DEAR BARRY: I am presently buying my first home and am bothered by a difference of opinion between my home inspector and the seller's roofing contractor. My home inspector has 20 years of experience. He found the shingles to be worn and brittle, with two years of remaining life. But the seller's roofing contractor says the roof has five years...

DEAR BENNY: My son and his wife own a house. Just before the housing market downturn, they moved 1,000 miles away to pursue a much more lucrative-paying career for him. Since then they haven't been able to rent the house, and if they sold it they would lose $30,000 to $40,000. Even though he makes great pay, they are barely squeaking by having...

Finding a good agent or agents to help you buy or sell a home can vastly improve the quality of your experience. Ideally, you want someone who is professional, trustworthy and diligent.

It's impossible to predict at the outset exactly how a purchase or sale transaction will play out. But, invariably there are bumps along the road. Good rapport...

My first impression of Mortgage Marvel (MM) was that it was a multi-lender shopping site, which would make it the fourth new one I have reviewed in 2008; the others are Loan.com, Mortgage Grader and Zillow Mortgage. My second impression was that MM was more of a referral site than a multi-lender shopping site.

A...