Articles filed under Lank, Edith

• Many ways to structure fees when refinancing loan Dec 15, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. In your column a reader said they were refinancing with no fees. Do you know what company is offering that deal? I owe about $31,000 and am at 7.125 percent with 13 years left on the mortgage. Refinance fees I have found are high. Would paying extra on the principal be a better option?
  

   

• On homes and real estate: If I have a buyer, should I use a broker or attorney? Dec 8, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. I will be selling my house early next year and may have a buyer. Should I use a broker or an attorney to handle the paperwork?
  

   

• Sellers obligated to leave home in ‘broom-clean’ condition Dec 1, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. I have sold my house and we are currently in the process of moving out. Are there any rules or regulations about what can be left behind that you just can't get rid of, i.e. old rusted paint cans?
  

   

• Most of the time, profits on a home sale are not taxed Nov 17, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. How old do you have to be to qualify for that homesellers tax break? Also, what is the legal age to become a senior citizen? 55, 62, 65? This is always confusing.
  

   

• The federal sales tax excluson on home sales still in effect Nov 3, 2012 12:00 AM
  A rumor is being spread that there will be a 3.8 percent tax on homes sold in the year 2013 to finance the Obamacare program. However, this belief is false.
  

   

• New tax rumors wrong to tie home sales to health care Oct 27, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. Is it true that starting in 2013 if you sell your home there will be an additional 3.5 percent sales tax on the seller to help fund "Obamacare"?
  

   

• Extra insurance covers a potential, but unlikely, closing problem Oct 20, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We have completed just about everything needed for our house refinance. We got a note from the title insurance company offering us Closing Protection Coverage. I'd never heard of this before. Should we buy it?
  

   

• It may be difficult to buy the eyesore next door Oct 13, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. A house next door to us has been empty for a few years, and the only real maintenance is cutting the grass. We'd like to purchase it and tear the eyesoar down.
  

   

• Home equity line of credit is basically a second mortgage Oct 6, 2012 12:00 AM
  I paid off my house, but I have a home equity line of credit for $40,000. The balance I owe is about $3,000. The county clerk won’t give me the deed because the $40,000 shows up in the records as a lien against the house.
  

   

• Refinancing your mortgage makes sense, despite tax deduction Sep 29, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. Please settle an argument between me and my husband. I want to refinance our home mortgage loan to a lower rate. He says the home interest deduction on our taxes saves us money and he doesn't want to lose it.
  

   

• Pros and cons of holding a mortgage Sep 21, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. I am going to sell a house I rent out, and I never went through anything like this before. What about holding a mortgage? What percentage should you get for down payment? I am over 70 years old. I want to do this myself without an agent.
  

   

• Several suggestions to look at a home’s sale differently Sep 15, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We have a beautiful home that has been on the market four months, one that our Realtor referred to as "a shiny penny." People say: "It's beautiful ... but ..."
  

   

• On homes and real estate: Can’t afford repairs Sep 8, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. My mother-in-law gave my husband, his brother, and his sister her home before she passed. It is paid off, and there is no mortgage. It is in desperate need of repairs, but none of us can afford to pay for them. Could we get a home equity line of credit?
  

   

• Near state borders, two brokers may be needed Sep 1, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We want to buy a house near the border of one state and another, and we don't know where we'll end up. One agent we like is an expert on one state but is not licensed in the other. Does that mean I'm free to have another agent looking for me there?
  

   

• Use of fees determined by condominium association Aug 25, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We purchased a condo last year. Now there's this thing called association fees we didn't know about when we purchased. We are worried about how much they will charge in the future.
  

   

• Mortgaging Barbies Aug 18, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. A writer recently wanted to know if a buyer can ask for a homeowner's Barbie dolls to be included in the sale of the house. You can include anything, but if the buyer is getting a mortgage loan, the bank's attorney might not allow it.
  

   

• Cosigner in the dark on son’s foreclosure Aug 11, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. To help my son and his wife a few years back, I consigned for a mortgage for their home in another state. When they divorced, my son's ex and her agent sent me documents to sign to sell the house. I did not know until recently that the sale fell through, and the home was foreclosed.
  

   

• Lawyer can clear up ‘cloud’ on the title Aug 4, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We bought our home many years ago and purchased a title insurance policy. Now we are trying to sell and the buyer is backing out because our title may be questionable. Isn't the title insurance company supposed to help us at this point?
  

   

• Hire one broker for multiple houses Jul 28, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. I'm getting ready to sell my father's house, and we want to sell our own home pretty soon also. Would you recommend using the same broker on both of them? Or should I sell one first and see how they do with it?
  

   

• Landlords can only deduct certain expenses from income taxes Jul 21, 2012 12:00 AM
  Q. We bought a house in January. What bills can be deducted from our income tax next year? Our costs are down payment, closing fee, mortgage insurance, house insurance, taxes (included in mortgage payment), water and trash bills. We are renting the house out. We installed a new furnace right after we bought the house.