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Buying or Selling a Home/Selling a home with a upside down mortgage

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Expert: - 12/8/2010


Question
I'm thinking about selling my home, but I know I owe more than the value of the home. The difference is about  8,000- 10,000. I read that some people are negotiating with their lender to use the interest they have paid on the loan to make up the difference. Have you ever heard of this?
Thanks for your time, Robin

Answer
Hi Robin;
There are several ways people are negotiating with their banks these days.  The first thing is to negotiate a short sale.  This means that the bank is willing to take less than you owe for the home.  Essentially it is the same as forgiving a portion of the loan by taking some of the profits from the interest payments.  It depends how the bank views this whether they show it as a loss or a reduced interest.  So much depends upon how much you owe; how long you have lived there; and what your selling price is.  If it is only about $8-$10 K then I would think that your negotiation would be a little easier but remember...it could have a negative impact on your credit.  Many people are simply choosing to wait until the market improves so they don't hurt their credit ratings.  If you don't want to wait, make sure to ask what this will do to your credit before going further.

Best wishes,
Jessica Bryan

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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