The Ask the Real Estate Lawyer column by Samuel Tamkin answers your questions about real estate and the law. These helpful articles by Ilyce Glink and real estate attorney Samuel Tamkin cover all sorts of topics, everything from buying a vacation home to selling investment property.
Purchased Home Has Poor Kitchen Renovation
A couple buys a home with a poor kitchen renovation. They want to know if they can hold the seller accountable for the kitchen renovation. They regret buying their home with the bad kitchen renovation.
Estate Planning Includes Assets Transfer and Medicare
As parents age they may want to transfer the title of a property to their offspring. How does a property transfer affect Medicare benefits? There may be a better way to achieve the goals aside from a property transfer.
Adding Name to House Deed Without Consent
To transfer a deed to a home, the persons involved must consent. If a person wants to give a gift of real estate, they can purchase the property and deed it to someone else. But putting someone on a deed will not be sufficient to transfer title of the property to the recipient.
Getting Out Of Joint-Ownership Home
An unmarried couple buys a home in joint ownership but never cohabitates. The woman pays off the home and the joint owner wants to be paid. What are her rights under joint ownership?
Selling A Home After Quit Claim Deed
When you receive a home via a quit claim deed you can sell that home as you would any other home. Note that you'll sell the home at the same cost basis that the original owner bought the home for. Learn how quit claim deeds work compared with warranty deeds.
Property Transfer After Probate
When someone dies without a will the estate of that person goes through probate according to state law. How can family members enable a home sale when the legal status of a relationship is unclear? Hiring an estate attorney can help sort out such a property transfer after probate.
Lawsuit Over Land In Trust
When government determines property ownership, it may miss land that's not listed on tax rolls. When that happens, the property's ownership may remain unclear. In this case, land owned by an estate was left out of a trust. The estate's trustee now wants to put the land back in the trust. How can the land be returned to the estate?
Title Proves Home Ownership
Unlike for cars, states do not issues titles for property. The title you received when you bought your home proves that you own it, no matter whether it's a warranty deed, special warranty deed, trustee's deed or quit claim deed. When you pay off your mortgage you own your home in full and your lender removes its lien on your property.
Neighbor Disputes Vacated Right-Of-Way
The issue of vacated rights-of-way, streets and alleys can be rather complicated. In some cases, roads, streets, alleys and other types of rights-of-way were created from private land and in others they were created from public land.
Does Heir Pay Lien On Inherited Property?
A son inherited property from his father who had a judgment against him. A judgment may mean there is a lien on the property that the estate must pay. Generally, a lien does not go away when a person dies.