welcome to "on the money." are there new rules when it comes to real estate? what home fixes give you the most bang for your buck? women still make less than men for the same work. why one lawsuit could make a difference. the sound of money. if you like to support your starving artist, there is a way to do it. don't miss this, overlooked tax breaks. "on the money" starts right now. >> this is "on the money," your money, your life, your future. now, becky quick. >> here's a look amount what's making news. a final look at the size and strength of america's economy in the final quarter of the year

was unchanged. it showed the gross domestic product rose a moderate 2.2% on an annualized basis. that is slightly below exp expectati expectations. corporate profits fell. the dow fell nearly 200 points on wednesday and the nasdaq fell by more than 2%. that's its biggest drop in nearly a year. it all came on disappointing economic news and the weakening dollar. the markets were mixed later in the week. a disappointing sign for america's economy. durable goods orders fell in february. that was well below expectations. durable good also are long-lasting manufactured items like washing machines and refrigerators and are an important factor in calculating the gross domestic product. imagine cheesy ketchup. that's not what they might have had in mind when they announceded they would emerge and become the world's fifth largest food and beverage food company. sales of existing homes rose

slightly in february over january. according to the national association of realtors. technology has changed the way we buy and sell homes. websites like zillow now make closing stats that used to be closely held. it's all available online to everyone. stan humphreys is zillow's chief economist. and author of "the new rules of real estate." so, what do you think, is it a buyer's market or seller's market? >> broadly speaking, it's still a seller's market. we think it's going to be a good selling season. i think it's -- negotiating power is moving more towards buyers this year than in prior years. >> what does it mean? can you get things like extras? can you knock off some of the price? >> well, think if you're a buyer, what's attractive is rates look very low. and there's -- because you have a little bit more inventory and prices are slowing down, sellers are having to -- they don't quite have the negotiating power

they did before. it's still broadly a seller's market. but some power starting to come back towards the buyers. >> for most people, buying a home is the biggest investment that they're ever going to make. if people are still nervous after seeing what happened to the crash, where we thought prices would go up forever, clearly not the case. is it a wise decision to buy a home? >> i think it really comes down to how long you'll be in the house is what you should ask yourself. i think back in 2007, everyone always thought the default decision was to always buy a house. appreciation was so high people didn't think about buy versus rent like they really should have. you should think about closely what you should buy or rent. a lot of it comes down to how long you'll be in the house. everyone understands if you're going to be in the house for 20 years, you should buy a house. if it's six months, rent it. what they don't understand is when those two lines cross. >> when do they? >> because mortgage rates are so low, nationally, you don't have to be in the house very long to make that decision toward also

buying. the national average is about 2.3 years. >> that's it? >> that's it. because rates are so low, if you were to say, i'm going to buy a house somewhere in the u.s., i would say, if you're going to be there more than 2.3 year, if so, buy the house. that masks a lot of variation across metros. miami or detroit, that number's closer to a year. if you're going to stay overnight in detroit, you should think maybe buying a house. in manhattan, it could be five to seven years. there's a lot of variation there. >> it used to be difficult to try and buy a house. you absolutely had to go through a realtor because they were the only ones who had the listings. they were the only ones who knew about comparable prices. technology like zillow has changed things. i go on zillow pretty frequently just to see how my neighbors are doing. various towns around us might be going for. how has that changed just the process for buying a home? >> 90% of consumers start home shopping online. so we're finding consumers are generally a lot more educated.

>> how accurate is the information on zillow? >> in terms of the actual home fact, those are coming directly from county assessors or the listers themselves. in terms of the home prices, those come in anywhere between 3 days to 3 weeks depending on which part of the country and how quickly your county tax assessor provides the information. this estimate is really being a starting point for valuation. it's something to get the conversation started. it's a good unbiased neutral estimate for what the home will sell for. we encourage people as you proceed down in the process to get that opinion refined by real estate professionals, be it agents or appraisers. >> what are some of the new rules of real estate at this point? if i can update my bathroom or my kitchen, which should i choose? what's more valuable? >> conventional wisdom says the kitchen. we crunched the data and it says it's the bathroom. kitchen's always at the top of

the list. reality, we actually took home also that have been claimed by owners and they tell us over the past seven years what they did to the house and we actually looked at what the house fetches in the open market once it sells after that improvement, what we found is the best improvement you can do in terms of roi is a midrange bathroom update. >> you can do that cheap, for under $10,000. >> much cheaper -- >> like $50,000 for a kitchen. >> anecdotically, when we talked to contractors and others, oftentimes what you want in a kitchen is very specific. so the future buyer for your home -- >> may not like what you chose. >> the back splash or the granite you picked. >> in terms of millennials, they haven't been buying homes as early as expected. what happened? are they going to buy homes? >> we think they are going to buy homes. we think aspirationally they haven't changed what they want. they're getting married later. that's a long-term change. so meaning that we don't expect it to go back to how it was.

we think people are getting married and have kids later. that's leading them. those are two big life cycle events. since those are current people buying homes later, there's also a cyclical issue that happened about the same time. and that was the economic recession. so their incomes were hit very hard during that recession. and the recovery's been very slow. by the end of this year, we think most homebuyers, first-time homebuyers, will be millennial, not gen-xers, which will be the first time that happened. >> up next, "on the money," is that glass ceiling for women really more like cement? what a trial in silicon valley might mean. and later, fan clubs in the digital age. the starving artist dilemma.

venture capital firm kleiner perkins as well as twitter and facebook have recently been slapped with lawsuits. the question is whether women are making progress on the issue of workplace equality. joining us right now is "vanity fair" contributing editor bethany mcclane. thank you for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >> obviously people are watching these trials, but i just wonder what you think the impact is when it comes to the fight for equality in corporate america. are corporations examining their own policies as a result? >> there might be some reexamination of policies but i'm not sure how much good that does. i'm a little skeptical about the broader impact. i think the broader

discrimination that happens today is a much more covert insidious kind. it's one the people doing don't necessarily realize. that makes it much harder for any kindpolicy to address it. it's more the kind of thing a woman says something and nobody here's her and the man sitting next to her says the same thing and everybody says that's so brilliant. how do you fix that with a workplace policy, right. >> this is true. it is much more subtle. it raises a lot more questions about not only what companies are doing as a result but also how women can prove situations like this. it's a much greater area. >> right. in the grayness is -- is -- in the grayness is a real problem, because i'm not sure you want policies and procedures that fix gray areas. and another woman, a senior woman, said to me when i asked her about this question, and she said, there's a reason that all these policies and procedures haven't done much. and i just don't think we get anywhere until people are willing to look in the mirror and address their own often

unconscience biases. >> we know this is a much broader situation for many industries, especially equal pay. we know we've made progress. when you look at the statistics, women are still paid about 77% of what men are paid. nursing, 9 out of 10 nurses are women, men make higher salaries there too. i just wonder what you think's happening and how we can better address this. >> right. i think there's a problem overall that is -- that the numbers sort of camouflage, right? that's the thing people don't want to talk about, which is fewer hours worked in some cases and what having children does to women. you take a perfect company, let's call it perfect company. and it has no -- a total meritocracy. everything is transparent and perfect. but if one person is working 100 hours a week and another person is working 50 hours a week, how do you possibly make the rewards equal? >> even when we get to the issue

of taking time off for kids, i mean, it may be a situation where you cut a number of hours at perfect co to 20 hours a week or you take six months off and then you come back into the workforce. it's really tough to say once they're back in the workforce there are women who say, look, i am working equally hard, you may not get as much face time from me but i'm working from home constantly. i'm not sure how to get your arm also around it. >> it's very amorphous. i did hear one sort of hopeful thing. to me, a law firm is the ultimate embodiment of this linear relationship between hours worked and profit to the bottom line because lawyers are literally paid by the hour. it's a very hard place to keep women who have had children on an equal track with men. but someone said to me, and i thought this was really interesting, you have women leaving and taking in-house roles at companies, becoming general counsels, because the hours are more manageable and the lifestyle more controllable.

those women are the ones hiring outside lawyers and they're saying, i want a woman on my team. >> you've written very specifically about the technology sector and you've done a profile and yahoo!'s ceo last year. when it comes to technology, things might actually be getting worse. women in 1991 held about 37% of all computing related jobs. today, it's closer to 26%. how do you explain or fix that particular issue? >> i think that one is another really dispiriting thing. "the new york times" did a great piece on the stanford class of 1994 and the promises of equality in this brand-new field that was a pure meritocracy and it looked at how few women had gone on to be entrepreneurs versus the same men in their class. and even across executive ranks

at established companies, the numbers are pretty shocking. and i think some of it is, this is not a good work environment for women for these more amorphous reasons we were talking about it. you look at it and you say, okay, there really is a problem. >> bethany, it's always a pleasure, i really appreciate your time today. >> thanks, you, too. up next, we are on the money. got art? how to make money online from your passions by harnessing the power of your fans. later, it's like chasing a moving target. tax rules that are changing this time around. joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis from the inside out... with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage and clear skin in many adults.

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that's a that's a popular music group on youtube. one one half of the duo was so frustrated with creating popular content and getting very little money in return he decided to launch his own start-up. it's called patrion and it allowed fans to give their favorite artists online some money. joining us to explain are the co-founder co-founders, jack and sam. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> jack, let's start with you. you had a group, putting music online and you weren't getting much back. what got you to this position? >> yes, it's the frustration of having, you know, hundreds of thousands of users or in our

case millions of views and feeling like we had this community around our work. we were reaching people. they're leaving comments. we know they're there. they're real people. then at the end of the month, after, you know, a million views, we get a check for a couple hundred dollars. and that just feels so wrong. and so it was that feeling that led to this. i spent three months working on music videos, working 18-hour days, put it out, got a check in the mail for 100 bucks. thought, nope, that's not how it's going to work. >> i can understand that frustration entirely. how does patreon work now? is this a donation or an investment in the artist right? the. >> artists sort of get ongoing funding from their fans. the idea is that patrons are sort of donating out of their good will but in terms of what they get back, it's mostly about the intimacy and interaction with artists. >> the way it works, how much does patreon keep of this?

>> we work and operate on a 5% cut which is similar to other companies like kick starter. >> i know you guys are growing quickly. delivering about $2 million a month in payments? >> yeah, that's right. we have 14,000 active creators now and we're sending them $2 million a month coelectively around the world. so yeah, patronage is a classic thing but it's basically how every great piece of art that we know was made. it was made through patronage. i'm actually really excited to see it's returning just as swiftly as it went away. >> it used to be there were a few wealthy people who would be patrons and everyone would know they were patrons. they got the prestige of having that. how are you able to convince so many people, something like 250,000 people, to give just a little bit of money anonymously? >> that's what's so wonderful. it's not our job to convince those people. it's not about convincing them. it's the creators who go out to their fans and they tell the

story i told my fans. which is, guys, i'm making stuff. i know you like it. i know you're watching it or listening to it and i'd like to get paid to continue. fans flock to the site. they can't wait to support their favorite artist. it's a natural instinct that humans have. we see something we love that's beautiful and is worth, you know, is worth our attention and our focus and we want, you know, we want to support it. we want more of it. >> sam, you mentioned both kick starter and the new tip jar feature on youtube. how is your platform different? >> i think patreon is more about supporting the artist in ongoing ways. it's about finding a way to get sustainable funding for these artists, where the artists don't have to go through and think about just building up a whole project just for their funding. >> gentlemen, thank you for joining us. i appreciate the idea of getting

paid for content. jack, i like the song, it's already stuck in my head. >> all right, yes. >> well done. >> thank you. >> thank you, guys. up next "on the money," a look at the news for the week ahead. and three weeks and counting. the tax breaks that are going away after this year. deductions and credits that can save you money. we'll have all that when we return. long-acting levemir® an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c. levemir® comes in flextouch the only prefilled insulin pen with no push-button extension. levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. that's 50% longer than lantus®, which lasts 28 days. today i'm asking about levemir® flextouch. levemir® is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic

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for you and your brother?house ♪ ♪ woooooah you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. zillow more on our for more on our show, you can go to our website otm.cnbc.com. here are the stories come up

that may impact your money this week. monday, we'll be getting personal income and spending for march. tuesday is the march reading on consumer confidence. on wednesday, watch out for pranksters. it's april fool's day. here's proof that day is meaningless. apple computer was founded on april 1st, 1976. also on wednesday, an important manufacturing index for march. and on friday, even though the markets are closed for good friday, the big number of the week, the labor department will be releasing the monthly jobs report. with less than three weeks to go until april 15th there are some expiring tax deductions and credits you need to take advantage of before they go away. your money, your future and taxes. sharon what are some of the deductions and credits that i might not know about? >> some that may go away at the end of 2014, tax year, are the ones you need to take advantage of now because it may be your last chance. one has been around for a little while. it's choosing between taking a

state income tax deduction or sales tax deduction. that's a really good tax break for those folks who live in states that don't have state income tax like florida and texas. figure out what you spent more money on if you're in a state that has state income tax and if you spent more on sales tax, you've made a big purchase like a car or boat, then you may want to take that sales tax deduction. another one is if you have a kid in college, do you want to take a tuition and fees deduction. you can still do that. you can deduct a portion of qualified expenses that you've spent, tuition and other related expenses for college. if you've done some home improvements, you could take a credit of up to $500 for those improvements that you've made. >> what about some of the tax breaks that are overlooked? are the things that we forget about? >> everybody forgets about charitable deductions. a lot of folks like to simplify things. maybe they get a charitable deduction taken out of their

paycheck. so you need to go back then and look at you pay stub and see what you've done there and maybe you've also traveled to some type of charitable event. you can take off a portion of your mileage there. so you want to look at that. the retirement savers credit is another tax credit that a lot of folks miss. for contributing to a retirement savings plan, you can get a credit of $1,000. another one that people think about is, or don't think about is, we have kids, we send them to day camp in the summer. a lot of people don't realize that. they know they can deduct day care. and nanny. but yes, you can get a tax credit for day care camp expenses if your kid's under 13 years old. >> anything new coming up this year? other alternatives? >> what's really new of course is the affordable care act. if you just check a box on the

form that says you have health insurance, you'll be okay. >> it is the most wonderful time of the year. >> it is. if you've missed any of this, a lot of folks worry, they see something like this, like, i didn't take that deduction, you can go back and amend your return all the way to 2011 if you do it by the april 15th deadline. >> if i reopen those things -- >> once you're done, you're done. >> exactly. but it could save you money. >> that's a good point. that is the show for today. i'm becky quick. thank you for joining me. next week, straight from the cow to you. is unprocessed raw milk a good idea? each week, keep it right here. we are "on the money." have a good week and we'll see you next one. the lightest or nothing. the smartest or nothing. the quietest or nothing. the sleekest... ...sexiest, ...baddest, ...safest, ...tightest, ...quickest, ...harshest...

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the jersey mob does business the way the mob has always done business -- whatever it takes. >> if you have to kill somebody, you have to kill them. >> narrator: because in this world, where salesmen carry guns and the marketing strategy is cooperate or die, there's millions to be made. >> the basic principle is fear. "if you don't cooperate with us, well, things can happen." >> narrator: new jersey's decavalcante family knows how to make big money. and for better or worse, no one knows much about them, until a television series about a new jersey mob changes everything. >> they viewed themselves as the models for "the sopranos." >> narrator: but these mobsters are deadlier than any tv family. the rise and fall of a real