You need professional advise. I know enough to be dangerous about any deductions you've taken against your home, what your basis might be, etc. Obviously you will not be experiencing a capital gain on your sale but there could be tax deductions you need to know about. Some CPA's will give a bit of free advise but not too much. Renting could be a good choice or lease purchase for the period of time you could afford to have your home tied up and not being able to buy another home without selling this one. I feel your pain! Connie

I would be curious about your Taxable value, current market stats and what your agent is doing to agressively market and sell your home rather than reduce reduce reduce!

Here is the secret..rent it out. This makes it an investment property. Now as an investment property you can write off all expeses related to the property in the years it is rented. Then if you sell it as a loss, that loss goes against your income,,,not just against the rental income, but your other income as well. This way even if you lose that money at closing, at next tax season, you count that loss against the taxes due at your job.

This is the simplified version of this...talk to your CPA, and I do not mean HRBlock. You need real financial help to explain how you can depreciate the house as a rental and so on.

We were told that homes in our area aren't even renting. We also already spent about $6000 staging our home. We were looking into having to take out an unsecured loan to cover what we are going to lose. I hate to damage our credit because it is perfect.

Hi Jessica,
It seems you are frustrated. With the market conditions in some areas it is understandable. Realtor do not set the price of what should sell for, nor do we have a crystal ball to predict the future. The market conditions meaning what is going on in your region, State, what has sold in your neighborhood, nation wide mortgage. media, and etc……play a part in the market value of homes. I am sorry to hear that your home’s market price is lesser that what you own. But please understand as a Realtor we study and analysis the market the best we can. It is our job the let our clients know the truth even if it is good or bad news. Have you consider renting the home?

You may either need to spend some money up front to "stage" the home so it looks spectacular to potential buyers visiting your home. This usually gets them excited enough to offer the price you need to cover your mortgage plus the costs of selling.

The other alternative is to contact the loss mitigation department at the company that holds your mortgage and talk to them about a "short sale". This means that the mortgage company will allow you to sell it for less than what you owe and forgive the difference (there are tax consequences to this). It is not easy and it will affect your credit. But if you truly don't have the money, it may be the only way to go and it's better than foreclosure.