ArcaMax

Q: My daughter and son-in-law bought a cabin as their second/vacation home near Seattle a couple of years ago. The property is actually two lots (with two separate tax parcels). And, the cabin is on one of the lots.

There is one deed and one mortgage. They are thinking of building another cabin (for investment) on the second lot and would like ...Read more

Q: I am giving Ilyce’s “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” book to each of my young adult kids — and even though we’ve bought three homes over the years, I’m getting a copy for us, too, because it is such a helpful resource! Thank you for writing it.

Is there a place I can direct everyone to read your updates ...Read more

Q: My lawyer can’t seem to get the title cleared on my Florida condominium. My mom and stepdad received title to my grandmother’s condominium as tenants-in-common from my grandmother back in 1995. My stepdad died without a will about 20 years ago. His estate was never probated, as my mom thought everything would automatically go to her.

My ...Read more

Comment: I read your article on how people buy homes and use the square footage of the home to compare one home with the other. I wanted to let you know there is an ANSI standard for measuring square footage of a residential unit, though few in our industry use it. Comparing homes by price per square foot is a fool’s errand. Your article ...Read more

We get many questions from readers on timeshares and, by far, the most common issue is how to get rid of the timeshare. There are many reasons why an owner would want to sell a timeshare.

For some, ownership can be measured in decades. But now, no one in the family uses it. They don’t want it and can’t imagine paying for it. Some of our ...Read more

Q: I read your column regularly and now I have a question for you.

We own two houses. One is in Chicago, which we purchased in 2010. The other is in Arizona, which we purchased in 2012. We spend the winters in Arizona and the rest of the time in Illinois.

We are getting older and it’s getting harder to maintain two homes. We’re thinking of...Read more

Q: I was given your article on building inspectors. The most important thing was not mentioned in your article! If you think something may be wrong, it probably is!

In 2011, an agent who works with the Veteran’s Administration (VA) found a foreclosed condo for me in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The VA inspected the home. We found small ...Read more

Q: I read your article on living trusts recently. You detail the workings of property in a revocable trust and what one should do with the funds upon the sale of the property. Would the same things apply to an irrevocable trust?

I am the creator of a trust, as well as the trustee and beneficiary. There are successor trustees and beneficiaries ...Read more

Q: We signed a contract to purchase a home. It seemed to have an issue with moisture in the crawl space. So, we had a home inspection. The inspector couldn’t gain access to the crawl space, as the access was too small and he was too big. He noted in his report that there was extensive dampness and evidence of standing water in the crawl space....Read more

Our recent articles about homeowner’s associations (HOAs) have stirred many readers to write to us about why people don’t want to volunteer for HOA boards and the difficult situations sitting HOA members face every day.

Here’s one email we recently received:

Comment: I have read and appreciated your articles. You bring useful information...Read more

Q: First-time homebuyer here. I just finished reading your “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” book, and I sure took lots of notes! It’s super fun when real estate rules change as you are learning them. So I have a question.

What’s the deal with the new National Association of Realtors ruling on how buyers now sign ...Read more

Reader comment: Like one of your readers, I also live in an homeowners association (HOA) community (44 units) where no one wants to step up to be on the board. We have three people there now and two are past their two-year commitment, nor do we have a management firm. Frankly, I think we do a fantastic job of addressing residents’ needs and ...Read more

Q: My mother died in 2021, and she created a life estate where my two sisters and I were listed on the deed. Initially we thought we were just added to the deed, but we discovered the information about the life estate recently (we still haven’t sold the house).

We are now in the process of trying to sell the house and are confused about the ...Read more

Reader comment: I read your recent article on wills and trusts. To add gilding to the lily, as my late father used to say, I wanted to add some thoughts to your column.

We had a trust set up and the preparer gave us a three-ring notebook with the trust docs, will, powers of attorney, etc. I scanned the documents and created a DVD for each of ...Read more

Q: I am a senior citizen. I’m thinking ahead to a time where I might consider selling my house and moving into a retirement community.

Can you tell me what to look for in a retirement community? I have heard disturbing stories where the retirement community filed for Chapter 11 because they had financial difficulties. I’ve also heard that ...Read more

Q: We bought our home in 1984. The deed read that the home was built on one of two separate lots. We are now thinking about moving. In considering our options, we realized the property values in our neighborhood have increased dramatically. In fact, they’re so high that we’re thinking of razing our existing home and selling the two ...Read more

Q: I learned something new in your recent article. I did not know that a person could receive the benefit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule that allows homeowners to exclude from federal taxes the first $250,000 in profits from the sale of a home. Your column said that you can take that exclusion every two years.

That leads me to my ...Read more

Q: My son and his wife live in an apartment complex in Orlando. He’s been a resident there for over 10 years and has always been a good tenant. The ownership has changed several times. The new management is refusing to make necessary repairs to the aging buildings. They have reported a leak from the ceiling into the master bedroom several ...Read more

Q: I am looking to buy a home in the near future. I recently heard that my credit card with a big box discount store would come to an end. I signed up for a credit card with the big box store years ago to get a discount while buying gas and for purchases at the store. The store card will be replaced with a generic cash-back card that I can use ...Read more

Q: I just read your column on the bad home inspection. First, who paid for the inspector? If the mortgage company paid, the lender didn’t get their money’s worth. Second, on the question of the open sewerage, that seems like a no-brainer to me, as it was clearly a housing code violation. Third, the disclosure sheet provided by the seller to ...Read more