Q: After more than a decade I'm thinking of moving out of my apartment building, which recently was sold. However I don't have a receipt for the first/last months' rent or the damage deposit. I never had a lease so obviously there's no written record there. The only recorded information I have is in my check register; my bank cannot provide a copy of long-ago checks. Is my check register a sufficient legal document to prove to the new landlord that I paid the last month's rent and deposit?

Q: We have a 15-foot driveway/utility easement with our neighbor. Large trees and bushes in the easement portion of that neighbor's yard are interfering with our ability to use this driveway. The neighbor won't trim them. Can we trim the bushes on the easement to preserve our ability to get to our house?

A constant topic at this week's meeting in Dallas of the National Association of Real Estate Editors has been the volatility of the housing market. Even the experts are in a quandary about what will happen next.

With the nation in an economic slowdown, if not a recession, what's ahead?

Seattle currently is one of the country's top 10 markets for apartment construction, and it's also one of the 10 strongest for apartment demand.

With home sales sluggish, many sellers are contributing cash toward the buyer's down payment as a way to land a sale. That's a win-win, right?

The sluggishness of early 2008 home sales should abate later in the year as mortgages become somewhat easier to get, Charles McMillan, president-elect of the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Q: How can I get out of my apartment lease? The people living in the unit next door were growing pot, and just a few days ago someone shot four bullets into their door. The police were called and I ended up talking to them in the parking lot at 1 a.m. The situation is really scary. What can I do?