‘I am angry’: I’m an unmarried stay-at-home mother in a 20-year relationship, but my boyfriend won’t put my name on the deed of our house. Am I unreasonable?
I have been in my relationship for almost 20 years. For personal reasons, we are not married but we have a 10-year-old child. When our child was born, we decided that I would be a stay-at-home parent because my low-paying job didn’t cover the costs of child care, and at the time, we were stretched. […]
My stepbrother helped me get started in tech. I allowed him to live in my late’s father’s home. He told me, ‘Your dad wanted me to live here.’ What do I owe him?
My father dated someone when I was in early grade school, and mentored one of her sons, becoming the father figure he never had. For simplicity, I’ll refer to him as a stepbrother. I was about eight years younger, and my stepbrother helped me with some key decisions after I graduated. One key piece of […]
Want to estimate your monthly energy bill in a new home — before you buy it? This new service may help.
Home shoppers often try to estimate the cost of monthly utilities payments for prospective homes by quizzing real-estate agents. A new feature offered by a brokerage should help demystify that number. The feature, unveiled on Thursday by real-estate brokerage firm Redfin RDFN, +0.33%, provides energy-cost estimates for 85 million homes nationwide. The estimates are provided […]
‘Am I crazy?’ I’ve paid my fiancée rent for 9 years and spent $10,000 improving her home. She’s also listed on my health insurance. What should I do?
I have a situation that is causing a lot of issues in my relationship. We have been dating for 17 years, have lived together for close to nine years and have been engaged for six. When I moved into her house, we agreed I would pay $600 a month in rent. Over the years, I […]
I sold my late mother’s home for $250,000. I make $80,000 and have $220,000 in student debt. I want to buy a house. Should I use all my inheritance for a down payment?
My mom passed away, and left me her house, which I just sold and will net $250,000. I’m 41 years old with no real retirement savings. I make $80,000 a year, and I am maxing out contributions to my employer-matching retirement account. I own my car, pay off my credit cards in full every month, […]
‘She never has enough money’: I was adopted by a wealthy family, but my biological grandma says I need to financially support her — and buy her a condo
My biological mom died when I was a toddler, and the state felt that my grandmother wasn’t appropriate as a placement given that they found she had mental-health issues at that time. I was adopted by an upper-class family, and all communication with my biological grandma was prohibited after the adoption. Fast forward to when […]
The housing market is showing signs of ‘normalizing’ and IRS says ‘Tax Day’ will be different this year — put these important tax dates on your calendar
Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories.IRS says ‘Tax Day’ will be different this year — put these important tax dates on your calendar Two thirds of households received income-tax refunds last year, IRS statistics show. Read More U.S. mortgage rates slip, giving some relief to homebuyers The 30-year mortgage rate is averaging at 6.33%, […]
How the Fed is ‘collapsing’ real estate activity with higher interest rates
U.S. real estate has undergone a dramatic slowdown in transaction activity in the months since the Federal Reserve began jacking up interest rates. Sales of existing homes plunged from peak pandemic levels to about 4.1 million in November (see chart) from over 6 million units sold per year in 2021 as the Fed has dramatically […]
I met my wife in 2019 and we married in 2020. I put her name on the deed of my $998,000 California home. Now I want a divorce. What can I do?
Dear Quentin, I bought my home in California for $520,000 in 2017. It’s now worth $980,000. In 2019, I met my now-wife who moved in at the beginning of 2020. We married six months later in July 2020. Things were going great and we decided to have one bank account. I also added my wife […]
‘He is financially secure and owns two homes’: I finally met the man of my dreams, but he treated our waitress like dirt and tipped her 10%. Am I overreacting?
Dear Quentin, I’ll keep this short, as I don’t take any pleasure in reliving it. I have corresponded with a man for two months on a dating site that shall remain nameless (except to say it starts with T and ends in R). He had a very strong and decisive personality, which I liked, and […]