Question: When it comes to retail property management, who has the ultimate final decision making authority when it comes to stores participating in community fund raising such as a clothing donation home/bin?

We have agreements with properties owned by certain major stores. Their Regional VPs, District Managers and Retail Property Management Groups have all signed off approving the participation. Then along comes a third-party property manager that cleans the parking lot telling us that the owners have no say.

Who would be the real decision maker?

Answer: Whether the owners of particular stores or the property management company that cleans the parking lot has the authority to make decisions regarding bin placement for a clothing donation home/bin in the parking lot, depends upon the terms and provisions of the Property Management Contract and/or who owns and maintains the parking lot.

The property, even when owned by a major store, is often a part of a larger development site. Even though the major retail store owns its site, there are usually other contiguous owners, as well as management companies that may be involved. Some may not want a bin site on their easement tracts as it can create problems for the adjacent owners who want to maintain a higher image profile or not become known as a "dump site."

The chances of your gaining access to the agreements between the stores and the Property Management Company are slim to none, so perhaps a letter to the Property Management firm inquiring as to what it would take to gain the Property Manager's permission to place the bin or bins in the parking lot, might be the better way to proceed. Even if the Property Management firm says "No," at least you've got them communicating with you and you can leverage a lot of influence and action by offering the Property Management firm something it may want in exchange. A "quid pro quo" or "something for something" can work wonders.

Question: We bought home appliances for our new home from a reputable dealer and all went well. One day when my wife was taking the clothes out of the dryer she noticed that the inner part where the lint gets trapped, the exhaust shield that has a lot of holes to allow air out, had rusted. The machine was less the than a year old.

So we called he service department and they sent out their technician. He changed the part and changed some additional part on the back of the machine and said that it could be the cause of the rust.

One of my daughters started to have eye irritations. My wife has not been the same. I started to get sick as well. I had to go for complete sinus surgery. All this and we did not know why. I kept telling my wife the amount of dust in the house is not normal especially since we live outside the city.

So one day when I was down in the basement I plugged the extra light in and noticed that there was dust moving in the air. I looked over and noticed that the dryer was on. Being a handy person and an out of the box thinker, I decided to see where the air visibly moving the dust was coming from. I kept searching until I found out that the part (exhaust) in the back of the dryer was completely loose and away from the dryer and that it was hidden behind the dryer.

We called the company. At first they tried to play down how serious this matter was then they must have realized that matter was very important. Someone from the claims department called me and came over. He was shocked to see that there was no clamp on the back of the dryer holding the metal pipe to the dryer. When I pulled the dryer forward to show him and the pipe fell off by itself with no effort, he realized that I was not lying and that the company was at fault. He left with the pictures he took.

I followed up a few days later and he said that the matter needed to move up the ladder even though I did not understand what this meant. I said, "Ok, we’ll look forward to hearing from you."

Our question is now what do we do? The company has offered to pay $1.50 to $5.00 for the clamp that their technician forgot to place, or do we sue them for negligence and damages to our home and health? Please help!

Answer: We empathize with your situation, but your question does not appear to be real estate related.

If you do not already have an attorney, the Columbus Bar Association is a potential source. Contact the Columbus Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service at 614-221-0754.

We suggest that you review their website and look at the various links before you place the call. If you feel the appliance technician was not honest with you or that he misrepresented or misstated the facts about the service he offered you and for which you paid, then it is possible you may have an Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act complaint against the appliance dealer.

Question: I and the petitioner are both former military personnel. In 1977 I applied for a VA loan under the GI Bill and was accepted. I was stationed at a military base in Texas and my girlfriend requested and got stationed at the same location prior to the house going to closing. We shared the same living space prior to the house being completely ready. During this course of time my girlfriend was introduced to the Realtor and prior to the closing the Realtor asked if we were planning on getting married someday, and we said "probably." She advised us to sign as a couple to make the transaction of the loan go easier. My girlfriend signed her name with my last name for this one instance only and we never ever represented ourselves to anyone else as husband and wife.

We lived together for approximately 18 months then she put in for reassignment and declared at that time she had no interest in the house and would not pay any monies toward the mortgage.

We've had a couple conversations about the house in the last 27 years. With all of them she declared no financial obligations, but she requested a financial restitution for her signature.

She is suing as a co-owner but has never contributed any funds beyond an initial 5 to 6 hundred dollars for the initial closing cost (I'm not sure of the exact amount). I have paid the taxes, the maintenance, repairs, and replacement of roofs, baths, and garage doors plus re-sodding of the lawn on a couple occasions.

I do acknowledge I followed bad advice on the signature. However, due to the fact that the "co-owner," as she claims to be, has never contributed a dime to the lender for granting the loan, do I have a probable stand other than laying down to the request of the petitioner?

I was contacted by the petitioner about 18 months ago stating that she was filing for bankruptcy and that she would give me a quitclaim deed for the exchange of $5,000. I agreed. I, in turned, applied for a loan on my current residence here in Virginia to get the $5,000 I agreed to give her, and also applied for enough money to pay the balance of the house which was $8,500. After learning that I had paid off the house, the petitioner recanted her offer and is now suing for half interest. I request your earliest answer as I'm due in court next week.

Answer: Where is the court? If it is in a Texas city, locate the Bar association for that city by entering, in the address line of www.google.com, "[city name+state]+bar+association." For example, if the court is located in San Antonio, you would enter "san antonio+TX+bar+association". That search would return -- www.sanantoniobar.org -- and by reading the links on that site, you would select the "Community Justice Program ."

If you cannot afford to get a lawyer, you need to take all of your records with you to show the judge how much you paid over the years, and tell the judge about your bad "advice." If you and the woman signed a contract, you and she may have "held yourselves out" enough to be married at common law. You need to find a way to refute this also.

Question: I am trying to buy a house in zip code 53051. How important is the school district as a factor when trying to sell the house? How can I get authentic information to compare school districts in Wisconsin?

Answer: A school district is usually important to families with school-aged children who are concerned about the quality of the public schools serving them. Given the choice of buying a property located in an area served by an excellent public school system and buying an equal (comparable in all respects including selling price) property located in an area served by a school system with problems and low student achievement records, one would naturally want to select the first property.

The tax base for any specific school within a school district is a fairly good indicator of the degree of importance placed upon that school. It stands to reason that the higher the property tax per $1,000 valuation (example of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin tax rates) the more money the school has to spend on teachers, school supplies, specialized programs, etc. An exception to this, however, can be seen in certain Texas school districts (for example) where a particular area within a school district's tax base has industry or businesses that contribute to the real property tax base thus effectively lowering the consumers' residential property tax rates while still being able to deliver excellent public school services.

The universe of potential home buyers for a property located in a well-funded school is typically larger than a not-well-funded school. A larger universe of potential buyers equals a larger demand and therefore larger selling prices, usually. The best way to decipher the importance in terms of total number of potential buyers, plus the many other services being offered by him or her, is to hire a Realtor to represent your interests in your purchase transaction.