Unless the bank has agreed upfront to accept a short sale, which is rare, no one knows for certain -- not the agent working with the buyer, not the listing agent nor the seller -- if a short sale offer will be accepted or rejected by the bank. Simply because a listing is advertised as a short sale does not mean it is a short sale. It means the listing agent and seller hope it will sell as a short sale and the bank will take the offer.

As part of the New Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, Congress made a significant, and little reported, change to the law concerning the exclusion from gross income of capital gain from the sale of a principal residence. This change seemingly was an afterthought, and was slipped into the Act as a revenue offset at the very end of the bill.

The disclosures RESPA requires lenders and others to give you estimates that make it easier to compare loans and services. Some disclosures outline typical costs and servicing policies, others force settlement participants to disclose affiliations.

The tax credit is available for first-time home buyers who purchase a home before Dec. 1. You can claim the credit on your 2008 or 2009 tax return, according to the IRS. However, you can't claim the credit until after you've purchased your home. Home buyers who want to claim the credit on their 2008 tax return have these options: