Short Sale Home » General Short Sale Info » Should You Sell, Foreclosure, Short Sale or Rent?

Homes are selling for less than many people owe on their homes and some homeowners are struggling financially making them that much more worried about paying off their mortgage.

We are in difficult times as people are struggling to make ends meet.  You may try to sell your home but it’s worth less than what you owe, you won’t have enough money to pay back the mortgage.  This is when you call the bank for permission to do a “short sale” (where a lender allows you to sell the home for less than what is owed and will reduce the amount of the mortgage.  With this option, you will need to demonstrate a financial hardship that the lender will approve.

You could also look into renting out the house and finding somewhere cheaper to live or even refinancing the home, cutting back expenses or a combination of these.

But first, speak with a mortgage lender and find out if you can get approved to refinance.  If you can get a much lower interest rate, you can make your monthly payment lower. Then talk with a property manager to see how much you could rent out your property.  If you can cover or almost cover the mortgage, you may be able to keep the house.  You can rent something much cheaper (apartment or townhouse) and your monthly expenses will go down.

Also, look at your budget and see how much you need each month to live and cut out some of the extras.  If staying in your home means enough to you, cut back on other things.

Selling in this housing market when it hits low is the definition of “panic selling”.  It can hurt you financially and hurts the market.  If you can hang in there, try to, as real estate performs best over long-term and is a good investment (in most cases) when compared to renting but it is not designed to make you rich in a couple of years.  If you plan to live in your home from 5 to 10 years, then stay a few more and see where things stand.  History shows us that values will come back up.