Tag: Homeownership
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Deeds in Disarray: Untangling Titles Passed Down Informally
When homes are passed down without a will, legal ownership can become questionable. Claims to the title can tangle. This happens most often in households of modest income (many who couldn’t afford probate). Loss of the home title, of course, pushes families into still harder situations. Indeed, a number of factors could keep households from…
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Will Congress Expand the Capital Gains Exemption to Help People Sell Their Homes?
Property values keep going up. Why doesn’t the capital gains exemption do the same? Taxes on home sales can make deed holders hold their homes when they might otherwise sell. When current deed holders don’t want to sell their properties, inventory suffers. Meanwhile, there are young people looking for homes to buy.
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Married, and Not on the Deed. What Are My Rights?
Sometimes, only one spouse is named on the deed. This can be because one person already owned the home before marriage, or because one spouse inherited a deed. Or perhaps there are financial or tax advantages to having only one person on the deed and not the other. Or the sole named deed holder simply…
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What’s Going On With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
Many people acquire deeds by applying for conventional loans. When we say conventional, we mean loans supported by our country’s federal housing agency through two powerhouses of the mortgage world: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That’s why we keep current with news on the policy changes happening in that agency. And there’s a lot to…
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The Struggle Continues: Deed Equity Means Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
The African-American and Hispanic homeownership rate has generally been below 50%. Now, there’s a group on a mission to include the “have nots” in the U.S. population of deed holders. It’s taking down hurdles to homeownership, like the need to amass money for down payments. The Homeownership Council of America has debuted Equity DPA, a…
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Life Estate Deed or Living Trust: Which Path Is Right for Your Home?
It’s never too soon to plan out the transfer of your deed after you pass. One way to do it? The tried-and-true method of writing your last will and testament and including your home in it. You have other choices, though. The life estate deed and the living trust are popular vehicles for a deed…
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Heard About Home Equity Sharing? Does It Beat a HELOC or Home Equity Loan?
What if you could get a lump sum of cash today, leveraging your home’s potential appreciation value? You could. With home equity sharing, a deed holder gets a lump-sum cash advance. The lender takes a share of the property’s appreciation. Also called a home equity investment (HEI), it’s an alternative to a home equity loan…
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Congrats on Closing! Now, How Will You Get Your Deed?
Closing is the last step before you have the keys to your new home in hand, and your deed is on its way. The all-important deed is a legal instrument (document) that shows the transfer of property ownership from the seller, over to you, the buyer. This document confirms your ownership status for the property…
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When Do You Need a Warranty Deed?
Sometimes it’s best to use a warranty deed to transfer property. It’s common whenever there’s a seller and buyer who didn’t know each other before their deal. In fact, a mortgage lender or insurance company could insist on a transfer by warranty deed. But why? A warranty deed transfers a title with certain protections. This…
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FAQ: When the Divorce Decree Conflicts With the Deed
Many couples own homes together. If they ever decide to separate, they need to know what to do with their co-ownership. They could simply sell the home to solve that issue. But after a legal separation or divorce, one of the two people may want or need to stay in the home. If the deed…
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Workforce Deed Restrictions: How Are They Monitored?
With housing costs up (and wages not so much), some cities need to give working people a hand. As financial barriers to homeownership continue to frustrate so many wage earners, workforce housing is one way to make deeds attainable. It’s for households earning too much to qualify for standard government subsidies, but who can’t pay…
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Here’s How You Can Teach Kids About Deeds
Many of us learn about deeds only when we receive one of our own. The power of holding a deed, like many practical things in life, rarely gets taught in school. But no one is ever too young to learn what a deed is. If you have youngsters in your life, you can use this…
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Voters Tell Candidates: Act on Housing Affordability Now!
With absentee ballots already issued in Alabama, early voting has started. The Center for Popular Democracy ran a survey, and 84% of voters in swing states say housing is a big deal as they fill in their ballots, The Financial Times reports. So, does the 2024 election runup bring us hope that people will soon…
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Federal Update: New Contract for Deed Rules
Contracts for deed – sometimes called installment contracts, land sales contracts, or owner carry – leave the deed until the borrower pays for the home in full. Until then, the borrower lives in and maintains the home. This is a type of seller-financed home sale – and it’s one way to avoid getting entangled with…
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How Do Homestead Laws Save Deed Holders Money?
You’ve just bought a home. At closing, a title representative tells you to request your homestead exemption. Or maybe you bought your home and a homestead exemption form arrived (surprise!) in your mailbox. You know you should file the document in your home’s county, but you might be baffled as to why. A state’s law…
