Question: I have a property with an existing mortgage and a lot of equity. I have a buyer who wants to buy only if I provide owner financing. My lender will not allow me to sell subject to the mortgage. Is there any way I can keep the existing mortgage and provide financing for the rest of the amount?

Answer: We live in an era when 100 percent financing or close to it is routinely available. Why should you take back a loan? Don't you want cash from your sale to purchase a replacement property or for other purposes?

By any chance, does your purchaser want to buy with little or nothing down? Does your buyer have bad credit? If you accept the buyer's offer will closing be in a few weeks or will there be a lengthy period for the buyer to review the offer -- in effect, to have an option to purchase?

If the buyer cannot get financing from a lender why should you make a loan? If the buyer cannot finance the purchase then you need to find someone else.

Question: I'm considering buying an investment house to be used as a rental and financing with an interest-only loan. Is this something that's possible to do? What are the advantages and disadvantages that you can see?

Answer: You can surely find interest-only loans for investment property, but check with lenders for requirements such as the amount down, rates, loan qualification standards, etc.

You know with absolute certainty that once the initial five or ten-year interest-only period ends the loan will become self-amortizing -- that means far higher payments will be due. Moreover, most interest-only loans at this time are adjustable, which means payments are not steady.

So, if you want an interest-only loan look for one with a fixed-rate and the longest-possible start period.

However, also consider a fixed-rate, self-amortizing mortgage. For a $250,000 loan at 6.25 percent the monthly payment would be $1,539 over 30 years. The interest-only loan would have monthly payments of $1,302 during the start period -- assuming the rate is fixed. That's a cash savings of $200 a month -- but every dime that's "saved" with an interest-only loan is not going toward loan amortization.

Regardless of how property is financed, you want to first make sure that the property is an inherently good rental (location, condition, size, etc.) and that local market trends are in your favor. For specifics, speak with local brokers.

Question: How much of a down payment is really expected in real estate today? My husband and I are ready to move into a bigger and better home. The only thing that's holding us back is being able to save for a down payment while still having to pay a mortgage. Would it make sense to sell this home, move into a cheap apartment and save for a better house?

Answer: According to the National Association of Realtors's 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the typical first-time purchaser bought with just 2 percent down while replacement home purchasers bought with 16 percent down.

However, your situation is different. If you cannot afford to save given your current mortgage payment then you should not be looking for a bigger loan. Instead, you should be looking for ways to increase your income and reduce monthly costs.

Question: I'm currently building a house. I gave the builder $1,000 for earnest money; he had me sign several documents, and one in particular obligating me to use his lender in order for me to receive stated incentives. They said they would match any other lender provided that the other lender was legit.

Well, time went by and now that the home is almost finished, it turns out that I received a better offer through another mortgage broker so therefore I want to go through them, but now my builder is saying that I have to go with them in order to receive the incentives.

Is it not true that under RESPA builders are prohibited from doing this?

Answer: Builders cannot force you to use a particular lender or closing agent, but that's not what happened here. You agreed to use the builder's lender in exchange for "stated incentives." You could just have well bought the house, financed with another lender and not accepted the incentives offered by the builder. A deal is a deal.

Question: We bought a house in August 2006. At closing we were told we had a home warranty. In November I called to report electrical issues and was told we had no warranty. I talked to seller's broker and she stated it would be and was taken care of. In December our heat went out and we again called the home warranty people. We were told that we had no warranty. At that time the seller's broker put the repairs on her charge card. This caused us time and nine days without heat because of communication. My question is: At closing, money was taken out for the home warranty and we went four months without one. Is there any recourse we have against the broker, agency or someone?

Answer: Check with the party who conducted closing to determine what happened to the money on the HUD-1 form which showed a warranty had been purchased or was to be purchased.

As to the seller's broker, for that individual to personally pay for repairs long after closing should be seen as a willingness to do the right thing. The seller's broker helped you and had no obligation to spend personal funds on your behalf. If money was allocated for a home warranty at closing, then that money should have been used for that purpose.

Question: A home inspection fee of $450 has been requested as a part of our house buying process. This fee is due in cash ASAP. Can I roll this fee into a VA loan rather than pay out of pocket at this time?

Answer: A home inspection fee is a cost to the buyer. One reason a lender will rarely if ever pick up such a cost is that if the contract requires the inspection to be "satisfactory" to the borrower and is not then the purchase will not go through and there will be no loan.

Question: I sold a five-acre parcel of property last year. I never got to re-invest because I had not found any homes that were suitable for me. I was told that if I did not invest in the first year after selling my property that I could fill out an extension when this year's income taxes came around.That way I would not have to be able to pay capitol gains this year until I found a home. Is this true? However, I hear from a friend that I would have had to invest within 60 days or I would have to be able to pay capitol gains. Even if I had found a home most closings take between 3 to six months, so that would be almost impossible to invest within a short amount of time. Will I have to pay the capital gains or do I get another year to reinvest?

Answer: In general terms there are several ways to sell property:

• If the property is a residence where you have lived for two of the past five years you may be able to exclude $500,000 in profits if married and $250,000 if single from federal taxes.

• If you sell an investment property that you have owned for at least one year then your profit is subject to the current capital gains rate.

• If you exchange an investment property for another investment property then you can defer the tax at least until the second property is re-sold. To have a tax-exempt exchange you must identify the replacement property within 45 days, settle within 180 days and touch no money from the sale -- it must be held by a qualified intermediary.

To determine your specific situation please meet with a CPA, enrolled agent or a tax attorney -- before you sell.

Question: If I see a listing and another broker has it listed, can my broker show it to me? For example if Smith Realty has a property listed, can Jones Realty show me the property? I have looked under real estate laws but can not find the answer.

Answer: When a home is listed the listing broker is obligated to make the property reasonably available to all buyers, whether or not they are represented by another broker.

As an example, the Maryland Real Estate Commission says that a listing broker "shall cooperate with other brokers on property listed by the licensee exclusively whenever it is in the interest of the client, and share commissions on a previously agreed basis." This language is typical of the regulatory standards which are common throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Question: I live in an HOA. We have one home that allows their kids and other kids to skateboard in their garage with the door open, on their driveway and into the street. The streets are private. We have a garage door CC&R also ingree and egress only. The kids who range in ages from 14 to 20 skate unsupervised. They flip the boards in the air. They jump over ramps. Usually there are two to 10 kids taking turns. They jump over garbage cans etc. The noise from the skateboarding is so loud that you can hear it in the houses. The neighbors are tired of it. It's a nuisance and makes a lot of noise. It goes on for hours at a time, day or night. While they are skating they are also yelling, running around and cursing.

We want to enjoy our houses anytime of the day or night. We have a nuisance/noise CC&R regulation. Would you consider this activity a violation under the nuisance CC&R?

Answer: The HOA is, apparently, not an adults-only community. You can't make it one after the fact unless you have 100 percent agreement of all property owners -- and somehow owners with children are likely to object.

The reasonable compromise is to say there will be no skateboarding after a given hour or before a certain time.

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Published: January 26, 2007

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Have a real estate question for Realty Times? Wondering about buying, selling, financing, refinancing or renting? Here's where you can send your question to Peter G. Miller, OurBroker®, a nationally-known columnist, author and reporter. Peter G. Miller has written six books -- including The Common-Sense Mortgage -- a guide with hundreds of thousands of copies in print. Miller was the original creator and host of America Online's Real Estate Center and joined Realty Times in 1998. Send your questions to . Because of the volume of mail received, individual questions cannot be answered privately and not all questions can be used. Published letters may be edited for space and style and all letters become the property of Realty Times upon receipt.