Lauren F

Recently noticed a fishy smell near my clothes dryer - even when not washing clothes. Area is clean no mildew or mold. Someone suggested could be electrical problem with the outlet? If so should I shut off the breaker until I can get an electrician?

I'm considering paying the fees and going through the process to get pre-screened for airport security. Can someone recommend which program is better. I travel through airports about 7-8 times a year, mostly within the US.

I have a bathroom medicine cabinet with two 60 watt light sockets. It looks like the "Broan Flair 28" model. (At lowes - Item #: 517545 | Model #: 327LPX). One of the sockets seems to be blown - replacing a light bulb doesn't work. Power to the unit seems to be ok because the other socket works fine. Can just the socket be replaced, or am I better off replacing the whole unit?

I have a very expensive 16" sauté pan with cover that has a two-pronged handle that was welded to the side (not attached with rivets or screws. One of the prongs is loose. I hate to just throw it out, but also don't want to use an unsafe pan. Could a welding shop repair this? The handle prongs are quite narrow where they attach to the outside body of the pan - about the width of a pencil.

Hello - I just got an LED HDTV - my first one - it replaces an old 27" beast. I use Verizon FiOS for cable TV and have their DVR as a reception box. Can anyone suggest a list of other things I will need to buy to get the TV going. Such as, special connection cables to my DVR box? Or different cables to hook up my DVD player? Special surge suppressor?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

My bathroom has a light switch fixture with two handles. One controls the vanity lights over the sink. The other controls both the ceiling fan and a separate recessed light in the ceiling. I would like to be able to put the fan on independently of the separate recessed light.

Is it possible to separate these and have a fixture with three handles installed? Would I need an electrician to do this?

I got a new laptop (a Toshiba that uses Windows 8). My printer is Dell 1135n Laser MFP. It was previously installed on a Windows XP machine. I tried installing the old drivers CD onto this new laptop and the new machine does not recognize the printer. So, I suspect I need different drivers to work with Windows 8. For those who have worked with Windows 8: (a) is my suspicion true (b) if yes, do you know if I can download a new set of drivers for the old printer and (c) if not, do I need to buy another printer :(. Thanks in advance for your help.

My Dell Inspiron desktop won't turn on and beeps 4 times. I want to try to replace the RAM to see if that will bring it back to life. It currently is 8 GB supplied by 4 sticks at 2GB each. Can I replace it with 2 sticks at 4 GB each? Or can I put in 4 at 4 GB each?

Your advice? Thanks in advance.

There is an inlaw apartment attached to my single family home. A family member moved in there and contributes a small amount per month to help with the extra expenses for utilities, maintenance, insurance and mortgage interest. She otherwise pays her own expenses for food, clothes, car, etc. Do I need to declare this on my taxes? The amount she contributes is less than half of the extra expenses of this additional space. If I do need to declare it should I use Schedule E? We both live here full time.

How often should I replace the caulk in my shower. It is a tiled shower with a smaller type of tile on the floor than on the walls. I had someone put new caulk in a year ago - but there is some water on the floor under the bathroom, so I think it is leaking.

I received a gas grill (Weber) as a gift and have never used one before. Can anyone offer tips on how to prepare it for use? The hardware store assembled it and attached a tank of gas to it. Do I need to do anything other than wash the cooking surface, turn the gas on and heat it up? I plan to do simple things with it at first - marinated steak or hamburgers - maybe some chicken breasts.

I have a 2005 Honda Civic. The driver's side headlight bulb burns out about every six months, and has been doing this for about two years. The passenger side has worked fine without replacement for at least two years. Could I possibly have an electrical or wiring problem that is shortening the life of the bulb? Can anyone recommend a bulb that is reliable? I usually go to a local mechanic for help with these types of repairs, but am thinking maybe I need to go to the dealer or to a specialty repair shop that works on car electric systems.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Scenario: a piece of rental property owned by someone who reported the income/expenses on Schedule E is lost in foreclosure. The property was originally purchased at $175,000. Bank foreclosed on a loan balance of approximately $165,000. Bank bought the property at auction at $110,000, and a month later resold it at $115,000.

The foreclosing bank has not yet sent a 1099-C and I am not sure if it will. If it does, does the 1099-C get reported as income, if so what kind (Schedule E? or forgiven debt?). Is the difference between purchase price and eventual foreclosure value eligible for insolvency exemption consideration? Or, could it be considered a capital business loss since it was effectively "sold" to the bank for much less than it was originally placed in service.

Can anyone recommend a source at www.irs.gov to research these scenarios? To further complicate things, this was originally the owner's primary residence, but placed into service as rental property about 1 year after the purchase.

Thank you in advance for the help.

Here is the scenario: A condo was purchased in 2007 as a primary residence for $215,000 using a loan of $195,000. After living in it for a year, the buyer got married and moved in to the spouse's home. Since the resale market was terrible, she rented it out to a tenant for about 18 months. Because the rent was lower than the costs of the mortgage, eventually she fell behind, and lost the house to foreclosure. The fair market value of the condo at foreclosure was about $150,000 (much less than the original purchase price and much less than the balance owed on the loan).

The foreclosing lender has not yet sent a 1099-C, and has not pursued the buyer for the deficiency yet, and I am not sure if they will. However, if they do send a 1099-C, can anyone provide advice as to whether or not this cancelled debt is reportable as income. If it might qualify for an exemption where can I research the rules for this?

I don't this condo-buyer is unique in this situation, but what I can find on IRS.Gov only addresses primary residences (which this was not at the time of foreclosure) and business/rental property. I can't find anything on a hybrid of what was primary residence and became rental property.

Thanks in advance for any advice and help.

My husband and I own a house. We built an addition on to the house for an elderly family member to move in so that we could help take care of her. The family member gives us a small amount ($300 a month) to offset utilities, repairs and other expenses in the house. She mostly buys her own groceries and pays her own other bills (medicine, etc.). If we could rent the addition to a non-related tenant we could probably get $1,200 - $1,400 a month for it. The size of the addition is about 25% of the total square footage of the house if that matters. The $300 she gives us basically covers the additional utilities and repairs/maintenance on her part of the house. It doesn't really put any dent into the cost of building the addition, or the payment on the home equity line we took to pay the builder, but that's ok because we hope to recover some of that later on when we eventually sell the house. We plan on deducting the interest on the home equity line on our income taxes (our total home debt for first mortgage and HELOC is below $250,000). Do we need to report the $300 payments as income?

My husband has an older model blackberry and it is time to upgrade. Our contract is with Verizon. has anyone purchased one of the new droid phones and if so what did you think of it? He uses his phone for both calls and email, and I'm sure would try out APPs in time. Thanks!

I received a Weber Grill as a gift. It uses a tank of gas for fuel that has to be refilled periodically. Is it possible to convert this grill so that a plumber could connect it straight to my natural gas line?

If so, do you know where I could buy a kit to do this?

I purchased a Western Digital brand 250 GB portable hard drive for the purpose of having a backup of files stored on my PC's hard drive. After using the USB cord to connect the two devices, it appears that a copy of my files was made to the portable hard drive. However, when I tried to open up a file (just to see if it worked) by selecting "my computer" on the E drive, I could see a zip folder of substantial size (8 GB), but couldn't open any individual files.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to see my files?

Also, now that I have this device, do you know a website that has tips on using such storage devices effectively.

thanks,

I am a self employed consultant who is paid by 1099. I live and pay taxes in Virginia. I paid a subcontractor some money to do some research for me. She lives and works in Maryland. I gave her a 1099 for the money paid to her. Do i need to file a copy of that in Virginia (as that is where I pay taxes and want to deduct this expense) or in Maryland, as that is where she will file her income taxes based on the income she earned there. She paid her own estimated taxes - there are no withholdings to report or remit.