Question: Could federal aid to homeowners facing foreclosure affect MY home's value? Even if I'm not delinquent on my mortgage?

Answer: As this is written there's proposed legislation on Capitol Hill that would allow the FHA to refinance $300 billion in toxic loans. The terms, however, are hardly generous: Lenders would have to accept a loss on their loans, borrowers would have to pay market interest, share sale profits if the home is sold within five years and pay a 3 percent "exit" fee thereafter. By no means is this cheap financing.

As to your home's value, if the property next door is foreclosed you can pretty much bet that the value of your house will plummet. This happens because the cheap sale will show up on community property records and those recent comparables help buyers determine the bids they might make for local homes. That you have faithfully paid your mortgage is irrelevant.

If, on the other hand, your neighbors can get their financing straight it's likely that the value of your home will be maintained. You ought to hope that Uncle Sam can help your neighbors if that's necessary because such assistance will keep money in your pocket.

Question: I plan to marry in the near future; my husband-to-be had to buy out his wife's portion of the house in a hurry -- she has also ruined his credit. I have excellent credit and also a home to sell. I will make around $40,000 profit from my house.

Would we be better to use some of my profit to fix up his house and ready it to sell; or should he sell his house "as is" and get him out from under the large payments and interest rate. We plan to buy a home together in my name after we are married.

Answer: Imagine if you sell your home, provide the cash to fix up his property and then the wedding is called off. You would have no cash, no house and no hubby.

It may be best to do nothing until you're actually husband and wife.

Question: We have a half-acre farm which now has a 24-hour car wash on one side and a professional building on the other. We are unable to get commercial zoning for our property and we no longer want to stay because of the constant noise and traffic around us. What can we do?

Answer: Speak with a zoning lawyer, it seems unusual to have such a location but not commercial zoning. As to selling, you might want to sell to either the owner of the professional building or the owner of the car wash. Ask your attorney if your land would be effectively rezoned if it was combined with a neighbor's property.

Question: We moved from Virginia to Texas. We would like to buy in our new home state, however our home in Virginia remains unsold but rented. Roughly 150 nearby homes are also for sale.

Does it make sense to buy in Texas before we sell the Virginia home? We are concerned that home prices in Texas may rise before the east coast property sells.

Answer: Would it make any sense to sell the Virginia home to the current tenants?

In your situation you should not buy. The problem: Right now you have a tenant, you get rental income and you have an investment real estate tax deduction. But if the tenant leaves, then in a marketplace saturated with homes for sale you may have difficulty finding a Virginia replacement tenant. The result would be two mortgages if you have bought in Texas -- and two mortgages may be one too many.

Question: We have a home in a market where properties are difficult to sell. One broker says we should get a home protection plan, but another says they do not cover much and are expensive. What choice would you make?

Answer: Your central goal is to sell the house. Relative to having the home on the market for an additional month, a homebuyer protection plan is cheap and may help your home stand out. Perhaps your listing broker can market the home by saying that you will purchase a home inspection policy before settlement -- that is, once the property is actually sold and closing, but not before and not if it does not sell.

Question: My father and uncle each inherited one-half of my grandfather's farm. (20 acres each) My father at the time was disabled and allowed my uncle to farm a portion of my father's property for free and keep the proceeds of that crop. One thing that my uncle did, which none of us realized, even my father, is that he placed piping and a pump on my father's side of the land to irrigate the farm. So basically, he owned the pump and piping, but my father owned the land.

My father recently died and left this property to me. Shortly after, my uncle sold his land (including the pump and piping) to another farmer. Now this new farmer wants an easement through my land to get to his pump to irrigate his property. He has been quite nasty about the whole thing and I am wondering what my obligations are to this farmer.

What I would like to do is tell him to get his piping and his pump off my property; I don't feel my uncle had a right to sell access to my property.

Who is right?

Answer: You have an easement which you would say was created without your father's knowledge or permission, however if your uncle used the pumping area for a number of years then he or the replacement owner may be entitled to continue using the land.

A big question here concerns how long the pumping equipment was in place. State rules differ, but if the land was used by your uncle for a sufficient period he may have created an easement.

To determine your rights, speak with a real estate attorney in your community and review the specifics involved.

Question: My husband and I are really interested in a house. I believe it was first listed on the market at $259,900, and then just a couple weeks later dropped to $249,900. We placed a bid of $205,000, the owner countered $245,000. Then we placed a $225,000 and she continued to stay firm at $245,000.

We waited about three weeks and just last week bid $230,000, she stayed firm at $245,000, we went up to $235,000 and are still waiting for a response. In total the house has been on the market about 92 days. It's by far the best house in our price range, which is a max of $240,000.

I just don't know if we should go up to $240,000 if she doesn't budge this time or just stay away and wait it out or wait for something better to come along. Could it be that our broker isn't trying hard enough for us? We're just so upset to be losing this house because of $5,000. We even had a max price of $235,000 when we started all this house hunting and for this house increased it to $240,000. We don't feel we should be the ones to change our firm price again. Why would someone not negotiate like this?

Answer: You should not be bidding on this house. Why? Because you initially set a financial limit of $235,000. Presumably anything above that price would be financially uncomfortable for you.

As to the seller, she has an absolute right to continue her demand -- and you have a right to walk away.

Your broker in this situation can convey your offer, negotiate on your behalf but if the seller won't budge then the game is over. Look elsewhere, and look for a home that would be more affordable to you.

Question: What's a 40-year mortgage and is it a good idea?

Answer: The longer the loan term, the smaller the monthly payment so a 40-year mortgage would have a lower monthly cash cost than a 30-year mortgage at the same interest.

While smaller monthly payments are attractive, the reality is that a longer term means slower amortization over time. Since it takes longer to reduce the loan amount -- and since more money is outstanding for a longer period -- the cost of a 40-year mortgage is significantly greater than a 30 year loan.

Here's an example:

Suppose you borrow $200,000 at 6 percent over 30 years. Your monthly payment for principal and interest will be $1,199 and after ten years the remaining loan balance will be $167,371.

With a 40-year loan at 6 percent the monthly payment would be $1,100 but at the end of 10 years you would owe $183,542.

Question: I have just put up a new privacy fence -- and paid for the whole thing. And now a friend tells me that my neighbors may have been responsible for some of the cost. Is this true?

Answer: You put up the fence on your property. You selected the height and style. Your neighbors are the beneficiary of your kind gesture.

Before putting up a fence on my property I went to the neighbors and asked them to chip-in. And they did.

Question: What sort of paperwork will I need to provide to get pre-approved by a lender?

Answer: There's no standard definition of the term "pre-approved" thus requirements vary.

It's in your interest to find a lender who wants to take a careful look at your tax returns, credit report and other documentation. Here's why: Instead of a back-of-the envelope guess which may suggest more borrowing power than you actually have -- and which may therefore lead to a loan rejection or the purchase of a home which is a financial burden -- you want a lender to come up with a realistic, conservative estimate of your ability to borrow. This will protect you in the marketplace and make a home purchase far more likely and enjoyable.

Have a real estate question? Send your inquiry to Ask Realty Times. Because of the volume of mail received, Mr. Miller cannot respond to questions individually or privately. Published letters may be edited for space and style. For comments regarding other Realty Times articles, please contact individual authors by pressing here. For past columns, please press Ask Realty Times.

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Published: June 20, 2008

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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.