DEAR BENNY: My wife and I own a rental house that is now paid off. We are thinking of gifting it to our three daughters and their spouses. It is appraised by the county for around $100,000 and would probably fetch that on the market. We could gift it in one year at that value, but am wondering just how to do so. If they could turn around and sell it, would they avoid the recapture of taxes on the depreciation? Also, would we need a professional appraisal or could we get several valuations from Realtors and take the average to come up with the amount? --Joe

DEAR BENNY: My wife and I are considering a move to Arizona. As we have lived in our current townhome for six years, I am sure we would be eligible for the homebuyer credit of $6,500. What I cannot find is any reference about if and when we must sell our current home. Can we buy a replacement home by the cutoff date of April 30, 2010, then sell our current residence later in the year? Or if we make the new house our principal residence, are we required to sell our current residence at all? --John

Now here are a couple blog articles that accurately capture the importance of cleaning up your home prior to presenting it to buyers.

The author, in this case, photographed two examples of household clutter getting in the way of a sale. Check out the Refrigerator Magnet Man and the Egg Carton Curator.