ArcaMax

Q: I have tried to find out when and why the income level on the senior citizen’s tax freeze occurs. I have asked the Cook County tax assessor, as well as a couple of township tax assessors, as well as Realtors, and no one seems to know what triggers an increase in the income level.

It would make sense if it was tied to the inflation rate, or...Read more

Q: My father-in-law passed away recently, and his beneficiaries are his second wife and his three daughters from his first marriage. His second wife will receive a fixed amount, with the rest of his assets divided equally among the three daughters. His nice home will also be sold. His second wife wants his daughters to take ownership of the home...Read more

Q: We live in a small, self-managed townhome association in Illinois. The association hired an outside accounting firm to coordinate the financial matters of the property, including the issuing and collection of fines for rule violations. These violation and fine notices are sent out by email on association letterheads, with the accountant’s ...Read more

Realtor.com published a study recently that found the typical household needs to earn $114,000 in order to buy a median-priced home. That’s up 70.1% (a $47,000 increase) from 2019, according to the Realtor.com® April Housing Trends Report.

If those numbers weren’t jarring enough, consider that the median household income was only $80,610 ...Read more

Q: In 1963, we bought a home for $17,900. We sold it a few years later for $19,500. That’s when we bought our present home for $30,000. We are now selling it for around $300,000. Will we have to pay taxes on the sale?

A: The good news is that if you’re married, you and your spouse get to exclude $500,000 from federal income tax taxes when ...Read more

Q: Our granddaughter purchased a first-floor condo in a 30-year-old building last year. After living in her condo for about one year, she noticed round black marks on her knife block in her kitchen. She then began finding mold spores on her 2-year-old’s clothes folded in a chest. She moved out of the place when she realized that mold was in ...Read more

Q: Enjoy reading your columns every week. I know you have addressed probate many times in your columns, and I understand the purpose of it.

My wife and I disagree on something. We do have a trust set up, and our house is in the trust. We also have several brokerage accounts, CDs, and checking accounts. They are set up either with the two of us...Read more

Q: Our mother and father took out a reverse mortgage years ago. There is no equity in the property. Our mother died several years ago and our father passed away recently. We contacted the company that administers the reverse mortgage about processing a deed in lieu of foreclosure on their home. We sent them all the required information and the ...Read more

Q: We currently have an impound account for our home, which includes both property taxes and homeowner insurance. Because of the increases with both of these, every year our monthly payment goes up.

We would like to have more control over our monthly payment and would prefer to keep it the same throughout the remaining life of the loan. We are ...Read more

Q: I recently read one of your columns and found something I thought may be misleading. When one owner of a property held as joint tenants with right of survivorship dies, I thought the surviving spouse receives that person’s share on a stepped-up basis. Thus, the surviving spouse avoids the capital gains tax on the deceased spouse’s share ...Read more

Q: We recently rented a home with a pool, and the pool service is included. For liability reasons we keep the screen doors to the lanai locked to prevent someone entering and falling in the pool. However, the pool service person needs access to clean and check water chemistry. So, we unlock the doors the day of service and relock upon his ...Read more

Q: I’m in desperate need of your help. We bought a property in Virginia back in 2009 and sold it in 2011. We cannot remember the name of the bank where we got the mortgage. We need that information along with all the payment dates from time of purchase to the time we sold the home. What should we do?

A: We wonder why, more than 14 years later...Read more

Reader comment: As you are attorneys, you may not like to hear that in Arizona, paralegals can prepare trusts and all the other goodies needed for the successful departure from this life, including a will, and powers of attorney.

Here’s how it worked for us. In 2014, we paid $1,000 to put our home into a living trust we had created. The fee ...Read more

Q: My mother passed away in January of this year. She died without a will. My house sits on land that was my mothers and is supposed to be mine. I just have to pay the back taxes to have it transferred in my name.

My sister gave me the tax bill, which has my mother’s name on it but was sent in care of my sister. She says she doesn’t know ...Read more

Q: My disabled sister has been separated from her husband. Her husband signed over half of the house to his aunt. My sister never signed that deed. So my sister is now stuck paying the taxes on the home without receiving any income. We think that he either forged her signature or they (her husband and his aunt) did something fraudulent for the ...Read more

To judge the contents of our inbox, people are having a lot of problems with their homeowner associations (HOAs). They’re also having trouble living in developments run by HOAs and by the lack of interest in serving on association boards. Here’s a sample of what homeowners are wondering about.

Comment: I read your recent article on HOA ...Read more

Q: We are selling our townhome this year that we bought almost 30 years ago. We lived there first for 17 years, as a primary residence and then we rented it. How do I calculate capital gain? Do we use the sales price or do we use the market price when we began renting it out?

A: Your question seems simple, but it’s actually complicated. We ...Read more

Q: I was told I am a beneficiary of my sister’s trust. She owned a home and other assets. Her son is the trustee but we don’t have a good relationship. I have been waiting for my distribution for several months. I have called several times and each time I call, they tell me they are trying to avoid a 37% tax liability. How long can they hold...Read more

Q: I own a commercial property that I no longer want to own. The market value of this property is zero as there are many abandoned properties nearby. The real estate taxes are astronomically high for a property with zero market value.

I was advised by my financial planner and CPA to stop paying the taxes and just abandon it. I have kept up the ...Read more