A condominium association can’t adopt a rule that prohibits owners from displaying religious objects outside their unit entrances. That’s the word from a federal appeals court in Chicago, which allowed a Jewish family to bring a lawsuit after their condo association removed a mezuzah from their front door. (A three-judge panel of the court had earlier sided with the association, but the full court reconsidered and sided with the family.)

The amount that homeowners can borrow with a reverse mortgage has been reduced by 10% by the Federal Housing Administration. The new rule applies only to reverse mortgages obtained after October 1, 2009. If you took out a reverse mortgage before that date, you won’t be affected. But if you want to take out a new FHA-insured reverse mortgage, the maximum amount you can borrow will be 10% less than it was. In a traditional mortgage,

The Federal Housing Administration, which insures up to a third of all new mortgages, has adopted some limits on the mortgages it will insure. The FHA doesn’t make loans, but it insures loans made by other lenders in order to encourage lenders to give mortgages to people with shaky credit or little in the way of a down payment. The new restrictions will make it somewhat harder for such people to get mortgages.

When a couple buys a home, they often simply put both names on the deed. When a homeowner gets married, he or she often adds the spouse’s name to the deed. And when a single person shares a home with an elderly relative, they often put both names on the deed. This may be common, but it’s not necessarily the best idea. Here are some things to consider: Capital gains. Under certain circumstances, if you add

Anyone looking for a mortgage (or other loan) needs to worry about credit scores. But how much do you really know about your score? Take this quick test and see.   1. If I pay my credit card bill in full each month, that will significantly improve my credit score.      True    False 2. Any time I miss a bill payment, my credit score is negatively affected.      True    False 3. If my income

Office rents nationwide declined 8.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the previous year, according to Reis, Inc., a real estate research firm. At the same time, office vacancies rose. At the end of the third quarter, tenants were leasing some 19.6 million square feet less than at the beginning, according to Reis. For the first three quarters of 2009, the net reduction in rented office space was 64.2 million square feet, the

It can be a great idea to buy a “fixer-upper” – as long as you’re sure the local zoning rules will allow you to actually fix it up. Unfortunately, many people have bought a home or other property with the idea of remodeling it to their tastes, only to discover that what they had in mind is against the law.

Two days before a commercial landlord in Nebraska was to receive a $90,000 rent payment for some cropland, the tenant filed for bankruptcy. What happens? Can the landlord still collect? The law is somewhat unclear, but in this case a federal appeals court sided with the landlord and ruled that the tenant had to pay the entire $90,000. The tenant was a business and it filed a Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy (as opposed to liquidating under

If you own rental or other income-producing property, you should consider putting it into a limited liability company. This can be a great way to protect your assets, while at the same time you can reap some tax advantages. Suppose someone slips and falls on your rental property and sues you. If you own the property as an individual, all your assets would be at risk – your home, your investments, your savings accounts, etc. But

In a challenging real estate market, there’s been a growing interest in lease/purchase options, which can benefit sellers and make it easier for prospective purchasers to buy. A common problem today is that, due to new lending restrictions, many potential buyers can’t qualify for a loan even though they have saved toward a down payment and are generally a good credit risk. The solution for both sides might be a lease/purchase option. Basically, the prospective purchasers