Short Sale or Foreclosure - What is Best?

Why consider a short sale of a property in lieu of giving the property back to the bank via a foreclosure? The biggest advantage is to avoid a foreclosure mark on your credit report. Also, this is a more cooperative approach with your lender. The lender may be more forgiving by giving you more time to market your home. This means you can stay in your home longer. There also may be equity in your home which can be saved if you sell your house (this then would not be a short sale). If there is equity and you are just not able to keep up with the payments, then your net may be more than if the property sells at a trustee sale auction. The trustee sale auction will almost always yield a far lower sales price than what the normal market would bear. If you are facing the strain of higher payments, please do the first thing, talk to your bank and be honest about the situation. If you need help in the sale of your home, I'd be glad to review some scenarios for you.