Customers can take complaints about agents to Board of Realtors

Q: Is there a formal organization to file a grievance against a Realtor? I asked my broker for a phone number but the one she gave me is called Board of Realtors. It's another realty company, and I just don't trust the information. -- via e-mail

A: A Board (or Association) of Realtors is a trade organization that is indeed a good place for your problem. It will have a procedure for handling complaints against its members.

Start, though, with the supervising broker in your agent's office, assuming you haven't been dealing with the owner or the manager all along. Sometimes that principal broker can solve the matter.

Next stop, as your agent is a member, is with that Board of Realtors. In the end, if you wanted to bring in the big guns, you could contact the state's licensing authorities, which can discipline an agent or even revoke a license.

Buying half a duplex

can be problematical

Q: I am considering buying half of a duplex. Are there potential problems? -- J.S.

A: You bet there are! Some are the same concerns you'd have if you bought a single house with an unrelated partner. Who decides if the place needs a new roof? What if your co-owner doesn't have the money to pay for it or can't meet his or her mortgage payments? What if one of you wants to move? Should you rent out your half? What should happen when one of you dies?

And are you buying the whole place together, or do you really expect to buy a specific half? Have you found a lender who'll take a mortgage on half a house? Are you going to form a cooperative or a condominium organization? Are you going to sign a written partnership agreement?

I try to hold the same old advice down to no more than once per week, and this week it's your turn: Talk with a lawyer before you do anything.

Points can be defined

as percentage of loan

Q: What do points refer to in real estate? -- D.P.

A: A point is 1 percent of a loan. Points are often required by the lender as an extra one-time interest charge when a new loan is placed.

If someone buys a house for $200,000 and gets a mortgage loan for $160,000, one point would be $1,600. If the charge were two points, the buyer-borrower would pay $3,200 just once, as a lump sum at the closing. After that, interest would be due at the mortgage's regular rate.

Counter-offer is binding

until time limit expires

Q: If you countered an offer and they have not answered back, can you accept another offer if it is better? -- via e-mail

A: I hope your counter-offer contained a time limit. You are bound by it until either it is answered or it expires. Until then, you'd be in trouble if you accepted another offer, no matter what its price or terms, because the first prospective buyers could still accept your counter. You'd end up legally obligated to sell to two different parties.

If your counter-offer did not contain a time limit and it came to a legal battle, the courts would probably say you were bound by it for whatever length of time is typical in your area.

Minor owner of house

can lead to major problem

Q: My father gave me a house and put my name and my son's name on it. Now I am trying to get a home equity loan and they say they won't lend to a child and I need to buy out my son's part. Is there any legal way I can get his name off the ownership? -- J.R.

A: Your situation is a perfect illustration of the complications that can arise when a minor owns real estate. It's a situation that sometimes occurs, by the way, when the parent of small children dies without a will, and the state rules on who inherits what.

If anything can be done, I expect it will involve petitions to a court.

Giving lot to son can

exclude gift tax

Q: My husband and I have a lot we want to give to our son to build a vacation home on. The lot is valued about $15,000 current market, but I don't want the gift tax to kick in. Is it legal to sell it to him for a small amount? -- via e-mail

A: You and your husband can each give your son up to $12,000 a year with no federal gift tax consequences. Just sign a new deed, making your son the owner, and have the deed entered in your public records office -- that's all it takes. Whether he pays you a token amount is not important.

Edith Lank will personally respond to any questions sent to her at 240 Hemingway Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14620 (please include a stamped return envelope), or readers may e-mail her at ehlank@aol.com.