Q: I enjoyed your recent article about how senior citizen reverse mortgages work. But I have two questions: How are the monthly payments to the homeowner calculated, and what happens when the homeowner outlives the market value of his house? If that happens, does he continue to live in the house and receive monthly payments even though the result will be a loss to the lender?

A: Each of the three nationwide reverse-mortgage lenders, FHA, Fannie Mae and Financial Freedom Plan, has a different formula to calculate payments to the homeowner. The age of the youngest borrower (you must be at least 62), the adjustable interest rate at the time of obtaining the reverse mortgage and the home’s market value are used.

Title insurance typically is a mandatory and large cost for most home purchasers and mortgage refinancers — often in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. But is it priced too high for what you actually get?Equally important: Do widespread referral relationships among real estate brokers, title agents and mortgage companies restrict price competition, create anti-consumer conflicts of interest, and discourage buyers from shopping for lower-cost title insurance and closing service options?

The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog agency, made an in-depth examination of the title industry during the past year and came up with some unsettling findings:

Q: I just moved out of an apartment that I rented for about 6 1/2 years. I had painted the apartment a terracotta color after asking the manager for permission in advance. We never discussed the actual color that I would be painting, but they indicated that it was OK because the apartment would have to be painted when I moved anyway. Now I have moved out and I received my security deposit disposition statement with a deduction for $350 for repainting because I had painted the unit “dark orange.” They claim the total cost to repaint was $950 as two coats were required. I feel that being charged more than one-third of the cost of painting is exorbitant. If they would have told me that the cost would be so high I would have painted over the color myself. Is there any advice that you can give me or should I just pay the additional amount and learn a lesson?

The federal government helped create the mortgage industry in 1934 by insuring long-term housing loans, but it has largely disappeared from the market in recent years as private lenders have led the mortgage boom. Now government loans may once again find a spot on the borrower’s short list.

Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration are starting to make a comeback as banks and regulators tighten lending standards throughout the nation and turn away many low- and moderate-income homeowners. According to mortgage industry analysts and executives, such loans include important benefits not common in the current pool of conventional mortgages.

As a result of the subprime lending crisis, even borrowers with good credit are struggling to find lenders willing to give them mortgages. Those with less-than-stellar credit scores face even more difficult times.

But if borrowers look in unexpected places, their efforts can yield pleasant returns.

Take credit unions, for example. These institutions, which are run as nonprofit cooperatives, typically do not have enough money to market their mortgage offerings, and their mortgages are not offered through outside brokers. So consumers often overlook some highly useful alternatives that credit unions offer.