Steve Tytler answers your real estate questions in his weekly column. Send him your questions by mail to The Herald, P.O. Box, Everett, WA 98206, by fax questions to 425-339-3435 or by e-mail to economy@heraldnet.com.
How the mortgage deduction helps you Question: My husband and I finally made a decent amount of money this year and we are going to have to pay a fairly big income tax bill for the first time. We don't own a home so we don't have a mortgage deduction and therefore we don't have enough... [More] July 13 Building inspector would have helped here Question: We are purchasing a home and it has turned into a major nightmare. Our real estate agent is brand new and inexperienced, and we signed the papers without reading them well enough. The most recent problem is that we found water under the... [More] July 6 Breaking up is hard to do in real estate Question: I have a question regarding removing myself from a mortgage. I own a home with an acquaintance and now we have parted ways. Since I no longer live at the house I would like to get my name off this mortgage prior to purchasing another home. [More] June 29 Choice is reverse vs. regular mortgage Question: I've been hearing a lot about reverse mortgages and I would like to know who to contact to find out more information. We live in Arlington and are both retired but want to stay in our home as long as possible with out added expenses. Can... [More] June 22 Which credit reports matter? Question: I recently went to one of those "free credit report" Web sites and paid for a copy of my "FICO" credit scores. The report said my FICO score was 722 and my husband is 720, which are both considered to be "excellent" credit. [More] June 15 Losing drain field would cost a bundle Question: Two years ago, we purchased a new home in a small community in northern Snohomish County that is served by a septic system. [More] June 8 How to become a successful landlord Question: We are buying a new home and plan to keep our condo and rent it out. We have never been landlords before and we don't really know what to do. What advice can you offer us? C.T., Lynnwood [More] June 1 Try to work out survey conflict with other party Question: I purchased my property in 1987. The surveyor had iron bars and wooden stakes at all four corners of my property. Now, another surveyor comes along and surveys the property on the east side of me, and ends up putting two iron bars and... [More] May 25