“Uh-oh…”

The homeowner and I were watching our contractor remove deck boards that concealed an area of a foundation wall that we thought might have settled.

The homeowner had noticed a problem when the front door began to stick, and an unmistakable settling of the floor under the door had soon followed.

The contractor and I assumed that water had caused the foundation to settle, leading to a drop of the floor system – a relatively common problem in older homes that is sometimes easily stabilized and repaired

At this house, however, the problem looked much worse. A large section of the band board – a strip of lumber that surrounds the floor system – was completely rotted. We’d expected some damage to the band since we were sure that water (the cause of the rotting) was the culprit in the foundation settling.

But here the foundation looked intact. It was the band itself that had collapsed, causing the floor system to drop several inches. Worse yet, the damage extended well into the floor joists.

Ugh. Which one of us was going to give the homeowner the bad news – her minor settling problem in the house she’d recently purchased was rapidly becoming a very expensive major repair?

Not Aging Gracefully

Problems in older homes are often well hidden. More often than not, serious damage doesn’t show any symptoms until the damage is significant and expensive. There are clues, but even trained eyes sometimes have difficulty telling normal wear and tear from the signs of serious underlying problems.

Most old-home problems, however, have predictable causes and if you know where to look you can find hints that might lead you to discover concealed damage. Find the problems early enough and you might be able to fix them relatively easily, or keep yourself from buying into unexpected expensive repairs.

H-2-Oh No!

Water is the number one cause of damage in all homes, especially older ones. Look for missing or damaged roof shingles, rotted or loose trim boards, and disconnected or plugged-up gutters and downspouts.

Problems with gutters and downspouts are the biggest cause of water damage – they must be cleaned and checked regularly. If you’re looking to buy an older home, check the condition of the gutters and downspouts – they’re big clue to finding hidden water problems elsewhere in the house.

As the ground around a home settles naturally, it can slope in toward the house and begin directing water at the foundation wall. Modern waterproofing systems can delay the subsequent damage for a while, but older homes don’t have sophisticated waterproofing systems – if they have any at all. Many very old homes have porous stone foundations that have no ability to repel ground water.

Check the grade at the perimeter of the house – settling near the foundation may indicate water in the basement.

Plug It In

When your grandparents’ family gathered around the Philco radio in the 1930’s listening to the Jack Benny Show they weren’t putting much of a load on the house’s electrical system – the radio and a lamp or two may have been the only electrical appliances in the house.

But now there’s a TV in every bedroom; two or three computers; dozens of light fixtures; and a whole kitchen full of modern electrical conveniences. The appliances have grown – has the electrical system kept pace?

Each fixture or appliance “draws” power from outside in the form of amps; the more fixtures, the more amperage required. If the fixtures need more amps than the electrical system is rated for, the system can overheat, spark, or fail entirely – all potential fire hazards.

Any home over 40 years old is a likely candidate for having an outdated electrical system. Check the electrical panel for the amperage rating – modern homes require at least 100 amps and many require much more. Older homes may have “fuse boxes” rated for 60 amps or less.

Check any visible wiring to see if it’s made of aluminum, which is also considered a fire hazard and was discontinued decades ago.

Look around the house – are there lots of extension cords and plug adapters? Are there “burn marks” around some switches and outlets? Are there rooms without any outlets at all? Replacing an electrical system to remove safety risks or to bring the system up to current codes can be a very expensive project.

Home Sweet (Old) Home

If you own an old house, keep up with the maintenance to prevent costly repairs. If you’re thinking about buying one, check carefully for the signs of hidden damage and unsafe conditions first – a little detective work might keep you from saying “Yikes!” one day.

Richard Taylor is a residential architect based in Dublin, Ohio and is a contributor to Zillow Blog. Connect with him at http://www.rtastudio.com/index.htm.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

Whether you believe it right now or not, better days are within reach. To prepare for those better days take steps now to minimize the damage to your credit, your rental prospects and your future.

Also, if you are in a position where bankruptcy seems like the only option, you need to discuss this with an attorney and follow their advice on how to handle everything. Nothing can supplement good legal advice.

How do you minimize the credit damage?

First up, just because you are defaulting on your mortgage loan, don’t default on other bills. You still need to pay your cell phone, cable TV, car loan, etc. while you are in the process of working out your housing issues. Each additional account that you default upon will further hurt your credit score, so keep up the payments if you can. When you go to rent another place to live, showing the landlord that you were responsible on your bills will go a long way towards proving you will pay rent to them.

Go for a short sale

Try to do a short sale before letting your house go into foreclosure, which will do less damage to your credit score. I’ve seen many people with minimal damage from selling their home through a short sale. A short sale will allow you to relinquish your debt in writing as well as get rid of uncertainty and stress. A good real estate agent or lawyer can also assist you to make sure the bank will be less likely to come after you for any deficiency in the short loan payoff. This depends on the state, the lender, etc., but negotiating a short sale should give you much better chances with that as opposed to just letting it go to foreclosure.

Banks are also very open to short sales these days and working with the bank should bring the best outcome to everyone. Your new landlord will also highly value the fact that you tried to mitigate damages by doing a short sale and taking care of your property during the process.

Get advice

You may also want to go to a reputable non-profit credit counseling organization for assistance. Your local government can hopefully advise you on a good organization to work with. Watch out for scam companies and never pay anyone upfront for work they promise they will do. Tell the potential landlord how you are getting help on working on your finances too!

Work with lenders

Lastly, don’t ever get an eviction on your record. If the bank has foreclosed on your property, work with them for an orderly move out. It might be near impossible to explain to a potential new landlord why an eviction should be overlooked by them.

As you can see, the above items really comprise being as responsible and professional as possible in handling your bad situation. Landlords will value this behavior when you explain it to them.

Search for rental properties

Now you are ready to go out and look at properties to rent. To increase the chances that you will be approved for a rental, you need to sell your good qualities. If you have a stable job that is going to be a good help but if your employment situation is not great, hopefully you have some savings to back you up. You may also need some credit enhancement, like a guarantee from a relative.

Regardless, you should be 100 percent truthful with a potential landlord from the get-go. Landlords are real people too and value potential tenants who are straightforward and truthful. And the landlord is most likely going to pull a credit report and find out your situation anyways, so if you’ve lied they’ll probably reject you.

Fill out the rental application fully in all fields in a clean, easy to read, and truthful manner. Explain your situation and how you only defaulted on your house but not any other responsibilities. Tell them how you handled it maturely and left the house in fair condition. Provide the landlord clear evidence that you will take care of their property as well. Doing these things will give you the best chances that you will be approved for the rental.

Renting after losing your house is much easier these days than in the past. Being professional and responsible, in all aspects of what undoubtedly will be a painful and uncomfortable process, should allow you to rent a place to live and hopefully start to rebuilt your creditworthiness.

Leonard Baron, MBA, CPA, is a San Diego State University Lecturer, a Zillow Blogger, the author of several books including “Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101 – A Smarter Way to Buy Real Estate”, and loves kicking the tires of a good piece of dirt! See more at ProfessorBaron.com.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

In the world of celebrity real estate, stars buy homes through trusts in LLCs in an effort to cut the paper trail leading to their name.

Despite their best efforts, it’s possible to figure out who the real owner of a mansion or penthouse is with a little sleuthing.

Source: Hollywood Gossip

Such is the case with a posh Manhattan penthouse for sale. In 2008, it was reported that former news anchor and Oprah Winfrey’s best bud Gayle King bought a 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath apartment in the new Midtown tower Place 57.

After all was said and done, it appeared that the home was not purchased by King, but by the talk show diva herself for $7.1 million.

Who actually lived there is up for debate, but as for now, the penthouse is for sale for $7.9 million and appears to be vacant.

Finished in 2006, Place 57 has condos ringing in originally from $1.47 million to $7-plus million. Oprah’s penthouse sits on the 36th floor and features 2,530 square feet of wall-to-ceiling windowed space as well as a 768-square-foot terrace.

The modern space features a “triangle-shaped” living room, high-end kitchen, dining area, and two bedrooms, one with an attached bathroom. The master suite has three walk-in closets, a jetted tub and sleek shower.

If this is Oprah’s home, it’s only one on a list of several properties she owns, including a duplex in downtown Chicago, a plantation in Hawaii, huge sprawling property in Montecito as well as smaller homes and condos in Douglasville, GA, Franklin, TN and Elmwood Park, Il.

King currently owns an apartment in the Big Apple as well as a home in Greenwich, CT.

The home is listed by Mark Schoenfield of the Corcoran Group. According to Zillow’s mortgage calculator, a monthly payment would be $29,115, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-mortgage.