You bought a house. You make the mortgage payment every month. Your name is on the deed. And you have title to the property. Sounds like four ways of saying basically the same thing. They're not. Understanding the difference can help when you refinance, create a trust, add or remove an owner, sell your home, or eventually pay off your loan. Think of it this way: Title = Your Ownership Title isn't necessarily a piece of paper sitting in your filing cabinet. It's the legal conc

Quick homeowner question: Whose name is actually on your deed? You might immediately answer, “Mine and my spouse's.” But when was the last time you actually checked? For many homeowners, the answer is: Never. Mortgage and ownership aren't the same thing This is where homeowners can get confused. Your mortgage or home loan relates to the debt. Your deed is one of the key documents showing how ownership of the property is held. So don't assume that because someone is responsibl

Your neighbor has almost the same house. Same street. Similar size. Similar floor plan. Then one day you compare property-tax bills. They're paying thousands less than you. Your first thought might be: “Something has to be wrong with my bill.” Maybe not. In California, two nearly identical homes can legitimately have very different property-tax bills. It often starts with when you bought the home California's Proposition 13 generally establishes a property's assessed value ba