As the national housing market continues to weaken, prices of homes in the $1 million range are slumping in many parts of the country. In once-golden Sunbelt cities like Miami and Santa Barbara, Calif., as well as in major Midwestern cities like St. Louis and Chicago, prices fell in the fourth quarter of 2006 from a year earlier, in some places by as much as 7.2%. In other areas, prices rose slightly but appreciation was sluggish, with gains of 4.3% or less. Still, analysts say, the category is holding up better than the overall market, which declined 10% during the same period.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - After Theresa Martel’s blind date with a man who
boasted about his 36-foot motor home and a trilevel house he once owned
in Van Nuys, she thought he sounded like a good catch.

But the Palm Desert widow wasn’t taking any chances. Shortly after
their June dinner at a nice restaurant, Martel called her date for the
address of his old home, logged on to Zillow.com and checked out his story.

“I got on that Web site and guess what? I saw the house…how much he
sold it for and how much it’s worth,” said Martel, who was impressed
enough with the man’s credibility to keep dating him. “Everything was the
truth.”

 Q: My mother, now divorced, owned a house with her former husband. But before the divorce papers were finalized, without my mother’s knowledge, he changed title to the house from joint tenancy with right of survivorship to tenants in common.

He passed away recently. Now his nephew is claiming the house under his will. My mother is still on the title and loan papers. Can a joint tenancy title be changed without permission of the other joint tenant, and is my mother entitled to all or half of the property?

Leslie LeB.

Walnut Creek

Washington — For the American mortgage market, it could be the hottest buzzword of the year: suitability.That’s because Congress has a new top legislator for mortgage matters, Rep. Barney Frank, who believes that “you shouldn’t lend (home buyers or refinancers) more than they can afford to pay back, and you don’t lend them more than their house is worth.”

Frank, a 14-term Massachusetts Democrat, is the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee — the primary originator of banking and mortgage-related federal legislation. In an interview, he made it clear that a top priority this year will be enactment of a nationwide lending-standards law designed to protect consumers from deceptive, unfair and predatory mortgage practices.

 Q: We manage several rental properties and would like to know the language we need to use when we refund the balance of the security deposit to the tenants as a final payment of the refund. Your guidance in this matter will be appreciated.

Landlord’s attorney Ted Smith replies: After proper deductions, California landlords are required to return tenants’ security deposits — or portion thereof — within 21 days after the tenant vacates the rental. A written accounting stating the amount of — and the basis for — all deductions needs to be given.