Selling a Home You Half Own What happens if your soon-to-be ex-husband sells his half of your home. How do you sell a home you half own? Q: My disabled sister has been separated from her husband. Her husband signed over half of the house to his aunt. My sister never signed that deed. [...]
Home Sale Cash: Divorced Spouse Wants Her Money Q: I was divorced back in 1999, My ex-husband kept the property we bought together. I didn't get a cent when he sold it. But, I also don’t remember signing off when he sold the property. I read that I should’ve signed a special warranty deed in [...]
Estate Plan Mistake Q: I'm wondering if my husband made an estate plan mistake. He died without a will. We have one son and when my husband passed, my son and I signed an agreement that said if I sold any of the properties, we’d both need to agree to the sale. When I sold [...]
2024: Worst Year for Home Sales? Just before the election, the National Association of Realtors announced that 2024 would likely be an even worse year for home sales than 2023. It could wind up as the worst since the late 1990s. Existing home sales fell one percent in September to a seasonally adjusted rate of [...]
Avoiding Capital Gains Tax When Selling Vacation Home Q: We are selling a vacation home. We were told that we should put some of the money from the sale of the property into a 1031 to avoid paying a 28 percent tax on the sale. Is there another way to avoid paying capital gains tax? [...]
Selling Rental Properties? Real estate investor wants to know if he should sell his rental properties and invest the proceeds elsewhere Q: I am 60 years old with a pension. I've invested in rental properties in the past and currently own six rental properties. I have no mortgages on these properties and paid around $100,000 [...]
Condo deconversion is being forced on all owners. Is that fair? Q: My daughter purchased her first home - a one bedroom condominium in a suburb of Chicago back in 2017. Recently, she was notified that the building was going to go through a condo deconversion become a rental building. We are questioning all parts [...]
Primary House Tax Break Wife's name isn't on the deed. Can they still enjoy the full $500,000 primary house tax break? Q: I have a question about the primary residence tax break. I am selling my primary home in Chicago that I’ve owned for about 30 years. I owned another property in another state and [...]
Getting Rid of a Timeshare A reader has tried some common recommendations for getting rid of a timeshare, but is running into a brick wall. Q: I frequently read your column/advice in my local paper. I’ve read your advice about getting rid of timeshares. I tried one of your recommendations about calling the timeshare and [...]
Do Solar Panels Help Sell a Home? Q: We're thinking of moving to a senior living development in a few years, so we'll be selling our house. We've gotten quotes for solar and think it's the thing to do regardless of whether we'd use it long enough to pay off the initial investment. I thought [...]
