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How bad can your money problems get? We asked money professionals to spill the beans on some of the most challenging situations they’ve encountered with their clients. Though we’ve changed

names and a few details to protect privacy, these stories highlight how even the most daunting money problems have solutions. SELLING A MONEY PIT Elizabeth wanted help selling her

husband’s house to contribute toward his care. George had moved to an assisted living facility about a year earlier. Elizabeth was living with her daughter, so George’s empty house had

fallen into disrepair. We listed the house, which had a mortgage balance of $190,000, for $325,000, but we soon learned that George had refinanced the house, adding $100,000 in debt. A buyer

offered $330,000 but wanted nearly $10,000 in closing costs. The inspection revealed damage, prompting the buyer to ask for a $5,000 price cut. Then an $8,000 credit card debt popped up.

Elizabeth would have had to pay $3,000 to close the sale. I started negotiating. First, the credit card debt came down. Then the buyer lowered the repair costs to $2,500. I cut my commission

by $1,500, and the buyer’s agent reduced her fee by $500. Elizabeth walked away with only $800 or so, but she avoided more expenses or fore­closure. _—Tabitha Richardson, real estate

broker, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C._ PRO TIP: When you sell a house, always be prepared for additional expense, from repairs to closing costs. But keep in mind that everything

— abso­lutely everything — is negotiable. Valero Doval A SKYROCKETING INSURANCE PREMIUM Despite making no changes to their property and never filing a claim, Betty and Don, retirees in

a $1.1 million house near Lake Tahoe, were dropped by their insurer. Under current California rules, the insurer could not properly underwrite and price the policy to cover the area’s

increased fire risk. I explained that to maintain similar coverage, they would have to replace their old $1,800 annual policy with two new ones. The first would cover everything but fire

damage for $3,100 annually. For fire coverage, they would have to use California’s FAIR plan (which stands for “fair access to insurance requirements”). More than 30 states offer last-resort

policies providing basic coverage for properties exposed to high risks, typically from natural disasters. But the FAIR premium cost was still high: $6,800 for the couple’s 2,000-square-foot

home. To cut their premiums, we raised the deductible to $10,000 on the residential policy and to $15,000 on the FAIR policy. Next, we lowered the coverage of personal property on both

policies from $700,000 to $150,000, removed coverage for an additional shed-like structure, and eliminated coverage for the cost of temporary housing if damage forced them from their home.

That cut their total premiums to about $6,000, down from nearly $10,000. It’s still a lot more than they were paying, and their coverage is lower, but they are protected. _—Karl D. Susman,

insurance broker, Los Angeles_ PRO TIP: Don’t compare past insurance options with current ones. Today you may need to either reduce your coverage or pay higher premiums. There are steps you

can take, however, to reduce the likelihood of property loss — such as installing a noncombustible roof, covering the eaves to prevent embers from getting underneath, and clearing brush

from around your house — that may help lower your premium. A $270,000 SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENT Clara, 82, had never received a Social Security check despite contributing to the program

since 1970. She had applied late, mistakenly believing that the monthly benefit based on her work record would continue to grow until she turned 72. (It stops growing at 70.) An even bigger

problem was that when Clara, an immigrant, submitted her initial application to the Social Security Administration (SSA), she had lost the certificate of naturalization proving she was a

U.S. citizen. She requested a copy from the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS), but the copy never arrived. Nine years later, in 2023, her daughter found her

original certificate in a storage box. She and her mother hand-delivered it to her local SSA office. Yet Clara, 81 at the time and facing financial difficulties, received no benefit. Her

children then contacted my company.