Living in a New Home and Within Your Means

A: I understand that buying a house can seem like a scary amount of responsibility. But you already purchased this house. You generally can't return a house as you might return a product purchased at a store. You might be experiencing a good dose of buyer's remorse brought on by the builder's bad behavior.

Are you having major problems with the home? Or are you looking for your builder to perform an inspection of the home, with the hope that the builder will fix the issues that came up during the inspection?

If you're not experiencing problems with the home, you could spend some money and find a good residential real estate inspector to go through your house and see if anything comes up, particularly if you don't understand the ins and outs of living in a new home.

Just keep in mind that you will pay the inspector to go through the home. You will still have to pay someone to fix any items that might come up during that inspection if you determine that your builder is not coming back.

Please talk with a good real estate lawyer who has experience with new construction contracts. You will want to review what was promised to you in terms of the warranty. Then, have your lawyer contact the builder to see what's going on.

What you may find, in the current economic climate, is that the builder is bankrupt, has gone under or is slowly going under. If the builder goes out of business, your warranties from that company will probably be worthless. However, there may be underlying warranties from the materials manufacturers that may protect you somewhat. These manufacturer's warranties might include windows, heating and cooling systems, plumbing fixtures, roofing materials and some other components installed in the home.

You have to face the fact that the builder may be unable to provide the warranty you were promised. If that's the case, you own the home and will have to step up and make the necessary repairs to keep it in good shape.

It's only in extreme cases that a buyer has the right to rescind the purchase of a home. These extreme cases may involve fraud on the seller's part.

Q: When my husband and I purchased our home in 2002, I wasn't working. The loan and title are in his name only. Is there any way to put my name on the title in case anything should happen to him? Is this something that could cause a problem for me if he should die?

A: In most states, you shouldn't have a problem having your husband transfer the title of the home from his name alone to his and yours as husband and wife with rights of survivorship.

If you and your husband have an agreement as to how the two of you should own the home, you should make sure to hold title in the manner you desire. This is particularly true if you decide to work with an estate planner or an estate lawyer and create a living trust to hold the property. Then you can put the title into the name of that trust.

If you decide to transfer the title to both of you, you will need to have a document prepared to do so. Most people will transfer title using a quitclaim deed, but in some cases, a warranty deed may be a better option.

Both a quitclaim deed and a warranty deed can achieve the same result. But with a warranty deed, the title insurance protection the owner obtained when the property was purchased can carry forward to the new owners, subject to the terms of the title insurance policy.

In some states, a quitclaim deed is not the right document to use. There are other documents, under different names, that can do the same job for you. Your lawyer can provide details.

Q: I have a quitclaim deed naming me, my mother and my two older brothers as the new owners of the house. The deed states that each of us owns the home with rights of survivorship. My mother and two brothers have passed away. Am I the sole owner now?

A: If the person who signed the quitclaim deed was the rightful owner of the property, your mother, your brothers and you owned the property at the time the deed was transferred. If you held the property with rights of survivorship, as the sole survivor of all of the people named on the quitclaim deed, you should now be the sole owner of the property.

However, there may be other circumstances that could change your situation. Some of these issues could include the loss of the property due to unpaid real estate taxes or the loss of the property due to a mortgage foreclosure. Or, if the property was abandoned for years, someone else might now have a claim on it.

If your family has occupied and used the home continuously, you should be the owner. For clarity, you can go to a title insurance company in your area and request that they prepare a title insurance commitment for the property. That title insurance commitment should identify the owner of the property.

If you are applying for a loan on the property, your lender may order a title insurance commitment, and that title insurance commitment should identify you as the sole owner.

Q: I own two homes and share ownership with my brother of a third family house that is unoccupied. The third property was inherited from our mother this year. Can I deduct 50 percent of the property taxes on the inherited property from my federal income taxes?

A: You probably can't deduct the real estate taxes on the inherited property. That property is not an investment property, so you can't deduct the taxes on that basis. And it is neither your primary home nor your secondary home, so you can't deduct the taxes on that basis, either.

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

Distributed by Tribune Media Services