Selling a home for less than it is worth, even to a family member, has implications for your taxes. Q: My nephew bought my mother’s house four years ago for around $400,000. At the time, my mother was having financial issues and needed money. He is now willing to sell it back to her for [...]
When you sell your home, you have to pay taxes on the sale. As in this reader's case, factors like a transfer of homeownership can affect the taxes you pay. Q: I have read several questions on your site related to quitclaim deeds and the cost basis when the house is sold. My question is [...]
We often get questions about prepayment penalties and whether the penalty period will apply if a homeowner sells the home rather than just prepays the mortgage. Q: I just signed a contract on my house with a closing at the end of next month. I also bought a new house with same closing date. I [...]
When the weather in much of the country turns colder, people increasingly choose indoor activities. Weather affects activity on the housing market as well. Demand for houses often conforms to business-driven “on” or “off” seasons, so the sale of your home is affected both by nature and what we do during each season. Which season [...]
When buying or selling a home, you may find that you are sharing more sensitive personal information than at any other time in your life. Aside from Social Security numbers and addresses, which are key pieces of information that an identity thief needs, you’re also handing out detailed financial statements, work history, tax information, a [...]
You’ve may have read that you should prepay your mortgage early to save on your total interest payments. But if you have refinanced or purchased a home recently, you may be one of the millions of homeowners whose mortgage is at historic or near-historic low interest rates. Odds are possible that rates won’t be this [...]
Following the housing bubble burst in 2007, when home values fell by 60 percent or more in some areas, approximately 23 percent of homeowners owed more on their mortgages than their houses were worth by the end of the third quarter of 2009. The lack of equity froze these homeowners in place for years, leaving [...]
After the housing bubble burst and the recession hit, many homeowners had trouble paying their bills. Some lost their homes, while others opted to sell their homes in a short sale. This gave buyers a great opportunity to purchase homes at less-than-fair market value. In a short sale, the lender agrees to accept less than [...]
Thinking of selling your house on your own? Real estate listings have migrated to the Internet, where interested buyers can find your house in a single click. Could selling it be more difficult than selling an antique through an online auction site? Is the money you’d save on paying a real estate commission worth the [...]
