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Baby boomers spark second-home surge abroad Premium Content

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, November 30, 2005.
Editor's note: The second-home or vacation-home market is a booming niche that's vastly different than the market for primary homes. Many foreign buyers are playing a larger role in second-home purchases in the U.S., while many domestic buyers are crossing the border for their second homes. In this three-part series, we examine the fast evolving second-home market, looking at the trends of foreign buyers coming to the U.S., U.S. buyers looking outside the borders, and how booming second-home markets impact affordability for everyone else.  more...

Federal law bars government from real estate land grab

By Robert Bruss, Wednesday, November 30, 2005.

In 2001, the federal government (Internal Revenue Service) filed this lawsuit to foreclose on a 60-acre property owned by J. Leonard Padilla and Rose Moreno-Padilla. The $239,284 IRS tax liabilities of the property owners arose out of unpaid income taxes for 1996 and 1997.

When the Padillas bought the property, they borrowed $25,000 secured by a deed of trust on the property.  more...

Stained bathtub gets shine of a lifetime

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, November 30, 2005.

Q: Do you have any advice for whitening a bathtub that has rust stains and other stains from when I stored a blue suitcase in it two years ago?

The tub has also lost its gloss from all of the scouring I have tried over the years. Is there any way to restore the shine if I ever do get it white again?

How about the bathtub refinishing kits from the hardware store? Do they look OK if an ordinary mortal uses them? Do the results ever streak or peel? Also, you should know that it's not my tub. I'm a renter.  more...

Can unique loan affect calculation of real estate tax?

By Robert Bruss, Wednesday, November 30, 2005.

DEAR BOB: I have a negative amortization mortgage on my rental property. I pay only the minimum required monthly payment, which doesn't even cover the full interest payments, so my mortgage balance keeps growing. When I sell or do an Internal Revenue Code 1031 tax-deferred exchange, how will my capital gains be calculated? Will the interest I didn't pay affect the calculation of my capital gain? – Hazel O.

DEAR HAZEL: No. Your mortgage balance has absolutely nothing to do with your capital gain when selling real estate.  more...

Code confusion sparks water heater dispute

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, November 29, 2005.

Dear Barry,

We just replaced the gas water heater in the underground garage of our apartment building, but the building inspector will not approve the installation. The raised platform is only 15 inches high, but the inspector insists on an 18-inch platform to comply with code. The problem for us involves the location of the water supply connections. We cannot raise the platform without costly alterations to these pipes. Is there any way that we can be granted an exception to the 18-inch platform requirement?  more...

Pros and cons of do-it-yourself home sale

By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, November 29, 2005.

If you are thinking about selling your house or condo without a professional real estate agent, first read "For Sale by Owner" by Steve Berges. It will alert you to the pros and cons of selling alone, presumably because you want to save the sales commission.

Author Steve Berges is an experienced home builder and real estate broker with more than 25 years experience selling homes. He obviously knows what he writes about.  more...

Driving the freeway to nowhere

By Arrol Gellner, Tuesday, November 29, 2005.

Charles Kuralt, the longtime "On The Road" correspondent for CBS News, once observed that, "thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything."

Since Kuralt made that comment a generation ago, things have only gotten worse. Nowadays, instead of not seeing anything, we just see the same things over and over, no matter where we go. Although the interstate system crisscrosses some of the most splendidly varied landscape on the earth, it has also helped make traveling that landscape an experience of unparalleled monotony.  more...

Dryer venting a serious necessity

By Paul Bianchina, Tuesday, November 29, 2005.

Most people know there's a pipe on the back of their clothes dryer, and that it needs to be connected to the vent pipe that's coming through the wall or floor in their utility rooms. The common solution is to grab a piece of flexible plastic hose from the home center, stick it between the two pipes, slide the dryer in place, and forget about it. But venting a clothes dryer is a lot more than that, and it's something that needs to be taken a lot more seriously then it typically is.

There are two basic reasons why a clothes dryer needs to be vented.  more...

Perfectionism pays off in real estate

By Alison Rogers, Monday, November 28, 2005.

I'm...meticulous. The quality of my work is shown in a fierce attention to detail, an ability to make sure that everything is just right and double-checked.

In other words, I don't trust other people. And that's putting it mildly. Agent Mulder here is often sad that there are even other people in the world, people without the same attention to detail that makes me so meticulous. Or in the words of my husband, "crazy."

(Technically, I know crazy is just one word, but he's used it several times.)  more...

Navigating the sale of your real estate business Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, November 28, 2005.

(This is Part 6 of a six-part series.  more...

Massive ant invasion pits tenants against landlord

By Robert Griswold, Monday, November 28, 2005.

Question: My girlfriend and I recently began renting a nice home. About a month after living here, ants began to invade. They started in the kitchen, and then appeared in the bedroom, living room and bathroom. I have found them on the outside of the house as well. We keep the house looking nice and clean. We have tried to get rid of them with over-the-counter ant killers, but with this many, we really need an exterminator. We notified our landlords about the problem, but they do not want to pay for an exterminator.  more...

How long should you take to pay off your mortgage?

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, November 28, 2005.

(This is Part 4 of a seven-part series.  more...

Holiday season ideal time to buy real estate

By Robert Bruss, Monday, November 28, 2005.

Are you a serious home buyer? If you are, get ready for the best time of the year to purchase.

Between now and New Year's Day, or even Super Bowl Sunday in many communities, you will have little or no competition from other home buyers.  more...

Should I postpone buying if housing market is slowing?

By Dian Hymer, Monday, November 28, 2005.

The word is out that the home sale market has changed. Interest rates are rising and, in some areas, homes are selling at a slower pace than they were a year ago. So buyers are finally gaining an edge. And this could be a good time to buy before rates rise further.

An increasing number of homeowners are convinced that now is a good time to sell, so the inventory of homes for sale is increasing. Why are more sellers willing to sell? They fear that the change in the market might lead to lower home prices going forward.  more...

Small real estate inheritance sparks taxation

By Robert Bruss, Wednesday, November 23, 2005.

DEAR BOB: In 2000, my wife's parents both passed away within a month of each other. They left their estates to my wife and her brother. The estate was worth more than $650,000 so they paid estate taxes. Part of the estate was a property in Sarasota, Fla. At the time of the inheritance, it was valued at $1,600. My wife and her brother recently sold that property for $53,000 and split the proceeds. Do they need to pay taxes on the $53,000? How can they avoid paying taxes?  more...

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