Should I Sell, Short Sale, Walk Away, Refi, Foreclose, Hope Program?
Bought house for $500k three years ago. Zillow marks it at $300k which Ive been told by a number of people that Zillow is 3 months behind and my house is probably only worth $250k now.
I cant sell my home in this current market. I would rather not walk away hurting my neighbors house prices either. I could do a short sale or foreclose but dont want to ruin my credit. No one will refi with me becuase of its upside status. Ive looked into the HOPE for Homeowners program but have been told that the funding isnt available to homeowners so no applications have been approved yet, and may never get approved (is that true?). I want to get out of this house to buy another house for half the price. How can I go about it. Ive been told about some ideas like short sale buy backs and other crafty ideas and as the saying goes, if its too good to be true it probably is. Are there any options for people in my situation? Could I potentially buy another house with my savings, then walk away from the first one? Like I said, Im not a fan of walking away. PS… save yourself from badgering me. Im not the problem to this housing mess. The banks that gave the loans are. The government who forced banks to give loans are. Im just a person looking for an answer to my situation.
If you are able to, go buy another house now and than short sale the other one. I did a short sale and it was the best choice I have ever made. We were not able to buy another house right away because of lack of income and down payment. Now that we have sold in short sale we are able to purchase our home in the new state we moved to. They told us if we would have just foreclosed on it, it would be 3 years to purchase another home. Plus, if you foreclose, the bank can come after you for the balance unless you file bankruptcy. I love your PS comment. I agree 100% Good luck
Comment by satarnag — November 7, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
I will need to know the specifics before I can help you, but this is the general path I suggest you take:
1. HOPE for Homeowners program is dead! So forget about it. Never worked anyway. We called it Hopeless for Homeowners.
2. Visit http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/ to see if you qualify for Obama’s plan. Regardless, go to step 3.
3. Visit http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/f… Your local HUD approved foreclosure counselor will do a loan mod for you for free.
4. If the loan mod is no good, then do a short sale to a family friend or member with a different last name. This has to be done right, so deal with someone who knows how to do short sales.
5. If that fails, then do a short sale in such a manner in which you can financially benefit from the transaction. Then go rent until you are able to buy again in 3-5 years.
Good Luck
Comment by Jericho — November 7, 2009 @ 1:28 pm