America’s Obsession with our Homes

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House Lust Owning a home has long been considered the fulfillment of the American Dream. But in the last decade as the real estate market boomed, Americas fascination with homes turned into a frenzy. From refinancing to remodeling to flipping to find a bigger house, it has become an all-consuming passion. Our guest documents this trend in his new book. Newsweel correspondent Daniel McGinn is the author of House Lust: Americas Obsession with our Homes.
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Pros and Cons of Gift Cards Sales of gift cards last year totaled over $26 billion. About $8 billion was lost in unredeemed cards. Our guest has a website where consumers can register their cards and keep track of their balances and expiration dates. Jennifer Mathe is the COO and founder of www.leveragecard.com, a website that lets consumers better manage their cards as well as trade or sell them.
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Order House Lust On Amazon.com Jennifer Mathe is co-founder and COO of leveragecard.com Jennifer was most recently associate general counsel at a major media holding company. Before that she served as an associate at several prominent law firms, including Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advised some of the technology and media industry’s most prominent companies at various stages of their development. She was a Dillard Fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Bowling Green State University.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Daniel McGinn Daniel McGinn is a national correspondent at Newsweek, based in Boston. He writes about business and a variety of other topics. McGinn has worked at Newsweek since 1993, based in New York, Detroit and Boston. Prior to joining the magazine, he worked as an intern at Inc. Magazine and The Indianapolis Star. He has written cover stories on business leaders like Bill Ford and Jack Welch, along with cover stories on a range of other topics, from the economy to marriage to children’s television. McGinn is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College, and he also holds an MBA from Auburn University. His freelance work has appeared in Wired, Inc., Fast Company and The Boston Globe Magazine. He has appeared as a guest on NBC’s Today Show, NPR, CNBC and MSNBC. A native of New Jersey, McGinn and his wife live in Massachusetts with their three children. Click Here to Visit His Website

Jennifer Mathe Jennifer Mathe is co-founder and COO of leveragecard.com Jennifer was most recently associate general counsel at a major media holding company. Before that she served as an associate at several prominent law firms, including Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advised some of the technology and media industry’s most prominent companies at various stages of their development. She was a Dillard Fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Bowling Green State University. Click Here to Visit Her Website