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Long Saddled With an Empty House, Now Facing a Short Sale
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I urged the couple to try to sell the second home, even if they had to take a loss. They finally put the home on the market, and their current tenants want to buy it. A contract was drawn up this month.
Unfortunately, with housing prices down, the offer is $125,000 less than the mortgage on the home. So the Holmeses have to try to get their lender to agree to a short sale. That's when you sell the home for less than what you owe.
The couple is still waiting to hear whether the bank will accept the tenants' offer. It may be a tough negotiation since the property isn't the Holmeses primary residence.
How the economic crisis is affecting them:
The housing crisis has hit this couple more than either of the other two families. Like many people, they wanted to move up to a bigger (and better) home. They had planned to keep their first home and collect enough rent to cover the mortgage and taxes. But that didn't happen. They are now upside-down on the mortgage for their investment property.
"Our intent was to have the additional property as investment, but we did not prepare for the house being empty," Amber said.
She's not blaming anyone but herself for taking on too much debt. And she and her husband have suffered.
Next step: The biggest challenge and financial drain is the investment property. They need to continue concentrating on reducing their consumer debt.
