I want to sell my house, but we owe almost as much as the appraisal value. How can I unload the house quickly, and at least get what we owe on the mortgage?
2007-06-22 03:29:25 · 5 answers · asked by seevie8 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
There's no surefire method. If the house is in excellent shape and sale ready, and if the market where it's located is good, it may sell quickly at your asking price.
Devote some labor as "sweat equity"--rent a carpet shampooer, wash and wax all the floors, paint rooms that are less than perfect, and--here's the biggie--minimize your own possessions in the house, leaving every room minimally furnished with zero clutter. This allows potential buyers to envision their own things in the house.
A realtor is going to take a commission, often 6% of the sale price. You can undoubtedly arrange to show the house by advertising it yourself, but you will need to do some homework to determine a reasonable asking price for your house. (Ordinarily, a realtor would advise you on this.)
Whether you use a realtor or go it alone, hire an attorney to handle the closing and protect your interests.
Another possibility is to contact the mortgage holder and see if they'll accept the house back in exchange for cancelling the mortgage debt. The worst they can say is no.
2007-06-22 03:42:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you sell it, you either need to do a short sale or be able to sell it in such a manner to limit your out of pocket expense at closing.
If you can lease it, that might be a better option until the market rebounds. You could also do a lease purchase option in order to collect higher rent to offset the mortgage payments and then sell it when the value of the property has increased.
Regards
2007-06-22 11:31:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Once your home goes to sheriff sale, you have X amount of months to come up with the money you owe.
Lets say you owe 100k, it sells for 80k at sheriff sale. BY LAW, you only owe 80k instead of 100k which is pretty nice but coming up with the 80k is still hard.
Another example, lets say you owe 100k and the bank takes your property and resells it to Joe Johnson for 75k. The bank is going to have to report that 25k as a loss. The IRS will be expecting you to put that 25k as a profit so you'll be paying taxes on that 25k. Also, on your credit report it will say open collection for X amount of dollars. Where if you sold it, it would say borrower/lender agreed to terms.
See if your lender will accept a short sale. If they say no, then your going to have to find out what kind of loan you have.....conventional/FHA/VA etc.... because if your lender says no, then FHA will step in and postpone your sheriff sale.
The housing market around the USA sucks so good luck.
2007-06-22 10:57:13 · answer #3 · answered by Marshall 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're in a tough situation, since market values on real estate have fallen during the last year, and your appraisal value is probably considerably higher than what the market will bring at this time. All you can do is put it on the market and see what happens. Contact a qualified real estate agent to guide you and inform you of current market value for your particular property. While 'current market value' is not cut in stone, it's a good starting point for you.
2007-06-22 10:34:19 · answer #4 · answered by acermill 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are going to have to ask for about 5% above the mortgage amount. Good luck, the housing market has been weak.
2007-06-22 10:36:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋