Deborah Kearns is a freelance contributor to Fortune Recommends and an award-winning personal finance journalist and housing expert. She has held editorial and communications leadership roles at fintech companies, a global real estate brokerage and a national mortgage lender. You can find her bylines in The New York Times, MarketWatch, CNN, Forbes Advisor, NerdWallet, The Associated Press and many other publications. Deborah lives outside of Denver, Colorado, with her husband, two kids and their rambunctious rescue pup. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her on the back of a horse, singing, researching the next family trip or tackling another home improvement project.