Couple has several ways to pursue return of their deposit

Q. My son and daughter-in-law made an offer on a property and gave the selling broker a $3,000 deposit. The property was facing foreclosure. Two previous offers had fallen through, since there were two banks involved and they could not reach agreement on sharing the proceeds of the short sale.When the offer was made, my son was approved for a mortgage for 90 days. The negotiation between the banks took nearly five months and he was unable to obtain a new mortgage commitment. The deal was not completed. The homeowner signed a release of the deposit; however, the broker has refused to return it.What are our options? I thought the deposit was held in escrow by the broker and not in his personal funds.A. That deposit may well be where it belongs, in an escrow account.If both parties OK returning a deposit, a broker usually does so. I can't tell from your note why that's being refused. What reason does the broker give? Things often do get complicated when banks are involved.Your kids have several options. They should discuss the matter with the managing broker in the real estate office, assuming they're not already dealing with that person. They can file a complaint with their local Realtor association, if that broker belongs to it. More serious, they can contact the agency that issues real estate licenses in their state.And without much expense, they can sue the realty firm in small claims court and get a judge's opinion. Or they just may end up suing a bank.My question is if my husband and I filed Chapter 13 in 2000 and it was discharged in 2003, can I purchase a house now? I am now a widow, so I will be buying this house by myself.A. Sorry to hear of your loss. But you should be proud of completing the payback on your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Not everyone manages it.Most lenders will ignore a bankruptcy when four years have passed since the discharge, so if you're otherwise qualified, you should be able to get a mortgage loan.I am writing regarding the recent question about releasing an ex-spouse from the mortgage and keeping the original mortgage for the remaining spouse. My ex and I are legally separated. Our lender allowed her to keep the original mortgage and released me from any liability, so I was able to purchase my own home.All she had to do was provide income information. Up to the separation, I was the one who paid the mortgage, but the lender was willing to work with us.A. Nice to hear it worked out well. I suspect yours was an FHA or VA mortgage, which would have been assumable. Any FHA or VA mortgage can be taken over by the next owners of the property, if - like your wife - they can prove financial qualification. After that, the original borrowers are no longer liable.If I sell my vacation home and then reinvest the profit in another home, do I need to pay capital gains tax on the sale? Also, what amount would the capital gains tax be based on? Is it sale minus original cost and permanent improvements? Someone told us you only had to pay taxes on half of the profit.A. Because it's not your main residence, there's no special tax treatment for profit on the sale of a vacation home, even when another is purchased.It's likely your profit will be taxed at favorable capital gains rates. If it's been owned for at least a year, it qualifies for long-term rates, no more than 25 percent. Yes, cost basis includes original purchase price plus money spent on permanent improvements over the years.You can also deduct certain legal costs and other costs of selling when figuring your taxable gain.My husband and I are selling our condo, which is in a multidwelling building. We have a contract and the buyer has been approved financially. However, the loan has been denied because there are too many rentals in our building. Ratio of rentals to owners is too high.We've been told that Fannie Mae guidelines have something to do with this. We have a retirement home to go to in Florida, but we need to sell our condo.A. Evidently, a lending institution thinks the buyer has good credit and sufficient income. In that case, you may want to consider holding the mortgage yourselves. Assuming you can wait to collect your purchase price (with interest) over a period of years, that would enable the sale to go through and give you monthly income.bull; Edith Lank will respond to questions sent to her at 240 Hemingway Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14620 (please include a stamped return envelope), or readers may e-mail her at ehlank@aol.com.2010, Creators Syndicate Inc.