Home Equity News

If you're looking to make home improvements, pay for your kid's college or pay down credit card debt, a home equity line of credit is a cheap way to borrow money -- if you can qualify.

You can still recoup most, but certainly not all, of the money you spend making a home bigger or nicer.

A couple of big banks have offered to waive fees for East Coast customers who were affected by Hurricane Irene.

It's true: Making your home bigger, or nicer, makes it more valuable. But this year, as in the past couple of years, you'll likely recoup much less than what an improvement cost.

Q. I bought 12 acres of land 10 years ago for $83,000, built a house on a small part of that and have lived there for nine years. We are in the process of subdividing the land into 57 lots to sell. However, we have just been approached and offered $1.5 million for our land, excluding our house. Payment will be in 12 monthly installments. How much will we be looking at paying in capital gains tax?

Q. My wife's father signed his house over to her Aug. 24, 2010. She now wants to sell it to her son for $163,500. How will the capital gains tax apply?