Question: I've been trying to buy a property sight unseen in another state but the broker seems adamant that I visit the property before I make a offer. Is there a reason why he won't let me make an offer on the property before seeing it?

Answer: You ought to be elated with the broker. He could simply say: sure, sign here and the property is yours. Instead, he's turning down a quick and easy commission to assure that your interests are well served.

The issue is this: You have probably seen photos of the property, satellite images of the area, tax maps and piles of paperwork. That's important and helpful stuff, but it's not the same as walking the grounds, checking views and looking around the rooms.

Your broker is trying to protect both you and your investment. This is a decent and honorable thing to do -- it is also a professional requirement because real estate brokers typically have an "agency" obligation to clients. There are various obligations to a client under agency; a good way to remember the basic concepts is to think of the term "coal" -- care, obedience, accountability and loyalty.

Your broker's best judgment is that you should physically see the property. You can ignore that recommendation and instruct the broker to complete the transaction -- but you shouldn't.

Question: I live in a community where home prices have more than doubled in the last two years! I purchased my home for $160,000 less than two years ago, the same model now is going for more than $300,000. I understand about the overall housing boom in the U.S., but here there are not a lot of high-paying jobs. People are coming here from California and buying. What I'm concerned about is the future.

Could a real-estate market boom in a fairly low economic area feel a bust in the future?

Answer: You surely raise good questions, but no one knows if there will be a bust or bubble or what would be the impact if such an event occurred. Should there be a bust, then in the best case one would hope for a price-increase slow-down or stop rather than a drop in values. So yes, your area could be impacted but no one knows how much.

The good news, at least, is that you have a nice fat cushion well above your $160,000 purchase price.

Question: We currently own a single family home that we rent. Can we move into the rental for two years, leaving our current residence vacant, then sell the rental and move back to our original residence? Would we be able to take the $500,000 exclusion since we are married and file jointly?

Answer: Yes. You must occupy a home for two of the past five years to qualify for the capital gains prime residence deduction. You may use the prime residence deduction more than once.

However, before going further speak with a tax professional. In particular, ask how depreciation is to be taxed when the rental is sold.

As to the current residence, why leave it vacant for two years? A vacancy of more than 30 days will create insurance issues. Speak with an insurance broker for specifics.

Lastly, would it be better to simply sell the current residence and then move into the rental unit? This seems a lot easier.

Question: I live in a golf course community. The houses on the golf course are mostly 30- or 40-years old and have not really been updated. Recently the golf course has offered some golf course lots for sale. I'm worried about building a brand new house among houses that are much older. There are newer houses in the subdivision but the ones right around the lot that we are looking at are at least 30 years old. Would these older homes immediately cause the value of my new home to go down?

Answer: The usual rule is that buyers seek the least expensive home in the most expensive neighborhood they can afford. Given this standard, would the new home be priced significantly above the sale value of the older houses? If yes, it would be more difficult to sell -- if it sold today.

But what if today's new home was not sold for 10 years? Then you would have the advantage of a decade of golf-course living in a newer home -- plus a hopefully-higher value of the home. If new-versus-old is an issue, perhaps the best approach is to look at other golf communities where the housing stock is newer.

Question: I would like to pay down my second mortgage, a home equity line of credit. Since money in a HELOC can be withdrawn and paid back like a credit card my plan is to put all my extra savings in there, and when time comes to pay property taxes I will withdraw from the account. Otherwise, my money in the best saving account can only earn 4 percent max, versus 7 to 8 percent interest of interest I would pay in the HELOC. Do you see any flaw/risk in my plan?

Answer: You have a home equity line of credit. By paying down the balance you will reduce your debt and interest costs, plus you will bulk up the funds available for costs such as property taxes. That makes sense.

However, a HELOC is not a savings account. You can only reduce the balance to zero so there is a limit as to how much can be deposited.

The result is that while it makes sense to reduce the loan balance to zero, additional funds should be used for other purposes. For instance, if you keep saving you may not need to dip into the HELOC at all.

Question: We're in the process of selling our home, a property located in a market that can quickly turn hot or cold. What are the best seasons for selling? I've heard August was bad because buyers, sellers, agents, and brokers are on summer vacation. Anything during the holiday season is also bad. Can you confirm this?

Answer: I understand that there seem to be "slow" times of year in many local markets -- but I'm not sure this is actually the case. Let me explain:

During strong selling seasons you have a lot of transactions, during slow selling seasons you have fewer transactions. However, the volume of transactions really does not tell us whether a market is strong or weak -- what really counts is how long it takes to sell a property and whether asking prices are being met, nearly met or exceeded.

Example: In the hot marketing month of May there are 1,000 transactions in a given area, a typical home takes 30 days to sell and sale prices are within 2 percent of asking prices. In the cold marketing month of January, there are only 200 transactions but the sale time and prices are the same as May. In this situation a home in either month would sell just as readily.

The bottom line is this: It makes sense to sell at any time of the year, as long as the volume of buyers and sellers is fairly well matched.

Question: I'm interested in buying a house from a sheriff's sale. If I bid on the house and purchase it for $100,000 and it's appraised value is $160,000 would that mean I have $60,000 in equity? If so could I use that $60,000 in an equity loan to pay on the first mortgage to make the payments smaller? How likely is it that I could get the equity? If I tell the lender I am going to put it toward the first mortgage does this help me get a loan?

Answer: Imagine that you bought a home for $100,000 and it was appraised at $160,000. The standard in lending is this: A lender in a purchase situation will make a loan on the basis of the sale price or the appraised value -- whichever is less.

You can get equity out of a property by selling it or financing it. However, the interest rate for a second loan is likely to be higher than a first mortgage or trust, thus it would not make sense to pay off a first loan with the proceeds from a second.

Before going further, please sit down with a loan officer to check your borrowing ability and speak with an experienced real estate broker about the bidding and deposit requirements for a local foreclosure sale.