There’s always something to howl about.

Blogoff Post #61: Ask the Broker: How can I escape without taking a scrape . . . ?

Here’s a truly ugly problem:

I’m being transferred and need to sell my house in a new subdivision. Unfortunately, the builder is still selling new houses. To make matters worse, I bought during the summer of 2005, and the builder has actually reduced its price from what it sold it to me for. Do I have any hope at all of not losing a boatload of money?

Probably not.

In fact, better days are coming by and by — we just don’t know when by and by is.

If you can afford to, you can lease the property until the builder is gone and homes have appreciated enough to get you out from under. This may mean that the home will be cash-flow negative — the income will be less than the outflow — which means you will have to make up the short-fall out of your income. This may become a losing proposition overall.

A second possibility is to sell it as a lease-purchase at a future value that will get you out from under. You may still be cash-flow negative, but your buyer will probably be a more conscientious tenant. If he elects not to buy, you will keep any down payment, which can help with your expenses. You could end up doing this more than once

A third alternative is to sell the property for less than you owe on it, bringing your own money to the closing table to pay off the lender. As bad as this might seem, it’s better than putting a foreclosure on your credit…

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