What happens when your parents die and you discover an unpaid home equity loan with an extremely high interest rate? This person inherited a house, which is in probate, but also discovered what looks like a 30-year home equity loan that carries such a high interest rate that the loan balance is never paid down. [...]
If I pay back taxes on a property do I own it? This reader wants to know how the system works and if he becomes the property owner when he pays back taxes. Q: If I pay the back taxes on a property do I own it? My parents are about to lose our family [...]
What are the terms under which your professional home inspector is inspecting the house you want to buy? Liability caps on home inspections aren't wrong, but good home inspectors should disclose this information before they're paid. Q: I was buying a house and hired a home inspector. We went through the whole inspection and I [...]
When is it a mistake to refinance your mortgage? Only if you don't know this mortgage secret: Your amortization schedule will "reset" each time you refinance your mortgage, unless you opt to refinance at a lower rate for a shorter term length. In this case, your monthly mortgage payment tends to rise, however. Q: Did [...]
When transferring rental property to your child, is it better to sell it to them or leave it to them in a will? Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages. Q: First, I always enjoy reading your advice column in the Torrance CA Daily Breeze home guide magazine. Your article today, "Selling a rental property [...]
It’s hard to find ways to save more money, and living in one the country’s most expensive cities makes that goal even more difficult. The good news? I’ve got three tips that can help you save more money without having to pack up and flee the neighborhood. Last month, a GoBankingRates study looked at the [...]
Luxury housewares are getting smarter. Smart home technology is automating everything we do at home, from turning on the lights and locking the doors to turning off the oven when we forget. When I visited the International Home and Housewares Show (IHHS) here in Chicago a few months back, there were so many new high-tech [...]
How easy is it to finance vacant land? And, is it easier to finance vacant land if you're going to build a hour or a commercial-use property on the land within the first six months of owning it? Unfortunately, it's tough to finance vacant land and if you plan to live and work on the [...]
How can you avoid paying taxes when selling a rental property to a child? You could try an installment sale. Q: We have a rental property that we would like to sell to our son and his wife. The problem is that we have not lived in the house as our primary residence for the [...]
Are we now living in a Landlord Nation? If you look at who owns rental property in America, you might think that more people are renting than are owners, although that isn't the case. In addition to our primary residence, we own one and a half rental properties. That is, we own one by ourselves [...]
