Expert: Hans Weber, Licensed Broker Associate - 10/26/2009

Question
My fiance and I need to sell my  home he owns a new home in a nice area. i have lived in my home for appox. 6 years and owe about 198,000.00 and its market value must be around 155,000.00. i do not know what to do with the home and do not want to rent it out due to my mortgage payment being 1580.00 and i could only rent it for about 1,000. i would have to help out my fiance a little once i moved in and am unsure about short sale etc...

Answer
Hi Misty,

Thank you for your question.

It is a sad time in our history in many ways...and your problem is one faced by many homeowners.

Short sales and foreclosures are littering our residential landscape.  It sounds like that would be your only way out at this time.  It is a cumbersome process and not always successful.  You have to put your house on the market and try to get an arms length offer and then apply for the short sale with your bank.

The other thing you could try is renegotiating your mortgage rate to a lower rate and trying to keep the home until the market values increase after 2-3 years.  Your 198,000 mortgage should only cost you about 900 a month plus taxes.

Good luck,

Hans