Housing Industry Adapts to Not-So-Retiring Baby Boomers

I don't know what your credit history or credit score looks like, but these days, lenders are looking for a credit score of at least 680. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com and pull a copy of your credit history. You can then pay about $7 for a copy of an Equifax credit score, which is the one closest to what mortgage lenders use.

If your credit score isn't at least 680, take the next year or two to work on rebuilding your financial life: Find a job, rent an apartment, start saving the 5 or 10 percent you'll need for a down payment, plus extra for reserves, and work on cleaning up your credit history.

Once you've started your new job, rebuilt your credit history and raised your credit score, you can start looking for a house to buy.

If your parents want to wait a couple of years before they sell their home, you might be in better shape then to buy it from there.

My daughter and son-in-law got married two years ago and bought a house. Her name is on the deed but not the mortgage. She gave him $35,000 for the house. What are the consequences in case of a divorce?

If your daughter's name is on the title to the home, then she's one of the owners of the property. She may own half of the home, or a smaller or larger percentage, depending on how the ownership of the property was structured. If she and your son-in-law were married when they bought the property, it's possible that they structured the ownership as "tenancy of the entirety" or as joint tenants, which means that they both own the home jointly.

The fact that your daughter isn't listed on the mortgage documents only means that she has no legal liability to pay back the mortgage. If your son-in-law stops paying the mortgage for whatever reason, the mortgage company would not be entitled to come after your daughter for payment. And, better yet, her credit shouldn't be damaged by his poor financial management skills.

She and her husband should come to some financial agreement, in which, in a sale, he would give her an amount of cash presumably equal to her down payment of $35,000 plus half of any equity appreciation in the property, minus her share of the costs of sale. In exchange -- and it should only be when she gets the cash -- she would execute a quitclaim deed, turning over any financial interest she owns in the property to him.

Likewise, the home could end up being owned by your daughter, as the home would be one part of the whole picture. All the marital assets would have to be included in any divorce settlement. For that, your daughter would need to talk to a divorce lawyer to determine what she would be entitled to and the different ways the couple might divide their assets upon divorcing.

Which is worse: bankruptcy or collection?

I'm assuming that you're wondering whether bankruptcy or a collection is worse for your credit history or credit score. Neither is good, but bankruptcy will stay on your credit history for 10 years. It will affect your credit score less dramatically as the years pass, especially after about four or five years.

Having a collection on your credit history, however, isn't a bed of roses, either. Collections can stay on your credit history for up to seven years, although, as with a bankruptcy, their impact will fade with time.