'Upside Down' Home Sellers Owe More Than They Get
Comment: With the falling prices of homes seems like these are the people who should helped, not the people already 6 months behind on their mortgage.Washington Post wrote:
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; Page A01
Jeffrey Taylor and his wife bought their dream home in Purcellville for $538,000 last August. Now they have to sell it because they are getting divorced and neither one can afford the mortgage alone.
The most they could get for it was $430,000. After paying all the real estate commissions and taxes, they will still owe the bank $118,000.
A nontraditional mortgage and a prepayment penalty mean Kimberly Pexton and her husband will owe $28,000 at closing.
"Five months later, I lose $100,000," Taylor, a high school teacher, said. "I don't think I can take $100,000 into the stock market and lose it faster."
Such a scenario, known as a short sale, was unthinkable during the real estate boom of recent years. In the course of five months, a person could buy and sell a property and walk away with tens of thousands of dollars. Now, instead of receiving large checks at the settlement table, many sellers are writing them.