Too many people now of days are getting those irritating phone calls from debt collectors. Other are just barely making the monthly mortgage payments on a house they owe more on, than its worth.

Don’t walk away and let the house go into foreclosure. This will prevent someone from being able to buy another house for at least 4 years.   Plus the money the lender loses on the resale of the foreclosure, the IRS counts as earn income and my charge taxes on the difference.

If a home owner is a couple months behind with his mortgage payment here is a couple of things he can do to keep his house. First call the bank to see if they will refinance the loan.  If the bank is not cooperating don’t threaten to walk away from the house. The second thing to do is for the home owner to go see his senator.  He might be able to help get the bank to refinance you house. The Senator might even get them to reduce the principle of the loan to be comparable with Reno/Sparks Nevada Real Estate prices.

If steps one or two doesn’t work or if a person doesn’t want to live in the house. Sell the house for less than owed. This is called a short sale. This will allow a person to buy another house in two years instead of four. It is still advisable to see a lawyer and a CPA to make sure the debt is forgiven and the IRS doesn’t tax the seller on the forgiven debt. I would NOT recommend taking on a short sale purchase without your own representation of a knowledgeable licensed Nevada Real Estate Agent.

As a Reno – Sparks real estate consultant I encourage any question or comments on the Reno – Sparks real estate market or any of the articles I posted here.

I can be reach at  chance at ballard-company.com