If you’d like to refinance but are having trouble because of the current value of your house, there is a Home Affordable Refinance program that will help you determine if you’re eligible to refinance but only if your loan is being held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. If you’re not sure if they’re holding your loan, you can look up your loan at Fannie Mae Loans or Freddie Mac Loans.

If you’re having trouble meeting your mortgage payments because of a loss of income or an increase in your interest rate, the Home Affordable Modification can help you figure out if you might qualify for a loan modification.

The biggest thing to remember if you are having trouble paying your mortgage, is that there is help available. There are many resources. If your mortgage company isn’t being responsive, try HopeNow.com. They can put you in touch with free counselors. If you would like to sell but are concerned that you house isn’t worth as much as you paid for it, we can sit down and see if a short sale might work in your situation.

If you’re having trouble the worst thing you can do is ignore it. Take advantage of the resources out there to help.

On the face of it, you’d think that this would be an all around good solution. The seller saves their credit, the bank doesn’t have to deal with the expense of a foreclosure (a lengthy and expensive legal process) and the buyer gets a good deal on the house.

The reality of a short sale can be different.

• Not all short sales are good deals, so make sure that your buyer’s agent goes over comparable homes with you before you put in an offer.
• Not all banks are open to short sales. Even those that realize the logic of agreeing to a short sale are normally drastically understaffed so it can take months (yes, I said Months!) to get a response.
• Many banks are also no longer allowing a home inspection contingency which means that if you’d like to have an inspection, you’ll need to do it before your offer is accepted, risking the money on the inspection on the chance that not only will the seller accept your offer, but that their bank will agree to the short sale in the end.

The bottom line is, just with everything in life, there are positive and negative aspects to short sales. Just make sure you go into the process with your eyes open.