Missing out on a home you'd like to own can be heartbreaking. But, not all home sale transactions close, so you might have a second chance. Or, you could consider making a backup offer.

A backup offer is an offer that is negotiated like any other offer until the buyers and sellers reach a price and terms that are mutually acceptable. A unique term of the agreement is that it is accepted as a backup offer subject to the collapse of a previously accepted offer that is in primary position.  more...

DEAR BOB: My mother, now divorced, owned a house with her former husband. But before the divorce papers were finalized, without my mother's knowledge he changed his title to the house from joint tenancy with right of survivorship to tenants in common. He passed away recently. Now his nephew is claiming the house under his will. My mother is still on the title and loan papers. Can a joint tenancy title be changed without permission of the other joint tenant, and is my mother entitled to all or half of the property? --Leslie LeB.  more...