Edith Lank

Every year since 1976, Edith Lank has sent thousands of readers individual answers to their real estate questions -- "mostly via e-mail these days."

"I write," she says, "not about the big picture but about the small -- whatever concerns the individual home buyer, seller, small investor, tenant or landlord. I answer every letter, and I always treat names or email addresses I receive with complete privacy."

Her nationally-syndicated real estate column has won awards for journalistic excellence and consumer education from the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the Real Estate Educators Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association, various Bar Associations and the National Association of Realtors. She has appeared on CNN.