Question: I assume a licensed real estate listing agent makes more commission when he both lists and sells a house, so wouldn't I be better off, as a buyer, to always contact the listing agent rather than going though another agent?

I ask this question because think I recently lost an exceptionally good deal. My agent submitted my offer to the listing agent but a few days after my offer -- but before mine was accepted -- the listing agent came up with the same offer amount from his buyer that preceded mine by one day.

Answer: Your bid likely lost because it came in second by one day. It wasn't there when the other offer was made. Moreover, it's doubtful that the two bids were identical because more than price must be considered, a seller must also look at all terms and conditions found in each offer.

As to not using a buyer's agent, all parties to a real estate transaction are best served with separate representation. Someone who has participated in many transactions will have a good idea of what's negotiable and what's not.

Question: I have had a disastrous experience trying to sell my house. The long and the short of the story is that the real estate agent signed my husband's name to an addendum without my husband's permission. It was not signed by me. Also, there was an addendum which said the buyers planned to purchase furniture from us (and then sell back to us 15 days after closing). It is not signed by either my husband or me.

The furniture was necessary because our pay-off amount was more than we thought due to a prepayment penalty which we knew nothing about when we got our mortgage about 2.5 years ago.

In your opinion, would a mortgage company have given a mortgage to the buyers if they knew that $10,000 was actually the price of furniture. In other words, the buyers were to get an 80 percent loan for $450,000 when, actually, they were buying the house for $440,000.

Answer: Lenders must see complete sale agreements including all addenda so they can determine whether they want to make a loan. Not providing all addenda could readily cause a lender to decline the loan. Thus a lender would have to know about the 15-day furniture buy-back arrangement as it's intrinsically part of the sale -- someone just walking on the street would not make the same deal.

The value of the property for lending purposes will be determined by the sale value or the appraised value of the property, whichever is less.

The furniture provision was not "necessary." You could have sold the property for $440,000 and paid the prepayment penalty as you agreed with the lender. The result would have been less profit for you ... and no need for the furniture addendum.

You need an attorney who handles real estate matters before going further. If it's true that the broker signed a document without authorization, that's something your attorney may want to take up with the agent's broker or the real estate commission in your jurisdiction. A complete list of regulators can be found at arello.org.

Question: In 1980 my father retired and purchased a newly constructed home in Palm Beach County, Florida. The property was bought for cash -- no mortgage payments -- and had his name and spouse on the deed. This past year my mother passed away, and I am the surviving daughter.

My dad, now age 95, wants to add my name to the house title, in the place of my mother's name. I think he is thinking that this process is similar to the way it is done on bank accounts. My dad does not see the need for having a will, (he is a little stubborn about this) because he believes that the property will just be inherited by me when he dies.

Answer: With marriage title to a property is held by a "tenancy by the entireties." This form of title is unique to married couples, it means that both own 100 percent of the property. If one dies, the other owns the property and there is nothing to inherit because the living spouse already had title before the death of the husband or wife.

However, as someone other than a spouse, this type of title is not available to you.

Do not place your name on the title until you speak with an attorney who specializes in elder law. By placing your name on the title, your father could be subject to a huge gift tax.

As to wills and such, everyone should have a will and a living will. Just tell Dad it's necessary for tax purposes and to avoid probate costs.

Question: I'm 58, single, and am planning to buy a house in cash. I will be working for another 10 years unless I hit the lotto. I am fairly low income. I will still have almost $100,000 in my investment account and will be mortgage free. I plan to add to my investment account monthly through a pretax 403b or IRA with what I am saving on mortgage interest. I have a perfect FICO score and no dependents.

If something happens to me (I am in perfect health now), then at least my expenses will be very low and my home safe.

Is my thinking completely off base?

Answer: Your thinking is entirely sensible. Some may view your choices as somehow "too conservative," but the fact is that you are able to buy a home for cash, you have retirement money, you have an investment plan and you have done all of this with a "fairly low income." I think your financial planning is terrific.

Question: My house is not selling. What should I do?

Answer: Why is your house not selling? Price? Condition? Location? Terms? Speak with your broker and consider a different deal: A credit to the buyers to cover some or all closing costs.

Question: As a broker I had shown one of my listings to a buyer a couple of times when he decided to make an offer on the last day of my listing. After several hour of hashing the details until 11 p.m., I decided to wait until morning to inform my client of the offer.

When I called her in the morning she said she had listed with another agent. She then called me back in 30 minutes to say that her new agent had talked to his corporate lawyer and she was not to consider the offer or speak with me again.

Do you know if I am entitled to a commission? Or, if the other agent has violated me ethically or in any other way? This was about four months ago and the home still has not sold.

Answer: That the property has sold or not sold does not matter. As well, had the offer been transmitted when completed instead of waiting until the morning, or had the owners been notified of the offer, the property might have been sold within the original listing term.

Did you have a bona-fide written offer to buy the property? Given that the offer was not presented until after the property was re-listed, the new listing may have had different terms and conditions. Because there was a new listing agent, your rights under a typical "protection period" clause ended automatically. As well, when you were the listing agent you at least represented the seller, but once the property was re-listed who did you represent?

What happened to the buyer? Were they no longer interested in the property? Perhaps it would have been best to re-write the offer to conform with any new listing and agency requirements that were created after your listing expired.

Question: We would like to give a family member a personal second home loan for a period of two to three years. We think at that time he will be able to refinance to include this second. Our loan would be to help him out with the down payment and lower his monthly payments. How would we go about doing this?

Answer: You are doing a very nice thing and should be congratulated for your generosity.

That said, both you and your family member will benefit if you treat this loan as an arms-length business transaction. That means there should be an enforceable loan document in the form required by your jurisdiction, a monthly payment date, a provision for a late fee, etc. The document should be recorded with the local property records office. A local real estate attorney can tell you more.

As well, if the family member is applying for a mortgage, a copy of the private loan agreement must be provided to the lender.

I suspect the lender will not be happy with a second loan for two or three years -- the term is too short. It would be better if the length of the second mortgage was five to 10 years so that the borrower has more time to refinance.

Question: Is it true that we must list our home in order to qualify for a bridge loan?

Answer: The idea of a "bridge" loan is to provide cash for the purchase of a replacement residence. The bridge loan will be repaid from the proceeds of settlement when the current home is sold.

Since the purpose of the bridge loan is to buy a replacement property, it follows that the current property must be sold. For this reason lenders typically require that the current home must be listed as evidence of the borrower's intent to sell the current property.

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Published: September 8, 2006

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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.