Several reasons to seek real estate advice

Q. I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits? (I never see anyone asking how you are when I read your column.) Now the reasons I am writing you are several.

One: how do you find out the title of a home? Or if someone owns a specific home or not? Where do you go? Is it free?

Two: I am thinking of buying foreclosed property and renting it out to college students.

• Where can I find out about the laws and rights regarding renting property?

• I can do minor repairs and plumbing.

• Is there anything else I should know about?

A. Many readers include cordial phrases like "thank you for your attention to this matter" or "I enjoy reading your column every week." It seems wasteful to take up valuable space with just the polite bits, though, so I don't usually publish them. Now for the rest of your questions:

One: The public records office, which you can find in the county clerk's office, contains information about real estate ownership in that county. You can research it online or in person, at no cost. Property tax records are also open to public inspection, and you can see where the bills are sent.

Two: If you're going to buy foreclosures and become an investor, you should have a real estate attorney to guide you through the local process. In many areas, foreclosures must be bought for all cash, and in other places with an immediate down payment and the rest within something like 30 days.

• Ask your local librarian for a couple of books on landlording. Call your nearest Realtor association and inquire about community workshops or study sessions on the subject.

• Congratulations! That's always helpful.

• My advice is to start investing in rental property with something relatively small, located close to your own home.

Q. My sister has several times tried to refinance her loan to lower her interest rate as the President suggests. Her second lender will not respond to the request for information. What can she do? The loan process expires because they don't get a response. Their lender does not care as they like the interest rate.

A. Not sure what's going on, but in any event, your sister doesn't need to refinance with her present lender. If she qualifies, she can place a loan somewhere else and use the proceeds to pay off her present (second?) mortgage.

Your reference to "as the President suggests" makes me think she may have seen the phrase in an ad from some lender. That advertiser might be a good place to contact as she starts looking for a replacement loan.

Q. Six years ago we went to the lawyer's office to have the deed changed over to the children's names on my mom's house. Now my mom is in the nursing home. We found out the house was never changed over to the children's names. Will the nursing home take the money?

A. That's a question for a lawyer who can consider her whole situation. Talk with the attorney you asked to transfer the title, or even better, a specialist in elder law.

Q. I agree with what you often say, that it takes some skill and experience to be a successful landlord. My husband and I have learned the hard way. But now we have a question we can't agree on. He just got a raise, and we'd like to use the extra money to pay down some of the mortgages on our rental properties. So is there a way to decide which to pay off? The biggest mortgage, the one with the highest interest rate or some other consideration? Would you advise just put it toward our own home mortgage?

A. You might have avoided some painful mistakes if you'd started your investment careers at the library or with local study sessions, as I mentioned above.

Without knowing the financial details of your investments, I'd say you should certainly tackle the mortgage with the highest interest rate first. That yields the best return, whether you're dealing with mortgages or debts in general.

When it's a matter of mortgages, though, there is one other consideration. It may be that one of your loans charges for mortgage insurance that can be discontinued when you've paid down the principal sufficiently. You might have a better payoff concentrating on that one. Investigate the possibility before you decide.

• Edith Lank will respond to questions sent to her at 240 Hemingway Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14620 (include a stamped return envelope), or readers may email her through askedith.com.

© 2014, Creators Syndicate Inc.