How to Sell a House When It's Worth Less Than the Mortgage

Due to the wave of refinancing in recent years, and the fall in home values, in 2009 about 12 million homeowners and investors will be "underwater"--owing more than their property is worth. This book explains all the options for these homeowners who are trapped with houses they want to get free from, people whose property value has dropped so low that they can't sell the property, people whose mortgage payment has adjusted and now they can't afford the property. In addition to offering advice on subject to's, rentals, leases, loan modifications and more...the book will teach America how to short sale their own home.

Downloadable Forms vii Introduction ix How Did So Many of Us End Up with Underwater Houses ix What Happened to Real Estate Prices? x Easy Money Home Loans xiii When Lending Guidelines Loosened—The Beginning of Our Current Problems xvii Meet the Authors xix Acknowledgments xxii Part I Options For “Underwater” Property Owners Chapter 1 Is Your Home Worth Less Than the Mortgage? 3 How to Estimate the Value of Your Home 4 What Banks Want 6 Introduction to a Short Sale 7 Other Options for Underwater Homeowners 8 Chapter 2 What Happens If I Walk Away from My Property? 11 Stop Making Payments, Move Out, Let the Bank Foreclose 11 Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure 13 How to Protect Yourself 14 Your Losses Don’t Stop with Foreclosure 15 Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act 19 Chapter 3 If You Are in Financial Trouble, Deal with Your Emotions First! 25 The Typical Mindset of People in Distress 25 How It Feels to Be Trapped 31 Putting Your Pride Aside—The First Step to a New Life 34 How to Get Free from Your Property and Get on with Your Life 36 Chapter 4 Aggressive First Steps to Get the Highest Possible Price 39 Try to Sell the Property Yourself before Calling a Real Estate Agent 39 Using a Real Estate Agent 41 What If My House Is Underwater but the Payments Aren’t Late? 44 Chapter 5 Try a Loan Modification: Negotiating a Lower Monthly Payment with Your Lender 47 Loan Modification 48 Forbearance Agreement 52 Chapter 6 Government Programs and Mortgage Relief Organizations 57 Mortgage Relief 58 Financial Relief 61 Part II Short Sales: How To Sell A House When It’s Worth Less Than You Owe Chapter 7 The Short Sale Solution 65 When a Short Sale Won’t Work 67 Short Sale Requirements 68 Short Sales for Investment Properties 71 How to Approach Your Bank 73 How to Ace the Broker’s Price Opinion 75 Chapter 8 How to Put Together Your Own Short Sale Package 79 Requirements for Financially Distressed Homeowners 81 Requirements for Solvent Homeowners 84 Putting the Package Together 85 Sample Contract for Sale and Purchase 85 Sample Comparable Sales 86 Sample Pictures of Disrepair 86 Sample Net Sheet 87 Sample Investor Letter 87 Sample Repair List 87 Making Sure Your Package Is Complete 88 Sample Short Sale Package 89 Chapter 9 How to Work with an Ethical Investor to Short Sale a Property 105 What Should an Investor Do for Me? 106 How to Negotiate with Investors 117 Chapter 10 Closing Any Deal—What You Need to Get in Writing 123 Get Everything in Writing from the Bank, Investor, or Real Estate Agent 124 What to Expect from the Closing Agent 126 Check Your Credit after the Deal Is Done 128 Part III Other Options And Issues For Underwater Homeowners Chapter 11 If Nothing Else Works, Consider Bankruptcy 133 Bankruptcy—How to Buy Time 135 Will Bankruptcy Help or Hurt My Credit? 138 Chapter 12 Temporarily Renting Your Home 143 Section 8 Program 160 Chapter 13 Don’t Go Broke Trying to Save Your House 165 Don’t Go Broke 166 Living with Negative Cash Flow 168 Living with the Emotional Stress 172 Chapter 14 How to Rebuild Your Credit 175 Credit Repair Services 176 Steps to Rebuilding Your Credit 181 Formula for Paying Off Credit Cards 183 Chapter 15 Is There Life after Financial Disaster? 187 How Do I Avoid Disaster Again? 188 Will I Be Able to Invest Again? 190 Sharing Your Experience with Other Distressed Homeowners 192 Consider Becoming a Real Estate Investor 193 Index 195