Insurance Content Index - Page 1

Having the right kinds of insurance -- including good medical, disability, automobile, homeowner, long-term care, life, and even travel insurance -- is key to good financial planning. This page about insurance gives you the lowdown on how to successfully navigate the often perplexing world of insurance coverage.

One of the fees you pay when you buy a home is for title insurance. Title insurance assures the lender that you own the home free and clear, with no liens on it. When you buy title insurance a title company will run a title search to check public records for information on the home. Who pays for the title insurance varies by state - sometimes it's the buyer, sometimes the seller. Learn the ins and outs of title insurance here.

**Fannie Mae Deed For Lease Program Rules.** Fannie Mae announced an innovate program designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Called Deed for Lease, the program allows struggling homeowners who are unable to qualify for a loan modification under the current Obama Loan Modification Plan to hand their keys over to Fannie Mae, but then rent back their house at current market rental rates. Here are the Deed for Lease program rules.

**The Fannie Mae Rental Program will allow homeowners to avoid foreclosure for a year.** This rental program or "Deed to Lease" program will allow homeowners who haven't qualified for a home loan modification or for the Making Home Affordable Act to avoid foreclosure for a year. The Fannie Mae Rental Program has specific criteria that the homeowners must qualify for, including they must live in the home as their primary residence and they can't be more than 12 months past due. Read the full article below fore more information on the Fannie Mae Rental Program.

**Divorce Decree vs. Quit Claim Deed** You get divorced. You refinance your home. Your ex-spouse gives you a quit claim deed. End of story? Not so, says this reader whose ex-spouse wants half of the proceeds from the sale of the home 13 years after the quit claim deed and and 14 years after the divorce. Does the divorce decree trump the quit claim deed? Does the quit claim deed trump the divorce decree? What should the ex-spouse get in this real estate problem.

**No Health Insurance Leaves Wife with Husband's Medical Bills And In Need Of Help** No health insurance coverage can saddle anybody with debts beyond any means of repayment. But when a loved on dies and leaves those medical debts, spouses and family members are left to pick up the pieces. Proper estate planning is a must to make sure debts can be paid after debt and that property assets go to the right people.

**$8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended and Expanded: Questions and Answers** With the extension and expansion of the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit, lots of our readers are happy. But some are rather angry. Some of the people that would have benefited from the expansion of the tax credit have purchased homes and won't get the benefit of the tax credit. Others want clarification to see if they will qualify for the "new and improved" home buyer tax credit.

**Unpaid Property Taxes Found One Year After Land Contract Signed** Land contract -- also known as installment contracts for deed -- are complicated documents. If you are not careful, you could end up in a mess. Some issues that can lead to problems in a land contract are title issues, including unpaid real estate and property taxes. But unpaid taxes could be the lesser of some of the title problems you can encounter using a land contract. This reader found unpaid property taxes from years earlier about a year after entering into the land contract.

**Short Sale Process Problems Arise When Contractor Liens Home** Short sales, foreclosures and other purchases of real estate can always lead to problems. One risk in buying a home in foreclosure or from a seller in a short sale is that the seller or the bank owner had work done on the property and the contractor never gets paid. The contractor, in this case a painter, then files a contractor lien on the home and the subsequent buyer may get stuck with the bill.

**Title Insurance May Solve Encroachment Issue** If you are buying a home and find out you may have a title problem, you should talk to the title insurance company to determine if the title problem can be insured over by the title insurance company. Many real estate properties have minor title insurance problems that are small enough that the title insurance company may be willing to give you peace of mind with coverage under the title insurance policy.

**Short Sale And A Full Price Offer** If you receive a full price offer for the sale of your home, can the lender still consider the sale a short sale? What if the full price offer covers all expenses and covers the entire amount owed to the lender, would the sale still be a short sale? This reader questions why a lender might under all circumstances consider a full price offer as a short sale no matter what.

**Taylor Bean and Whitaker Trouble: Continued Mortgage Bankruptcy Hearing Update** Mortgage borrowers are scrambling for answers as their funds have been frozen; What do you do if you receive letters from two different mortgage servicing companies claiming that each one of them is going to service your Taylor Bean and Whitaker loan? We've received an update and past court documents from the United States Bankruptcy court detailing Taylor, Bean Whitaker trouble.