Hurricane Sandy has come and gone and the Tri-State area is slowly picking itself back up. Only one question really remains at this point: will New York City be prepared for the next Hurricane Sandy? Initial reports are not necessarily good, especially with the current state of affairs in New York City. So far, there are 85 dead and counting, over $60 billion in damages, a subway system that is still not fully operational a week after it shut down, and raging fires in Queens. To top it all off, a substation belonging to Con Ed vital to keeping the lights on blew up in the East Village during the first few hours of the storm. While the firemen, police officers, and emergency workers deserve enormous amounts of respect for their service, all of this still begs the question, will New York be ready for the next Hurricane Sandy?

We've written before about the first-time home buyer's tax credit. It's been a great opportunity all along. Now here's an interesting development... As the FHA reports, the tax credit can now function as a kind of mortgage down payment. Technically, a buyer can use it as kind of interim financing known as a bridge loan or even an $8,000 cash advance.