How to sell my home for less than what I paid for it?

Question

My husband and I bought a home about 2 years ago, the market dropped big and our home has depreciated. We purchased the house for $305,000 and at the moment at best we could sell for $270,000. My husband and I need to relocate for new jobs and our house feels like a black whole. How can we sell with out killing out credit?

The market around my home is dead. There are 8 homes for sale on my block and no amount of handy work is going to get me near what I bought for it.

My neighborhood is not the best and because the market is so slow the great neighborhoods about 5 miles south are now down to the prices that I purchased my home at for comprible sizes and newer ( my home is 49 years old), plus on a vacant plot of land they are building new home comprible at 315,000 and villas from 200,000.

And we need to sell FAST!!! My jon starts in early AUG and is Mid AUG.

Answer 1

Selling it at a loss won't do anything to your credit. You'll just have to come up with the difference between what you get and what you owe. Have you thought about renting it out for a while until the market comes back in your area?

Answer 2

The only way you can sell without taking some sort of credit hit is to pay off the deficiency when you close on the sale of the house. If you engage in a short sale or allow a foreclosure, you will take a slap in the credit backside.

I'd advise against the advice of another poster about making improvements in your house, other than inexpensive ones. In this market, you could end up spending even MORE and still not recouping 100% of what you put into it. It's rare to see any home improvement return more than what it cost to put the improvement there in the first place.

Answer 3

Curb appeal is everything. Although the market is somewhat slow, that does not mean that you cannot sell your home and make a profit. How do you know that you could at best sell for $270,000, did you have the home appraised? To a point forget what the other houses in the neighborhood are doing. Concentrate on making your home the most attractive to the buyer. I have a few tips for you on my website. www.thehomesteadgallery.com. Click on the 'For Sellers' tab, scroll down to 'Home Sellers Report' and implement some of the suggestions.

I hope you are successful in making a profit.

Answer 4

Selling your house for less than you paid for it may be a poor financial circumstance, but it won't affect your credit.
You have to pay off your mortgage of course, but assuming you put at least 10% down ($30,500), your mortgage payoff would be around $274,000. So selling for $270,000 may make it necessary for you to kick a few thousand in at settlement or just ask for a selling price enough to cover that mortgage.
You won't walk away with money, but you can rent for a while until you can afford to buy again.
Your credit isn't affected adversely by what you borrow, only by what you don't make payments on.

Answer 5

Well, curb appeal and all the little things you can do to make your house look it's best. I am sure you have it listed, so your Realtor will be motivated to sell, that's how they make their money. Renting is an option you might want to consider. Finally, you could just keep the thing, talk to your bank and see if they might consider working out something with this house and another one where you are transferring to.

Answer 6

become a "handyman/woman" and invest in some home projects. Sure the projects could be somewhat costly at the time, but these improvements could add thousands to the value of your house...look around your home and see what changes you could make...ex: new carpet, new counter tops, and even fresh paint will help... best of luck!

Answer 7

can you do a rent to own or a lease option? What about a land contract to someone who doesn't have perfect credit and can't otherwise qualify for a loan?

Answer 8

You can sell for whatever you want,however you still have to pay the bank what you owe.