Hi David,

Your best option is to have an honest conversation with a Realtor and explore your possibilities. Brian offers some good suggestions. In addition to Brian's comments, I would suggest to take a look at the numbers from the business point of view and then make sound decisions. Consider your current situation and also make some financial projections. It may very well be that once you consider all the variables, you may have to cut your losses now to prevent future bleeding. For example, have you considered property taxes, maintenance and vacancy if you were to rent your property? There are more scenarios we could discuss if interested.

Greetings,
Sometimes I always feel like the lone ranger out here in real estate land. I say our market is transitioning to a more normalized and stabilized market. We've had a tremendous amount of new construction on the market pulling down re-sales, mortgage markets being unsettled, bad national media news unrelated to our area and with rising fuel costs it has became our perfect storm for a nervous consumer. We’ve had some short sales and foreclosures entering into our market that are pulling some pricing down, but many experts believe in the next 6 months that will shake itself out. In my humble opinion if you are undecided about selling your home, because you hope in the near future to return to our former market, I just don’t believe it will happen. So let’s talk about the sale of your home. What do you need to sell your home effectively? You need a solid marketing plan from your real estate professional, (if they don’t have one, run...) your home needs to be priced right off the get go, and it HAS to show well. Your costs of sale are real concerns, and a good plan in place is essential for yourself and your agent. Please call, if you would like a list of referrals or continued council on the sale of your home. Jeanmarie

Hi David -
Are you in Lynnwood 98036 or Brier 98036? That can make a difference in your pricing and market time - House age, etc. also contributes to value and getting a realistic worst case scenario value is also important so that you really know how much money we are talking about.
To answer your question, I would have a conversation with your lender and explain the situation - there might be some options there, but a personal loan is probably the way to go on this one. If you can afford it and have no financial hardship, the banks are actually offering pretty low interest rates on them at the moment.
My office is in 98036 so let me know if you need anything!
Congrats on your move and your job!

David,

Congratulations on your new job! As the other two agents mentioned, make sure you are right on the price. This may save (or cost) you more money. It is possible that when you sell, you may even owe more then just the $15,000. Remember, that is just an estimate until you have a buyer. As for financing, you could finance the remainder that you owe and pay it off. This would help you move on but it may also cause problems when trying to finance a new home.

There are two recommendations I would give you,

First, contact an agent to assess the market value of your home. Make sure you price the home to sell, not just price it as high as you can to see if you will get the price. Most the homes selling are the ones that are the best buy for the buck, period. Anything else is sitting on the market in almost every circumstance. You may have already looked but may also be surprised about rent pricing. Rents are going up. Do you know how much your home will really rent for? If you even come close to breaking even, it may be your best option.

Second - Speak with your lender, know your options here. It is possible you are overlooking some other options. You may find that you can keep the property, rent it out, get another home, and sell this home when the market improves. If you can, I would most likely advise you to seriously consider this.

One last note, the new Distressed Homeowners Law was referenced to in one of the previous posts. Since you no longer live in this home then you probibly do NOT fall under the definition of this new law which goes into effect on the 12rh of June. For more information about this law, this link gives the full text…

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/…

Should you have any other questions, let us know. Whether you call on me or another professional, we are here to help.

Hope this has helped.

Best Wishes,
Bryan Lovell

David, as Brian noted already, it is very important to interview a few Realtors and get a Comparative Market Analysis done so that you know what your home is worth in today's marketplace. There can be a lot of confusion w/ the media today, but this area is still strong: job growth, Forbes rated Seattle as one of the best places for real estate, beautiful landscape, etc.. Pricing: I would suggest putting more weight on very recent (2 months or so) and current Pending sales as a stronger basis for a aggressive price than actives. It is important to look at the current Active listings with similar features because that is your competition, but the Pending sales show what homes buyer's are actually writing offers on. When you meet with a Realtor you should get a Net Proceeds that will deduct all of the costs of sale (generally about 8.5% total) from the expected sales price -- you will know if you're short in funds at that time. Make sure that you take into account the new Distressed Homeowner Law so that you're signing the correct listing agreement; there are 4 criteria to determine if you're in the "distressed" situation. I don't know your complete financial situation, so talking to your accountant would be a good idea; getting a loan to cover the costs of selling doesn't sound like a good option, but it's up to what your goal is & how quickly you can pay off that loan so you're not paying for it for the next 10 years. Overall, make sure that your home is staged, extremely clean inside and out (curb appeal!) and that the pictures are professionally taken -- showcasing your home in the marketplace in as best condition as possible will get it noticed by buyer's and hopefully make for a shorter market time. So, learn the aggressive price to sell fast, look at the Net Proceeds and make sure that all mortgages due are accounted for in that statement, and market your home well. Good luck!!

David, Absolutely make sure your price has been investigated and analyzed in the marketplace by a qualified REALTOR who has strong home pricing credentials. For example, CRS REALTORS have typically been through some pretty hard core pricing training. Before you jump to any conclusions about the possibility of needing $15K to sell, make sure a you consult a pro. Not too far from you is an amazing pricing pro named Marcia Dunkin. Below is a link to her.