DEAR BOB: I like your idea of using a lease-option to sell houses and condos in a tough buyer's market. As a real estate agent, my question is do you set the option purchase price when the lease-option is signed or when the option is exercised? If the option price is set up-front, it seems to me that hurts the seller if home prices go up --Sylvia R.

DEAR SYLVIA: As a buyer and seller of rental houses and for my personal use, I've been using lease-options at least 25 years.  more...

Until your home sells to a willing buyer and the sale is closed, nobody knows for sure how much your home is really worth. But there are three methods that will help guesstimate your home's fair market value until you actually close the sale:

1. Internet market-value estimates. Don't laugh! In the last few years, computerized Internet market-value estimates for houses and condominiums have become remarkably accurate. My first experience with an Internet appraisal was three years ago when I obtained a home equity credit line secured by my vacation-home condo.  more...