Personal Finance Daily: Legal spats can trip home buyers and sellers

Personal Finance Daily MARCH 16, 2012 Friday's Personal Finance Stories By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: Top legal issues that buyers and sellers face Avoid these common IRA mistakes March Madness sweeps fund investors Retail sales rising while real wages fall Even the simplest of real-estate deals can get complicated quickly, leading to legal entanglements for buyers and sellers, especially now that many properties are bank-owned. Lew Sichelman writes in the Realty Q&A column that property-condition disclosures are often at the heart of these disputes. Knowing who should be responsible and how to avoid these problems is key to making the deal work. Also on MarketWatch, Robert Powell helps explain the very complex rules that govern distributions for individual retirement accounts. IRAs are the retirement account of choice for millions of Americans, he writes. In fact, four out of 10 U.S. households (about 46 million) owned IRAs in 2011, according to recent data. So check out Bob's column about how to avoid the most common IRA mistakes. What's more, we're featuring some great investment stories, including how $100-plus oil can prime your portfolio, and whether natural gas is the U.S. energy market's best bargain. — Anne Stanley , managing editor, Personal Finance Top legal issues that buyers and sellers face A handful of real-estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it. Read more: Top legal issues that buyers, sellers face. Avoid these common IRA mistakes The process for distributing money from an IRA is so complicated, retirement investors could be forgiven for thinking that even owning an IRA is a mistake waiting to happen. Plan carefully to avoid these common mistakes. Read more: Avoid these common IRA mistakes. INVESTING How $100-plus oil can prime your portfolio Many stock-market strategists believe the energy sector will be among the best places to invest this year. Production of natural gas is rising and oil is topping $100 a barrel, giving investors a deep well of possibilities. Read more: How $100-plus oil can prime your portfolio. March Madness sweeps fund investors Investors tend to select funds the way they choose teams to advance in the NCAA basketball tournament. Here's how not to bust your portfolio's bracket. Read more: March Madness sweeps fund investors. New stock-market highs by fall Sam Eisenstadt, the former research director at Value Line, is projecting that the S&P 500 Index (SPX) will be trading at around 1,520 by the end of August. Read more: New stock-market highs by fall. Higher interest rates won't derail recovery A more upbeat outlook has a price: higher interest rates. Read more: Higher interest rates won't derail recovery. Natural gas: U.S. energy market's best bargain? For those who follow the natural-gas markets, it was no shock to see the commodity fall to its lowest level in a decade, but prices may finally be nearing a bottom as production levels continue to slow. Read more: Natural gas: U.S. energy market's best bargain. ECONOMY & POLITICS Retail sales rising while real wages fall The week's economic indicators show that consumers are still shopping, even as inflation means they're losing ground on their wages. Plus, a country with an uglier housing market than the United States — Spain. See charts: Retail sales rising while real wages fall. Sentiment drops for first time since August Consumer sentiment in March declines for the first time since August, as rising gasoline prices cause a downturn in expectations, according to a key gauge released Friday. Read more: Sentiment drops for first time since August. Consumer prices rise sharply in February The cost of living in February rose by the fastest amount in 10 months as Americans paid sharply higher prices for gasoline, according to the latest government data. Read more: Consumer prices rise sharply in February. Industrial output flat in February Industrial output is unchanged in February, well below market expectations of a 0.4% gain, the Federal Reserve reports Friday. But January production is revised up by a hefty 0.4%. Read more: Industrial output flat in February. A plan to rebuild America's battered middle class A new program of government borrowing and spending could be the key to breaking the current political gridlock and putting America on the road to a financially sound future. Read more: A plan to rebuild America's battered middle class. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. 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