It’s the time of year for weddings in faraway churches and family reunions in relaxing places. Perhaps friends (or friends of friends) have approached you about renting your home or vacation cabin when you are not using it this year. And, they are willing to pay — an amount in line with the best rental properties in the area.

Do you have to declare the income to the Internal Revenue Service on your annual income tax return? How much is too much before crossing into different tax threshold?

While many families don’t charge a fee for letting friends use their home or getaway retreat for a special gathering (hoping they’ll return the favor when your child gets married) you can pocket any fair-market rent as long as the term is 15 days or fewer and you don’t claim any of the tax deductions typically allowed on rental property, such as for depreciation or maintenance.

This option can come in handy for folks who do not want to be in the rental game, yet occasionally find they could rent their place. It happens all the time for annual golf tournaments, arts fairs, theatre festivals, auto races and jazz carnivals.

The rules change, however, if the getaway house becomes a designated rental or investment property. Under current federal tax laws, the owner can still use a rental vacation home for 14 days or 10 percent of the amount of time the house is rented, whichever is greater, without jeopardizing its status as a rental property and tax shelter.

The owner who designates his cabin as an investment property and rents “full time” is getting three benefits: First, the renters are buying the house for him. Second, he can cash in on any appreciation that might result from rapidly increasing property values. And third, he can depreciate the building — not the property it stands on — which can provide substantial tax benefits.

Depreciating an asset means you are taking a deduction for the value lost as an asset ages. According to the accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP, the period of time over which you depreciate your property has long been the subject of controversy. Often, it depends upon when the property was put “in service.”

Investors in vacation homes must use the tax benefits from depreciation to cover their costs. What is left for them then is profit made from the appreciation in the value of the property.

The 14-day maximum-personal-use rule means a house at the ocean with a 90-day rental season can be owner-occupied for 14 days, instead of the nine days that would be allowed under the 10 percent rule. With longer rental seasons, however, the 10 percent rule can be a bonus.

For example, a mountain resort home near winter ski slopes and summer lakes might be rented for 250 days a year, allowing the owner to use it for 25 days. Personal use does come at a cost. Depreciation is limited only to the percentage of time that a house is rented. If you rented for 90 days and use it yourself for 10, you can take only 90 percent of the total expenses and depreciation.

But another way to catch a few hours at the beach without eating into or exceeding the 14-day or 10 percent limit is to clean the house yourself between renters. Days spent maintaining the house do not count toward the personal-use limit. And you can deduct travel costs to get to the house and expenses such as paint and cleaning supplies.

However, if the IRS determines that you were at the house more to sit in the sun than to clean the bathrooms and paint the porch, those days may be added to your personal use and could jeopardize your tax savings.

The house also must be rented at fair market value. If you rent to relatives at discount rates, the IRS may rule that the house is not actual rental property and disallow many of your deductions.

As home prices stagnate, real estate practitioners are more likely to face the question of when, how, and how much to disclose about a financially distressed property.

Such properties present two disclosure challenges—finding a reliable source of correct information about the physical condition of the property and deciding how and when to make a situational disclosure about the owner’s financial distress.

Disclosing Property Issues Is Critical

In a short sale, the net proceeds from the sale are insufficient to cover the mortgage debt and all other costs of selling. Home owners may already be in default on a mortgage or may recognize that they will not be able to continue to make payments much longer. Sellers in such circumstances may feel desperate and be particularly reluctant to disclose property defects.

A seller who is unable to pay a mortgage has often failed to maintain the property. In these situations, it’s critical to explain to the seller that withholding information will not improve the situation.

In addition, distressed sellers should understand that they will still be vulnerable to a buyer’s lawsuit if known defects aren’t disclosed.

Timing Is Tricky in Short Sale Disclosure

An agent for a distressed seller also faces the decision of when to disclose the owner’s situation and how much to disclose. In general, a salesperson representing the seller should advise prospective buyers about the property’s financial status before they sign a purchase contract because the need for the lender’s approval of such sales can affect the terms of the sale and the timing of the closing.

NAR’s MLS policy was amended earlier this year to require multiple listing services to give their participants the ability to disclose any possibility of a short sale to other MLS participants. Participants may also, but are not required to, communicate to other participants how any lender-mandated reduction in the gross commission stated in the listing contract will be apportioned between the listing and cooperating brokers.

The policy also gives MLSs discretionary authority to require participants to disclose potential short sales when participants have reason to believe that the transaction may result in a short sale. The policy provides that short sale information should be included in the confidential remarks field of a listing as soon as the listing broker knows about the possibility of a short sale.

In particular, practitioners must be careful not to compromise the seller’s chance of getting the best price possible for a home by disclosing the sellers’ distressed condition too early.

After a Foreclosure

Once a property has been foreclosed and is owned by the lender, there’s no longer an issue about disclosing the property’s distressed status. Foreclosures, after all, are matters of public record. However, getting reliable information about a foreclosed property’s physical condition becomes even more challenging.

When a property’s owner is no longer in possession, it’s extremely difficult for a sales associate to get the facts about property condition, in part because the lender may have little, if any, information about the property’s condition.

Lenders are usually required to disclose what they know about REO properties but are generally exempt from requirements to complete property condition disclosure forms required for sellers in many states. However, agents must still make all disclosures of known defects required by their state’s law. Associates should encourage buyers to have a thorough inspection of any property prior to purchase.
Providing such advice may help protect you from liability if the property is later found to have a defect. For example, in Reed v. Bank of America, 1995, a buyer whose lender had repeatedly advised him to get a home inspection, even though the practitioners involved did not notice any defects, lost in his suit against the bank because he chose to self-inspect instead of hiring a professional.

More Tips for Disclosures

•   Ask for copies of all relevant permits, repair receipts, and inspection reports from a home owner who is still in residence at a distressed property.

•   Take photos of any property defects you see, send copies to the lender, and get a written receipt.

•   Inquire about past-due condominium assessments or homeowners association dues that might create a lien.

A homeowner in Santa Fe, NM, recently decided to put his older home on the market. At the recommendation of his real estate agents, he ordered presale inspection reports on the property. The home inspector noticed sloping in the floors and out-of-plumb door frames — signs of settlement, which is not unusual for the area.

The seller informed the home inspector that an engineer had inspected the property when he initially purchased it. The seller, who was then a buyer, had been present at the time of the inspection, which is always a good idea.

The engineer found nothing unusual with the foundation, given its age. The settlement appeared to have occurred long ago and was not indicative of an ongoing problem. Based on this information, the buyer went ahead with the purchase.

Years later when this buyer, now a seller, searched for the engineer’s report to include with his disclosures on the property, he couldn’t find it. He then recalled that because he had been present at the inspection and was pleased with the results, he did not pay the extra fee to have the report put in writing.

This is a common occurrence in the home-buying business. Buyers are encouraged to have a property they are interested in thoroughly inspected before they go ahead with the purchase. The cost of having various inspections done can mount up.

Many buyers stretch financially when they buy, so the temptation is great to skimp on inspection costs. However, if defects are discovered during inspections, you would need written confirmation if you hope to negotiate a concession from the seller.

There are pros and cons to foregoing written inspection reports. One is that it usually costs less. Also, buyers who make an offer in a place like Santa Fe, NM, where multiple offers are still fairly common, are forced to pre-inspect the property so that they can make an offer without including an inspection contingency.

In this case, the buyers might pay for a verbal inspection to keep costs down until they find out if their offer is accepted. If it is, it’s a good idea to pay the extra amount for a written inspection report.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: A benefit of having written reports on a property you’re buying is that it documents the condition of the property at a point in time. Then when you sell five or 10 years later, you can make this information available to the buyers. This can clear up uncertainty about whether or not an issue is new or was there many years ago and has remain unchanged.

The presale home inspector in the above example recommended in his written report that an engineer look at the foundation. The seller ended up hiring an engineer to do a presale inspection because he had no written record of the report done at the time he purchased.

As a seller, it’s usually in your best interest to order further inspections that are recommended, particularly ones that will be a concern to buyers. This way, you’re in control of who does the inspecting. A buyer can always get a second opinion, but at least you have a report to back up your position if the buyers try to negotiate the price based on inspections.

THE CLOSING: There are times when it makes sense to get verbal opinions. However, if you’re a seller and you’re going to make presale inspection reports available to buyers, they should be written. This way, the opinions on the property’s condition are coming directly from the inspectors and are not just hearsay from you. Note that seller disclosure laws vary from state to state.

The $300 billion housing bill signed into law on July 30 by President Bush helps stretched homeowners renegotiate their mortgages and provides tax credits to first-time buyers.

But it also addresses three major criticisms of reverse mortgage loans, which are increasingly popular among homeowners 62 and older who use the money for living expenses, health care, prescription drugs or to pay off an existing mortgage.

With a reverse mortgage, you can tap your home equity without having to make monthly payments. Instead the bank pays you. The loan comes due only when you die, sell or move away permanently. The amount you get depends on the home’s value, location, interest rates and the age of the youngest borrower if there are co-owners.

The new bill raises the amount you can get from the mortgage and lowers the cost of getting it.

Most reverse mortgages today are Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Up to now, HECM has capped a home’s appraisal, which affects the loan amount. The loan limit depends on the county where the home is located and ranges from $200,160 to $362,790.

While the new limit has not been finalized, the bill will increase the amount significantly. “The higher limit will give homeowners access to more cash from their home equity,” says Peter H. Bell, President of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

A second criticism has been that the transaction fees for reverse mortgages are too high. An AARP Public Policy Institute study in December 2007 found that high costs were one of the main reasons why eligible homeowners decided against a home mortgage.

The new bill will make HECMs less expensive for many borrowers. Origination fees had been a flat 2 percent of the home’s value, but the new bill reduces that to 2 percent of the first $200,000 of the home’s value, and then 1 percent after that. Also, the fee is capped at $6,000.

And finally, the new bill puts an end to one of the main problems related to reverse mortgages: lenders cross-selling other financial products. The new law forbids requiring the purchase of an annuity, insurance product or investment product as a condition of the loan.

“These prohibitions will protect borrowers from aggressive marketers who try to get them to invest proceeds they receive from their reverse mortgages unwisely,” said David Certner, AARP legislative policy director. “For example, pushy marketing tactics used by some originators encourage borrowers to purchase deferred annuities or long-term care insurance products that are costly and generally not in the borrower’s best interest.”

But despite these changes, says Bell, “the most important safeguards remain talking candidly with your reverse mortgage counselor and dealing only with individuals and companies you know and trust, or have thoroughly checked out.”

Credit repair scam artists will charge you anywhere from $500 to $1,500 or more upfront, and promise you everything from a new Social Security card to perfect credit.

But these companies can’t do anything for you that you can’t do for yourself — for free — and they might ultimately do more harm than good.

What should you do if you have bad credit? Here are 10 tips that are designed to improve your credit history and raise your credit score:

1. Pull a copy of your credit history from AnnualCreditReport.com. Sponsored by the three credit-reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, AnnualCreditReport.com is the only place you can go to get a truly free copy of your credit history. Each credit-reporting bureau is required to give you one copy once a year. You should pull copies from each of the bureaus, since they sometimes collect different data.

2. While you’re there, buy a copy of your credit score from Equifax.com. Equifax offers a FICO score, also known as a Beacon score, which is from Fair Isaac, the company that created the concept of credit scoring. Most creditors will pull a FICO score, so you should see what they’re seeing. Your credit score will give you a snapshot of what your credit information means to your creditors. The FICO score runs from 350 to 850. The higher the number, the better. Your target should be to have a credit score of at least 720.

3. Check your credit history thoroughly. You’re looking for errors, misinformation and negative information that might count against you. File a dispute with the three credit-reporting bureaus if you spot any errors. Some credit reports have serious errors in them, so fixing these will boost your score.

4. Understand what kind of debt you’re facing. Make a list of everything you owe, the interest rate each debt carries, and the minimum payment due each month. Then, prioritize your debt: mortgage, real estate taxes, credit cards and medical bills should be paid in that order.

5. Negotiate with your creditors for a lower interest rate. Paying less in interest means more of your payment each month goes toward paying down your balance. If you have a good credit score (over 720 is a starting point), you should be able to find other credit cards featuring zero percent to 5 percent in interest for the first year, or for the life of a balance transfer (check out sites like CardRatings.com and CardTrak.com to compare credit-card offers.) Just be sure you read the fine print: Some credit cards require you to charge on the new account each month or face a stiff fee.

6. Pay down the debt with the highest interest rate first. Pay your mortgage and home equity loan and lines of credit in full each month. Then, make sure you have enough cash to make all of the minimum payments due on your debt each month. Then, throw any spare cash at the debt that carries the highest interest rate first. Once you’ve paid down that debt, transfer all of the extra cash you’re paying each month to the debt with the next-highest interest rate, and so on.

7. Pay everything on time, even if you can make only the minimum payment. The most crucial component of your credit history and credit score is your ability to pay your bills on time each month. Paying on time shows your creditors that you take your debts and obligations seriously. Even one late payment can seriously damage your credit history and credit score, even though it can take a year’s worth of on-time payments to start to heal your credit history and raise your credit score. It doesn’t seem fair, but that’s how the credit industry works.

8. Don’t charge more than 25 percent of your maximum available credit limit. If you carry a credit-card balance that is a higher percentage of your available credit limit, your credit score will go down. Why? Because creditors believe if you charge the maximum on your credit cards, it means you can’t properly manage your credit. You’re better off spreading out your debt between three or four different cards than having it all piled on one card.

9. Don’t open and close a lot of accounts. Again, a credit score tells current and future creditors how likely it is that you won’t pay back your debts. It assesses how risky a borrower you are today. Every time you apply for a new credit card, that creditor pulls a copy of your credit history from the credit-reporting bureaus. That “inquiry” gets reported on your credit history. Too many inquiries in a short period of time signals that you may be getting low on your available credit and need more cash. Even though you might be interested in getting 10 percent off your first purchase for opening a new account, it looks different to a prospective creditor.

10. Don’t share credit (except with a spouse). It’s easy to tell someone that you’ll “co-sign” a credit card, student loan or a mortgage loan application, especially if it’s someone you’ve known for a long time. But it’s also easy to wind up in a situation where that friend or relative stops paying his or her bills (for whatever reason) and your credit will take a big hit. Once you’re a co-signer for a loan, you’re legally obligated to make those payments — whether or not you can afford them. So think carefully before you agree to co-sign a loan, and nip the problem of bad credit before it begins.

Shortly before Lynn Sugarman of Teaneck, N.J., bought her summer home in Lake George, N.Y., two years ago, a routine inspection revealed it had elevated levels of radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. So she called a radon measurement and mitigation technician to find the source.

“He went from room to room,” said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.

“My first thought was, my pregnant daughter was coming for the weekend,” Dr. Sugarman said. When the technician told her to keep her daughter several feet from the countertops just to be safe, she said, “I had them ripped out that very day,” and sent to the state Department of Health for analysis. The granite, it turned out, contained high levels of uranium, which is not only radioactive but releases radon gas as it decays. “The health risk to me and my family was probably small,” Dr. Sugarman said, “but I felt it was an unnecessary risk.”

As the popularity of granite countertops has grown in the last decade — demand for them has increased tenfold, according to the Marble Institute of America, a trade group representing granite fabricators — so have the types of granite available. For example, one source, Graniteland (graniteland.com) offers more than 900 kinds of granite from 63 countries. And with increased sales volume and variety, there have been more reports of “hot” or potentially hazardous countertops, particularly among the more exotic and striated varieties from Brazil and Namibia.

“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y., who took radiation measurements at Dr. Sugarman’s house. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade, mostly by makers and distributors of competing countertop materials. The Marble Institute of America has said such claims are “ludicrous” because although granite is known to contain uranium and other radioactive materials like thorium and potassium, the amounts in countertops are not enough to pose a health threat.

Indeed, health physicists and radiation experts agree that most granite countertops emit radiation and radon at extremely low levels. They say these emissions are insignificant compared with so-called background radiation that is constantly raining down from outer space or seeping up from the earth’s crust, not to mention emanating from manmade sources like X-rays, luminous watches and smoke detectors.

But with increasing regularity in recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency has been receiving calls from radon inspectors as well as from concerned homeowners about granite countertops with radiation measurements several times above background levels. “We’ve been hearing from people all over the country concerned about high readings,” said Lou Witt, a program analyst with the agency’s Indoor Environments Division.

Last month, Suzanne Zick, who lives in Magnolia, Tex., a small town northwest of Houston, called the E.P.A. and her state’s health department to find out what she should do about the salmon-colored granite she had installed in her foyer a year and a half ago. A geology instructor at a community college, she realized belatedly that it could contain radioactive material and had it tested. The technician sent her a report indicating that the granite was emitting low to moderately high levels of both radon and radiation, depending on where along the stone the measurement was taken.

“I don’t really know what the numbers are telling me about my risk,” Ms. Zick said. “I don’t want to tear it out, but I don’t want cancer either.”

The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in the home exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of cigarettes per day. In Dr. Sugarman’s kitchen, the readings were 100 picocuries per liter. In her basement, where radon readings are expected to be higher because the gas usually seeps into homes from decaying uranium underground, the readings were 6 picocuries per liter.

The average person is subjected to radiation from natural and manmade sources at an annual level of 360 millirem (a measure of energy absorbed by the body), according to government agencies like the E.P.A. and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The limit of additional exposure set by the commission for people living near nuclear reactors is 100 millirem per year. To put this in perspective, passengers get 3 millirem of cosmic radiation on a flight from New York to Los Angeles.

A “hot” granite countertop like Dr. Sugarman’s might add a fraction of a millirem per hour and that is if you were a few inches from it or touching it the entire time.

Nevertheless, Mr. Witt said, “There is no known safe level of radon or radiation.” Moreover, he said, scientists agree that “any exposure increases your health risk.” A granite countertop that emits an extremely high level of radiation, as a small number of commercially available samples have in recent tests, could conceivably expose body parts that were in close proximity to it for two hours a day to a localized dose of 100 millirem over just a few months.

David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University in New York, said the cancer risk from granite countertops, even those emitting radiation above background levels, is “on the order of one in a million.” Being struck by lightning is more likely. Nonetheless, Dr. Brenner said, “It makes sense. If you can choose another counter that doesn’t elevate your risk, however slightly, why wouldn’t you?”

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking and is considered especially dangerous to smokers, whose lungs are already compromised. Children and developing fetuses are vulnerable to radiation, which can cause other forms of cancer. Mr. Witt said the E.P.A. is not studying health risks associated with granite countertops because of a “lack of resources.”

The Marble Institute of America plans to develop a testing protocol for granite. “We want to reassure the public that their granite countertops are safe,” Jim Hogan, the group’s president, said earlier this month “We know the vast majority of granites are safe, but there are some new exotic varieties coming in now that we’ve never seen before, and we need to use sound science to evaluate them.”

Research scientists at Rice University in Houston and at the New York State Department of Health are currently conducting studies of granite widely used in kitchen counters. William J. Llope, a professor of physics at Rice, said his preliminary results show that of the 55 samples he has collected from nearby fabricators and wholesalers, all of which emit radiation at higher-than-background levels, a handful have tested at levels 100 times or more above background.

Personal injury lawyers are already advertising on the Web for clients who think they may have been injured by countertops. “I think it will be like the mold litigation a few years back, where some cases were legitimate and a whole lot were not,” said Ernest P. Chiodo, a physician and lawyer in Detroit who specializes in toxic tort law. His kitchen counters are granite, he said, “but I don’t spend much time in the kitchen.”

As for Dr. Sugarman, the contractor of the house she bought in Lake George paid for the removal of her “hot” countertops. She replaced them with another type of granite. “But I had them tested first,” she said.

Where to Find Tests and Testers

TO find a certified technician to determine whether radiation or radon is emanating from a granite countertop, homeowners can contact the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (aarst.org). Testing costs between $100 and $300.

Information on certified technicians and do-it-yourself radon testing kits is available from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site at epa.gov/radon, as well as from state or regional indoor air environment offices, which can be found at epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html. Kits test for radon, not radiation, and cost $20 to $30. They are sold at hardware stores and online.