With home values rising and college application time upon us, you may want to look at how home equity could impact financial aid decisions at your son or daughter’s school of choice. Nearly every school requires families to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which asks for basic income and asset information. However, more than 200 institutions nationwide also require the College Scholarship Service (CSS) profile to determine aid. The CSS questionnaire includes

Have you heard those radio ads for house-flipping seminars endorsed by HGTV stars? Did the sales pitch sound too good to be true? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks so. The FTC filed a complaint against Zurixx, a company that hosts real estate seminars endorsed by “Flip or Flop” stars such as Tarek El Moussa and Christina Anstead and “Love It or List It” host Hilary Farr, and others. According to the FTC complaint, Zurixx makes

The next-door neighbors convinced your aunt to sign over the deed to her house. Your stepfather’s long-lost son came to visit and walked away with a quitclaim deed to the family cottage. What do you do when you suspect someone did something “fishy” to get his or her name on a deed? A quitclaim deed is a legal tool that allows one person to release the interest they have in a piece of property. In most

If you haven’t sold a home in the last 10 years, you might be surprised by how much trends and expectations have changed over the years. Here are some leading factors changing the home sale market today: Real estate sites: More than 90 percent of homebuyers use the internet as one of the primary ways to find a home, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). With the popularity of online tools like Zillow and

For seniors, deciding whether to enter into a reverse mortgage can be complicated. Here are some pros and cons to consider: The pros A reverse mortgage allows you to maintain the title to your home while receiving income from your equity. The loan doesn’t typically affect Medicare or Social Security benefits. Reverse mortgage income is viewed as loan proceeds, and therefore isn’t likely to be taxed. Be sure to consult an advisor to confirm the tax

Lenders are making it easier for people who want to finance homes with rental units for their retirement-age parents. In the past, banks treated such arrangements as partial investment properties and required higher down payments and loan rates than those required for typical single-family homes. But that’s not the case anymore. According to the Pew Center, 20 percent of Americans, or 64 million people, live in multigenerational homes, with at least two adult generations in the

In some ways, it might seem great to have your adult child move home and spend more time with you. Or maybe you never expected it to happen, and suddenly the child you thought was moving on is at your doorstep. No matter how you feel about it, here are some tips on charging your adult child rent: Base rent on a percentage of your child’s take-home income. A good range to consider is between 10

In a big change affecting property owners, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that people whose land is taken for public use without payment may, as soon as the property is taken, file federal lawsuits for constitutional violations of property rights. The high court revisited the question of whether property owners have standing to bring §1983 claims under the Fifth Amendment in federal court when a taking occurs, or if they must exhaust all state court

Real estate transaction cybercrime is on the rise. According to The Wall Street Journal, hackers have targeted email accounts belonging to the parties in transactions, such as real-estate professionals, lawyers, and title agents, devising custom scams specific to the deals. Profits from sales are then diverted from intended recipients to the hacker’s bank account. It can take months to recover funds, and sometimes they are never recovered. Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of 43 members