I just came into my office from our Investor Research & Development meeting at my Keller Williams Realty office in Roseville where we were just talking about this very issue. It is the consensus of our group consisting of very knowledgeable Realtors that the market could continue to slide for another two years. You could contact the Sacramento County Assessor to request a reassessment based upon today's market value of your home. You could also price it to sell now at market value (or slighly below) and ask your lender to approve a short sale, or you could work with some of the resources available for renegotiating your loan. I would be happy to supply that information to you. A lease/option is also a possibility that could result in your tenant/buyer making your payment including principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and all utilities. I specialize in these transactions, so contact me if you would like more information.

It's going to be a while before the market comes back to what it once was in Anatolia. I live here, and as you know, prices have dropped a lot since then. Some that was worth $407,500 in 2006 is probably worth $310,000 today. There's not much you can do except wait for the assessor to lower your property values with you first payment due by Dec 10th. If you can afford to wait a MINIMUM of 4 years for the market to bottom out and come all the way back to what you purchased it for, then do so. It might be longer. I think the timeframe will depend on how quickly the Raley's shopping center will be built and how the market will react to it.

Try thinking out of the box and discover what avenues you have. Get an agent in the area to do a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) and see if the values of homes in your area have dropped. Try to use this to justify the lowering of your asessed value with the county. Each state is different and when you can contest may only be a certain period of the year or within a certain amount of time after you receive your asessment.

Hello,

There are several avenues you can try if you are not interested in selling the home right now. You can talk to the county tax assessor to see if you would be able to lower your yearly tax assessment. In addition, you can talk with your current mortgage holder to see if they are willing to restructure your loan for you in. Short of that I would be happy to refer you to a lender who may be able to help you to see if there is anyway to refinance the property. A 1031 exchange would only work if you were interested in selling the property and taking that money it putting it into another property. I would love to help you any way I can. Please do not hesitate to contact me direclty with any further questions.