have to become a world leader. Here’s where the heads of state rest their own heads at night.

The Chancellor of Germany


Emperor of Japan

Grand Duke of Luxembourg

King of Romania

King of Spain

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK)

President of France

President of Ireland

President of Italy

President of Panama

President of Russia

President of the Republic of Cyprus

President of the United States of America (USA)

Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Japan

Prime Minister of Spain

Queen of England

Sales of existing homes plunged in March by the largest amount in nearly two decades, reflecting bad weather and increasing problems in the subprime mortgage market, a real estate trade group reported today.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell by 8.4 percent in March, compared with February. It was the biggest one-month decline since a 12.6 percent drop in January 1989, another period of recession conditions in housing. The drop left sales in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units, the slowest pace since June 2003.

The steep sales decline was accompanied by an eighth straight fall in median home prices, the longest such period of falling prices on record. The median price fell to $217,000, a drop of 0.3 percent from the price a year ago.

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