How do I transfer condo title into trust?

Q: I purchased a Florida condo a few years ago while still living in Maryland and later made it my permanent residence. While I was still living in Maryland, I created a revocable living trust for my affairs, but did not put the Florida condo into the trust.

I now wish to transfer the condo into the trust but don't really know how to accomplish this.

Can I do this myself or do I require a lawyer? If I can do it myself, could you please explain specifically how I do it? Can I just fill out paperwork and file it somewhere? If so, where do I file it and how can I get it done?

A: What you need to do is re-title the condo into the name of the trust. You can use a deed that would convey your interest in the property to your trust.

Can you do this yourself? Yes, but you'd better be careful. You can obtain a deed to transfer your interest in the Florida condominium to your trust from a title company or closing agent in Florida where your condominium is located. You can then contact the local recorder of deeds to find out what specific requirements and additional forms they have for recording documents in the county in which the condominium is located. Finally, after completing the deed and other forms, you will have to pay the fee to record the document along with any additional fees required by the local municipality and county.

If you mess up in your endeavor, you might pay a high price. You might mess up the title to the property, which could haunt you down the line.

A better idea is to pay an attorney a couple of hundred bucks to transfer the title for you. You can also go to a title company and work with a closing agent or escrow agent.

Q: We purchased our retirement home in September. We then put our present home up for sale. It's on the market for less than we owe and is priced about $10,000 less than others in neighborhood.

We are retiring in October. If we go into foreclosure on our primary residence, can they put a lien on our new home? I'm sure we won't sell our current home by then and when we retire we will not be able to afford two homes.

A: Do you have to retire in October? Unless this is a mandatory retirement, you and your spouse should not plan on leaving your jobs until you have sold your home.

If you stop paying the mortgage, the lender will put your property into foreclosure and that will trash your credit. In addition, if the lender allows you to do a "short sale" (where your home is worth less than the mortgage) and the lender does not agree to accept the amount from the sale to satisfy the debt, the lender can still go after you for the shortfall.

In other words, you will still owe the lender the missing money from the short sale or foreclosure and could continue to have legal troubles with your current lender. That lender can go as far as suing you, and if the lender wins in the suit it can put a lien on your newly acquired home causing you a major financial headache in your retirement years.

Since you still have about six months until your hoped-for retirement date, focus on doing what you can to get your current home sold. You may need to make some minor changes or lower the price to make it even more attractive.

If you've done all that you can (including hiring a top-notch, aggressive agent), then you'll need to find a way to keep bringing in income until conditions improve in your neighborhood.

If the real estate market does not improve in your area, you'll have to approach the lender early on about accepting a short sale and have the lender accept the short sale as full payment of the amount you owe the lender on the loan. You should also attempt to have the lender agree (in writing) not to report the short sale as a negative on your credit report. Instead, the loan should be reported "paid as agreed."

Q: I am 63 years old and finally decided to buy my first house. I signed with a mortgage company. They promised me everything and told me I was approved for a certain amount of money.

I asked them if I could have that in writing, and they said they would send the form to me. I have since called and e-mailed them and they still continue to promise to send this approval document, but they have not. I have been requesting it for almost two months now.

What can I do? Aren't they supposed to give me this form? They have pulled my credit report twice, and continue to verbally tell me what I can afford to spend, but they will not send anything in writing. Please advise.

A: Here's my advice: Ask for your money back.

Tell this mortgage company that if they do not refund your money within 48 hours, you will report them to the state agency that regulates banks and mortgage lenders. Tell them you know that they are in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) for not providing you with a written good-faith estimate of closing costs within three business days of signing the application.

There may be other reasons for this behavior, but this lender is not being upfront with you. If they told you that you would receive the documents, you should have received them. Once they did not send them to you, their failure to deliver documents as promised should have been a big red flag to you.

Once you get your money -- and even before -- you've got to realize that you have to move on and find more reputable business partners. These guys aren't worth the salt on your table. Clearly, they're having trouble getting investors to buy their loans and you don't want to be caught up with that.

To get even more valuable advice from Ilyce, visit her Personal Finance and Real Estate Center.

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