Ailing Economy's Lower Rates Provide Opportunity to Refinance

The reason that vacant homes are more difficult to sell is that buyers have a hard time imagining what a vacant home will look like with their stuff in it. Vacant rooms lose all sense of proportion because there's nothing for your eye to use as a tool for comparison.

Even if you took a measuring tape and an outline of your pieces of living room furniture, and laid them out on the floor, you would have a hard time imagining how they'd look in the room.

It's also easier for buyers to see all of the flaws of the house.

As for buying your new house first, it depends on how quickly homes are selling in your area and how much money you can afford to spend carrying two loans. If it were me, I would sell first and then buy. In this market, it's the safer bet.

I'm looking to refinance my 30-year, $100,000 mortgage. The interest rate is 6.5 percent. This mortgage is eight months old, and my credit is good. Should I try to refinance with my current mortgage company or shop the rate?

Usually, I think about mortgages as a commodity -- that is, you can pretty much shop around, and as long as you're going to a legitimate lender (whether it's a national lender, mortgage broker or local bank), rates will, by and large, be available at the same price.

The mortgage market is generally efficient -- because of the Internet, everyone knows what the competition is charging, and so no one wants to be much higher than anyone else. Consequently, prices are about the same.

Except now. The mortgage market has become chaotic. There is a lot of variation in what loan programs are being offered at what rates. You will really need to shop around with several lenders to find the best program for you with the lowest fees.

There's no downside to shopping around to see what you can get and how much you'll save.

And, by the way, if you belong to a credit union or are eligible to join one, you should check there for mortgage rates. Credit unions tend to offer the best programs at the cheapest rates.

As for your current lender, you should consider talking to a loan officer at the company in any event. If you have received an offer from your current lender, you can pursue that.

Sometimes talking to your lender can be more difficult than starting from scratch. In other cases, lenders will go out of their way to take care of their current customers and may even streamline the refinance process for them.

If someone puts your name on a deed without your knowledge, is it legal?

Let's start with the concept of a gift. If I want to give you a gift, I can buy it and then give it to you. If you accept the gift, you become the owner of the gift.

If a person decides to give a gift of real estate to someone, they can buy that property and deed it to someone else. But that alone will not be sufficient to transfer title to the recipient. The person receiving the real estate as a gift must do something to accept it.

If someone simply records a document transferring title to a second person, the document would be legal but would not transfer ownership of that title without some form of affirmative acceptance by the person receiving the property.

In most states, there are more documents that are signed by the former owner and the new owner of the real estate. If there is a purchase, the new owner receives the deed, obtains a mortgage, receives the keys and garage door openers, and changes the utilities in the home to their own name.

If there is no form of acceptance, express or implied, the recipient will not have acquired title to the property.

Frequently, people ask whether they can quitclaim their timeshare interests back to the developer. If the developer does not accept the transfer, the owner will still be responsible for all the costs and expenses associated with the timeshare property.

If, however, you are asking whether someone can put your name on a deed to try to transfer your ownership in a piece of property, that document would need your signature. If it does not have your signature, it would not transfer your interest.

If the signature is forged, you would still be the owner of the property but would face a mess trying to prove the illegal transfer, among other issues.

For real property to be transferred, generally there must be a document that transfers title from the current owner to the new owner. That document must be signed by all owners of that property.

In some cases, a property can be transferred by court order or other legal mechanisms that would not require the owner to sign the deed. For practical purposes, however, most real estate transfers are undertaken with all of the current owners executing the document.

Ilyce R. Glink is an author and nationally syndicated columnist. Her latest book is "100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask." Samuel J. Tamkin is a real estate lawyer in Chicago. If you have questions for them, write Real Estate Matters Syndicate, P.O. Box 366, Glencoe, Ill. 60022, or contact them through Glink's Web sites, http://www.thinkglink.comandhttp://www.expertrealestatetips.net.

Copyright 2008 Ilyce R. Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

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