New Telephone Service Offers Free Realty Help

Have you ever had a question about home buying, selling or financing and no place to turn for good advice?

Sure you have. We all have. Real estate raises many perplexing and personal questions, and credible information can be hard to find.

Well, beginning today, there’s help. Now Times’ readers can get thorough, authoritative, personalized answers to their real estate questions. Researched and written by journalists. As close as your telephone. Any time of the day or night. Mailed to your home within days.

And at no charge.

Real Answers, accessible through TimesLink, The Times’ audiotex service, is a new consumer-information service that offers individual answers to Times’ readers’ specific real estate questions.

Here’s how it works:

From area codes 213, 310, 714, 818 and 909, you call TimesLink, 808-8463, (no need to dial 1 or an area code) to access Real Answers. (In the 619 or 805 area codes, dial 1 and use the area code nearest you.) Then press star 2500 on your touch-tone phone and leave your question on tape, along with your name and address. Your query will be researched and an answer mailed to you in days.

Real Answers relies on a sophisticated electronic database developed by journalists at Oakland-based Inman News Features, which includes thousands of real estate questions and answers. Customized software permits writers to quickly scan the electronic library and prepare a customized answer for the caller.

There is no charge for this service because of the support of housing-industry sponsors. However, they have no involvement in preparing the answers to your queries.

Real Answers is not intended to provide legal or tax advice, but instead to offer general information on specific questions. Callers will also get suggestions on experts to contact and where to get more information on the topic.

If your question is too complex, Real Answers may not be able to provide a complete response. But you will get a recommendation of other sources to check and their addresses and phone numbers.

The Real Answers news feature will appear each Sunday in the Times Real Estate Section, with a question and answer from one of the previous week’s calls.