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Seller financing can be disastrous in down market

By Ilyce Glink, Friday, May 9, 2008.

Q: I am purchasing a home with a seller-financed contract. The seller still has a mortgage through the bank. I received a notice in the mail addressed to the seller that he is behind in payments and to contact them to avoid foreclosure. I left him a phone message regarding this notice, but have not had a response.

It's been two months, and now a notice was left on my door from a field inspector for the mortgage company. It appears the house is in foreclosure. Should I stop making my payments to him, since I am completely current, or should I file some type of lawsuit? Please tell me what to do.

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Homeowners with little equity struggle to pay off debt

By Ilyce Glink, Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Q: We are looking to consolidate our debt. Our mortgage lender turned us down for a home equity line of credit (HELOC), so what are our other options? We have been in our home for only 18 months so there is not much equity.

And, we have tried approval for other loans from the same lender but were denied. Should we try other lenders? more...

Don't decide on mortgage until knowing all fees

By Ilyce Glink, Wednesday, May 7, 2008.

(This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1, "Best loan in today's market: fixed or adjustable?")

A new study suggests that one of the reasons many subprime loans have failed is because of very weak underwriting. more...

Selling mom's condo becomes long-distance nightmare

By Ilyce Glink, Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

Q: I'm trying to sell a condo for my mother, who has moved to a retirement home. The first real estate agent did very little, so when the listing period expired I switched to a new one. (Both agents had been recommended.)

I told the new agent in advance I wanted frequent updates about various items. She has now had the listing for more than a month and has communicated little, despite my frequent phone calls and e-mails asking questions. If I leave a message, she does not call back. more...

Is it normal to pay multiple HOA fees?

By Ilyce Glink, Friday, May 2, 2008.

Q: I purchased a home in Homestead, Fla. The disclosure form given to me with the purchase has only two homeowner associations listed. Now the homeowner association wants me to pay for a third one. Do I have to pay for the third one?

A: Recently, there has been a flood of letters from readers on this issue. Let's start with a little history on homeowner associations. more...

Do mortgage brokers give consumers better deal on loans?

By Ilyce Glink, Thursday, May 1, 2008.

Q: I am buying a new home and want to know if there is an advantage to getting the mortgage through a mortgage broker versus one of the big banks in town. more...

Best loan in today's market: fixed or adjustable?

By Ilyce Glink, Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series.)

I've received many e-mails lately from home buyers who are worried about not being able to find a good mortgage lender.

Either they had a bad experience with their former lender or they're nervous because of all the ink they've been reading about big banks writing down their bad mortgage loans.

Choosing the right lender takes some time, effort, lots of phone calls and maybe even a few hours on the Internet, as you search through a myriad of companies offering a cornucopia of mortgage loan programs. more...

Beware of dual agent representing parents in sale

By Ilyce Glink, Tuesday, April 29, 2008.

Q: My husband and I purchased a house last August from an agent who was selling the property for her parents. She told us that she would be acting as a dual agent so that we could get a better price on the home.

This was our first home purchase so we went along with everything that she told us.

In January, we decided to sell the home in order to save some money. We found out that our septic field was not on our property. more...

Best way to evict tenant late on rent, taxes

By Ilyce Glink, Friday, April 25, 2008.

Q: I have a commercial property in Georgia. The tenant has not paid rent for 45 days, and is giving me all kinds of excuses. He failed to pay taxes for the last year and I have tried to work with him in paying those taxes in installments, but he has not paid a single payment and now has stopped paying rent as well.

What are my options? Can I change the locks and recover my losses from his belongings? Is it legal to do? Or will that cause additional problems? How can I evict him and how long is the eviction process? Can I do it myself? more...

Be careful canceling listing, selling to family

By Ilyce Glink, Thursday, April 24, 2008.

Q: If you have a piece of property listed with a real estate agent and you decide you don't want to sell it before the listing period is up, do you have the right to cancel your listing and take it back off the market?

If so, what happens if you sell in a few months to a family member who never saw the property while it was listed? Can the agent come back and demand money or sue you?

A: The real issue here is what your listing agreement says about your right to withdraw a property from the marketplace? more...

Think twice before giving home up to lender

By Ilyce Glink, Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

The current housing market malaise has some homeowners up in arms. Sure, if you're trying to sell your home to get out of financial difficulties or because you've already bought another place and carrying two mortgages is killing you financially, I can understand why you're not happy.

What doesn't make much sense to me are the dozens of readers who are ready to hand over their property to the lenders simply because their home doesn't work for them anymore. more...

Long-distance rentals prone to problems

By Ilyce Glink, Tuesday, April 22, 2008.

Q: My husband and I are Germans and own a house in Fairfax County, Virginia. As we will have to go back to Germany for a few years starting this summer, we are planning to rent out our house. We have some questions about the lease.

Our house is on a half-acre lot, with a swimming pool, hot tub and a septic tank (which will be emptied this summer). more...

Don't buy home without inspecting attic

By Ilyce Glink, Friday, April 18, 2008.

Q: We bought a home about three weeks ago and did an inspection with my stepfather who is a contractor. We failed to go into the attic.

Two days after the closing, I went into the attic. To my surprise, almost all of the rafters and the wood that holds the shingles are burnt pretty severely. I have a disclosure statement signed by the seller stating that there was no fire damage. more...

Buyer to builder: Where's my $5,000 deposit?

By Ilyce Glink, Thursday, April 17, 2008.

Q: Last year, I put a down payment of $5,000 on a home with a local home builder. I put a contingency in the contract that I needed to sell my current house before I could buy the new house.

The builder came back with an addendum stating that I needed to remove the contingency from the contract or they would sell my house to another buyer. That was fine with me. My agent says that the builder will now need to refund my down payment. I called the builder and a person who worked at the builder said I would be getting my refund soon. more...

Going green is good for consumers' pocketbooks

By Ilyce Glink, Wednesday, April 16, 2008.

Another year, another Earth Day. Looking back, is there anything you did in the past year to shrink your carbon footprint?

In our house, we've continued to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. We've turned down the heat at night (it's usually about 66 degrees in my bedroom) and piled on the fleece during the day.

I don't know if we're shrinking our electric and heating bills by that much, but it sure feels as though we should be (especially during a long, cold winter). more...

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