Yes you can but check what penalties you are looking at and see if you have anything in your mortgage documents that prevents you from doing so.

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It seems there are no right answers here. Perhaps you should read over your mortgage documents very carefully...and if you don't know what they're saying...contact a lawyer who deals in real estate. Better to be safe, than sorry.

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We have a good chunk of money in a savings account and may need to sell our house within a year. what will get a better return on our money? putting the money down on the principle of the mortgage or finishing the basement, paving the driveway and installing a/c?

Hi sugarjones, If you are sure you will sell within a year then upgrading the house may bring a faster higher return . Only do minor necessary renovations. Updating a bathroom probably will not return full value. Painting and neatening up will give you the most bang for the buck. If you need carpet offer a carpet allowance to the buyers. That way they can choose the color. You will find some great information on getting your house ready to sell here - http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/ht/homeprep.htm Norm

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Listening to the "great american" yesterday.. a woman named "capone" calls in and after kissing sean's azz for a minute or two he finally ask's her "so what's up capone" ? she tells him of her 24 year old daughter that's just been diagnosed with a rare cancer.. sean tells her to let "me and my audience" deal with the politics, you focus on treating your daughter... "mortgage your house, sell your cars..do whatever you have to do" he finishes with a freudian slip and says" we'll do anything we can to stop health care ".. and then corrects himself "i meant obama care" so in defending the current version of health care we have, he tells someone to divest and lose their quality of life. and the poor clueless woman, says..thank you sean, thank you for everything you do. what is the saddest element of this conversation this is absolutely 110% true i listened to him twice yesterday, the main show when i was driving in pa and then the rebroadcast up in syracuse at 7:00... true..true..1000% true! tried to find a link at his website, you tube etcetc.. this was yesterdays show 8/13/09.. anyone can find it please post.. so when a link does become available "patriot" will you stop being a patriot ? edit: tat why should she have to sacrifice her life? of course we would all do whatever it takes to help a child.. why should this womans life be turned upside down so that ceo's can make over 100k an hour ? is it about self reliance..or blind allegiance ?

I can't believe that there are actually people in America that believe that anyone should have to mortgage their house , sell their vehicle, etc because they (or a loved one) gets a deadly disease. Like there wouldn't be enough stress in this poor woman's life, now she is supposed to sell everything that she owns!?! I'm so glad that I live in Canada! When my dad had cancer and no insurance, it didn't matter. He got treatment. Our family kept our house, vehicles, and everything else. It was difficult enough with him off of work for treatment (he was self employed, so didn't qualify for EI). You know what is the saddest part of this entire conversation? This lady has a 24 year old daughter with cancer. The caller is likely retired or close to retiring. Now, because of the American "health care" system, she is going to have to work for 10 more years and start back at ground zero. Bye bye retirement fund, bye bye everything. It's so sad. My heart goes out to anyone who is in this sort of situation in America. By the way, one more thing to people who say things like "a house is not a necessity". No, a house isn't, but shelter IS considered a basic necessity (like food, water, etc). What if this lady can't afford to pay rent somewhere? Would you expect her to be living on the streets? I know that if I got cancer and my mom sold everything she owned to help me, that's where she would be. So sad.

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Hello, here is the deal, i owe money on my mortgage, but i want to move to another city. i have a guy who loves the house, but he wants to do the owner financing. i figured i could sell it to him for a higher price than what i owe on it and charge him a yearly interest. i have explained to him that there is a lien on the house and he is fine with it. basically i see this as better than foreclosing if i can no longer live there and this way he gets to keep it if he finishes paying me the full term of the loan which will probably be 15 years. by the time he is done paying me i would have full ownership of the house and the title. then i could transfer it to his name after he finished paying me. i am asking him for a down payment and his monthly payment will include the taxes, and any insurance i pay that way i am covered. so what can i say in the contract that i create, or do i need to get some legal paperwork? help:)

Uh...you are talking about a buy to own option. Not a game for an amatuer; get a real estate atty involved to write a contract. Need language to protect you if he defaults; to protect him if you die; if you get all his payment and refuse to transfer after the agreement is completed, to keep you from placing additional liens against the property, to protect him if you default and the property is foreclosed anyway.

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I would like to buy a run down property to renovate and sell again as soon as it is finished,would this be a buy to let mortgage or is there one out there for this type of thing ?

If you buy a property as an investor you will probably be getting a max of 80% ltv (loan to value) and your rates will be a bit high. As an investor your score has to be atleast a 720 and you have to already own a home that is currently listed on your credit report. You can try a Hard Equity lender. They will let you borrow money on the equity of the home and they usually only give a max of 65%. They do not check your credit, job etc. All they look at is the value of the home. But their rates are ridiculous. I'm talking about a 15% rate. I don't know how bad the property is but you can also by the home as your primary residence (if you don't own anything else) move in and do the renovations while your living there. If you do it that way then you can get a normal rate and you can get 100% financing (a full doc loan).

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So i know nothing about mortgages or anything about that. nice houses are so expensive, and through my odd calculations could take 10-17 years to pay off. what if i moved into a house and about 2 years in, i want to sell it. what happens then? do i finish paying for it before i can even sell it or what?

The money to pay off the existing mortage is paid as part of the closing. You can't sell it without doing that, since you wouldn't be able to turn over a title to the buyer. There is something called a short sale where the lender might agree to let you sell for less than you owe and they'll cover the difference. Note: if you buy a nice house and pay it off in 10-17 years, you've done well - most mortgages are 30 years, and few people pay them off that early unless it's because they sell.

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Hi, about 8 - 9 yrs ago my dad got the opportunity to buy our council owned house (we live in the uk) but he couldn't afford a mortgage so my eldest sister said she'll pay the mortgage under the understanding she can't sell and he can't sell without one or the others consent. the other night she announced she was thinking of moving out and that her plans were to sell the house!! the mortgage was for £40 k (down from£80 k because my dad got discount from living there for so long) she hasn't yet finished paying the mortgage there is 14 or 15 k left and she wants it paying for her and then she plans to sell and still take 50% of the sale which is ridiculous in my mind. my dad said he didn't want to sell and she says she could force him if she wanted...is she right? we making appointment at solicitors next week but id like some info to take my mind off it thanks

If your appointment is later in the week, you could always call at the Citizens Advice Bureau in your Town, for advice earlier. The way I would see it is that your father bought the house, and the Deeds will be in his name, even if someone else is paying the mortgage. That being so, I cannot see how someone else can sell the house if they don't own the Deeds.

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I want to sell my current home & purchase a condo. i am a retired senior with a fully paid-up home. the condo is in construction to be finished in a couple of months. if i list my current home, it may not sell in time to simply pay for the condo. therefore i have been to see lenders. they all recommend against a bridge loan due to unavailability and also due to high costs. they also recommend against a home equity loan. the one i think would be the best is this scenario but i am asking for your guidance on which one is the better way to do this for any and all reasons. re-finance my current home and take a $100k loan at less than 5%. this loan would have no prepayment penalty. i would make a $50k down payment on the condo then sell my home and pay off the refinance loan on the home & owning the condo free & clear. the other alternative, is to take a mortgage on the new condo & pay it off when the house sells but that mortgage cannot be done until it is completed. again, there would be no prepayment penalty. also the seller will not do a contingency. if i would take the loan on my current home i would not have a problem making the mortgage payments because they would be low enough for me to afford to do this for a few months while the house is listed. but i'm not sure if it makes things more complicated to sell a home with a mortgage on it or not? i would like to keep the home & rent to my son for property taxes only but it would be less rent than fmv & i think the irs calls it my second home & the tax benefit is lost. what a shame not to be able to help out. thank you,

Hello Leeway, Seems the drop dead simplest solution is to get a mortgage on the new home. If construction has already started, then that seems to imply you have already given them a deposit, so why would you need a bridge loan with only 2 months remaining til completion - a "couple" means (2) to me? People generally get bridge loans at the beginning of the process so construction can get started. On the thought of refinancing your current home and then paying it off in a few months, lenders expect that when you refinance your home, you will remain in the home for at least 12 months and would not like the thought of you selling the home after making just a few payments on the loan. The lender could suffer chargebacks for that. Think about this. By refinancing your current home at the low rates for a primary residence, you are indirectly getting a bridge loan to buy your condo - but at a rate you would not otherwise obtain for a true bridge loan. But by telling the lender that you intend to occupy that home for the next 12 months, you would be committing mortgage fraud. I can't see why someone recommended against a home equity loan. I've had many clients get home eq loans to buy other property. Better yet, get a home equity line of credit. You'll get a really low start rate. Then pay it off after the home is sold. Be aware there may a fee involved to close out a home eq line of credit that soon. Be sure to get all the details. But more than likely, the fee for the early close-out will be less than the closing costs on a refinance - and no fraud would be involved. For the record, selling a home with a mortgage is par for the course. Most people who sell their homes have a mortgage outstanding. You should seek competent tax advice on the second home and rental issue. Good luck.

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Both houses are located in vic australia, our new house finished early so we havent put the current one up for sale yet. as we will have 2 mortgages until the current one sells we were going to put renters in it. will we have to pay cgt on this and if so how much, would it even be worth it.

For what it could be worth in $$$ to you, this is not the sort of information and advice to seek from somewhere like Yahoo answers. You should speak with a tax accountant and ask them to explain how the main residence exemption from CGT operates in conjunction with the absences provision (i.e. you can absent from your elected main residence while using it for income producing purpose for up to 6 years and it can still qualify for the exemption from CGT). Even as a couple/family, you can only elect one main residence at a time so you may need to work out which one to elect for the exemption and for which periods. CGT is very complex - your accountant will need to ask you for much more info to know how it will apply in your circumstances.