Azrael

A reader wants to sell a personal residence to a buyer with poor credit. The seller is willing to finance the purchase, but does not want to transfer legal title until the buyer pays the full purchase price. "How can one do this?"Selling the property by a land installment contract is one way to finance the purchase of a residential property without transferring legal title until the buyer pays the full price. A land installment contract is an agreement between a seller and a buyer in which the purchase price is paid in six or more payments, including the down payment.

If you stand in the rubble of the Peabody Book Shop and Beer Stube and listen very, very hard to the first winds of autumn, you may hear echoes of a ragtime piano, or H. L. Mencken ordering another round, or even the slither of the cards as Dantini the Magician performs his magic act for the last time.In a kind of exquisite irony, the demolition of the Charles Street landmark began on the first day of this year's Baltimore Book Festival. First to be razed was the Viennese Brauhaus Siegfried Weisberger had created in 1933 at the rear of his shop, making it probably the first bookstore in America with its own tap room, its own Bierstube.

Dear Mr. Azrael, Is it good to have our mortgage in just my spouse's name? My husband and I remortgaged our home. Instead of putting the mortgage in both our names, the mortgage company decided to put it in just my husband's name. I have fairly good credit before and after we remortgaged our house. I asked why they felt it would be good. I myself don't feel good about it. What do you think? Linda Smoot Severn Dear Ms. Smoot, Most married couples want their home to be titled jointly.

On Tuesday, March 14, 2006, BEATRICE B. COLVIN (nee Azrael); beloved wife of the late Dr. Louis D. Blum and Joseph Colvin; devoted mother of Ruth Schultz and Arnold Blum, both of Atlanta, GA; dear mother-in-law of Arthur Schultz and Jan Blum; devoted sister of the late Louis, Sam, Maurice and Edward Azrael; loving grandmother of Claire Yaffe, Steven and Richard Schultz and Jennifer Blum; loving great-grandmother of Levitt and Bebe Yaffe. Also survived by loving nieces, nephews and dear friends.

Wynstone LLC is a new Columbia-based company that will focus on land acquisition, selling and development in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.The firm is a joint venture between Richard Azrael, president of Chateau Builders Inc., and James M. "Mickey" Abrams, president of Cypress Homes of Maryland Inc.Wynstone plans to launch the area's first regional land data bank, a centralized residential bank and information system for homebuilders."We fully expect the Land & Data Bank to become as important to developers and builders as the multiple list system is to the real estate brokerage community," Mr. Azrael said.

The champion is dead - long live the champion.  The grand American beech in Mary Azrael's backyard in Mount Washington was at least 160 years old and had reigned officially as the city's premier tree of that species for nearly two decades.  But time slowly took its toll, and Azrael reluctantly hired a tree expert to take it down Tuesday after being advised it was in such poor shape it could fall or drop a limb at any time, posing a safety hazard....

Dear Mr. Azrael: My neighbor several years ago filled in a low area on their property, changing the contour so that rainwater now drains onto my property. Much of the fill was being pushed past the property line. I dug a drainage ditch along my side of the property line to divert water back where it formerly drained. I did this to stop erosion of the bank between us, which was created 60 years ago by a previous owner, and was not a problem until [my neighbor] filled the low areas of their property.

Dear Mr. Azrael: I recently purchased a HUD home. The home came with a $1,600 repair escrow account. After the home inspection, I requested another $1,000 for repairs. HUD agreed to include the additional request. My question is: Are the repairs to be funded through this repair escrow account? Or does this money come out of my pocket? I had to pay the $2,600 at settlement, to be refunded back to me. But if that is the case, HUD didn't pay to have the repairs done. I'm only repaying myself.

Dear Mr. Azrael:I'd like to know if there's any way that I can purchase a house using my own home as equity without having to make any significant down payment. I presently owe about $13,000 on a $160,000 home. Thank you.Curt GlobalFallstonDear Mr. Global:Your home has substantial equity. Equity is the difference between the value of your home and the amount owed on it. Assuming you have good credit, you easily should be able to borrow 60 percent to 80 percent of the equity in your home. This borrowing power could be used to provide a down payment for purchasing a second home or investment property.

Dear Mr. Azrael:What recourse do we have for dealing with a mortgage that's charging late fees, but the cause of the fee is actually their delay in processing?We were recently charged a late fee by [our mortgage company], but my payment was not processed for over 20 days after it was mailed. It was mailed from Baltimore to Pittsburgh in late January and was not processed until Feb. 17, 1999.They charged me a late fee of $67.50. To this point we have not been able to get any help through their customer service line, which takes over an hour to get through at times.