Press

"Short sales were very rare back a couple, three years ago," said Zandi, "and now they're increasingly common."

The National Short Sale Center was able to get the lender's ear and work out a deal so the company would accept a short sale buyer, and let Bruce off the hook.

There are two basic criteria homeowners should meet to know if a short sale is right for them. 

Foreclosed homes that lie vacant and rundown need their lawns mowed and their yards cleaned up. Cities say taxpayers shouldn't have to bear that burden.

As values tumble and more foreclosures loom, homeowners get chance to sell out for less than the amount of their mortgages.

With the collapse of the housing boom, the government is considering proposals to rescue the nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3 percent of the total, who are underwater.

Thanks to recently passed federal legislation, getting out from under mortgages with a short sale is a bit less painful in the troubled real-estate market.

Your adjustable rate mortgage has reset and you can't afford the higher monthly payments. In a sluggish real estate market, the property isn't worth the same as the day you bought it. What's next?

Omaha real estate professionals are seeing an increase in the number of short sales -- transactions in which homeowners sell their houses for less than they owe on their mortgages as a way to prevent foreclosures.

With the inventory of resale homes in the Phoenix market hovering near record-high levels, some desperate sellers are turning to the "short sale" to stave off foreclosure.

"It's not something that's taught in real estate school," Cline said. "Once Travis (Olsen) explained the steps to me, I thought it was a great idea. I've completed four short sales with the National Short Sale Center. They have a much better chance of getting a deal done."  

Adam and Sunny Gardner bought a house in Nevada two years ago. They would like
to move, but with prices falling, they probably can’t.

Home prices declined from a year earlier in about half of all metropolitan areas in the fourth quarter, the National Association of Realtors reported.

When property owners owe lenders more than the property is worth, short sales can be a reasonable solution to taking the property back through foreclosure.