Several Internet sites provide sales and price data for individual neighborhoods, and many even can help you decide whether you’ll need to get a big pay raise or can afford to take a pay cut in order to relocate.

Q: I am single, own a condominium and earn about $40,000 per year. I have been offered a job in a larger city on the other side of the country that would pay about $9,000 more per year, but I have no idea how much property in the area sells for or how much higher (or lower) the cost of living there would be. Can you help?

A: Your best bet is to use the Internet. Several Web sites provide home-listing and sales information for virtually every area of the country.

The most comprehensive site probably is www.realtor.com, which is operated by the National Association of Realtors. It lists more than 3 million properties for sale across the United States and also provides recent sales and price data for individual neighborhoods.

Some Internet sites also offer free online calculators for people who are thinking about moving but wonder how much they would have to earn in their destination city to maintain their current lifestyle.

One of the best such calculators can be found on money.com, the Web site jointly operated by Cable News Network and the publishers of Money and Forbes magazines. You simply type in how much you earn, where you live now and where you’re planning to move. Within seconds, you’ll be told how much you’ll need to make in the new city in order to keep your accustomed lifestyle.

The calculator is fun to use, even for those who aren’t pondering a job relocation or potential retirement spot. For example, if you’re earning $40,000 a year in the beautiful Salem/Portland area of Oregon but are thinking of moving to Manhattan, money.com’s calculator quickly will tell you that you’ll have to find a job that pays about $30,000 more in the Big Apple to simply maintain your current standard of living – an estimate based on differences in local housing costs, utilities, transportation, groceries and health care.

However, if you’re earning $40,000 in Chicago and are contemplating a move to the scenic Ogden/Salt Lake area of Utah, the calculator will tell you that you can maintain your living standard even if you take a $5,000 pay cut, because it’s much cheaper to live in the Beehive State than it is to live in the Windy City.

My mother died several years ago, but my dad has only recently begun writing a will. He has shown the draft to me and my brother, and everything seems to be OK, but I’m confused about a term that the document includes. What does “per stirpes” mean?

A:It’s a Latin term for “per branch.” It is often used in wills or living trusts to ensure that each genealogical branch of a deceased person’s estate receives an equal share of the proceeds, regardless of how many people make up one particular branch.

Let’s say that your dad wants to leave one-half interest in his home to your brother – we’ll call him Bob – and the other half-interest to you. Bob has two kids, but you have none.

If Bob unexpectedly dies before your dad does, the per stirpes clause in your father’s will document should ensure that you would get the 50 percent interest in the home that your dad wanted you to get, but that Bob’s two children – your brother’s “branches” – would share equally in the other 50 percent that was originally meant for Bob.

In short, the clause would result in you inheriting one-half the house when your father eventually passes away and each of Bob’s two kids receiving a 25 percent stake.

If your dad’s will instead stated that the interest in the home would be distributed per capita – meaning “per person” – you and Bob’s two children would each get a one-third interest in the property after your father dies.