If your loan modification is not enough, you might want to sell your home and find a more affordable home. Q: The good news is that we got a loan modification. Unfortunately, the amount is now too high because my husband's income has decreased. My income is just enough to cover our house payment and [...]
If you can't afford your mortgage, you should try to sell your home in a short sale. Q: I live in Georgia and have a house that I bought last year. Unfortunately, I can’t afford the house any longer. I’m not sure what to do. Should I do a short sale or should I just [...]
What does the coming year promise for residential real estate investing? Will it be a good time to try your hand at buying a foreclosure and renting it out? Will rising home values be a positive or negative factor? Where will the best markets be for investors? For investors, who account for one out of [...]
Need to sell your home fast? Easy tips on selling and buying a new home, including applying for an equity line of credit. Q: I have a problem that I think others in my age group at least, might share. I am retired and over 70 years old. I want to move away from where [...]
Getting rid of a timeshare can be a tricky business. Follow the advice below to sell or otherwise get rid of your timeshare and avoid timeshare scams. Q: I am successfully retired after making very good personal money decisions for 50 years. I think I’ve only made 3 huge mistakes: I did not buy Home [...]
A quitclaim deed conveying the title of a home to a living trust can result in a stepped up basis when selling the home, but if it is unrecorded it likely will not be of any help. Q: In response to your recent article about a father who transferred title in his home to his [...]
Taxes owed when selling a home that is not your primary residence. If you are selling a home that is not your primary residence, you will have to pay taxes if you made a profit. Q: I recently sold a townhouse and was concerned about how much tax I would be responsible for paying. Basically, [...]
Everybody is looking for a quick sale of their property. If a homeowner can't sell using normal real estate channels, then maybe non-conventional sales can be effective. You can try to use a real estate broker to sell your property, but if you have tenants in the property, you might try to see if they are willing buyers of your home. If they are, you can sell them the home outright or you can decide if you want to sell it to them by other means. One way to entice a tenant to buy the home is to offer them a lease with an option to buy the home. Another way to sell the home to current tenant is to offer them seller financing. The financing can be either by using a mortgage or by selling them the home on an installment basis.
Thinking of conducting a house raffle to unload your house instead of selling it? It's illegal for homeowners to raffle off their own house. Instead, you have to work with a nonprofit organization and transfer ownership of the house to them. The nonprofit can then raffle off your house, and you'll get a tax deduction - not cash. Here are more details on house raffles.
